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One of the most tragic mysteries of the sea is when a
ship disappears without a trace, but I'd say it's arguably even creepier
when the ship IS found, yet the crew has all but vanished. Was it a
storm that washed the crew away, or something far more sinister? Here's
a list of ghost ships that were salvaged at sea despite their crews
finding a new home in Davy Jones's Locker.
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Marlborough
This British merchant ship was thought to have disappeared in 1890, but
in 1913, a Singapore newspaper reported that the Marlborough had been
spotted near Chile by a ship called the Johnson. The paper reported that
the Johnson saw a mysterious green light, leading them to the
Marlborough ahead. When they boarded the ship, they found that the crew
were nothing more than skeletons. |
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MV Tai Ching XXI
In 2008, a 50-ton Taiwanese fishing vessel was found near Kiribati in
the Pacific Ocean. It had clearly been ravaged by fire, all its
lifeboats were deployed, and yet none of the 29-member crew were ever
found. |
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Carroll A. Deering
Built in 1919 in Maine, The Carroll was a five-masted schooner. On its
last voyage to Brazil, there were problems amongst the crew. While
stopping for supplies in Barbados, sailors overheard the first mate of
the Carroll threaten to kill the captain. The sailor was arrested but
the captain forgave him, bailed him out, and they set sail. A month
later, the ship was briefly spotted by a lighthouse keeper, who said a
mysterious crewman with a foreign accent told him the ship had lost its
anchors. A few days later, the ship was seen floating off the coast of
Cape Hatteras, but when it was boarded, there were no signs of the crew. |
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Kaz II
When the Kaz II catamaran was found floating 88 miles off the coast of
Australia in 2007, its motor was still running, dinner was laid out on
the table, laundry was hanging, and the life jackets remained. And yet,
there was no sign of the three crew members. Even stranger is the
footage taken just before the men disappeared; it shows them relaxing on
the ship while it was close to shore. |
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Bel Amica
The Italian coast guard was especially baffled by the Bel Amica when it
was found empty off the coast of Sardinia. The ship had never been
registered in Italy...or any country, for that matter. It's only
identifier was a plaque that read "Bel Amica," which is a misspelling of
beautiful friend -- bell'amica -- in Italian. The ship was revealed to
be owned by a man named Franc Rouayrux from Luxembourg. He hadn't
registered the boat for tax evasion reasons.
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