North Sea, June, 2008
Four friends and I were going out to sea on a friends' fishing trawler to fish for mackerel. The trip was about five miles from the coast of South Shields, a small sea town in northern England.
It was a lovely, clear summer's day and the sea was very calm. We were about one hour into the fishing when one of my friends, Paul, decided to cast his rod on the other side of the boat -- he being the only person to do so.
Me and my other three friends carried on casting on the other side, leading to Paul having a lot of success in catching the fish. We would cast about 50 to 60 feet then reel in quickly -- a technique known as "mackerel spinning."
Then, something strange happened. When Paul cast his rod, the weight and lure flew through the air and was abruptly stopped mid-air with a pinging sound, as if it had hit metal about 30 feet away and 20 feet up.
Paul yelled, "Did you see that?!" All of us spun around to see. Suddenly, the sea became rough and the boat started to sway for about ten minutes, then it calmed. I don't know what he hit but I think it was something invisible, made from metal, observing us.
Was it a craft? A sea vessel? Who knows! But one thing's for sure -- something stirred the sea up and frightened the hell out of us. Needless to say, we returned back to shore quickly, to the pub, to tell our friends. They still laugh about our story today.
