UFO's (Unusual floating objects)

[Nostrodamus]

Whilst sailing last week as if it was not cold enough a fridge floated past us on the tide.
What is the most unusual object you have seen floating around whilst you have been out and about and besides fenders have you ever found anything useful to you?

 

[fisherman]

What looked like a broom handle, 6 inches high out of the water: it was a beach caster complete with the tripod wrapped up in the line.
A R/C model boat.
Cabin cruiser roof, with S/S rails.
A cow.
A cat.
A red plastic wheelbarrow wheel. (there were hundreds, from a container)
Enough Maranti to make 5 georgian casement windows.
Enough 7x3 douglas fir to do the joists in the same building. Waste of decent wood.
Hundreds of the square blocks for the middle of pallets.
An inflatable (toy) dinghy with a sun brolly.
A submerged steel buoy, with lugs on it, just waiting to sink someone. It was deployed on purpose, had instruments below it, along with a 200lb lead weight.

One of the older fishermen saw half a man in a lifejacket, during the war.

 

[RichardS]

Dinghy sailing in Lagos, Nigeria, occasionally had to tack to avoid dead bodies making their way out to sea. Probably dumped higher up the lagoon after some gang conflict or similar.

The two white heels sticking up above the waves were usually the first clue.

This was in the early-1990, pre-democracy days.

Richard

 

[Leighb]

We saw a large upholstered sofa drifting down the Orwell in mid channel close to Pin Mill.

It was many years ago when we still had a police boat, the Ian Jacob. She was not far away but beyond hailing, and no VHF in my dinghy. I managed to attract her attention by standing up in the boat and pointing at the sofa. Someone obviously noticed and she came across and dealt with the obstruction.

 

[Ubergeekian]

Whilst sailing last week as if it was not cold enough a fridge floated past us on the tide.
What is the most unusual object you have seen floating around whilst you have been out and about and besides fenders have you ever found anything useful to you?

Somewhere I have the large lump of pumice stone I picked out of the Clyde from the family dinghy when I was twelve. Perhaps it had been floating around since Dumbarton Rock last erupted, but I suspect it had come from rather further away.

 

[Rigger Mortice]

I've seen some strange GRP things floating around. Usually noisy and smelling of diesel (both the GRP things and the people on them). Don't know what they are.

Never tried to retrieve one, I can't see that they would be much use.

 

[Twister_Ken]

A perfectly good spinnaker turtle.

Now in use by another 'butter, unless he too forgot to clip it on before up-kite.

 

[rallyveteran]

a 16" b/w TV, close to the Lepe Bank in the Solent.

Didn't work.

 

[Halcyon Yachts]

Last year I passed a large turtle with a bird stood on his back...

It initially looked like a bird resting on a log, as we got closer the 'log' dived (much to the annoyance of the bird). The large turtle was clear to see as it swam deeper into the translucent ocean.

Pete

 

[cgull]

A piano , near Miami!

 

[VO5]

A dead whale in the Strait.
A dead horse (ditto)
A dead Dolphiin (ditto)
A dead cow (Atlantic)
A dead sailor floating face down wearing lifejacket all oil and tar soaked ( in the harbour circa 1968)
A shipment of planks (mid English Channel)
A very old EPIRB (200 miles west of the Azores)
A chest of drawers (north of Bermuda)
A guitar (off the coast of Florida)
A lifebouy light (off coast of Portugal)
A rubber tyre (Algeciras)
A wooden chair (off Falmouth)
A picture frame (no picture) off Cowes IOW
Bottom half of a diver's wetsuit (off Tangiers)
Many cork floats (In the Med)
Fruit (ditto)
A wooden oar (ditto)
A yellow Dutchmans clog (off Ijmuiden)
And lots of other rubbish everywhere but never any treasure.

 

[Deleted member 36384]

Basking Sharks, Pineapples, Boathooks and Antennas

The most unusual thing was a Basking Shark on the Firth of Clyde. We came upon it quite slowly, parallel to its long body and thought it was dead. It was just floating there doing nothing. As soon as the stern reached its head it must have realised that something was not right, made a huge thrash in the water and disappeared into the depths. It must have been basking, I know how it felt as I have been prodded by my kids when basking.

Other items: -

1. Wooden casks / barrels by the hundred after the bonded stores flooded up river.
2. A fridge.
3. A whole tree about 40' long complete with branches and leaves.
4. A large cable drum.
5. A pineapple off the Flannan Isles.
6. A radio transmission device from a submarine. We picked it up and contacted the Coastguard, gave them the details from it, they contacted someone up at Faslane. Later they came back and said it wasn't important but the Troon lifeboat will swing buy and pick it up. It was about 3' long, 6" in diameter, a flat springy antenna and opaque / translucent white with an orange label.

The best was my boat hook. It got washed overboard entering Belfast Loch and we could not see it, thinking it had sunk; wooden pole with steel hook. About 24 hours later we were heading back to the Clyde when we sailed past this 6" long wooden rod sticking up out the sea. It looked remarkably like the end of our boat hook. After faffing around we recovered the item to discover that it was the book hook; what a coincidence!

 

[prv]

A Turkish Customs official's hat.

Although strictly speaking it wasn't floating, I recovered it from the seabed while diving.

Pete

 

[GrahamM376]

Shoes, thousands of them from 60NM north of Gijon all the way to LaCoruna, about 4 years ago. Sadly, they were all singles NO pairs!

 

[LittleSister]

In the middle of the North Sea we came across a yellow or orange coloured vaguely delta shaped object, bit like a rounder, chubbier concorde shape, and maybe a metre across (couldn't see it well as it was quite dark at the time, and it was 25 years ago so memory of it a bit faded). It appeared to be precision made of metal or perhaps grp, with some black writing on. It looked rather military. Any ideas, anyone?

 

[Rum_Pirate]

1. Wooden casks / barrels by the hundred after the bonded stores flooded up river.

Tell us more.

How many did you manage to 'rescue' and what was in them?

 

[Deleted member 36384]

Tell us more.

How many did you manage to 'rescue' and what was in them?

They were Whisky casks. The banks of the river Clyde have bonded warehouses on them at some locations. They were all probably empty, as the full ones are locked inside the bonded warehouses.

It was a bit of a hazard and many were hauled out by local work boats and recovered, many ended up on the mud flats between Dumbarton and Port Glasgow. I didn't pick any up as we witnessed from afar.

 

[prv]

In the middle of the North Sea we came across a yellow or orange coloured vaguely delta shaped object, bit like a rounder, chubbier concorde shape, and maybe a metre across (couldn't see it well as it was quite dark at the time, and it was 25 years ago so memory of it a bit faded). It appeared to be precision made of metal or perhaps grp, with some black writing on. It looked rather military. Any ideas, anyone?

Sounds like a sonar sensor designed to be towed behind a vessel. Possibly military, but more likely seabed survey.

Pete

 

[Csail]

A wreath hit the hull while anchored on a misty night which was a bit scary.

 

[AntarcticPilot]

Sounds like a sonar sensor designed to be towed behind a vessel. Possibly military, but more likely seabed survey.

Pete

Or possibly a "fish" from a seismic array. These are placed at intervals along an array of hydrophones to ensure it stays at the correct depth. The array may be a mile long, so you can see why they are necessary.