Iceberg sighted of Cape St Francis: What the heck next?

Well there is no sight of the mysterious iceberg that was sighted last week at 6pm on Monday, 35 nautical miles south east of St Francis Bay in the Eastern Cape by the crew of the fishing vessel Ntini.

The air force on routine patrol were asked to keep a lookout for the bobbing block, but it was nowhere to be found. Read excerpts below:

“According to the crew of the Ntini, the iceberg is about 25 metres in length and 20 metres in height and was spotted south east of St Francis Bay, 35 nautical miles off shore,” he said. It was first seen at 6pm on Monday. “But, we must take into consideration, that they flew in unfavourable weather conditions where there were high waves,” he said.

“It’s very unlikely because of the warm Agulhas current off the east coast,” he said.

“The history of iceberg climatology in this area also shows that there has never been anything like this in the past,” he said.

Hunter said the ‘South African Sailing Direction’, a book published by the Hydrographic Office under the South African Navy, mentions that there were a few iceberg sightings in the 1850s near Cape Town.

He said there was also a report from a ship in 2002 off the Cape west coast of a piece of ice, about a metre-high above the water.

“We refer to this as a ‘growler’ because it is very small. Bearing in mind the cold Cape Town water, this was, to an extent, acceptable,” he said.

“An iceberg this big would have to drift through a considerable amount of warm water because of the warm Agulhas current. Anyway, a big iceberg such as this would be seen by ships on their radar,” said Hunter.

“This was one sighting and it could be a navigation hazard. A navigation warning has already been sent out based on this report.”

Hunter said it was imperative that this sighting be verified as soon as possible because if a ship hit an iceberg, the ship would sink.

“The Air Force was due to fly in that area anyway and not specifically to look for the iceberg. They were requested to keep a lookout for it, but they did not find or see any iceberg,” said Lambinon.

“But, we must take into consideration, that they flew in unfavourable weather conditions where there were high waves,” he said.

“It’s very unlikely because of the warm Agulhas current off the east coast,” he said.

“An iceberg this big would have to drift through a considerable amount of warm water because of the warm Agulhas current. Anyway, a big iceberg such as this would be seen by ships on their radar,” said Hunter.

The mystery “iceberg” may have done a melting act after a fishing crew reported they had spotted it 35 nautical miles off the coast of St Francis Bay on Monday.

Amid scepticism from experts, the same crew members of the vessel Ntini reported again to the National Sea Rescue Institute on Wednesday morning that they had definitely seen the tip of the iceberg, though they have no photographs to prove it.

NSRI spokesperson Craig Lambinon said the captain of the vessel was “absolutely adamant” that the crew had indeed seen the iceberg.

“It was spotted in broad daylight and clear skies, and the vessel was half a nautical mile away,”