Okay – in the late 70’s I was an Ordinary Seaman standing bow lookout on the SS Thomson Lykes. It was a little past midnight and the ship was off the Florida Keyes headed for a pickup of ammo in South (I think) Carolina.
It was a great night, cool weather and good visibility. Anyone who has spent time on lookout knows that the weather can change rapidly during your watch and will always carry rain gear/jackets, or suffer the consequences.
I noticed the ship was headed toward a rain squall, and as I was reaching down to put on my rain coat – I saw an odd display of “lighting” in the approaching clouds. I froze in place.
Headed directly toward the ship was something that exited those clouds. What my MIND interpreted it as - was something out of 2001, A Space Odyssey!
A giant Black Monolith. It was approaching at a rapid clip, flipping end over end, slightly off center. It made about 5, or 6 flips and then it was over my ship.
Huge, rectangular in shape, and filled with what appeared to be thousands of stars! It made one more flip before it passed completely over the ship. I could not follow it transit any further as the Ship’s Bridge blocked my view.
I rang the Mate One Watch and asked him if he just seen what flew over our ship. He stated that I probably saw a military aircraft, and I told him if it was a military aircraft it was from Alpha Centauri.
Needless to say, by morning I was the laughing stock of the ship for reporting and talking about what I saw.
Even today, I get chills when I go over just what I THINK I saw that night. I would never call what I saw a UFO, but it was something out of the ordinary.
I have 0.000% trouble believing that you saw precisely what you assert you saw.
Thanks for your fascinating report.
BTW, I've read very very few reports like yours. But there are some.
There are more reports of ship board sightings but very few sightings anywhere of that kind of craft.