MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Falklands' geophysical oil exploration buoy ends up in SW Australia

Little is known as to how exactly the buoy – no bigger than a standard box trailer – became detached from its anchoring or how long it spent adrift at sea.

The hull bears the scars of a 10,483 kilometre journey from the Falkland Islands in the south Atlantic, through the Southern and Indian Oceans to the shores of Esperance in southern Western Australia, according to reports in the Australian media.

 Little is known as to how exactly the buoy – no bigger than a standard box trailer – became detached from its anchoring or how long it spent adrift at sea.

Regional transport officer Gary Wilson from the Department of Transport in Esperance said the buoy came to his attention last Thursday when it was spotted beached at Wylie Bay.

“We got a phone call from a light aircraft pilot who was going for a joy flight,” he said.“He spotted this large yellow buoy on one of the beaches east of Esperance, called Stockyard.”

The buoy's long journey from the Falklands to Esperance didn't come to light until its owners were contacted.

“One of the emails that I sent through was where did this thing come from?” Mr Wilson said. “They said it came off a vessel out near the Falkland Islands during a storm. We actually worked out it was 60 kilometres short of a half-way round the world trip.”

The buoy belongs to Polarcus, an offshore geophysical company from Dubai that provides seismic data to companies looking for oil and gas reserves.

Similar buoys are dotted around WA's coast to measure the real-time tide and wave conditions for commercial fishers.

Mr Wilson said the possibility of one of WA's buoys ending up at the South Atlantic was slim, since “we've got receivers within the units… so we're alerted if they go more than 500 meters from the position they're put in”.

“Generally if there is a big storm they come ashore. Potentially it could happen in a really heavy storm”, he concluded.