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Macondo Mystery Deepens: Nine Large Vessels Spotted Working in Vicinity ofDeepwater Horizon Site

Filedunder: Big Oil, Deepwater Horizon, Gulf of Mexico , Planet Ocean's Future by Deb Castellana 10 Comments

November 15, 2011

Todays Gulf of Mexico Report is from Guest Blogger,

Attorney Stuart Smith, Smith Stagg LLC, New Orleans, LA

The mystery continues to unfold at the site of last years massive oil spill . Flyover surveillance footage taken Nov. 12 reveals no fewer than nine large

il-related work vessels in the waters surrounding BPs Macondo Prospect. Vast expanses of surface oil have been reported at the site since we broke

he story here on this blog in mid-August, but both BP and the U.S. Coast Guard have been unable or unwilling to identify the source (see link to

my breaking post below).

Credit: On Wings of Care

Heres how On Wings of Care pilot Bonny Schumaker recounts the scene on the water in her Nov. 12 flyover report:

We saw lots of work vessels out in the Macondo today! And new orange buoys we hadnt seen before. Our southeast-bound route took us past the

latform VK989 at about N2858 W08837, and the first two orange buoys we saw were a little over 50 miles off shore to the east-southeast.

Thence came a progression of oil-related (BP-contracted, we think) work vessels, some ROV-capable and more . These included the Meg L. Skandi, C.

Chariot, Monica Ann, Normand Pacific, Sarah Bordelon, Deep Blue, HOS Iron Horse, Brooks McCall, and Holiday.

Thats a lot of vessels in a tight area of the Gulf of Mexico. Were talking about a big operation and an expensive one. Forexample , the Normand

Pacific, flying under the flag of the United Kingdom, is equipped for diving and ROV operations (see file photo below). The vessel is well over a

ootball field long.

MarineTraffic.com

According to the website Marine Traffic, the Holiday, flying under the American flag , departed out of Port Fourchon and arrived at a destination listed

s MC 252 (the abbreviation for the location of the Macondo Prospect) on Nov. 5 at 9:00 a.m. (see file photo below).

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MarineTraffic.com

My guess is the cost per day of operating a fleet of nine vessels like this has to be in the seven-figure range. You have to wonder what kind of alarming

ubsea scenario would demand that kind of expenditure.

Here is a map of Schumakers flight path. You can see the Deepwater Horizon site, marked by the black square labeled DWH. The other black squares

ignify the vessels in the area (see link to Bonny Schumakers On Wings of Care website below for full report, photos and video).

Credit to On Wings of Care

Schumakers first Gulf flyover since Sept. 25 not only confirmed the presence of a small fleet of vessels but also that oil continues to foul the area. At

imes over the last few months, slicks above the Macondo Prospect have extended for miles. More from Schumakers Nov. 12 report:

Only when we reached the Holiday was the visibility good enough for us to identify unequivocally a line of oil globules, and they were very near the

Holiday. That vessel was almost stationary but there was quite a bit of exhaust coming out of a stack on it, as if it were running a pump or something.

We saw several other such lines of sheen that did not resemble the usual wind-surface patches or lines, but we did not have time to fly over to them to

nspect them closely.

So what does all this activity mean at a site where large oil slicks have been observed for months and a BP-Macondo fingerprint has been established ?

Based on Schumakers aerial observations, it would seem the vessels are out there for at least two reasons: (1) To identify the source of the surface oil

hrough ROV footage; and (2) To recover leaking oil before it reaches the surface (and the prying eyes of the public).

should note that the line of oil globules observed by Schumaker is in the vicinity of a known natural oil seep. But the current level of activity

punctuated by the presence of nine vessels surrounding the Macondo Prosepect cannot be explained away by a natural seep, particularly one that has

been known about for years.

More from Schumakers report :

There seems to be a great deal of work going on out there well, a large number of work vessels out there, but we couldnt see any work being done

rom above the waters surface! Several vessels had cables going down, so they may have been working with ROVs or other equipment sub-surface.

We did see the above-mentioned line of oil. Note that all of these vessels are in the same areas that we have documented signifcant quantities of

urface oil since August and in particular on our flights dated Aug30, Sep 10, Sep 11, and Sep 27. We saw no whales or whale sharks or dolphins or

ther large marine life for this entire flight. There was one other fixed -wing (multi-engine high-wing propeller) airplane that passed us at our altitude

about 800) on our return, just north of the Holiday and the line of oil ; we could not read its registration numbers.

As you can see from Schumakers footage (see link below), the Macondo Prospect has become a beehive of activity with a swarm of oil and vessels.

Though both BP and the Coast Guard have been running from this escalating situation for months, its impossible to hide the severity of a problem

hat requires the presence of nine large, oil-related work vessels in a relatively tight area surrounding the Macondo wellsite.

n the absence of even a modicum of transparency or anything resembling leadership on the part of our federal government, Ms. Schumakers flights

ver the Gulf represent the publics only regular access to the site of last years 200-million-gallon spill. We salute her relentless effort to uncover

whats really happening in the waters 60 miles off the Louisiana coast. And she continues her invaluable work in the face of an ongoing, aggressive

ampaign of obfuscation and misinformation executed by BP and our very own Coast Guard.

BonnySchumaker is a hero of the Gulf Coast. She deserves a medal for her tireless pursuit of the truth. Please visit her site to see the amazing work

er organization is doing and to donate to the cause.


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hare this:

ike this: Be the first to like this post.

We will continue to bring you updates on this story as details emerge.

Read my post that broke the new Macondo leak story: The Stuart Smith Blog

Visit the On Wings of Care to see all activity (and the nine vessels) near the Macondo Prospect and please donate to the cause: On Wings of Care

Comments RSS feed

9 Comments:Andy Van Ness

November 15, 2011 at 10:05 am

If what theyre doing, with nine vessels, was something good, wouldnt they be self-praising and informing the media? And whatever happened

to that live underwater video link during the leak?

Reply

Deb Castellana


Excellent point, Andy!

Reply

J Paulin

November 15, 2011 at 11:47 pm

Ironically, I just read that BP has just been granted a contract do to more work in the Gulf . Whyyyyyyyyyyy???????

BeachN


I do know that soon a salvage company will be salvaging the collapsed platform off the bottom. There was also a ship in Pensacola Port recently

that picks up platforms and also the one you have pictured was here within the last few days. It was here for some repairs so this may be what is

going on..

Reply

Deb Castellana


Thanks so much for the info. Thats really interesting what a job thats going to be to pick that huge platform up off the bottom and

bring it up its almost a mile down. Ill pass this on.

Reply

Deb Castellana


Message from Bonny What ship in Pensacola picks up platforms, and which ship we saw Saturday has been seen here (which is

where?). Why have we never seen a picture of the rig and other wreckage on the sea floor? Thanks! [email protected]

Reply

The Shrimp Man

November 15, 2011 at 1:41 pm

Tellem girl I wanna know that myself!!

Ian Wood (@writebastard)


The C-Chariot is a supply vesssel. [http://www.shipspotting.com/gallery/photo.php?lid=1102491]

The Monica Ann is a fire control vessel [http://www.marinetraffic.com/ais/showallphotos.aspx?imo=1209949]

The Normand Pacific , as noted, is a diving and ROV operations vessel [http://www.osm.no/view_casearticle .asp?id=653&news =news]

The Sarah Bordelon is a cargo vessel [http://www.marinetraffic.com/ais/shipdetails.aspx?MMSI=367067840]

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Deep Blue is interesting. Its a purpose-built ultra deepwater pipelay and subsea construction vessel. [http://www.ship-technology.com/

projects/deep_blue/]

The HOS Iron Horse is a Multi Purpose Offshore Vessel, whatever that is. [http://www.shipspotting .com/gallery/photo.php?lid=1379729]

The R/V Brooks McCall is an oceanographic research vessel. [http://www.tdi-bi.com/what%27s_new/Mar07/ShipOps/Ship_OpsMar07.htm]

Couldnt find anything on the Holiday (too many cruise ships with the same name), or the Meg L. Skandi (nothing beyond this article, articles

that quote it, or other sitings in the same area.

Reply

Deb Castellana


Ian thank you for the research. I will forward this on to Bonny and I am sure it will be useful in our investigations. Very interesting,eager to read each one of your links!

Reply

1 Trackback or Pingback for this entry:

Clean Start: November 15, 2011 | Greediocracy

[...] Welcome to Clean Start, ThinkProgress Greens morning round-up of the latest in climate and clean energy. Here is what were reading.

What are you? Flyover surveillance footage taken Nov. 12 reveals no fewer than nine large oil -related work vessels in the waters surrounding

BPs Macondo Prospect. [Planet Ocean News] [...]

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