Suspected Sabotage Ship's Anchor Shows Signs of Extreme Damage
Finnish and Swedish authorities have recovered the lost anchor of the dark fleet tanker Eagle S, the vessel suspected of severing four fiber-optic cables and a power cable in the Gulf of Finland on Christmas Day.
"The location where the anchor was found is along the Eagle S’s route, near the Porkkala Peninsula. The anchor was located towards the western end of the drag trace found on the seabed, near the point where the trace ends," said Detective Superintendent Risto Lohi of Finland's National Bureau of Investigation (NBI).
Officials suspect that Eagle S dragged its anchor under power for about 50 nautical miles along the bottom of the Baltic, dredging up and severing five cables. It was the third such incident in 15 months, following similar cable casualties involving the Chinese vessels Newnew Polar Bear and Yi Peng 3.
On Sunday night, with the help of the Swedish submarine rescue vessel HMS Belos, Finnish authorities located the anchor off Porkkala Peninsula in 80 meters of water. Preparations for the recovery began, and the anchor was raised to the surface at about 1700 hours Monday.
ROV sonar imaging of the anchor (Finnish Border Guard)
ROV prepares to rig the anchor for hoisting (Finnish Border Guard)
The recovered anchor on the deck of the Belos (courtesy Finnish Border Guard)
As in the case of the Newnew Polar Bear, the Eagle S's anchor showed signs of extreme damage. At least one fluke is broken off and missing (above); the location of the break has worn and rounded edges, indicating abrasion after the break occurred. A large crack is visible on the crown (image at top).
Maritime security experts have expressed little doubt that the anchor-drag incident was intentional, given how many manual tasks would have to be performed and then overlooked by the crew to cause it by accident. Local investigators agree: Finland has detained the vessel for a criminal investigation and issued travel bans to eight crewmembers who are suspected of criminal activity.
To execute this maneuver by accident, the Eagle S's crew would have to slow down and pay out the right length of anchor chain, then secure it to prevent it from running out all the way under extreme loads. This sequence would have to happen while making way in a busy sea lane, next to submarine cable crossings - factors that firmly rule out a normal anchoring evolution. Then, over the course of a 50-mile transit, they would have to fail to notice the effects of the anchor dragging on the bottom. Dragging typically causes vibration of the chain at the hawsepipe - vibration that would likely be extreme when dragging under power at nine knots, a load severe enough to damage the anchor.