Shelburne Harbor, Nova Scotia
A sheltered harbor on the southwestern coast of Nova Scotia, Canada, and the site of a 1960 USO encounter in which Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) divers participating in a joint US-Canadian minesweeping exercise reported observing two disc-shaped craft on the seabed — along with apparent occupants attempting to repair one of the objects. The case is cited by Rear Admiral Timothy Gallaudet in his 2024 white paper on USOs as a significant historical USO event.
The 1960 Incident
During a joint US-Canadian minesweeping exercise in Shelburne Harbor, RCN divers descended to the seabed where they encountered two disc-shaped craft resting on the bottom. According to the divers' accounts — later relayed in Rear Admiral Timothy Gallaudet's 2024 white paper Beneath the Surface — the divers observed what appeared to be occupants working to repair one of the craft. The divers reportedly captured footage of the encounter.
Rear Admiral Gallaudet acknowledged initially finding the story implausible, but stated that subsequent US military whistleblower disclosures had changed his assessment and prompted him to include the case in his white paper on USO phenomena and maritime UAP research priorities.
Relation to Shag Harbour
Shelburne Harbor sits approximately 30 miles northeast of Shag Harbour, Nova Scotia, site of the famous 1967 UAP impact into the water. The geographic clustering of these two cases — a 1960 underwater disc encounter and a 1967 impact event within the same 30-mile coastal corridor — has been noted by researchers studying USO patterns in the northwestern Atlantic.
Significance
The Shelburne Harbor case predates the Shag Harbour incident by seven years and is considerably less well-known, but Gallaudet's citation of it in a formal white paper by a retired US Navy rear admiral gives it unusual institutional credibility. If the RCN divers' footage was preserved, it would represent some of the earliest physical documentation of a USO.