UFO. United States

Date: May 22, 1973
Location: Atlantic Ocean USCG Cutter Spencer
Time: 23:00
Summary: As per your phone call earlier today, I will restate what we experienced while aboard the Coast Guard Cutter Spencer WHEC-36, (commissioned in 1936 and decommissioned in 1974. There is a new Spencer in service, but this is not the one I was aboard. My ship was a 327 ft Cutter. It can be viewed if you google Coast Guard Cutter Spencer WHEC-36. I have tried to the best of my ability to recall the date, but since we stood so many Ocean Stations, it is hard to remember which of those this occurred. The conditions were warm, seas calm, and sighting occurred during the night. There were 140 mean aboard the Spencer, and a large number of my fellow crewmen witnessed what I did. Officers and enlisted men saw what I saw. I remember a ((specialty deleted)) had some state-of-the-art photo equipment. I think he had an Olympus camera with telephoto lens. He was at least one crewmen photographing this UFO. We were in the middle of the Atlantic, all running lights on as usual. I remember someone saying come on deck, there’s a UFO. The UFO had bright lights that changed color. It was if the UFO was checking us out. A ship with all its running lights on would be easily seen from above in the Atlantic. I was ((specialty deleted)). Some names I remember were fellow ((specialties deleted)). ((name #1 deleted)), ((name #2 deleted)) and ((name #3 deleted)). I can’t be sure they were aboard for this Duty, but I’m sure at least one was. I can not remember the others. The UFO would come down hovering above us. We could see what I would describe as portholes. I rotated as it hovered. The lights changed color. Then it would go up in a second becoming very small. Then it seemed to show off, as if it knew we were watching it. It would accelerate across the sky in a split second while doing right angles. Many photos of this craft were taken with telephoto lens. I remember I couldn’t wait to see the photos after they were developed. I never saw them. The show lasted about an hour. Messages of this sighting were sent to Washington, DC.! When we were relieved from Ocean Station Duty, we headed back to Governor’s Island, Yankee Pier, where was our home port. We were not expecting the reception that we received. As we were docking, I saw quite a few “Men In Black” waiting to board our ship. Usually after docking, if you did not have duty, we were granted liberty of usually 72 hours. No one was allowed to leave the ship. We were all interrogated one by one by these “Men In Black”. We were told to sign an affidavit, stating we saw nothing. We were warned that if we mention this to anyone, we would be gone. We were told not to go to any news media, and try and tell this story. If we did, we would be prosecuted by the govenment. I found out later that my friend, the ((specialty deleted)) had all of his photo equipment, pictures, and developing equipment confiscated. He was not reimbursed for any of his expensive equipment, it was simply taken from him. I will end the story here, to be brief as possible. Please give me a call at ((number deleted)) my home phone after recieving this, so I know you received it. Please keep this confidential as possible. I’m sure you will. I will research the Internent and my old photos, to see if I can get some crewmember names.
Source: National UFO Reporting Center