Bulgaria’s Navy Hydrographic Service has now printed an official NAVWARN against an unmanned, unlit tanker east of Cape Kaliakra. The working primary is the Bulgarian in-force board on hs-navy.mod.bg, which opens this morning with НАВИМ № 797/04.11.2026 г., marked TOP URGENT: ИЗТОЧНО ОТ НОС КАЛИАКРА. В 1435 UTC на 04 НОЕ 2026 м/т MENTOR, IMO 9340374 е на позиция: 43-25.1 N 028-37.0 E. Дрейфа в южно направление със скорост 3 възла, без светлини. Няма екипаж на борда. Корабите да се движат с повишено внимание и да рапортуват на MRCC-Varna при установяване на визуален контакт с него. That is the product. It names the hull, it names the IMO number, it names a 1435 UTC 4 November plot, a three-knot south set, no lights, no crew, increased caution, and a visual-contact report to MRCC Varna. It does not print a flag, a cargo grade, a pollution line, a numeric berth, a wreck buoy, a cancel clock, a tug name, or a keep-clear in cables or nautical miles.
That is Thursday morning’s working primary. It is a Bulgarian coastal NAVWARN. It is not a rewrite of Thursday night’s dedicated NAVWARN 789/26 Akademik mile, not a second Khoryv, and not a Contship naming. Official English on the same service still starts at NAVWARN 790/26 and has not taken 797 or MENTOR. Official Bulgarian now leads. SeaLagom’s English reprint, first seen at 17:46 UTC on 4 November, matches the Bulgarian body in all operational facts: NAVWARN 797/26 BLACK SEA, BULGARIA, EAST OF CAPE KALIAKRA. At 1435 UTC on 4 November 2026, M/T MENTOR, IMO 9340374, is at 43-25.10N 028-37.00E, drifting southward at a speed of 3 knots without lights, no crew on board, increased caution, report to MRCC-Varna upon establishing visual contact. Hold the Bulgarian one-decimal plot, 43-25.1N 028-37.0E, as the working position. Hold the SeaLagom two-decimal reprint as colour, not as a second tanker. Wednesday night’s dedicated 789/26 file correctly left 797 unused because neither official board had taken MENTOR against 43-25.1N. Thursday morning the Bulgarian board has taken it. That is the change.
What NAVWARN 797 actually printed
The hydrographic text is short and is the working primary. NAVWARN 797/26. Date line 4 November 2026. TOP URGENT on the Bulgarian page. East of Cape Kaliakra. At 1435 UTC on 4 November 2026, m/t MENTOR, IMO 9340374, is at 43-25.1N 028-37.0E, drifting in a southerly direction at 3 knots, without lights. No crew on board. Ships are to proceed with increased caution and report to MRCC-Varna on establishing visual contact with it. Stay with that wording. The board did not print a flag, a call sign, an MMSI, a gross tonnage, a deadweight, or a length. It did not print “sunflower oil,” “11,000 tonnes,” “product tanker,” or a pollution statement. It did not print a tug, a towline, a Constanta origin, a Shabla tag, or a Tyulenovo tag. It did not print a numeric berth, a radius, a wreck buoy, a least depth, a RAM status, or NUC lights. It did not print a cancel time. It did not print an attacker, a drone, an Odesa clock, or a bridge-fire line. The instruction is increased caution plus a visual-contact report, not a closed box around the cape.
The plot is the first briefing fact. 43-25.1N 028-37.0E sits east of Cape Kaliakra, south of Shabla, in the northern Bulgarian territorial-sea approaches. Dedicated 766/26 remains Khoryv, IMO 8138712, capsized, semi-submerged, unlit, unmanned, five-cable keep-clear, at 43-30.60N 028-43.69E, east of Shabla, 1800 UTC 28 October. That wreck is about seven nautical miles north-northeast of this morning’s Mentor plot. They are two hulls, two IMO numbers, two geometries, and two instructions. 766/26 prints five cables. 797/26 prints no radius. Do not borrow Khoryv’s five cables onto Mentor. Do not convert Mentor onto a second Khoryv. Do not freeze 43-25.1N as a wreck because 766/26 is still in force a few miles up the coast. The 1435 UTC 4 November position is a reported plot of a ship then drifting south at 3 knots, not a wreck buoy.
The motion line is the second briefing fact. Drifting south at 3 knots, without lights, no crew. From 1435 UTC on 4 November that is a moving unlit object, not a fixed Kaliakra obstruction. A passage plan that only plotted 43-25.1N and then treated the rest of the coast as empty has not budgeted a three-knot south set through Thursday morning. A passage plan that treated 789/26’s one-nautical-mile Akademik berth as the only moving ship in Bulgarian territorial sea has not budgeted an unmanned tanker. 797/26 does not say Mentor is AIS-on, NUC-lit, or under tow at the 1435 UTC clock. It says without lights and no crew. BMP lookout, radar, night-orders and a visual-contact report to MRCC Varna are the working pack. Do not invent a two-nautical-mile halo because cancelled ARN 162/2026 used that number on a Romanian object. Do not invent five cables because 766/26 used that number on Khoryv. Do not invent a one-nautical-mile ship berth because 789/26 used that number on Akademik. Give what 797 printed: increased caution, report visual contact.
The reporting line is the third briefing fact. Report to MRCC-Varna upon establishing visual contact. That is a sighting report, not a 775/26 territorial-sea e-mail and not a substitute for it. Dedicated 775/26 remains two hours before territorial-sea entry, e-mail [email protected] with SP A, H+C, G, I, P, W and X1–X4. 797/26 does not amend that mailbox, does not add Mentor to the SP field list, and does not replace the two-hour lead. A master who sends 775/26 and does not call MRCC Varna on a visual contact with an unlit tanker has not complied with 797/26. A master who calls MRCC Varna and skips 775/26 has not complied with 775/26. Keep both. Do not invent a VHF working channel because MRCC is named. Do not invent a harbour-master closure of Varna, Kavarna, Shabla or Kaliakra. 797/26 does not close a port.
The missing cargo, tug, berth and cancel lines are omissions, not a completed salvage order. Industry colour on Wednesday afternoon named a sunflower-oil cargo, a Constanta tow, and tug Ramazan Bey. 797/26 names none of those. Do not promote them onto the hydrographic body. Do not invent a pollution watch because vegetable oil is in the colour file. Do not invent a salvage contract, a third tug, or a 5 November recapture. Watch a later NAVWARN that moves 43-25.1N, prints a new set, adds a radius, names a tug against this IMO, marks a wreck buoy, prints pollution, or cancels 797.
Same-board wrap, held separately
Official English on hs-navy.mod.bg still starts at NAVWARN 790/26, EAST OF MASLEN NOS, 1000 UTC 3 November, two drifting containers at 42-19N 028-21E and 42-17N 028-24E, navigational danger, caution, and has not taken 797. That is the inverse of Wednesday night, when official English led with 790/789 and official Bulgarian still started at 788/26. Thursday morning official Bulgarian leads. Do not wait for the English board before logging the Bulgarian 797 plot. Do not treat 790/26 as the newest Bulgarian product merely because the English page has not moved. 790/26 is this morning’s second dedicated file, not a Mentor plot and not a Kaliakra rewrite.
Official Bulgarian still carries 789/26 under 797 and 790: research vessel Akademik, CTD expedition 0500 UTC 4 November to 1700 UTC 30 November, one-nautical-mile berth from the vessel, internal waters and territorial sea. Dedicated Wednesday night. Do not collapse Akademik onto Mentor. 786/26 remains wrap: drifting lifeboat without crew, 42-18.9N 027-56.4E, 1245 UTC 2 November, east of Maslen Nos. 776/26 remains the dedicated Galata diving box, prohibited 030600–051430 UTC 3–5 November, four corners south of Cape Galata; that prohibition still runs through 1430 UTC this afternoon. 775/26 remains the two-hour e-mail. 766/26 remains Khoryv five-cable east of Shabla. 93/26 remains the standing Burgas KAIROS five-cable wrap.
Official Bulgarian has now dropped 788/26, 787/26, 784/26, 779/26, 780/26, 781/26, 777/26 and 768/26 from the live list. Official English this morning likewise starts at 790/789/786/776/775/766 and does not reprint those numbers. Do not rewrite Tuesday morning’s dedicated 784/26 Ahtopol tank, Monday morning’s dedicated 779/26 four-container watch, Thursday’s dedicated 768/26 Contship Jet wreck, or Saturday night’s dedicated 777/26 cutter 331 as cancelled pieces merely because the live boards have moved on. Those dedicated files stay on their own lines until a later NAVWARN names recovery, a wreck buoy, or a cancel against their printed plots. Do not treat a dropped number as Mentor recovered.
BNR, 17:52 on 4 November, reported a tanker believed to be carrying around 11,000 tonnes of sunflower oil drifting off Shabla after its towline broke, Mentor under tow from Constanta by tug Ramazan Bey, the tug instructed to remain near the tanker, owner contacted. The Bulgarian Ministry of Transport and Communications, 4 November, printed the same operational colour: tanker Mentor, about 11,000 tonnes of sunflower oil on preliminary data, tow from Constanta, tug Ramazan Bey, towline parted, drifting in the Shabla area, tug AIS-on and in contact, VTS ordered the tug to stay with the tanker, owner contacted. Maritime Executive colour, 13:05 UTC 4 November, added a September Odesa strike, a dead Ukrainian master, Antigua and Barbuda registry, tugs Ramazan Bey and Ayaz Bey, a parted tow in a Black Sea storm, Ayaz Bey damaged, three crew evacuated to tug Odin, four remaining on the damaged tug. That colour is not a 797/26 fact. Do not promote sunflower oil, 11,000 tonnes, Ramazan Bey, Ayaz Bey, Odin, Constanta, Shabla, a September drone, or a flag onto the NAVWARN. Hold it on the colour line.
What this is not
This is not NAVWARN 766/26, and it is not a second Khoryv. Thursday’s dedicated Khoryv keep-clear remains 43-30.60N 028-43.69E, IMO 8138712, capsized, semi-submerged, unlit, unmanned, five cables, east of Shabla, 1800 UTC 28 October. 797/26 names MENTOR, IMO 9340374, 43-25.1N 028-37.0E, drifting south 3 knots, no numeric berth. Do not convert a product tanker onto a capsized dry cargo. Do not apply five cables to Mentor. Do not brief Thursday morning as Khoryv renamed.
This is not NAVWARN 768/26, and it is not a Contship naming. Dedicated Contship Jet remains sunk at 43-07.80N 028-45.36E. 797/26 does not print Contship, does not print a container, and does not print 43-07.80N. Do not collapse an unmanned tanker onto a sunk boxship. This is not 784/26, and it is not an Ahtopol tank. Tuesday morning’s dedicated 784/26 remains a drifting tank at 42-09.2N 027-58.6E, east of Ahtopol. Mentor is a named ship with an IMO number east of Kaliakra, not a tank off Ahtopol. This is not 779/26 and not 790/26. Monday morning’s dedicated four-container watch remains east of Burgas Bay. This morning’s dedicated 790/26 remains two containers east of Maslen Nos at 42-19N 028-21E and 42-17N 028-24E. 797/26 names a tanker, not a box.
This is not NAVWARN 789/26, and it is not Akademik. Wednesday night’s dedicated file remains a research vessel, CTD sampling, one-nautical-mile berth, internal waters and territorial sea through 1700 UTC 30 November. 797/26 prints no mile, no CTD, and no Akademik. A master who treats Mentor as the Akademik berth, or Akademik as the unmanned tanker, has mixed two instruments. This is not 776/26. The Galata diving prohibition still ends at 051430 UTC on 5 November. Mentor is not inside that four-corner box. This is not 775/26, and it is not a second territorial-sea reporting product. The two-hour e-mail stands. This is not 777/26, and it is not cutter 331.
This is not ARN 164/2026, and it is not Wednesday night’s Romanian firing box. Dedicated 164/2026 remains real firing 0700–1200 UTC on 11 and 12 November, four corners around 43-50N 028-59.5E, cancel 121300 UTC 12 November. Mentor’s 43-25.1N 028-37.0E plot is a Bulgarian coastal tanker, not a Romanian firing polygon. This is not ARN 163/2026’s Mangalia piping box. This is not NAVAREA III 0169/26 and not Britoil Centurion. This is not a UKMTO Attack, not a JMIC Update 111, and not a move of Wednesday morning’s dedicated IMO 128-count. UKMTO’s product board still ends at Warning 195-26. Update 110 remains the last numbered public periodic note, ICOD 011300 UTC 1 November. The IMO highlighted-incidents board remains 128 confirmed / 24 dead as at 3 November. Mentor does not belong on that Middle East table. No 196-26, no Update 111, no IMO 129, no NAVAREA IX 429/26, no NAVAREA III 0170/26, no ARN 165 this run.
Operational implications
For a master already shaping a Shabla, Kaliakra, Kavarna, Varna or Mangalia coastal transit, or holding for a Bulgarian territorial-sea crossing under 775/26, Thursday morning is an unmanned, unlit tanker on a three-knot south set from 43-25.1N 028-37.0E at 1435 UTC on 4 November, on top of 766/26’s five-cable Khoryv keep-clear seven nautical miles to the north-northeast, on top of 789/26’s moving Akademik mile anywhere in the territorial sea through 30 November, on top of 776/26’s Galata prohibition through 1430 UTC this afternoon, and on top of 775/26’s two-hour e-mail. A passage plan that only carried Wednesday night’s Akademik mile, or that treated the Kaliakra approaches as a lookout problem because 766/26 still prints a wreck, has not budgeted Mentor as a second unlit hull with no printed radius.
An unlit, unmanned tanker with a printed south set and no printed AIS, NUC lights, tug, or cancel is a lookout, radar, CPA and night-unlit problem before it is a salvage rewrite. 797/26 does not say the ship is under control at the 1435 UTC clock. It does not say the three-knot set has been killed. It does not say vegetable oil is or is not on board. BMP lookout and company night-orders remain the working industry pack; 797/26 does not reprint them and does not order a deviation around a published cape. Log the NAVWARN number, the 4 November Bulgarian-board appearance, the TOP URGENT mark, the Mentor name, IMO 9340374, 43-25.1N 028-37.0E, the 1435 UTC 4 November clock, the three-knot south set, no lights, no crew, increased caution, and the MRCC Varna visual-contact report. Do not log a numeric berth, a sunflower-oil cargo, Ramazan Bey, a flag, a wreck buoy, or a keep-clear around 43-30.60N that belongs to Khoryv.
Charterers and P&I will now ask whether the ship was east of Kaliakra after 1435 UTC on 4 November, whether it made visual contact, whether it called MRCC Varna, and whether it sent 775/26. They will not be answered by Wednesday night’s Akademik mile, by Khoryv’s five cables, or by a ministry sunflower-oil line that 797/26 does not print. Sightings of Mentor, of a tug on the hull, of a second unlit object, or of pollution go to MRCC Varna / VTMIS and to the company security officer. Registering a 775/26 SP e-mail is not a substitute for a sighting report. Next-port authorities at Varna, Constanta and the Turkish approaches will want a written account of a named unmanned tanker that 789/26 does not contain.
Keep the dedicated files on their own lines. 789/26 remains Wednesday night’s dedicated Akademik mile through 1700 UTC 30 November. 790/26 is this morning’s second dedicated file. 776/26 remains the dedicated Galata diving box through 051430 UTC 5 November. 777/26 remains the dedicated Burgas cutter-331 piece through 061600 UTC 6 November on its original file even if the live boards have dropped the number. 775/26 remains the two-hour territorial-sea e-mail. 784/26 remains Tuesday morning’s dedicated Ahtopol tank. 779/26 remains Monday morning’s dedicated four-container watch. 768/26 remains Contship Jet sunk at 43-07.80N 028-45.36E. 766/26 remains Khoryv five-cable east of Shabla. 93/26 remains the standing KAIROS five-cable wrap. 164/2026 remains Wednesday night’s Romanian firing box. Do not recast 5 November morning as a Khoryv rewrite, as a Contship naming, as Akademik unlit, or as a closed Bulgarian coast.
What Operators Should Note
- Log 797/26 as an official Bulgarian Mentor print, not as a Khoryv rewrite and not as a Contship naming. Official Bulgarian NAVWARN 797/26 on hs-navy.mod.bg, TOP URGENT, 4 November 2026. East of Cape Kaliakra. At 1435 UTC on 4 November 2026, m/t MENTOR, IMO 9340374, at 43-25.1N 028-37.0E, drifting south at 3 knots, without lights, no crew on board, increased caution, report to MRCC-Varna on visual contact. The notice printed neither flag, cargo, pollution, numeric berth, wreck buoy, tug, cancel time, nor a port closure. SeaLagom English, first-seen 17:46 UTC 4 November, matches. Official English still starts at 790/26 and has not taken 797. This is not 766/26, not 768/26, not 789/26, and not 790/26.
- Hold the plot as a moving unlit tanker, not as a wreck buoy. 43-25.1N 028-37.0E at 1435 UTC 4 November, south 3 knots. Do not freeze Kaliakra. Do not borrow 766/26’s five cables at 43-30.60N 028-43.69E. Do not borrow 789/26’s one-nautical-mile Akademik berth. Do not invent two nautical miles. Watch a later NAVWARN that moves the plot, kills the set, adds a radius, names a tug against 9340374, marks a wreck buoy, prints pollution, or cancels 797.
- Report visual contact to MRCC Varna, and still send 775/26. 797/26 is a sighting report, not a territorial-sea e-mail. Two hours before territorial-sea entry, e-mail [email protected] with SP A, H+C, G, I, P, W and X1–X4. Sending 775/26 is not a substitute for a Mentor sighting. A Mentor sighting is not a substitute for 775/26. Sightings of the hull, a tug, a second unlit object, or pollution go to MRCC Varna / VTMIS and the CSO.
- Keep ministry and wire colour off the hydrographic body. BNR 17:52 4 November and the transport ministry’s 4 November note — about 11,000 tonnes of sunflower oil, Constanta tow, tug Ramazan Bey, Shabla, owner contacted — are colour, not 797/26 facts. Maritime Executive’s Odesa / Ayaz Bey / Odin colour is colour. Do not promote cargo, tug names, a flag, or a September strike onto the NAVWARN.
- Keep 776/26 in the master’s pack through 1430 UTC this afternoon. Galata diving prohibition, four corners south of Cape Galata, 030600–051430 UTC 3–5 November, still in force on both official boards. 789/26 remains the Akademik mile through 1700 UTC 30 November. 766/26 remains Khoryv five-cable. Do not drop those files because Mentor is the new top line.
- Do not collapse 768/26, 784/26, 779/26 or 164/2026 onto this number. Contship Jet remains sunk at 43-07.80N 028-45.36E. 784/26 remains the Ahtopol tank at 42-09.2N 027-58.6E. 779/26 remains four Burgas containers. 790/26 is this morning’s Maslen Nos pair. 164/2026 remains the 11–12 November Romanian firing box. 797/26 is a Bulgarian coastal unmanned-tanker watch, not a firing polygon and not a container rewrite.
Regulas Shipping will keep lining NAVWARN 797/26 against Thursday’s dedicated 766/26 and against Wednesday night’s dedicated 789/26 so operators can treat Thursday morning’s tape as a named unmanned Mentor on a three-knot south set east of Kaliakra, not as a Khoryv rewrite, a Contship naming, or an Akademik mile.
