National Security
Names are circulating for the Gulfstream's owner. I am not publishing them.
Social media posts are naming possible owners of the barge and tug. I have not been able to confirm any of them, so I am not reporting them. The investigation continues.
Investigation file · February 2024
Follow the evidence, not the name painted on the hull
This visual reconstruction follows Robinson's reporting: the contradiction he identified, the satellite evidence he published, the questions he put directly to TankerTrackers, the claims he withheld and the findings later confirmed.
A tug and unpowered barge were involved; the barge was found overturned off Cove.
TankerTrackers reported the AIS gap, Pozuelo Bay observation and fuel-oil assessment.
Ownership, charter, intended destination and purpose were not established by the available imagery.
Names circulating online were not published because Robinson could not verify them.
Government confirmed fuel oil; later records identified the tug's ownership and detention in Angola.
Reporting sequence
Updated 2 October 2026 with interactive graphics and linked documentation. Original publication date retained.
Several names are being passed around online as the owners of the Gulfstream and the tug that was towing it. Some of the posts come with screenshots of company records. Some come with nothing.1
I have looked at what is circulating. I cannot confirm that any of the named people or companies owned, chartered or operated either vessel. Until I can, I will not repeat the names here or anywhere else.1
This is not caution for its own sake. A barge without an IMO number, a tug that has changed names, and vessel databases that contradict each other make it easy to attach the wrong name to the wrong hull. A wrong name, once published, travels faster than any correction.
A company record can establish that an entity exists. It does not, without a reliable link to the relevant date and vessel, establish that the entity owned, chartered, controlled or benefited from this voyage. Those are different propositions and each requires its own evidence.
What can be said is narrower. The Ministry of National Security has named the tug as the Solo Creed. Bellingcat has identified the barge as the Gulfstream, an unpowered unit without its own number. Nobody with authority has said who owns either.2
The test before publication
For an ownership claim to be reportable, the name must connect to the correct hull through a stable identifier or authenticated registry record, survive checks against changes of name and flag, and relate to the period of the spill. A director, registered owner, beneficial owner, manager, charterer and cargo interest may all be different parties. Conflating them would turn a line of inquiry into an accusation.
The same rule applies to screenshots. Their existence is not authentication. The originating registry, the date of the record and the chain linking it to the vessel all have to be checked.
I am still working on the ownership trail, with the same sources I have used since last week. I will publish when I can verify, and say how I verified it.
What the later record showed
On 3 March, Bellingcat and the Trinidad and Tobago Guardian published registration documents supplied and validated by the Zanzibar Maritime Authority linking the Solo Creed to a director of Melaj Offshore Corporation. That was the kind of documentary step missing on 21 February. It did not retroactively make the earlier, unsupported names publishable.3
Citations & source document
- [1]Pearce Robinson — public post, 21 February 2024Owner allegation withheldOwner names withheld pending verification.
- [2]Bellingcat — Identifying the mystery vessel, 14 February 2024Vessel identityBarge identity; tug named by the Ministry.
- [3]Bellingcat and Trinidad and Tobago Guardian — registration records, 3 March 2024Later route and ownership findingsLater documentary reporting on the tug's registered ownership trail.
Every document cited above is held on this site, with the key clauses, extracts and findings set out in full and a link to the document of record.
Independent reporting by Pearce Robinson. Corrections and responses may be submitted here.
