Dark Object - Don Ledger and Chris Styles-pages

Page 14 of 82

Page 14 of 82
Dark Object - Don Ledger and Chris Styles-pages

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transit as a telescope. Both brothers were familiar with the various conditions of the sky. William was an employee of Fairey of Canada Limited, a subsidiary of Fairey Aircraft in England, the company responsible for the design of many modern aircraft. It was a cool but clear evening with no moon, nearly perfect conditions for viewing the sky. Just across the harbor and about one and a half miles to the southwest of them was Halifax, the capital city of Nova Scotia, with its waterfront and office buildings all lit up, but there was not enough backscatter to interfere with their sky watching. They noted a layer of cloud at twelve thousand feet and soon noticed something else even higher. They saw two dim white lights followed by a brighter white light, all moving slowly in a northeast to southwest direction. This course would take them down the coastline of Nova Scotia, over towns and villages, in the direction of Shag Harbor. The two brothers watched the mysterious lights for about five minutes, as they transited the nearly clear night sky, and speculated about what they might be. They excitedly reported them to the Naval Air Station at seven minutes after eight. When asked by the commanding officer at the base in Shearwater for an estimate of their height, William gave an estimate of fifty to one hundred thousand feet. not aircraft. 9:00 PM. ADT Captain Leo Mersey's patience was wearing thin. He turned to the first mate. "Let's get these men below." He didn't like it when the men behaved like kids. "This is a fishing dragger, not a cruise liner." With the 9rew, numbering eighteen, crowding the ship's rails, there was danger of one of them falling overboard, especially when they were excited like this. "Aye, Captain. Come on, boys, you heard the captain." The first mate followed the men back to their posts and their bunks. When he was assured that all was in order, he made his way back to the wheelhouse. Captain Mersey was looking at the screen on the Decca radar. The mate and the captain had a good working relationship and he could be less formal when they were away from the men. When asked what they appeared to be, he replied that he didn't know, but he was certain that they were Aboard the MV Nickerson 32 Nautical Miles south of Sambro, Nova Scotia "IT want someone to answer when I call below." "Are they still painting targets on the scope, Leo?" Mersey turned to him. "Yeah. All four of them. Looks like they're holding their position about sixteen miles northeast of ours." "They're real, then. What the hell do you think they are?"