Perhaps the most thorough list of losses and disappearances has been the oft reprinted book of Jack Loney[20] though it is possible that most losses can be adequately explained by extreme weather events.[21]. . A lengthier description states that a total of five unknown drones approached the USS Russell in the course of the incident. It can be a preferential area for them to develop and intensify, Louis says. Bass boats are made to float on the water. Monnik noted that in recent years it has become more common for criminals to use one or more drones as a canary to assess the defenses of a target. Scott Nichol, the director of national seabed mapping at Geoscience Australia, has spent years exploring what lies beneath the surface of Bass Strait. Strong tides flow through the relatively narrow and shallow Strait and timing is critical to avoid meeting huge, washing machine seas or being flushed out of the Strait in the . While the Department of Defense spokesperson acknowledged our questions, they have not provided a comment at the time of writing. As in the earlier incidents, an unidentified pleasure craft was operating in the vicinity. The USS Paul Hamilton reported observing and identifying the drones visually via technical means. Although an unknown vessel is referenced, it is unclear if this is the same ship that was operating near the USS Russell. Bass Strait is shallow. [30], The first crossing by paddleboard was made by Jack Bark, Brad Gaul and Zeb Walsh, leaving Wilsons Promontory in Victoria on 25 February 2014 and arriving at Cape Portland in northeastern Tasmania on 4 March 2014. [22] In 1998 Australian offshore sailor Nick Moloney took on a different challenge by being the first person to windsurf unaided across the Bass Strait in a time of 22 hours. Several days later, the USS Gabrielle Giffords (GBG), an Independence class Littoral Combat Ship, encountered a set of four drones in the same general vicinity. The children would follow the object for several minutes before it vanished over the trees and out of sight. Most notably the Kent Group National Park covers the Kent Group islands of Tasmania, as well as the surrounding state waters which is a dedicated marine reserve. The realities of China today. It is somewhat dangerous due to rocky and narrow passages, tricky currents and winds along the way but it is sheltered from major open ocean storms. The ships travel daily in opposite directions between Devonport and Spirit of Tasmania Quay in Geelong as overnight trips, with additional daytime trips during the peak summer season.[18]. They are a dangerous craft. He has been a guest speaker on numerous national radio and television stations and is a five time published author. Formed 8,000 years ago by rising sea levels at the end of the last glacial period, the strait was named after English explorer and physician George Bass (1771-1803) by European colonists. Major islands include: Within Bass Strait there are several Commonwealth marine reserves, which are all part of the South-east Network. For example, on October 9, a husband and wife witnessed a bright light above them that actually came down to the level of their car, maintaining pace beside them as they drove. Active surveillance of key naval assets is being conducted in areas where they train and employ their most sensitive systems, often within close proximity to American shores. Owing to the various currents and weather systems that move through it, and also due to its shallow depth (varying around 50 . The veteran sailor, who had completed the race many times before, had seen the forecasts for strong winds on the journey south. At times it becomes dangerous because of its narrowness and acute turns the ships have to take. Even aboard a cruise, the waters around the Drake Passage are still known as one of the most dangerous maritime routes in the world. The shows co-creator, Vikki Madden, has stated that she experienced many strange incidents in the area while growing up there. The two larger reserves, Flinders and Zeehan, extend mostly outside of the Bass Strait area. Wind speeds up be. Battlefield commanders in Syria and Afghanistan have both had to constantly contend with drone threats. The winds get funnelled through . Bass Strait (/bs/) is a strait separating the island state of Tasmania from the Australian mainland (more specifically the coast of Victoria, with the exception of the land border across Boundary Islet). Manifold believes what he heard was connected to the disappearance of Valentich. (The East Australian Current is the one from the movie Finding Nemo.) [10] A similar event took place 12 years later when the Harlech Castle disappeared, taking all 23 crew members with her. This email confirms that at least some ships were entirely without CUAS equipment, which was less common in the 2019 timeframe. The strait was possibly detected by Captain Abel Tasman when he charted Tasmania's coast in 1642. Entrants in the annual Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race regularly say Bass Strait is the hardest part of the entire race, which is now in its 77th year. The incident occurred over a period of approximately one hour. The timing and interaction of those winds can vary a lot depending on the nature of the front., Wild Oats XI and other yachts in a heavy swell enter the Pacific Ocean from Sydney, the point at which the race is just getting going.Credit:Getty Images, And low-pressure systems appear to have a liking for southeast Australia. Although this is perhaps the first strange occurrence in the Bass Strait to be connected with potential UFO activity, two other very similar accounts took place in the 1900s. The treacherous waters of Bass Strait have claimed hundreds of ships and more than a thousand lives. It is about 80 mi (130 km) wide and has many reefs and shoals dangerous to navigation, and its larger islands are inhabited. The first of these incidents came just days after the initial events. He says that while his father had gone inside his shed after taking the picture, Jason remained outside watching the sky. The existence of the strait had been suggested in 1797 by the master of Sydney Cove when he reached Sydney after deliberately grounding his foundering ship and being stranded on Preservation Island (at the eastern end of the strait). If there is something in this stretch of water, perhaps some naturally occurring phenomenon that we simply dont yet understand, it is unlikely to be a recent occurrence and more likely has been happening for centuries. The Panama Canal: Interlinking the Atlantic Ocean with . The Australian Hydrographic Service does not consider it to be part of its expanded definition of the Southern Ocean, but rather states that it lies with the Tasman Sea. They then reported that the humming sound had suddenly stopped. You can see the drop-off represented in the image below. The first is that Bass Straits geomorphology the shape of the sea floor changes rapidly over a very short area. When the land veered to the north-west at Eddystone Point,[5] he tried to keep in with it but his ships were suddenly hit by the Roaring Forties howling through Bass Strait. And after flowing for hundreds of kilometres, it suddenly appears to stop moving south. Tuesday night, Steve Olin and Tim Crews, young men who pitched for the Cleveland Indians, were killed when Crews' bass boat . And why is the Malacca Strait so important for China and the rest of Asia and the World? CTO Jared Page added that definitely in the last two years there has been a marked increase in activity related to swarms. The companys threat intelligence database has registered approximately 151 swarm incidents in that time. It has an average depth of just 60 metres, presenting risks to less experienced sailors who are used to navigating in deep ocean waters. For a few thousand years, the sea was 60 metres below its current levels. As investigations widened, reports began to emerge of strange lights being seen in the area on the evening in question. A timeline of events shows that the surveillance lasted for just under four hours. The crew allegedly claimed they could hear the sound of a plane around them, and there were even several reports of an aerial machine coming toward them. Three of the planes seats were discovered, as well pieces of the petrol tank. Despite being in the Roaring 40s, we had good . For much of the worlds ancient history, Tasmania and Australias mainland were connected by a long strip of land called the Bassian Plain. Andrew McAuley was the first person to cross Bass Strait non-stop in a sea kayak in 2003. The U.S. Somewhere between three and five minutes later another monster wave hit the keel and the boat righted itself, but the mast was broken.. In the previous year, it has been difficult to get definitive answers regarding these incidents. Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria, 71, 49-71. The issue of planes, ships and people having been lost in the strait over time has spawned a number of theories. Many vessels, some quite large, have disappeared without a trace, or left scant evidence of their passing. The major airports in Tasmania are Hobart International Airport and Launceston Airport, where the main airlines are Jetstar and Virgin Australia. As the the author explains, however, if you wait for the appropriate weather window, you can enjoy This program is a FRONTLINE co-production with The New York Times and Granada Television. We will continue to seek clarification regarding these incidents and keep readers updated as we analyze this complex new set of documents. The Alaska Bering Sea crab fishery . A reference to both the drones and the RF data can be seen below: In addition to the USS Russell, the USS Paul Hamilton also reported observing multiple drones on July 30th. Stretching 250 kilometres from west to east and 200 kilometres north to south at its narrowest point is the Bass Strait (or just Bass Strait, as many people call it) that separates Victoria and Tasmania. The shipwrecks on the Tasmanian and Victorian coastlines number in the hundreds, although stronger metal ships and modern marine navigation have greatly reduced the danger. And all of them seemingly have strange stories to tell. 28. It has the capacity to carry up to 630 megawatts of electrical power across the strait. Ive seen it pretty gnarly, he says. bass strait can be one of the roughest stretches of ocean in the world. Victoria has several marine national parks in Bass Strait, and are all adjacent to the mainland coastline: A number of oil and gas fields exist in the eastern portion of Bass Strait, in what is known as the Gippsland Basin. By the time he had returned his gaze to the road, the green object was nowhere to be seen. [2] There were 11 people on board, nine passengers and two pilots. Bass Strait is approximately 250km (160mi) wide and 500km (310mi) long, with an average depth of 60m (200ft). However, after several days with no contact and no arrival, search planes were sent out in a desperate bid to find the apparently stricken vessel. Although many questions remain about these incidents, one thing is clear. The stories of the ancient world made the whirlpool into a much more deadly threat. Notably, the public affairs statement characterizes the behavior of the drones as dangerous, and not in accordance with the rules of the road or internationally recognized maritime customs.. (1988). [4] The Australian military would conduct an extensive search of the area. In the coming days the sea will remain rough. An email dated July 14, 2019, sent while the incident was in progress, stated that there was a pause between periods of UAS activity. But having sailed through the passage, he confirmed it separated the two large islands of New Zealand. Fast replacing the Somalian coast as the piracy hotspot, the Gulf of Guinea has become one of the most dangerous places to go sailing. At Flinders' recommendation, the Governor of New South Wales, John Hunter, in 1800 named the stretch of water between the mainland and Van Diemen's Land "Bass's Straits". Almost a year following the disappearance of the Miss Hobart airliner, another plane, the Loina, would vanish while traveling from Melbourne to Tasmania. So the tides need to squeeze through the Bass Strait every day, going backwards and forwards and that may be in a different direction to all the other currents rushing around.. In 1944, a strange dark shadow came out of nowhere and flew beside a Bristol Beaufort bomber for almost 20 minutes over the Bass Strait. There are plenty of theories as to what might have happened, though. It is about 40 km long and 6 km deep, and is located in the Atlantic Ocean. A wave tears towards super maxi Labana in the 2021 Sydney to Hobart.Credit:Dallas Kilponen. Were sorry, this feature is currently unavailable. The upshot? Please try again later. 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