According to a recent article in Skynews Mysterious sail of ship in circle appeared near a number of ports on the coast of China has been reported. Especially near oil terminals and government facilities – but nothing had been seen where the Willowy was.The immediate presumption was that strong currents were pushing the vessels around, but there were no such currents.
In the early hours of Sunday 31 May, senior officers aboard the oil tanker Willowy were called to the bridge. They were told that their ship and four others in its vicinity were mysteriously sailing in circles, unable to steer, and on course to converge.
What researchers believe
Researchers monitoring these bizarre circles believe they are probably the result of systematic GPS manipulation. They are designed to undermine a tracking system which all commercial ships are required to use under international law.
Known as AIS (automated identification system), the technology broadcasts unique identifiers from each vessel along with the vessel’s GPS location, course and speed – to other ships nearby.
These signals are also collected by the satellites and used to monitor suspicious behavior.
What global analysis of this data revealed
According to environmental groups SkyTruth and Global Fishing Watch, “a number of circling incidents have also occurred quite a distance away from Chinese ports, with some impossibly appearing miles inland near San Francisco”.
SkyTruth found the real locations of these ships often thousands of miles away from the circular sailing tracks.
Willowy’s Mysterious sail
On Sunday morning, the Liberian-flagged crude oil tanker, operated by Singaporean business Executive Ship, suddenly swung starboard and began sailing in circles.
The ship was unable to steer and the crew reported that four other vessels in its vicinity were caught in a similar spiral. They slowly converging on each other for an unknown reason.
Mr Diacon told Sky News, although such interference targeting other vessels rather than the AIS tracking system is highly uncommon. He said “GPS interference can have serious consequences, with half of all casualties at sea linked to navigational mistakes”.
European Space Agency on this Mysterious sail
Earth’s magnetic field – which has lost almost 10% of its strength over the last two centuries. It is growing particularly weak in a large region stretching from Africa to South America, impacting satellites and spacecraft.
The South Atlantic Anomaly, the field strength in this area has rapidly shrunk over the past 50 years. And over the past five years a second center of minimum intensity has developed southwest of Africa. That was very near where the Willowy was sailing.
One speculation regarding this weakening is that it is a sign that the Earth is heading for a pole reversal. This flip won’t happen immediately but instead would occur over the course of a couple of centuries during which there would be multiple north and south magnetic poles all around the globe.
The impact would be enormous for seafaring vessels whose navigation was based on magnetic compasses.
Gyrocompass responsible for mysterious sail?
Modern ships like the Willowy use something called a gyrocompass. It finds true north as determined by gravity and the axis of the Earth’s rotation rather than magnetic north. If it was to fail it could cause exactly the issues which the Willowy was experiencing.
After investigated it was identified that the ship’s primary gyrocompass was malfunctioning.
The ship resumed its course safely when it switched to using the secondary gyrocompass, along with an old-fashioned magnetic compass for good measure, Executive Ship confirmed to Sky News.
Spokesperson’s comment
“The initial presumptive cause of circling for the Willowy was considered to be strong currents which also led the crew to perceive that other ships were circling too”.
Asked what caused the failure, the company described it as “an incidental breakdown” and added “repair will be done at the next port where the cause will be identified by shore technicians”.
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Source: Sky News
