Most often, ghost ships are found in the North Atlantic. However, it is impossible to name the exact number of wanderers - it changes from year to year. According to statistics, in some years the number of “Dutch” ships drifting in the North Atlantic reached three hundred. Quite a lot of ghost ships drift in sea areas far from shipping routes and rarely visited by merchant ships.
At times, The Flying Dutchmen remind us of themselves. Either the current carries them to coastal shallows, or they are thrown by the wind onto rocks or underwater reefs. It happens that the “Dutch” ships, which do not carry running lights at night, become the cause of collisions with oncoming ships, which sometimes have serious consequences.
"Flying Dutchman"
This was the name of the ghost ship, controlled by the dead. It is believed that this is either a ship that was supposed to sink, but for some reason did not, or the victim of a giant squid or octopus.
Meeting the “flying Dutchman” at sea is considered a bad omen - such a meeting foreshadows death.
"Marlboro"
1913, October - the schooner Marlboro was brought by a storm to one of the bays of the Tierra del Fuego archipelago. The captain's assistant and several crew members boarded and were shocked by the terrible sight: dead bodies of crew members, dried up like mummies, were scattered throughout the sailing ship. The sailboat's masts were completely intact, but the entire schooner was covered with mold. In the hold it was the same: dead crew members everywhere, dried up like mummies.
The investigation established an incredible fact: a three-masted sailing ship left the port of Littleton in early January 1890, it was heading to Scotland, its home port of Glasgow, but for unknown reasons it never arrived at the port.
But what could have happened to the crew of the sailing ship? Did the calm deprive him of the wind and force him to drift aimlessly until all supplies of drinking water were exhausted? How could it happen that a sailboat with a dead crew did not crash on the reefs after 24 years of drifting?
"Orung Medan"
1947, June (according to other sources - early February 1948) - British and Dutch listening stations, as well as two American ships in the Strait of Malacca received a distress signal with the following content: “The captain and all the officers are lying dead in the cockpit and on the bridge. Perhaps the whole team is dead." This message was followed by unintelligible Morse code and a short phrase: “I’m dying.” No more signals were received, but the place where the message was sent was determined by triangulation, and one of the American ships mentioned above was immediately sent to it.
When the ship was discovered, they found out that its entire crew was indeed dead, including even the dog. No visible injuries were found on the bodies of the dead, although it was obvious from the expressions on their faces that they were dying in horror and severe agony. The ship itself was also not damaged, but members of the rescue team noted an unusual cold in the depths of the hold. Soon after the inspection began, suspicious smoke began to appear from the hold, and the rescuers were forced to hastily return to their ship. Some time after this, the Orung Medan exploded and sank, making further investigation of the incident impossible.
"Seabird"
On a July morning in 1850, residents of the village of Easton's Beach on the coast of Rhode Island were surprised to see a sailing ship heading towards the shore from the sea under full sail. He stopped in shallow water. When people came on board, they found coffee boiling on the galley stove, and plates were placed on the table in the salon. But the only living creature on board was a dog, trembling with fear, huddled in the corner of one of the cabins. There was not a single person on the ship.
The cargo, navigation instruments, maps, sailing directions and ship's documents were all in perfect order. The last entry in the logbook stated: "Abeam Brenton Reef" (this reef is located only a few miles from Easton's Beach).
It was known that the Seabird was carrying a cargo of timber and coffee from the island of Honduras. But even the most thorough investigation conducted by the Americans did not reveal the reasons for the disappearance of its crew from the sailing ship.
"Ebiy Ess Hart"
1894, September - the three-masted barque Ebiy Ess Hart was spotted in the Indian Ocean from the German steamer Pikkuben. A distress signal fluttered from its mast. When the German sailors landed on the deck of the sailing ship, they saw that all 38 crew members were dead, and the captain had gone crazy.
Unknown frigate
1908, October - not far from one of the major Mexican ports, a half-submerged frigate was discovered, with a strong list to the left side. The sailboat's mast topmasts were broken, the name was impossible to establish, and the crew was absent. There were no storms or hurricanes in this area of the ocean at that time. The search was fruitless, and the reasons for the disappearance of the crew remained a mystery, although many different hypotheses were put forward.
"I want"
1953, February - the sailors of the English ship "Rani", being 200 miles from the Nicobar Islands, discovered a small cargo ship "Holchu" in the ocean. The ship was damaged and the mast was broken. Although the lifeboats were in place, there was no crew. The holds contained a cargo of rice, and the bunkers contained a full supply of fuel and water. Where the 5 crew members could have disappeared still remains a mystery.
"Kobenhavn"
1928, December 4 - the Danish training sailing ship Kobenhavn left Buenos Aires to continue its circumnavigation. On board the sailing ship there was a crew and 80 students from the maritime school. A week later, when the Kobenhavn had already covered about 400 miles, a radiogram was received from the ship. It reported that the voyage was successful and that everything was fine on the ship. The further fate of the sailing ship and the people on it remains a mystery. The ship did not arrive at its home port, Copenhagen. They claim that he was subsequently encountered several times in different parts of the Atlantic. The sailboat was supposedly sailing under full sail, but there were no people on it.
"Mary Celeste"
1872 - one of the most famous ghost ships, the Mary Celeste, was found abandoned by its crew for no apparent reason. The ship was quite good, strong, without damage, but throughout its existence it often got into unpleasant situations, which is why a bad reputation was attached to it. The captain and his crew of seven people, as well as his wife and daughter, who were also on board at the time of transportation of the cargo - alcohol, disappeared without a trace. The ship, when discovered, was in good condition with sails set and sufficient supplies of food. There were no signs of a struggle. You can also exclude the version of pirates, because the crew's belongings and alcohol remained untouched.
"Joita"
To this day, the history of the motor ship “Joita” remains a mystery. The ship, which was considered lost, was discovered in the ocean. The ship was without crew or passengers. “Joita” is called the second “Mary Celeste”, about which A. Conan Doyle wrote: “The mystery of this ship will never be solved.” But if the events that took place on the “Celeste City Hall” took place in the century before last, then the disappearance of people on board the “Joyta” dates back to the second half of the twentieth century.
"Joita" had excellent seaworthiness. 1955, October 3 - the ship under the command of Captain Miller, an experienced and knowledgeable sailor, left the port of Apia on the island of Upolu (Western Samoa) and headed for the shores of the Tokelau archipelago. He did not arrive at his destination port.
A search was organized. Rescue ships, helicopters and planes searched the vast ocean area. But all efforts were in vain. The ship and 25 people on board were listed as missing. More than a month passed, and on November 10, the Joyta was accidentally discovered 187 miles north of the Fiji Islands. The ship was half-submerged and had a large list. There were no people or cargo on it.
Schooner Jenny
“May 4, 1823. No food for 71 days. I'm the only one left alive. “The captain who wrote this message was still sitting in his chair with a pen in his hand when this message was discovered in his journal 17 years later. His body, and the bodies of the other six people aboard the British schooner Jenny, were well preserved thanks to the cold weather of Antarctica, where the ship was frozen in ice and killed. The crew of the whaling ship that discovered Jenny after the disaster buried the people, including the dog, at sea.
"Angosh"
1971 - under mysterious circumstances, the Portuguese ship Angos was abandoned by its crew. This happened off the eastern coast of Africa. The transport "Angos" with a gross tonnage of 1,684 register tons and a carrying capacity of 1,236 tons left on April 23, 1971 from the port of Nacala (Mozambique) to another Mozambican port, Porto Amelia. Three days later, Angos discovered the Panamanian tanker Esso Port Dickson.
The ship was drifting without a crew, 10 miles from the coast. The newly-minted “Flying Dutchman” was taken in tow and brought to the port. After inspection, it turned out that the vehicle had suffered a collision. This was evidenced by the serious injuries he received. There were obvious signs of a recent fire on the bridge. Experts found that it could have been the result of a small explosion that occurred here. But it was never possible to explain the disappearance of 24 crew members and one passenger of the Angosh.
Submarine
1956 - an extraordinary ghost ship appeared in front of the residents of the island of New Georgia (from the Solomon Islands archipelago) gathered on the shore. It was a submarine drifting in the ocean. A skeleton, dried by the tropical sun, protruded from the cabin. The team was nowhere to be seen. The sea hulk was washed ashore by the wind and waves. It was determined to be an American World War II submarine. However, the fate of the crew remained a mystery.
Have you ever heard about mysterious cases during which passengers on planes and ships went missing? In the best case, people were found within a few days, and in the worst, news about their fate never appeared again. No remains, no debris...
Sometimes a long-awaited vacation seems like a real fairy tale, from which you really don’t want to return home and to work, but be careful what you wish for, because sometimes they turn into real disasters. Here is a list of the 10 most mysterious cases of mass disappearance of people.
10. Amelia Earhart's plane
Our first paragraph is dedicated to one of the most notorious disappearance cases in the history of American aviation. In 1937, brave Amelia Earhart set out to do something unimaginable - fly around the globe in her Lockheed Electra, starting the journey from sunny Florida and planning to follow the equator. The girl went on such a long and dangerous journey with her partner, Fred Noonan. The ship disappeared while flying somewhere over the Pacific Ocean. All searches for the plane were unsuccessful, which gave rise to many different theories about what exactly happened to the brave couple of pilots.
In 2017, a version emerged that Amelia and Fred actually survived, but were captured by the Japanese military in the Marshall Islands. This assumption appeared thanks to an old photograph taken in 1937. The photograph showed a barge towing an unidentified aircraft. The frame also included a man of European appearance, reminiscent of Fred, and someone’s female figure from the back. This version has not been confirmed in any way, but the most amazing thing is that even almost 80 years later, people are still trying to find an answer to the question of the fate of the travelers who disappeared so long ago and completely without a trace.
9. The ship "Madagascar"
In 1853, "Madagascar" set off on its next voyage along the route Melbourne - London. It was an ordinary ship carrying passengers and cargo. The ship disappeared without a trace, was never seen again, and not even the wreckage was found! Like any other missing ship, the Madagascar also attracted public attention. There are many theories about what exactly happened to this ship, but there is something special in this story - the events that occurred right before the voyage departed from the Australian port are of interest.
Before the ship disappeared, 110 passengers boarded the ship and loaded containers of rice and wool. However, the most valuable cargo turned out to be as much as 2 tons of gold. Three passengers were arrested just before departure, an incident that led experts to believe there may have been more criminals on board the ship than police realized. Perhaps at sea the attackers decided to rob the Madagascar and killed all the passengers so as not to leave witnesses. However, this does not explain why investigators were never able to find the ship itself.
8. Airplane "Stardust"
In 1947, British South American Airways' Stardust took off on schedule and took off through the famous Argentine Andes. A few minutes before disappearing from radar, the pilot of the aircraft sent a strange message encrypted in Morse code. The message read: "STENDEC". The disappearance of the plane and the mysterious code have greatly puzzled experts. Rumors even spread among the people about abduction by aliens. After a full 53 years, the mystery of the missing Stardust flight was finally solved.
In 2000, climbers discovered the remains of a plane and the bodies of several passengers on a remote peak in the frozen Andes at an altitude of almost 6,565 meters. Investigators believe that the plane crash could have triggered a powerful avalanche that covered the body of the aircraft and hid the traces of the remaining victims, which is why they were never found. As for the mysterious word STENDEC, the most likely version is considered to be an error in the typing of the STR DEC code, meaning a common abbreviation for the phrase “starting descent.”
7. Steam yacht “SY Aurora”
The history of the ship "SY Aurora" clearly demonstrates the power of such ships, but its ending still turned out to be quite tragic. A steam yacht is generally considered to be a sailboat with an additional primary or secondary steam engine. This yacht was originally built for whaling, but later it began to be used for scientific trips to Antarctica. There were a total of 5 such expeditions, and each time the ship proved itself to be a reliable vehicle, capable of withstanding the harshest weather and successfully protecting crew members from northern frosts. Nothing could break his power.
In 1917, the SY Aurora disappeared while en route to the shores of Chile. The ship was carrying coal to South America, but it never managed to complete its mission and deliver the cargo to its destination. Historians believe that the yacht could have become a casualty of the First World War. The wreckage of the ship was never found, so experts can only guess about the true reasons for the disappearance of the ship.
6. Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571
Unlike several previous stories, this plane did not just crash and disappear into oblivion... Several crew members survived and went through a real nightmare until rescuers found them. In 1972, Flight 571 was en route from Argentina to Chile with 40 passengers and 5 crew members on board. The charter was supposed to bring a team of athletes, their relatives and sponsors to the city of Santiago. The aircraft disappeared from radar somewhere in the Argentine Andes. During the crash, 12 passengers died immediately, and the rest had to fight for survival for another 72 days in the harshest conditions, which without special equipment are practically incompatible with life. Although it would be more accurate to say that 72 days turned out to be too long for most of them...
It is impossible to imagine how scared all these people were. In the first days of the disaster, another 5 people died from cold and severe injuries. One of the following days, a powerful avalanche covered the group of survivors, killing another 8 people. The freezing passengers had a faulty radio with them. It made it possible to listen to rescuers' conversations, but could not transmit messages from victims. So the people who survived the plane crash learned that their search had been stopped, and the victims themselves were declared dead in absentia. This deprived them of almost their last hope, although the thirst for life is almost impossible to kill. Desperate and exhausted athletes and pilots were forced to eat the frozen bodies of their friends, and in the end, out of 45 people, only 16 survived. For 2 and a half months, these people were in a real ice hell!
5. USS Capelin
This time we will not be talking about an airplane or a ship, but about a submarine. The submarine USS Capelin was in service with the American Army during World War II. On its first military voyage, the submarine sank a Japanese cargo ship, after which it was sent to the Australian shores for repairs and maintenance before its second mission. On November 17, 1943, the submarine set off on its second mission and has not been seen since.
As far as experts know, the ship’s route ran through a real sea minefield, so the most likely version is associated with the explosion of a submarine. However, the wreckage of the USS Capelin was never found, so the version with mines will remain just a guess. When the warship set off on its final mission, there were 76 crew members on board, whose fate their families never learned anything about.
4. Flying Tiger Line Flight 739
In 1963, Flight 739 was a Lockheed Constellation passenger aircraft. There were 96 passengers and 11 crew members on board, all of whom were heading to the Philippines. Flying Tiger Line was the first American cargo and passenger airline to operate scheduled flights. After 2 hours of flight, communication with the pilots of the ship was interrupted, and nothing more was heard from them. Probably, the crew did not have time to transmit any message, because the incident was too sudden, and the pilots simply did not have time to send a distress signal.
A tanker from an American oil corporation was sailing in the same area that day. The crew of this ship claimed that their members saw a flash in the sky, and they immediately decided that it was an explosion. According to one theory, there was sabotage on board the missing plane, or they tried to hijack it, which led to the most tragic consequences. However, the plane's wreckage was never found, leaving investigators left to wonder what really happened to Flying Tiger Line Flight 739.
3. The ship "SS Arctic"
In 1854, the American ship SS Arctic collided with a French steamship. After the strike, both ships remained afloat, but the incident still ended rather sadly. Almost 350 people died during this accident, and for some reason only men survived on board the American ship, while all the women and children died during the collision. In addition, the stricken SS Arctic continued on its way to shore, but never made it.
As it turned out, the American ship was still too damaged to continue safely, and it was because of this that it sank on the way to land. A monument was subsequently erected in Brooklyn in honor of those killed that day.
2. Malaysian Airlines Flight 370
In 2014, a Malaysian Airlines plane took off for Beijing with 239 people on board. An hour after takeoff, contact with this aircraft was lost, but no distress signal had been received before. Before Flight 370 disappeared, radar showed that the plane had lost its course - for some reason it was heading west instead of northeast.
After the disappearance of the airliner, numerous rescue teams were sent to search for it, which carefully combed the suspected crash site in the Indian Ocean. Only a small fragment was found. The search was also resumed in 2018, but again to no avail, despite all the efforts and resources expended. What exactly happened with this flight is still a big mystery.
1. SS Waratah
Since November 2008, the SS Waratah began operating regular voyages from England to Australia via South Africa. The ship could carry up to 700 passengers and had hundreds of first-class cabins. In July 2009, on the way back to Europe, the liner disappeared without a trace and was never seen again.
The last port the ship was in was Durban, South Africa. After this stop, the ship was supposed to sail to Cape Town, but it never appeared there. Experts have determined that the weather turned very bad during the voyage from Durban to Cape Town, and they believe that it was a storm that caused the supposed sinking and mysterious disappearance of the SS Waratah.
There have been many cases in history when large and reliable ships disappeared in the seas and oceans without a trace. They simply disappeared and were never found again. Is it any wonder that just recently a South Korean passenger airliner disappeared and no one can find it? Look how many sea vessels have disappeared, even today no one knows where they all went.
Mysterious disappearances. Missing ships. Even today, no one knows where they are now.
1. USS Wasp - missing escort
There were actually several ships that were named USS Wasp, but the strangest was the Wasp, which disappeared in 1814. Built in 1813 for the war with England, Wasp was a fast sloop with a square sail, 22 guns and a crew of 170 men. Wasp participated in 13 successful operations. On September 22, 1814, the ship captured the British merchant brig Atalanta. Typically, the Wasp's crew would simply burn enemy ships, but Atalanta was deemed too valuable to destroy. As a result, an order was received to escort Atalanta to the allied harbor, and Wasp set off towards the Caribbean Sea. He was never seen again.
2. SS Marine Sulfur Queen - a victim of the Bermuda Triangle
The ship was a 160-meter tanker that was originally used to transport oil during World War II. The ship was later rebuilt to carry molten sulfur. Marine Sulfur Queen was in excellent condition. In February 1963, two days after leaving Texas with a cargo of sulfur, a routine radio message was received from the ship saying that everything was in order. After that the ship disappeared. Many speculate that it simply exploded, while others blame the “magic” of the Bermuda Triangle for its disappearance. The bodies of 39 crew members were not found, although a life jacket and a piece of board with a piece of the inscription "arine SULPH" were recovered.
3. USS Porpoise - lost in typhoon
Built during the golden age of sailing ships, the Porpoise was originally known as a "hermaphrodite brig" because its two masts used two different types of sails. She was later converted to a traditional brigantine with square sails on both masts. The ship was first used to chase pirates, and in 1838 it was sent on an exploration expedition. The team managed to travel around the world and confirm the existence of Antarctica. After exploring a number of islands in the South Pacific, the Porpoise sailed from China in September 1854, after which no one heard from her. It is likely that the crew encountered a typhoon, but there is no evidence of this.
4. FV Andrea Gail – victim of the “perfect storm”
The fishing trawler Andrea Gai was built in Florida in 1978 and subsequently purchased by a company in Massachusetts. With a crew of six, Andrea Gail sailed successfully for 13 years and disappeared during a voyage to Newfoundland. The Coast Guard launched a search, but were only able to find the ship's distress beacon and some debris. After a week of searching, the ship and its crew were declared missing. Andrea Gail is believed to have been doomed when a high-pressure front crashed into a massive area of low-pressure air, causing the nascent typhoon to merge with the remnants of Hurricane Grace. This rare combination of three separate weather systems eventually became known as the "perfect storm." According to experts, Andrea Gail could have encountered waves more than 30 meters high.
5. SS Poet - the ship that did not send a distress signal
The ship was originally called the Omar Bundy and was used to transport troops during World War II. It was later used to transport steel. In 1979, the ship was purchased by the Hawaiian corporation Eugenia Corporation of Hawaii, which named it "Poet". In 1979, the ship left Philadelphia for Port Said with a cargo of 13,500 tons of corn, but never reached its destination. The last communication with the Poet occurred just six hours after leaving the port of Philadelphia, when one of the crew members spoke with his wife. After this, the ship did not make a scheduled 48-hour communication session, and the ship did not issue a distress signal. Eugenia Corporation did not report the ship's loss for six days, and the Coast Guard did not respond for another 5 days after that. No traces of the ship were ever found.
6. USS Conestoga - the missing minesweeper
USS Conestoga was built in 1917 and served as a minesweeper. After the end of the First World War it was converted into a tugboat. In 1921, the ship was transferred to Samoa, where it was to become a floating station. On March 25, 1921, the ship set sail, nothing more is known about it.
7. Witchcraft - a pleasure boat that disappeared at Christmas
In December 1967, Miami hotelier Dan Burak decided to admire the city's Christmas lights from his personal luxury boat, Witchcraft. Accompanied by his father Patrick Hogan, he went about 1.5 km out to sea. It is known that the boat was in perfect order. Around 9 p.m., Burak radioed to request a tow back to the pier, reporting that his boat had been struck by an unknown object. He confirmed his coordinates to the coast guard and specified that he would launch a flare. Rescuers reached the scene within 20 minutes, but Witchcraft had disappeared. The Coast Guard combed more than 3,100 square kilometers of ocean, but neither Dan Burak, nor Patrick Hogan, nor Witchcraft were ever found.
8. USS Insurgent: the mysterious disappearance of a warship
The US Navy frigate Insurgent was captured by the Americans in battle with the French in 1799. The ship served in the Caribbean, where she won many glorious victories. But on August 8, 1800, the ship sailed from Virginia Hampton Roads and mysteriously disappeared.
9. SS Awahou: lifeboats didn't help
Built in 1912, the 44-metre freighter Awahou went through many owners before eventually being purchased by Australia's Carr Shipping & Trading Company. On September 8, 1952, the ship sailed from Sydney with a crew of 18 people and set sail for the private island of Lord Howe. The ship was in good shape when it left Australia, but within 48 hours an unclear, "crispy" radio signal was received from the ship. The speech was almost impossible to understand, but it sounded like Awahou was caught in bad weather. Although the ship had enough lifeboats for the entire crew, no traces of the wreck or bodies were found.
10. SS Baychimo - Arctic ghost ship
Some call it a ghost ship, but Baychimo was actually a real ship. Built in 1911, Baychimo was a huge steam freighter owned by the Hudson's Bay Company. The ship was primarily used to transport furs from northern Canada. The first nine flights were relatively calm. But during the ship's last voyage, in 1931, winter came very early. Completely unprepared for bad weather, the ship found itself trapped in the ice. Most of the crew were rescued by plane, but the captain and several Baychimo crew members decided to wait out the bad weather by setting up camp on the ship. A severe snowstorm began, which completely hid the ship from sight. When the storm subsided, Baychimo disappeared. However, over the course of several decades, Baychimo was allegedly seen more than once drifting aimlessly in Arctic waters.
Source
Ghost ships are ships that are sailing but do not have a crew on board. The crew could disappear or die for several reasons: epidemics, natural disasters in the form of wandering waves, mass poisoning, etc.
Stories about ghost ships are widely used in literature, cinema, fables, legends, and pirate stories. One of the most famous legends is the story of the Flying Dutchman. According to sailors, meeting this ghost ship at sea promises huge troubles. Despite the huge number of fictional stories, there have been quite a lot of real cases of the appearance of such ships.
Ghost ships found at sea from the 18th to the 20th centuries
In 1775, a merchant ship from England, the Octavius, was discovered off the coast of Greenland with the frozen bodies of crew members on board. The ship's log showed that the ship set sail in 1762.
In 1850, a mysterious fish was discovered on the coast of Rhode Island, stuck in shallow water. They found a dog on the deck, all the documents and cargo were in place, even coffee was boiling on the stove. Not a single crew member was found even after a thorough investigation. The sailing ship Seabird was carrying timber and coffee from the island of Honduras.
One of the most famous ghost ships, the Mary Celeste, was discovered abandoned by its crew for no apparent reason in 1872. The ship was quite good, strong, without damage, but throughout its existence it often got into unpleasant situations, which is why it received notoriety. The captain and his crew of 7 people, as well as his wife and daughter, who were also on the ship at the time of transportation of the cargo - alcohol, disappeared without a trace.
"Mary Celeste"
In 1921, the schooner Carroll Deering was spotted from the lighthouse. The captain and crew of 9 people were not found. The sails were removed, food supplies and personal belongings of the crew remained untouched. At the same time, sextants, chronometers and a logbook were missing, some of the instruments and steering were disabled.
Schooner "Carroll Deering"
The Orang Medan, discovered in 1948, sent strange SOS signals to nearby merchant ships, warning of dead crew. When the sailors boarded the ship, they found that all the crew members were dead, and an expression of horror was frozen on their faces. Unexpectedly for everyone on the ship, spontaneous combustion began, which led to an explosion and the ship sank. No one was able to find any documentary explanations of what was happening on the ship.
"Flying Dutchman"- a legendary ghost sailing ship that cannot land on the shore and is doomed to forever roam the seas. Usually people observe such a ship from afar, sometimes surrounded by a luminous halo.
According to legend, when the Flying Dutchman encounters another ship, its crew tries to send messages ashore to people who have long been dead. In maritime beliefs, an encounter with the Flying Dutchman was considered a bad omen.
Ships that were found abandoned in the oceans, with the crew dead from unknown causes or completely absent, also began to be called ghost ships. The most famous and classic of these is certainly "Mary Celeste"(Mary Celeste).
In December 1872, this ship was found by the captain of the brig Deia Grazia. He began to send signals, but the crew of the Mary Celeste did not respond to them, and the ship itself swayed limply on the waves. The captain and sailors landed on the mysterious brigantine, but the ship was empty.
The last entry in the ship's log was made in November 1872. It seemed that the crew had only recently abandoned this ship. There was no damage to the ship, there was food in the kitchen, and there were 1,700 barrels of alcohol in the hold. The Mary Celeste was delivered to the Gibraltar roadstead a few days later.
The Admiralty could not understand where the crew of the brigantine had gone, the captain of which was the sailor Briggs, who had been sailing sailing ships for more than twenty years. Since there was no news of the ship, and its crew never appeared, the investigation ceased.
However, the news of the mystical disappearance of the Mary Celeste crew spread among the people with incredible speed. People began to wonder what happened to Briggs and his sailors? Some were inclined to believe that the ship was attacked by pirates, others believed that the problem was a riot. But these were just guesses.
Time passed and the mystery of “Mary Celeste” went beyond the local one, because... people started talking about her everywhere. It is worth noting that with the end of the investigation, stories about the mysterious ship did not stop. Stories about the brigantine often appeared in newspapers; journalists described a wide variety of versions of the disappearance of the crew.
Thus, they wrote that the entire crew died as a result of an attack by a huge octopus, and that a plague epidemic broke out on the ship. And the Times said that all the passengers on the ship were killed by Captain Briggs, who went crazy. And he threw the corpses overboard. After that, he tried to sail away on a boat, but it sank with him. But all these stories were just fiction and speculation.
From time to time, charlatans came to the editorial office and pretended to be the surviving sailors of the Mary Celeste. They received fees for “real” stories and then went into hiding. After several incidents, the police were already on alert. In 1884, the London almanac Cornhill wrote the memoirs of Shebekuk Jephson, a sailor who was on that ill-fated ship. However, it later turned out that the author of these “memoirs” was Arthur Conan Doyle.
Most ghost ships drift in the North Atlantic. True, no one can say for sure the number of wanderers - it changes from year to year. Statistics show that in some years the number of “Dutchmen” drifting in the North Atlantic reached three hundred.
Quite a lot of stray ships are found in sea areas far from shipping routes and rarely visited by merchant ships. From time to time the Flying Dutchmen remind themselves. Either the current carries them to coastal shallows, or they find themselves thrown by the wind onto rocks or underwater reefs. It happens that “Dutch” boats, which do not carry running lights at night, become the cause of collisions with oncoming ships, which sometimes have grave consequences.
"ANGOSH"
In 1971, under mysterious circumstances, the Portuguese transport Angos was abandoned by the team. This happened off the eastern coast of Africa. The transport "Angos" with a gross tonnage of 1684 register tons and a carrying capacity of 1236 tons left on April 23, 1971 from the port of Nacala (Mozambique) to another Mozambican port, Porto Amelia.
Three days later, the Angos was discovered by the Panamanian tanker Esso Port Dickson. The transport was drifting without a crew, ten miles from the coast. The newly-minted “Flying Dutchman” was taken in tow and brought to the port. An examination showed that the ship had suffered a collision. This was evidenced by the serious injuries he received.
The bridge bore obvious signs of a recent fire. Experts determined that it could have been the result of a small explosion that occurred here. However, it was not possible to explain the disappearance of 24 crew members and one passenger of the Angosh.
"MARLBORO"
In October 1913, a storm brought the schooner Marlborough to one of the bays of the Tierra del Fuego archipelago. The captain's assistant and several members of his crew boarded and were shocked by the terrible sight: dead bodies of crew members, dried up like mummies, were scattered throughout the sailing ship.
The sailboat's masts were completely intact, and the entire schooner was covered in mold. The same thing was happening in the hold: dead crew members everywhere, dried up like mummies.
As a result of the investigation, an incredible fact was established: a three-masted sailing ship left the port of Littleton in early January 1890, heading to Scotland, to its home port of Glasgow, but for some reason never arrived at the port.
However, what happened to the crew of the sailing ship? Did the calm deprive him of the wind and force him to drift aimlessly until all supplies of drinking water were exhausted? How could it be that a sailing ship with a dead crew did not crash on the reefs after twenty-four years of drifting?
"ORUNG MEDAN"
In June 1947 (according to other sources - in early February 1948), British and Dutch listening stations, as well as two American ships in the Strait of Malacca, received a distress signal with the following content: “The captain and all the officers lie dead in the cockpit and on the bridge. Perhaps the whole team is dead." This message was followed by unintelligible Morse code and the short phrase: “I’m dying.”
No more signals were received, but the place where the message was sent was determined by triangulation, and one of the American ships mentioned above immediately headed towards it.
When the ship was found, it turned out that its entire crew was indeed dead, including even the dog. No visible injuries were found on the bodies of the victims, although it was obvious from the expressions on their faces that they were dying in horror and great agony.
The ship itself was also not damaged, but members of the rescue team noted an unusual cold in the depths of the hold. Soon after the inspection began, suspicious smoke began to appear from the hold, and the rescuers had to quickly return to their ship.
Some time after this, the Orung Medan exploded and sank, making further investigation into the incident impossible.
"SEABIRD"
On a July morning in 1850, residents of the village of Easton's Beach on the coast of Rhode Island were surprised to see a sailing ship heading towards the shore from the sea under full sail. It stopped in shallow water.
When the men boarded the ship, they found coffee boiling on the galley stove and plates laid out on the table in the salon. But the only living creature on board was a dog, trembling with fear, huddled in the corner of one of the cabins. There was not a single person on the ship.
The cargo, navigational instruments, maps, sailing directions and ship's documents were in place. The last entry in the logbook stated: "Abeam Brenton Reef" (this reef is only a few miles from Easton's Beach).
It was known that the Seabird was sailing with a cargo of timber and coffee from the island of Honduras. However, even the most thorough investigation conducted by the Americans did not reveal the reasons for the disappearance of its crew from the sailing ship.
"ABY ASS HART"
In September 1894, the three-masted barque Ebiy Ess Hart was spotted in the Indian Ocean from the German steamer Pikkuben. A distress signal fluttered from its mast. When the German sailors landed on the deck of the sailing ship, they saw that all 38 crew members were dead, and the captain had gone crazy.
UNKNOWN FRIGATE
In October 1908, not far from one of the major Mexican ports, a half-submerged frigate was discovered, with a strong list to port. The sailboat's mast topmasts were broken, the name was impossible to establish, and the crew was absent.
No storms or hurricanes were recorded in this area of the ocean at this time. The searches were unsuccessful, and the reasons for the disappearance of the crew remained unclear, although many different hypotheses were put forward.
"I WANT"
In February 1953, the sailors of the English ship "Rani", being two hundred miles from the Nicobar Islands, discovered a small cargo ship "Holchu" in the ocean. The ship was damaged and the mast was broken.
Although the lifeboats were in place, the crew was missing. The holds contained a cargo of rice, and the bunkers contained a full supply of fuel and water. Where the five crew members disappeared to remains a mystery.
"KOBENKHAVN"
On December 4, 1928, the Danish training sailing ship Kobenhavn left Buenos Aires to continue its circumnavigation. On board the sailing ship there was a crew and 80 students from the maritime school. A week later, when the Kobenhavn had already covered about 400 miles, a radiogram was received from the ship.
The command reported that the voyage was successful and that everything was fine on the ship. The further fate of the sailing ship and the people on it remains a mystery. The ship did not arrive at its home port, Copenhagen.
It is said that he was subsequently encountered many times in various parts of the Atlantic. The sailboat was supposedly sailing under full sail, but there were no people on it.
"JOYTA"
The history of the motor ship "Joita" remains a mystery to this day. The ship, which was thought to be lost, was found in the ocean. It sailed without a crew or passengers. "Joita" is called the second "Mary Celeste", but if the events that took place on the "Mary Celeste" took place in the century before last, then the disappearance of people from board the "Joita" dates back to the second half of the 20th century.
"Joita" had excellent seaworthiness. On October 3, 1955, the ship under the command of Captain Miller, an experienced and knowledgeable sailor, left the port of Apia on the island of Upolu (Western Samoa) and headed for the shores of the Tokelau archipelago.
It did not arrive at the destination port. A search was organized. Rescue ships, helicopters and planes searched the vast ocean area. However, all efforts were in vain. The ship and 25 people on board were listed as missing.
More than a month passed, and on November 10, the Joyta was accidentally discovered 187 miles north of the Fiji Islands. The ship floated in a half-submerged state and had a large list. There were no people or cargo on it.
