Marine Lightwheels

[JON]

Not dream related, but a subject I find fascinating. I've found reports for these "wheels" going back to the 1850s. They report:

A "singular phenomenon... . A hollow rushing sound is heard, and a lurid light is seen advancing from an opposite direction, and coming nearer and nearer, till at last a scintillating wave dashes past the ship, followed by a second and third less violent, and then all is still again."

"With a tremulous force of the smooth water alongside, the tumultuous line of fire, foam and noise, reaches the vessel, which reels to the shock; the spray rises over her bulwarks, and the whole rushes past like a torrent toward the opposite horizon. This strange disturbance s repeated again and again, as soon as the first has died away; the roar and hiss each time generally diminishing; and the luminous appearance less intense; the air...still, but suffocating...."

"Submarine pulsating light bands which became "spokes" of a "pinwheel" 1000-1500 ft across. Ship illuminated when it passed below. 2nd smaller & fainter, and a 3rd smaller & paler still, followed.

"Wheel several miles across, Ghostly white, with central shadow. Clockwise rotation made lights in water "pulsate". The ship's lights and compass affected. Ship 60 degrees off course!

"Waves of brilliant light with spaces between" illuminated the sea. On the water was an unidentified substance. The journal 'Nature' wondered if it was "a thick and oily discharge from the engine of a submerged construction."

And so on. Two interesting websites, if you wish to find out more:

Marine Lightwheels

Marine Lightwheel Update

Maybe it's a natural phenomenon. Maybe caused by U.S.O.s [Unidentified Submarine Objects]. Who knows. I'd like to know what you guys think.

Regards. Stay cool. Jon

[Jennings]

Thanks Jon for those references which I will gladly look at. Having spent 10 years at sea and being constantly on the move geographically my guess is that the phenomenon is the effect of the aurara borealis hitting the suface of the sea probably during stormy weather. Having been directly in the wake of the aurara borealis as it hit land while living in Perth (Scotland) in the mid 80s I can vouch that the experience is remarkable and almost mind-blowing. I can visualise the connection.

[JON]

Thanks Jon for those references which I will gladly look at. Having spent 10 years at sea and being constantly on the move geographically my guess is that the phenomenon is the effect of the aurara borealis hitting the surface of the sea probably during stormy weather. Having been directly in the wake of the aurara borealis as it hit land while living in Perth (Scotland) in the mid 80s I can vouch that the experience is remarkable and almost mind-blowing. I can visualise the connection.

Thanks for the feedback, Jennings. I'm not sure what to make of those 'Lightwheels'. Their description is consistent, even considering the time period the sightings have occured over. But, having read the accounts, it could go either way, as to whether they are 'natural', or not. Mentions of 'spokes' and 'hubs', and rotation speeds suggest 'artificial'. But their scale argues against it.

They usually occur ate at night or early in the morning. The weather is calm, the sea also. They are in the wrong position geographically to be Aurora Borealis. Anyway, the 'light' appears to originate from under the ocean. Not above it. And the wakes of ships might trigger it....