The terseness of the deck logs and limitations in AIS data left several unanswered questions, such as the origin of the drones and the specifics of their flight behavior. Even aboard a cruise, the waters around the Drake Passage are still known as one of the most dangerous maritime routes in the world. For much of the worlds ancient history, Tasmania and Australias mainland were connected by a long strip of land called the Bassian Plain. 29. East Coast of the United States this year. The veteran sailor, who had completed the race many times before, had seen the forecasts for strong winds on the journey south. In December 1979, the yacht Charleston, along with the five crew members, would vanish without a trace while sailing along the Bass Strait. Despite myths and legends of piracy, wrecking and alleged supernatural phenomena akin to those of the Bermuda Triangle, such disappearances can be invariably ascribed to treacherous combinations of wind and sea conditions, and the numerous semi-submerged rocks and reefs within the Straits. [32][33][34] Fewer sea kayak crossings have been made via King Island, due to the 100km (60mi) leg between Cape Wickam and Apollo Bay. [10] A similar event took place 12 years later when the Harlech Castle disappeared, taking all 23 crew members with her. Some incidents were assessed to be collection operations while others were attributed to local fishermen operating personal quadcopters. According to Page, public reports started to escalate in late 2019. Even this map, of the shortest possible route, shows how the race passes along the eastern edge of Bass Strait (yes, that bit with the big drop-off). Prior to 1991, piracy off the Horn of Africa was more or less unknown, with far more incidents occurring in the Strait of Malacca or the Gulf of Guinea.In the 1980s the Somali government resettled . 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. Within the western hemisphere, drones have been used by non-state criminal actors in Mexico both as means of smuggling and as weapons of war. Blom, W. M., & Alsop, D. B. [16]:484 Oil and gas are produced from the Cretaceous-Eocene clastic rocks of the Latrobe Group, deposited with the break-up of Australia and Antarctica. A wave tears towards super maxi Labana in the 2021 Sydney to Hobart.Credit:Dallas Kilponen. And they all affect what happens on its surface. There was enough time for coastal sand dunes to form, and in some cases theyve actually been preserved, Nichol says. Though some of these incidents involved things like attempts to hack civilian light displays, many fall in the realm of more nefarious activities. By the time he had returned his gaze to the road, the green object was nowhere to be seen. The Bass Strait oil and gas fields are primarily structural traps and occupy culminations along major anticlinal axes. However, few people know about the Bab-El-Mandeb Strait, which lies on the Red Sea between Djibouti and Yemen. 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. 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". Neither they nor even the smallest amount of wreckage was ever discovered despite extensive searches by military aircraft and vessels. [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. In the currently in-force IHO 1953 draft, it is instead associated with the Great Australian Bight; the Bight is numbered 62, while the Bass Strait is designated 62-A.[1]. Like the Tasman Sea, the Bass Strait is heavily influenced by weather patterns and at the same time, the severity of the waves varies depending on which side of the Strait you are on. Perhaps more intriguing were several reports from other witnesses, who stated that the larger craft was trailed by five other independent craft, either giving chase or acting as a guide unit, depending on which report you listen to. Three small boats were identified nearby, with one identifying themselves as a small fishing vessel. In the case of the naval incidents, some ships indicated that they did not yet have any operational C-UAS technologies. Bass Strait is shallow. Bass and low frequencies aren't necessarily bad for your ears - but they can be if they're too loud. Starting at Cape Otway, Victoria, it went via King Island and Three Hummock Island, made contact with the Tasmanian mainland at Stanley Head, and then continued on to George Town. How can a small strait threaten a global powerhouse like China? The East Australian Current hits the Bass Strait.Credit:CSIRO. The Bass Strait's owner and operator, Hong Kong-based Pacific Basin, did not reply to several requests for comment. This mysterious part of the world runs from the southern coast of Victoria in Australia over the stretch of water that is the Bass Strait and into the mysterious regions of Tasmania. Youve got waves colliding with your currents, says Nichol, and thats where you get very steep, very dangerous waves forming. 1.Gulf of Guinea. DroneSec cited a 2020 Department of Justice audit focused on the use of drones in delivering prison contraband as an example of how swarm technology is increasingly used in practice. It can be extremely rough. He reported that the strong south westerly swell and the tides and currents suggested that the island was in a channel linking the Pacific and southern Indian Ocean. Although an image of one of the drones is hard to identify in the slide, a caption describes the objects as Quadcopter style UAS.. 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. Meaning of place name. In this incident, the drones were assessed to likely be operated by a local fisherman operating personal quadcopters. A note indicates that no videos were captured of the drones due to distance. There are many reports of ships vanishing in the Bass Strait during the 19th century. counter drone technologies and techniques, Biden administration issued a new directive, Chief of Naval Operations Michael Gilday's statement. Torres Strait, passage between the Coral Sea, on the east, and the Arafura Sea, in the western Pacific Ocean. King Island and the Indian Ocean lie at its western extremity, and the Furneaux Group is at its eastern end. Arguably, the year-long confusion surrounding the leaked footage from the USS Russell attests to this problem. Aviation experts, both at the time and today, believe the loss of the Miss Hobart to be a genuine mystery, not least due to the de Havilland DH86 aircraft (example pictured above) being one of the most advanced of its era. 7. Deputy Director of Naval Intelligence Scott Bray took pains to emphasize in a recent congressional hearing that the military "train as they would fight." Last year Marine General Kenneth McKenzie Jr. said that drones are "the most concerning tactical development since the rise of the improvised explosive device in Iraq." [29], In 1971 lone rower David Bowen from Mount Martha crossed Bass Strait in a 6.1m (20ft) dory, leaving from Devonport he landed on Wilson's Promontory. Oil facilities in Saudi Arabia have been significant targets of drone attacks in recent years, with massive economic consequences. The Basslink HVDC electrical cable has been in service since 2006. In other words, what were once dune-lined areas of coast are now all underwater. Governor Hunter thus wrote to Joseph Banks in August 1797 that it seemed certain a strait existed. One of those changes was the separation of 'Tasmania' from 'Victoria'. The strait was named after George Bass, after he and Matthew Flinders sailed across it while circumnavigating Van Diemen's Land (now named Tasmania) in the Norfolk in 179899. Formosa Strait. There are now 23 offshore platforms and installations in Bass Strait, including the new Marlin B platform and Kipper subsea wells, which feed a network of 600km of underwater pipelines and keep the oil and gas flowing, 24 hours a day. The western field, known as the Otway Basin, was discovered in the 1990s offshore near Port Campbell. [3] The strait between the Furneaux Islands and Tasmania is Banks Strait, a subdivision of Bass Strait. [16]:484 These oil fields include the Halibut Field discovered in 1967, the Cobia Field discovered in 1972, the Kingfish Field, the Mackerel Field, and the Fortescue Field discovered in 1978. It is unclear if this assessment was shared by the other vessels. Thats why, while Oxleys crew were expecting strong winds, they were surprised by just how strong they were. As this heat map below from CSIRO shows, it moves vast amounts of warm water from the Coral Sea south down the coast. The U.S. Read about more mysterious incidents around the world on 10 Bizarre Paranormal Encounters From Old Europe and 10 Paranormal Investigations And Encounters In Africa. He made two more crossings of Bass Strait before he died attempting to cross the Tasman Sea in February 2007. Theres no better example of this than at the eastern edge of the strait, right where the Sydney to Hobart adventurers pass: the Bass Canyon. The louder a sound is, the more damage it can do to your hearing. 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. Aboriginal people lived on Flinders Island until around 4,000 years ago. It might look like any other stretch of ocean big, blue and mostly empty but hidden just below the surface is another world of mountains and canyons, lakes and cliffs. An email sent on July 15th matches these details and references a number of images and one video file. [23], In terms of dinghy sailing many crossings have been made but in March 2005 Australian Olympic medallist Michael Blackburn set a record when he crossed the strait in just over 13 hours in a Laser sailing dinghy. While that has been covered here before, the first two points on our list share bizarre connections to the famous case, so thats where well start. It also indicates that the UAS incident continued after the Bass Strait departed the area. 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. In the Indian Ocean-Pacific Ocean basin, a coordinate of 40S 146E is located at this strait. The fastest and often the cheapest method of travel across Bass Strait is by air. He has been a guest speaker on numerous national radio and television stations and is a five time published author. The details available in these official Navy documents stand at odds with the widespread perception of Chief of Naval Operations Michael Gilday's statement last year that the Navy was unaware of who was operating the unidentified aircraft. Domestically, drone swarms have been an issue for nuclear reactor facilities and critical industrial infrastructure. What is now known as the Bass Strait used to be a giant plain that Aboriginal people lived and travelled on, until around 30,000 years ago when there was an ice age. Here are some theories on why. Sea strait between the Australian mainland and Tasmania, Map of Australia with Bass Strait marked in light blue. The final hurdle for any Bass Strait crossing is the last step to the Tasmanian mainland across Banks Strait, theoretically the most dangerous part of the whole crossing. The first is that Bass Straits geomorphology the shape of the sea floor changes rapidly over a very short area. The plane crashed into Bass Strait in the middle of the night and many character's lives were put at risk, with some drowning. Technology, performance and design delivered to your inbox. A briefing slide states that the objects were not distinguishable by the naked eye. [9] Later it became known as Bass Strait. Sometimes then, youll have the westerlies and southerlies interacting in and around Bass Strait in ways that can be quite tricky to predict exactly, he says. In short, there was nothing to indicate that she had been planning on leaving.[6]. However, when it is considered that there were no official reports of any enemy fighters even entering the strait, perhaps it is a little strange that 17 military planes were lost in this stretch of water during the war years alone. WEIGHING 10,000lbs, this colossal Monster Truck is not for the faint-hearted. 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