A Ship Off Golspie

We woke this morning to find a ship anchored off Golspie. This is a rare occurrence these days so, as someone who has had the good fortune in my time to have lived in two houses where passing ships were common, please excuse my mild excitement.

She is obviously one of the many ships in the North Sea catering for offshore developments but a quick look at the Marine Traffic website revealed that she was the....

....Horizon Prospector, built in 2018 and registered in Panama. Currently, she seems to be operated by Gardline Ltd out of Great Yarmouth and, from her specifications and the inclusion of two laboratories, seems designed for geotechnical surveys.

Usually we most commonly see such ships anchored in the firth if there is a storm coming or if they have mechanical problems. There are no storms in the short-term forecast but the ship is reporting her navigational status as 'restricted manoeuvrability', so perhaps she does have a technical problem. On the other hand, maybe she has restricted manoeuvrability because she is drilling test wells for a huge oilfield which has just been found under Golspie.