Vanishing Point

This is old video but is the clearest yet on what exactly we're dealing with regarding the probably thousands of underwater vents which are still leaking oil and gas into the Gulf of Mexico. Watch the first 30 seconds -- you can actually see the very crack in the seabed with oil coming out. This much more clearly demonstrates the issue. usually BP have their subs sitting on the ocean's bottom, looking straight out to monitor for leaks. This time the ROV was positioned above the crack and looking down at it.

Also notice how, instead of continuing to monitor the leak, they move on seconds after they find it puffed out a few rounds of petroleum. As if "nothing to see here," moving right along before someone records their feed. Also notice the name of the ROV -- Viking Poseidon. The twin Viking Poseidon subs were originally available on BP's live public video feeds web site. They are no longer. And the mystery deepens yet again.



Like the Boa Deep C, whose feeds have also gone offline, Viking Poseidon has literally disappeared from satellite tracking. Boa Deep C's last known position was heading towards shore but still in the Gulf one week ago today. Viking Poseidon's last known position was two weeks ago, still at the MC252 site. Two ships with four ROVs have disappeared from the map. Only by visual inspection could we tell if either are back at MC252 or are in the 20-mile radius around it where these types of cracks in the sea floor are. But the reporters have left the Gulf, BP keeps a security cordon around the fleet it has assembled and Thad Allen admits that he and the government get 100% of their information spoon-fed to them by BP.

So Deep C and Poseidon have been missing, according to the satellite tracking data at Marine Traffic for 7 and 14 days respectively. To compare, the Skandi Neptune's position, whose two ROVs are the ones shown on TV most of the time and are available on the live public feeds, always on and always showing block, murky video, was recorded 1m33s ago when I just checked, so it's not like the satellite tracking does not update frequently. Olympic Challenger reported in 51 seconds ago when I just checked. HOS Achiever reported its position 40 seconds ago. Q4000 said hello 70 seconds ago. Helix Producer I gave us a wave 3 minutes and 9 seconds ago.

Even the little ships that no one has ever heard of have the mandatory satellite tracking systems integrated into their navigational systems and are reporting in on a nearly minute-by-minute basis. The Toisa Pisces reported in 4 minutes and 30 seconds ago. Even ships which are not going anywhere anytime soon must constantly report their positions. Development Driller3 (not a typo), currently in position and drilling one of the relief wells, sent its updated, stationary position 5 minutes and 39 seconds ago.

I find it extraordinarily suspicious that the only to ships which are or were involved in the surveying and clean up at MC252 have literally vanished from the face of the Earth. They have not vanished of course, the ships are out there somewhere, but their tracks have been erased. For the last 7 and 14 days we do not where Deep C and Poseidon were. We do not know now where they are or what they are doing. I want to know why this is. I highly doubt that both vessels suffered from failure of their satellite tracking systems, and were not able to be repaired in one and two weeks. Ships carry spare parts, have mechanics and technicians, and both were close enough to port that a replacement bad computer board or something in the tracking system could be helicoptered out to them from New Orleans.

Something is very, very suspicious about the way BP are handling the underwater video feeds. What we can pull up on their web site is, I believe, purposely degraded, lowered in resolution so as to be almost unwatchable, while BP keep the high-definition footage for themselves. And now two ships with their four subs have vanished, and half of the live feeds on BP's spill response page are always, or nearly always black screens or color bar test patterns. I want to know why, and what BP are hiding.