Atlantic 46.7N 19.25W, October 1958October 1958

On October 18, 1958, two crew members aboard the Dutch cargo ship M.S. Coolsingel saw an unusual object while at sea in the Atlantic Ocean. The ship was traveling from Norfolk, Virginia, to Bremen, Germany, at a position of approximately 46.7 degrees North latitude and 19.25 degrees West longitude, roughly in the middle of the North Atlantic. The second officer, J. van Tiel Jr., and the lookout, a Spanish sailor named Jodel Rio Fiera, both witnessed the event at 11:20 p.m. ship's time (just before midnight on October 19 in Greenwich Mean Time).

The witnesses described seeing four distinct parts to the object. First came a very bright, pure white light that appeared to be a glowing sphere. Behind or connected to it was a line of lights that resembled lighted portholes on a ship. A third bright point followed, slightly dimmer than the first. Finally, there was a short reddish trail, similar to what a rocket would produce. The object made no sound. It emerged from a cloud bank bearing roughly northeast (40 degrees true) and crossed nearly directly over the ship before disappearing into another cloud bank to the northwest (100 degrees true). The entire sighting lasted about five to seven seconds. The witnesses estimated the object was traveling at tremendous speed on a steady course of about 200 degrees (roughly south-southwest), and they believed it was quite low in the sky, perhaps between 1,000 and 2,000 meters altitude. The apparent size seemed to be about the distance between thumb and forefinger when held at arm's length, though without knowing the object's actual size, distance estimates were unreliable. The ship's radar was not operational at the time, so there was no electronic confirmation of the sighting.

The second officer reported the incident to the U.S. Air Force on October 20, 1958, sending his written account to the Philadelphia office. On December 16, 1958, Major Lawrence J. Tacker of the Air Force's Public Information Division responded. Tacker wrote that the Air Force Technical Intelligence Center's staff astronomer had reviewed the report and concluded the object was a meteor. The case file indicates the Air Force's official evaluation was "unknown," though the correspondence suggests the investigating astronomer believed a meteor explanation fit the observed characteristics.

The full case file is reproduced below as held by the National Archives, comprising 11 pages of scanned records.