Stories about ghost pirates. "The Flying Dutchman" - a ghost ship

The story of the Flying Dutchman, a ghost ship that brings misfortune to sailors who meet it on its way, did not arise out of nowhere. Stumbling upon a half-submerged ship at sea, abandoned by its crew, but never sunk, is mortally dangerous.

Many people believe that ghost ships are something from centuries past. In fact, even today ships abandoned by their crews are still drifting in the oceans, causing a lot of trouble for both cargo ships and passenger liners.

“Baichimo” Photo: Frame youtube.com

"Baichimo": "Flying Dutchman" in the Arctic ice

The merchant ship "Baichimo" was built in 1911 in Sweden by order of Germany. The ship was intended to transport the skins of game animals. After World War I, the ship came under the British flag and sailed along the polar coasts of Canada and the USA.

In the fall of 1931, "Baychimo" with a cargo of furs fell into an ice trap off the coast of Alaska. In anticipation of a thaw and the release of the ship from captivity, the crew went ashore. Then a snowstorm broke out, and the sailors, who returned to the place where they had left the Baychimo, discovered that it was gone. The crew believed that the ship sank.

However, after some time, information arrived that the ship was again trapped in ice and was located about 45 miles from the team’s camp.

They reached the Baychimo, but the ship's owners believed that its damage was so serious that it would inevitably sink. The ship was left in place, but, freed from ice captivity, it set off for free navigation.

Over the next 40 years, information regularly came in that the Baichimo continued its endless journey through the ice.

The last such information is dated 1969. In 2006, the Alaska government launched an operation to search for Baychimo, but it was unsuccessful. Most likely, the ship sank, but there is no reliable information about this. So it is possible that the northern “Flying Dutchman” will remind of itself.

"Reuun Maru": the trawler that did not want to die

Japanese fishing trawler The Reuun Maru was assigned to the port of Hachinohe in Aomori Prefecture. The usual story The ship ended on March 11, 2011, when the ship was carried out to sea during a powerful tsunami.

The owners believed that the ship had sunk. However, a year later, in March 2012, the trawler was spotted off the coast of British Columbia in Canada. "Reuun Maru" was rusty, but stayed quite confident on the water.

On April 1, 2012, the ship crossed the US waters. The Coast Guard concluded that the trawler posed a potential threat to shipping. Since the Japanese owners showed no interest in its fate, it was decided to destroy the Reuun Maru.

On April 5, a coast guard ship shot at a trawler. The Reuun Maru showed great survivability: despite the large amount of damage, the ghost ship sank to the bottom only after four hours. The trawler rests at a depth of 305 meters, 240 kilometers off the coast of Alaska.

Kaz-II: the mystery of the Australian catamaran

Yacht Kaz-II. Photo: Frame youtube.com

The Australian catamaran yacht Kaz-II was in the status of a ghost ship for only a few days, but that doesn’t make its story any less interesting.

On April 18, 2007, the yacht was accidentally spotted from a helicopter floating freely in the Great Barrier Reef area. Two days later, a maritime patrol boarded the yacht and found the vessel in perfect working order: the engine was running, there was no damage, untouched food and a laptop were found on the table. But there were no people on board.

It is known that on April 15, Kaz-II left Airlie Beach for Townsville. There were 3 people on board: a 56-year-old yacht owner Derek Batten and brothers Peter And James Tunstead, 69 and 63 years old, respectively. There were no signs indicating an accident or murder.

The vessel was towed to the Port of Townsville for further investigation. It was not possible to find the missing people or establish reliably what exactly happened.

The most likely version is that one of the brothers jumped into the water, trying to free a stuck fishing line, the second brother rushed to help a relative, and the owner of the yacht, trying to turn the catamaran closer to his friends, was hit by a sail into the ocean. As a result, all three drowned, and Kaz-II continued its voyage without people.

High Aim 6: Mutiny on a Ship

High Aim 6. Photo: Flickr.com / Ben Jensz

On January 8, 2003, the Taiwanese ship High Aim 6 was discovered off the northwestern coast of Australia.

The fishing ship left a Taiwanese port on October 31, 2002 under the flag of Indonesia. The last communication between the owner and the captain took place in December 2002.

By the time it was discovered, High Aim 6 was drifting in calm waters. The ship had no serious damage, the crew's belongings remained on board, the holds were filled with tuna, which had already begun to spoil, but there were no people on board.

The idea that people could have been washed overboard was rejected by meteorologists: there were almost ideal weather conditions in the High Aim 6 sailing area. The version about the seizure of the ship by pirates also did not look convincing, due to the fact that both the cargo and the valuables of the crew members remained untouched.

The 14 people on board disappeared without a trace. During the investigation, testimony was obtained from an Indonesian who claimed that a crew mutiny broke out on board High Aim 6, during which the captain and his assistant were killed. After this, the Indonesians who made up the crew boarded the boat and left the ship, and then returned home.

However, no reliable confirmation of this version was received.

The double-deck cruise ship, built in 1976 in Yugoslavia by order of the USSR, faithfully served as part of the Far Eastern Shipping Company for more than 20 years.

After this, Lyubov Orlova was sold to a company registered in Malta, seriously rebuilt, and used on Arctic sea cruises.

However, the new owners ultimately failed, and in 2010 the ship was seized for debt in a Canadian port.

The Lyubov Orlova remained there for two years, after which the ship was sold for scrap.

The ship was towed for disposal in the Dominican Republic, but a storm began, the ropes broke, and the Lyubov Orlova went free to sail in international waters.

They did not search for the ship, believing that it would soon sink.

The Lyubov Orlova was considered sunk until the US National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency satellite detected the ship 1,700 km off the coast of Ireland in February 2013.

In January 2014, The Mirror reported that the coast services of Great Britain and Ireland were on high alert due to the fact that the former Soviet cruise ship Lyubov Orlova was approaching the territorial waters of these countries from the depths of the Atlantic. The information, however, was not confirmed.

Experts believe that the Lyubov Orlova should have sunk back in 2013 due to strong storms. However, there is still no confirmation of the death of the ghost ship.

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 - to one of the bays of the archipelago Tierra del Fuego The schooner Marlboro was brought in by a storm. 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 in 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 really deprive him of his sails and force him to drift aimlessly until all his supplies were exhausted? drinking water? 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 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 that from the sea, under full sail, a sailing ship. He stopped in shallow water. People came on board to find coffee boiling on the galley stove and plates laid out on the table in the cabin. But the only thing living creature on board there 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 - in Indian Ocean The three-masted barque Ebiy Ess Hart was spotted 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 masts 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 is still a mystery.

"Kobenhavn"

1928, December 4 - the Danish training sailing ship "Cobenhavn" 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. Further fate the sailing ship and the people on it remain 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.

People who have never traveled across the seas and oceans, and have seen ghost ships only in horror and science fiction films, cannot understand ordinary sailors who go on voyages for 3-6 months and sometimes observe this, something that cannot be believed without evidence. Sailors get used to storms and strong storms faster than to the realization that phantoms of ships that sank long ago can appear in the depths of the ocean. History knows a lot of examples of tragically sunken liners, which in our time have become overgrown with legends and cause horror in the eyes of listeners. And the horror is that such ships are periodically seen alive, and our article will describe exactly 10 ghost ships that seriously excite the blood.

1 "Kaleuche"

The southern coast of Chile is famous for the island of Chiloe, to which, according to local inhabitants, a ghostly ship sails from time to time. Its name is “Kaleuche” and it is neither commercial, nor military, nor even pirate... according to legend, the souls of dead sailors are transported on it to another world. Eyewitnesses claim that there is fun on the ship and cheerful music is playing. And although the schooner is ghostly, it looks quite real, bright and beautiful. For just a couple of minutes, the Kaleuche can be observed near this island, and then, as if in a film, the ship literally dissolves into the depths of the sea.

2

Happened in 1947 real event, which still gives goosebumps even to those who were not involved in it. One of the crew members of Ourang Medan sent a distress signal to the nearest seaport. Judging by his voice, something terrible was happening on board the ship, since last words the sailor, which he said over the radio, were “I’m dying.” The rescuers responded quickly, but once on board the Ourang Medan, they found a strange and creepy picture: the entire crew was dead, but the strange thing was that the bodies of the dead were recorded in strange poses and with their eyes wide open.

3 Joyita

Merchant ships often disappear under mysterious circumstances, but are still found over time (even after decades). But a ship called Joyita, whose crew consisted of 25 sailors and was transporting wood and medical supplies, disappeared without a trace! There were no distress signals from the ship, and the weather was calm those days, but Joyita, which was supposed to be loaded with copra on the way back, never returned to its destination.

4 Bel Amica

It also happens when ships appear from the distance of the sea without any special signs by which they can be identified. This happened in 2006, when guards noticed a drifting ship called Bel Amica near a port in Italy. Rescuers found no one on board, although remnants of recent food and playing cards indicated that the ship had been abandoned recently and in a hurry. It would seem that what is strange here? According to the database, based on the name of the ship, Bel Amica could not be identified to this day!

5 "Beichimo"

At the beginning of the last century, off the coast of Alaska, the ship Beichimo sailed on the water. But the ship did not last long, as it soon became trapped in pack ice. The crew of the ship was evacuated, but the marine unit itself drifted for 40 years and sank, although, according to eyewitnesses, it occasionally appeared on the horizon.

6 "Mary Celeste"

The ship "Mary Celeste" - real example lack of logic and mystery. In 1972, in the waters of the Atlantic, near Portugal, a ship was drifting in impeccable condition. After examining it, the rescuers were very surprised by the fact that the passengers’ personal belongings, a six-month supply of provisions and, in general, all kinds of valuables on board the mysterious liner remained untouched, but the people disappeared without a trace.

7 "Octavius"

This story “stands out” from a number of similar ones, since it is fictional. However, the story of “Octavius” turned out to be so fascinating that it became surrounded by legends. So, at the end of the 18th century, a ghost ship was discovered drifting in the Arctic Ocean. The Octavius ​​was discovered near Greenland, the crew of which was long dead, but the bodies were preserved in very good condition. This phenomenon was explained simply: low air temperature. The most terrible sight awaited the rescue team in the captain's cabin, where the captain's frozen corpse was discovered at the table with the logbook.

8 "Carroll A. Deering"

This story can be connected, although there is no evidence, with Bermuda Triangle. The Carroll A. Deering, launched in 1919, was discovered 2 years later near the North. Carolina. The crew was not found on board the ghost ship, and the details of their disappearance could not be accurately established. There was also a version that the ship was plundered by pirates.

9 "Flying Dutchman"

It’s impossible to count how many films have been made about this ghost ship! “Pirates of the Caribbean” is one of these films, where Davy Jones, whose head consisted of tentacles (if you watched it, remember), acted as the maddened captain of the “Flying Dutchman”. In fact, the captain's name was Philip Van der Decken (although this is a fictional character) and he was crazy about the idea of ​​sailing around the Cape of Good Hope during a storm. This led to the ship sinking, and its phantom roamed the open ocean and scared away merchant ships.

10

Another fairy tale that has become a legend. Simon Peel, the captain of this schooner, went on a cruise with his betrothed, not paying attention to the fact that with a woman on the ship you can expect trouble! As a result, his jealous assistant sank the ship along with all the members of Lady Lovebond. According to legend, a schooner can be seen off the coast of South-East England once every half century.

In the Philippines, fishermen found the mummified body of a 59-year-old man who had been lying in a half-submerged yacht for several days. He writes about this on Tuesday The Independent.

According to the publication, a German boatmaster named Manfred Fritz Bayorath, who operated the yacht Sajo, died a non-violent death. According to the police, who conducted an examination, the cause of death was most likely a heart attack. The sailor's body was turned into a mummy due to the salty ocean air and dry weather.

The man was identified thanks to documents and numerous photographs that law enforcement officers found on board the yacht, which, according to the newspaper, drifted in the Pacific Ocean for several months before it was discovered by fishermen.

Let us note that situations have happened quite often in the world before and still happen today when ships without crews were found on the high seas. Such ships are usually called “ghost ships.” This term is most often used in legends and fiction, however, it can also mean a real ship that previously disappeared, and then after some time was discovered at sea without a crew or with a dead crew on board. In most cases, many encounters with such ships are fictional, but nevertheless known real cases, which are documented - thanks to entries in the logbook, for example. MIR 24 remembered the most famous “ghost ships” in the history of navigation.

(George Grieux. "Sunrise" full moon" From the series “Ghost Ship”.)

In 1775, a merchant ship from England called the Octavius ​​was discovered off the coast of Greenland, carrying dozens of frozen bodies of crew members. The ship's log showed that the ship was returning to the UK from China. The ship set sail in 1762 and attempted to navigate the rugged Northwest Passage, which was only successfully crossed in 1906. The ship and the frozen bodies of its crew drifted among the pack ice for 13 years.

Almost a century later, in 1850, a mysterious sailing ship called the Seabird, carrying timber and coffee from the island of Honduras, became stuck in shallow waters off the coast of Rhode Island. On board, in one of the cabins, only a dog was found shaking with fear. No people were found on the ship, despite the fact that aromatic coffee was boiling on the galley stove and there was a map and a logbook on the table. The last entry in it read: “We went abeam Brenton Reef.” Based on the results of the incident, a thorough investigation was carried out, which nevertheless could not answer the question of where the crew of the sailing ship had gone.

(Abandoned by the crew of the Mary Celeste)

On December 4, 1872, 400 miles from Gibraltar, the ship Dei Grazia discovered the brigantine Mary Celeste without a single crew member on board. The ship was quite good, strong, without damage, but, according to legend, during its entire voyage it very often found itself in 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, which included, in particular, alcohol, disappeared without a trace.

Many “ghost ships” were found by sailors and fishermen in the last millennium. So, at the end of January 1921, the keeper of the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse noticed the five-masted schooner Carroll A. Deering on the outer edge of the Diamond Shoals. All the sails of the ship were removed; there was no one on board except the ship's cat. Nobody touched the cargo, food and personal belongings of the crew members. The only things missing were lifeboats, a chronometer, sextants and a logbook. The schooner's steering did not function; in addition, the ship's compass and some navigational instruments were broken. It was never possible to find out why and where the Carroll A. Deering team disappeared.

(The SS Valencia in 1904)

In 1906, the passenger steamer SS Valencia sank off the southwest coast of Vancouver Island. 27 years after the disaster, in 1933, sailors found a lifeboat from this ship floating in the area in good condition. Moreover, the sailors claimed that they observed the Valencia itself, following down the coast. But it turned out to be just a vision.

In February 1948, according to legend, merchant ships located in the Strait of Malacca near Sumatra received a radio signal from the Dutch motor ship Orang Medan: “SOS! Motor ship "Orang Medan". The ship continues to follow its course. Maybe all our crew members have already died.” This was followed by incoherent dots and dashes. At the end of the radiogram it said: “I am dying.” The ship was found by English sailors. The entire crew of the ship was dead. There was an expression of horror on the faces of the crew members. Suddenly, a fire broke out in the hold of the ship, and soon the ship exploded. A powerful explosion broke the ship in half, after which the Orang Medan sank. The most popular theory for the death of the crew is that the ship was carrying nitroglycerin without special packaging.

At the beginning of 1953, the cargo ship "Holchu" with a cargo of rice was discovered by sailors of the English ship "Raney". Due to the elements, the ship was significantly damaged, but the lifeboats were not touched. In addition, there was a full supply of fuel and water on board. Five crew members disappeared without a trace.

“Ghost ships” were also seen in the new century. Thus, in 2003, the Indonesian fishing schooner Hi Em 6 was found drifting without a crew near New Zealand. A large-scale search was organized, which, however, did not yield any results - 14 team members could not be found.

In 2007, a story happened in Australia with the ghost yacht Kaz II. The ship left Airlie Beach on April 15 and was discovered off the coast of Queensland a few days later. Rescuers got on board the yacht and saw the engine, radio, and GPS laptop working. In addition, lunch was prepared and the table was set, but the crew, which consisted of three people, was not on board. The sails of the yacht were in place, but badly damaged. No life jackets or other life-saving equipment were used. On April 25, it was decided to stop the search, since it was unlikely that anyone could survive during such a time period.

(Trawler Maru before sinking. Photo: U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 1st Class Sara Francis)

The Japanese fishing vessel "Maru" ("Luck") drifted and crossed Pacific Ocean after the devastating events of March 11, 2011 occurred in the country. The ship was first discovered in late March 2012 by a Canadian Air Force patrol. The Japanese side, after receiving notification of the discovery of the trawler, managed to identify the shipowner. However, he did not express a desire to return the ship. On board the "Udachi" there were minimum quantity There was no fuel and no cargo, as the ship was destined for scrapping before the earthquake in Japan. Nothing was reported about the fate of the Udachi crew. Due to the fact that the ship posed a threat to navigation, the US Coast Guard fired on it in April 2012, after which the trawler sank.

(The Russian ghost ship "Lyubov Orlova" is drifting in Irish waters, TASS)

On January 23, 2013, a double-deck cruise ship built back in Soviet years, left the Canadian port of St. John's for towing for scrapping to the Dominican Republic. However, in the afternoon of the next day, the towing cable of the tugboat Charlene Hunt, which was pulling the ship, broke. As a result, the ship drifted. Attempts to take him back into tow were unsuccessful. Thus, since January 24, 2013, it has been in free drift in Atlantic Ocean without crew and identification lights. In March, a report appeared in the Irish media that signals were recorded from the Lyubov Orlova emergency radio buoy 700 miles off the coast of Ireland. This may indicate that the ship has sunk, as the emergency beacon is activated when it enters the water. A search was undertaken in the area from which the signals were received, but nothing was found. At the beginning of 2014, rumors appeared that a drifting ship inhabited by cannibal rats could allegedly wash up on the coast of Ireland. However, there is still no reliable information about the fate of the vessel. Most likely, it sank back in February 2013.

It’s a strange thing: in the middle of the sea, to come across a drifting ship with no signs of life on board. Empty. There is no one. Silence. And he rocks on the waves - calmly, calmly, as if this is how it should be, as if he doesn’t need anyone else. It’s as if he had already swam enough with these “conquerors of the seas”, and he was so tired of them that he was only glad to part with them on occasion... Creepy.

Sailors say that in the ocean - especially in the Atlantic - this happens often: you come across empty fishing boats, small yachts, sometimes even liners - "", for example, are still looking for their last refuge. In most cases, by appearance It is immediately clear to the ship what happened to it, and the main cause of maritime disasters, of course, will always be nature - a storm is not easy to defeat even for experienced sailors. But sometimes the disappearance of a crew simply cannot be explained.

Imagine: a boat that is completely intact, without any damage, its engines and generators are working, the radio and all emergency systems are in order, there is untouched food on the dining table and a working laptop, as if the crew a minute ago hid from you somewhere in the bilge compartment, but you They searched everything and did not find a single soul on board. You might think that this is just another sea story, but in fact it is an excerpt from the police report about the disappearance of three crew members of the KZ-II catamaran yacht in April 2007.

We think we've got you intrigued now? In this material we have collected the most famous and mysterious stories about ships that at various times were discovered at sea under the most mystical circumstances: without a crew on board or with dead sailors who died for an unknown reason, or as ghosts reminiscent of tragic events of the past.

MV Joyita, 1955

It was a luxury yacht built in 1931 in Los Angeles for film director Roland West. During World War II, the MV Joyita was outfitted and operated as a patrol vessel off the coast of Hawaii until the end of the war.

On October 3, 1955, the MV Joyita set sail from Samoa to the island of Tokelau, a distance of approximately 270 nautical miles. Just before the voyage, she discovered a clutch malfunction on the main engine, which they could not fix on the spot, and the yacht went to sea under sail and with one auxiliary engine. There were 25 souls on board, among them a government official, two children and a surgeon who was to perform an operation in Tokelau.

The trip was supposed to take no more than 2 days, but MV Joyita did not arrive at the destination port. The ship did not send any distress signals, even though its course was along a fairly busy route, where coast guard vessels often sail and which is well covered by relay stations. The search for the yacht was carried out on an area of ​​100,000 square meters. miles by air force, but MV Joyita could not be found.

Only five weeks later, on November 10, 1955, the ship was found. It drifted 600 miles from its planned route, half-submerged. 4 tons of cargo, crew and passengers were missing. The VHF radio was tuned to the international distress frequency. One auxiliary engine and bilge pump were still running, and the cabin lights were on. All clocks on board stopped at 10:25. The doctor's bag was found with four bloody bandages. The logbook, sextant and chronometer were missing, along with three life rafts.

The search team carefully examined the ship for damage to the hull, but did not find any. The fate of the crew and passengers could not be determined. Intriguingly, the MV Joyita, with its balsa wood interior, was virtually unsinkable, and the crew knew it. The missing cargo also remained a mystery.

A variety of theories have been put forward, ranging from the most bizarre, like the Japanese Navy, which has not yet stopped fighting after the end of World War II, located on some isolated base on one of the islands. Insurance fraud, piracy, and rebellion were also considered as possibilities.

MV Joyita was recovered but, perhaps confirming her curse, ran aground several times. In the late 1960s, the ship was sold for scrapping.

Ourang Medan (Orang Medan, or Orange Medan), 1947

“Everyone is dead, it will come for me” and “I’m dying” - these were two latest messages, received from the crew of the cargo ship Ourang Medan in the Gulf of Malacca in June 1947. They were received along with SOS signals by two ships at once - British and Dutch - which is taken as another confirmation of the veracity of this mystical story.

The first message came in Morse code, the second by radio. They searched for the ship in distress for several hours, and the British Silver Star was the first to discover it. After unsuccessful attempts to greet Ourang Medan with signal lights and whistles, they decided to land a small team. Rescuers immediately went to the control room, from where the sounds of a working radio could be heard, and found several crew members there.

All of them, including the captain, were dead. More corpses were found on the cargo deck. All the Ourang Medan sailors were said to be lying in protective positions with a look of horror on their faces. Many were covered in frost, and along with one of the crew groups a dead dog was found, frozen, stiff as a statue, on all fours, growling at someone into the void.

Suddenly, somewhere in the depths of the cargo deck, an explosion was heard and a fire started. The rescuers did not fight the fire and hastened to leave the ship full of dead people. Over the next hour, several more explosions were heard on Ourang Medan, and it sank.

It is quite reasonable to believe that the story of Ourang Medan, if it was a disaster, is largely a fiction. Some argue that such a vessel did not exist - at least, the name Ourang Medan was not found in Lloyd's lists. But conspiracy theorists believe that the ship's name was fictitious, since the crew was transporting contraband, and this same contraband - you never know what kind of cargo was on board - became the cause of the tragedy.

Octavius ​​(Octavius), 1762-1775

The English merchant ship Octavius ​​was discovered drifting west of Greenland on October 11, 1775. A boarding party from the whaler Whaler Herald boarded the ship and found the entire crew dead and frozen. The captain's body was in his cabin, death found him writing something in the logbook, he was still sitting at the table with a pen in his hand. There were three more frozen bodies in the cabin: a woman, a child wrapped in a blanket, and a sailor holding a tinderbox.

The boarding crew left Octavius ​​in a hurry, taking with them only the logbook. Unfortunately, the document was so damaged by cold and water that only the first and last pages could be read. The journal ended with an entry from 1762. This meant that the ship drifted dead for 13 years.

Octavius ​​left England and headed for America in 1761. Trying to save time, the captain decided to follow the then-unexplored Northwest Passage, which was first successfully completed only in 1906. The ship is stuck in arctic ice, the unprepared team froze to death - the discovered remains indicate that this happened quite quickly. It is assumed that some time later Octavius ​​was freed from the ice and, with its dead crew, drifted on the open sea. After an encounter with whalers in 1775, the ship was never seen again.

KZ-II, 2007

The crew of the Australian catamaran yacht KZ-II went missing in April 2007 under unclear circumstances. The story received wide public attention because it resembles a similar incident with the crew of the brigantine Mary Celeste.

On 15 April 2007, KZ-II departed Airlie Beach for Townsville. There were three crew members on board, including the owner. A day later, the yacht stopped communicating, and on April 18 it was accidentally discovered drifting near the Great Barrier Reef. On April 20, a patrol landed on KZ-II and did not find any crew members on board.

At the same time, the ship did not have any damage, except for a torn sail, all systems worked properly, the generator and engine were turned on, and untouched food and a laptop were found on the dining table. The search for sailors continued until April 25, but brought no results.

The official version of what happened was a series of events, partially reconstructed from the recordings of a video camera found on board the KZ-II. It is believed that first one of the sailors for some reason dived into the sea. Perhaps he wanted to free a tangled fishing line. At the same moment, the yacht began to be blown to the side by the wind, something happened to the first sailor in the water, and the second sailor rushed to his aid. The third sailor remaining on board tried to steer the yacht closer to his friends by turning on the engine, but quickly realized that the wind was hindering the movement. He tried to quickly remove the sail and at that moment, for an unknown reason, he himself found himself overboard. The yacht began to go out into the open ocean on its own, and the sailors were no longer able to catch up with it and eventually drowned.

Young Teazer, 1813

The privateer schooner Young Teazer was built in early 1813. It was an amazingly fast and promising ship, which already in the first months of the hunt showed itself very well on the trade routes off the coast of Halifax. In June 1813, Teazer began to pursue the Scottish brig Sir John Sherbrooke. The schooner was able to hide in the fog, but soon a 74-gun gun was on her trail. battleship HMS La Hogue and trapped Teazer in Mahone Bay off the Nova Scotia Peninsula. At dusk, HMS La Hogue was joined by HMS Orpheus, and they began preparing to attack the privateer, who now had nowhere to go. HMS La Hogue dispatched five boarding parties to Young Teazer, but as soon as they approached, the schooner exploded. The 7 surviving crew members of the Young Teazer subsequently unanimously claimed that it was First Lieutenant Frederick Johnson who detonated the ammunition, thus destroying the ship, himself, and 30 other crew members, whose unidentified remains rest today in the Anglican Cemetery at Mahone Bay.

Soon after the tragic events, local residents began to claim that they saw a flaming Young Teazer rising from the depths. On June 27, 1814, people in Mahone Bay were amazed to see the ghost of a schooner on the same spot where it had been destroyed. The ghost appeared and then disappeared silently in a flash of flame and smoke. This story spread so quickly across the country that the following June, onlookers began to flock to Mahone Bay. Young Teazer is said to have appeared again that time, and has appeared every year since, and locals still claim that the schooner is periodically visible on foggy nights - especially on the first 24 hours after the full moon.

Mary Celeste (Marie Celeste), 1872

This ship can easily claim the title of the biggest maritime secret of all time. Until now, the investigation into the disappearance of his crew has not advanced one step, and even after 143 years it is the topic of numerous debates.

On November 7, 1872, the brigantine Mary Celeste left New York and headed for Genoa with a cargo of alcohol. On the afternoon of December 5, she was discovered 400 miles from Gibraltar without a crew. The ship sailed with sails raised, had no damage and, as it later turned out, even the hold with valuable cargo was untouched.

The brigantine was discovered and identified by Captain Morehouse from another merchant ship sailing on a parallel course. He, as it turned out, knew the owner of the Mary Celeste, Captain Briggs, very well and respected him as a talented sailor, which is why Morehouse was very surprised when he realized that the brigantine he encountered was completely absurdly deviating from the known course. Morehouse tried to signal and, receiving no response, began to pursue the brigantine. Two hours later, his team landed on Mary Celeste.

The ship seemed to have been abandoned in haste. Personal belongings were untouched, including jewelry, clothing, food supplies, and all cargo. The boats were missing, as well as all the papers in the captain's cabin except for the diary, where the last entry is dated November 25 and reports that Mary Celeste left the Azores.

There were no signs of violence on board. The only visible damage was heavy traces of water on the deck, leading to the belief that the crew had abandoned ship due to inclement weather. However, this contradicted the personality of Captain Briggs, who was characterized by family, friends and partners as a skillful and brave sailor who decided to leave the ship only in case of emergency and in case of mortal danger.

Morehouse took control of the brigantine and delivered it to Gibraltar on December 13th. There, a comprehensive examination of the ship was carried out, during which inspectors discovered several stains in the captain's cabin that resembled dried blood. They also found several marks on the railings that could have been left by a blunt object or an axe, but there was no such weapon on board the Mary Celeste at the time of the study. The ship itself was declared undamaged.

Possibilities include piracy, insurance fraud, a tsunami, an explosion caused by cargo fumes, ergotism from contaminated flour causing the crew to go crazy, mutiny, and several supernatural explanations. There is also a version that the Mary Celeste crew reached the coast of Spain, where in 1873 they discovered several boats from an unknown ship and several unidentified corpses in them.

Over the next 17 years, the Mary Celeste changed hands 17 times, with tragic and fatal incidents said to have occurred. The last owner of the brigantine sank it to set up an insurance claim.

Lyubov Orlova, 2013

One of the most famous ghost ships recent years- the liner Lyubov Orlova, which was lost in 2013 while being towed in the Caribbean Sea and has since appeared here and there in the Atlantic.

The liner, named after the famous Soviet actress, was built in 1976 and was part of the Far Eastern Shipping Company fleet. In 1999, the ship was sold to a company from Malta and was hired for regular voyages to the Arctic. In 2010, the ship was arrested for debts and after two years of inactivity in Canada, it was sent by tug to the Dominican Republic for scrap. During towing, a severe storm occurred in the Caribbean region and the towing cables failed. The tugboat crew tried to seize the ship out of control, but, in view weather conditions, this was not possible - the ship was abandoned in neutral waters.

The search for the vessel was unsuccessful. Its automatic identification system - a system that transmits the geographic position of ships - was offline, making it impossible to determine its location. Canadian authorities announced that since the ship in any case can now only be in international waters, Canada no longer bears responsibility for its fate - the search was stopped. The Lyubov Orlova was believed to be lost forever in the North Atlantic Ocean.

Unexpectedly, on February 1, 2013, the Lyubov Orlova was spotted drifting 1,700 km off the coast of Ireland. It was discovered by the Canadian oil tanker Atlantic Hawk, which, in order to prevent the now world-famous “ghost ship” from becoming a real danger to nearby oil rigs, towed the ship to neutral waters, where it was forced to leave it again. On February 4, Lyubov Orlova was 463 km from St. John's, Canada. The Canadian authorities again refused to take any measures and placed full responsibility for the ship on its owner. A few days later, “Lyubov Orlova” was lost again.

For a year, the 4,250-ton vessel, whose remains are valued at RUB 34 million, managed to avoid the scrutiny of its owner's search teams and scrap metal hunters. The popularity of the ghost ship increased until it appeared in social networks fake users under the name “Lyubov Orlova” / “Lyubov Orlova” and the site whereisorlova.com, dedicated, however, to other ghost ships. The phrase “Where is Lyubov Orlova?” turned into a meme and is said to have been printed on T-shirts and mugs.

In January 2014, the ghost ship was again spotted drifting 2.4 thousand km. from the west coast of Ireland. Experts believed that the ship was moving towards the shores of Great Britain, where recent storms had pushed it. The British authorities were preparing for a meeting with the celebrity, especially fearing that the drifting ship might be inhabited by cannibal rats, but the Lyubov Orlova disappeared again.

Lady Lovibond, 1748

In the 18th century, sailors firmly believed in omens, and quite often their superstitions were fueled by situations that were understandable and even prosaic by today’s standards. Maybe this is why the “edifying” story of the sailing ship Lady Lovibond made it so popular and the legend so long-lasting.

On February 13, 1748, the newly married Simon Reed and Annette set off on their honeymoon from Great Britain to Portugal on Reed's ship, the Lady Lovibond. Even before going to sea, John Rivers, Reed's first mate, fell in love with the captain's wife and was now going crazy with love and jealousy. Reeves began to have uncontrollable fits of anger, one day he lashed out at the helmsman and, losing his composure, killed him. Rivers then took control of the ship and steered it towards the Goodwin Sands, a notorious sandbar in the English Channel. The ship was wrecked, no one was saved.

In 1848, a hundred years after the tragic events described, local fishermen saw a sailboat crash on the Goodwin Sands. Rescue boats were sent to the crash site, but no vessel was found. In 1948, another hundred years later, the ghost of Lady Lovibond was again spotted on Goodwin Sands by Captain Ball Prestwick and was described by him as exactly like the original ship of 1748, albeit with an eerie greenish glow. The next appearance of the ghost ship is expected in 2048. Let's wait.

Eliza Battle, 1858

Built in 1852 in Indiana, Eliza Battle was a luxury wooden steamship for entertaining presidents and VIPs. On a cold night in February 1858, a fire started on the main deck of a steamboat on the Tombigbee River. strong wind helped the fire spread throughout the ship. There were about 100 people on board that flight, of which 26 people could not escape. Today, local residents say that during spring floods, during big moon, Eliza Battle reappears on the Tombigbee River. She floats upstream with music and lights on the main deck. Sometimes they only see the silhouette of a steamship. Fishermen believe that the appearance of Eliza Battle promises disaster for other ships that still navigate this river.

Carrol A. Deering (Carroll A. Deering), 1921

The five-masted cargo schooner Carrol A Deering was built in 1911 and named after the owner's son. On December 2, 1920, she set sail from Rio de Janeiro to Norfolk, USA, and two months later was found stranded and abandoned by her crew.

The investigation into the circumstances of the disappearance of the Carrol A Deering crew, which was conducted under the control of US Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover, made it possible to partially restore the chain of events preceding the disappearance of the schooner and to collect eyewitness accounts.

Thus, it was established that in early January 1921, on the way to the USA, Carrol A Deering made an intermediate stop on the island of Barbados, where a quarrel occurred between Captain Wormell and First Officer McLellan, and the latter threatened to kill the captain. After the quarrel, McLellan sought work on other ships, claiming that Carrol A Deering's crew was not following orders and Captain Wormell would not allow him to discipline sailors. McLellan was turned down. Over the next few days in Barbados, he and the Carrol A Deering crew were often seen drunk; McLellan even ended up in prison for his rowdy behavior, from where Captain Wormell rescued him. On January 9, 1921, the schooner went to sea, and what happened to it next still remains a mystery.

On January 16, 1921, Carrol A Deering was seen off the Bahamas. She sailed with one sail, despite favorable weather conditions, and performed strange maneuvers, periodically going back on course. On January 18, she was spotted off Cape Canaveral, and on January 23, off Cape Fear Lighthouse. On January 25, in the same area, the cargo steamer SS Hewitt disappeared without a trace, which was following the same course as Carrol A Deering - this circumstance was also included in the materials on Carrol A Deering, but there was no direct connection between the incidents.

On January 29, the schooner, with full sail, passed the Cape Lookout lighthouse. The lighthouse keeper even filmed it. According to him, a red-haired sailor on board Carrol A Deering shouted over the loudspeaker that the schooner had lost its anchors during a storm and asked to convey a message to the ship's owners. The keeper was unable to transmit the message because the lighthouse's radio was broken. He later noted that he was surprised that the schooner's crew crowded on the quarterdeck, where only the captain and his assistants have the right to be, and even from the ship it was a simple sailor speaking to him, and not the captain or mate.

On January 30, the schooner was seen sailing under full sail off Cape Hatteras, and on January 31, the US Coast Guard reported a five-masted sailing ship running aground in the same area. Its sails were raised, its boats were missing. Due to stormy weather, they were able to get to Carrol A Deering only on February 4 - no people were found on board. There were no personal belongings, documents, including the ship's log, navigation equipment and anchors. Three pairs of shoes of different sizes were found in the captain's cabin. The last mark on the found map was dated January 23, and it was not made in the handwriting of Captain Wormell.

In 1922, the investigation into Carrol A Deering was closed without any official conclusion. The schooner, which was slowly disintegrating aground and could pose a danger to navigation, was blown up. Its skeleton is still for a long time remained in the same place until it was finally destroyed by a hurricane in 1955.

Baychimo (Baychimo), 1931

The ship Baychimo was built in Sweden in 1911 by order of a German trading company. After the First World War it was transferred to Great Britain and for the next fourteen years it regularly served on routes along the Northwest coast of Canada, transporting furs. At the beginning of October 1931, the weather deteriorated sharply, and a few miles off the coast near the city of Barrow, the ship became stuck in the ice. The team temporarily abandoned the ship and found shelter on the mainland. A week later the weather cleared, the sailors returned on board and continued sailing, but already on October 15, Baychimo again fell into an ice trap.

This time it was impossible to get to the nearest city - the crew had to arrange a temporary shelter on the shore, far from the ship, and here they were forced to spend a whole month. In mid-November there was a snowstorm that lasted for several days. And when the weather cleared on November 24, Baychimo was no longer in its original place. The sailors believed the ship was lost in a storm, but a few days later a local seal hunter reported seeing Baychimo about 45 miles from their camp. The team found the ship, removed its precious cargo and left it forever.

This is not the end of the Baychimo story. For the next 40 years, it was occasionally seen drifting along the northern coast of Canada. Attempts were made to get on board the ship, some were quite successful, but due to weather conditions and the poor condition of the hull, the ship was abandoned again. Last time Baychimo in 1969, that is, 38 years after the crew left it - at that time the frozen ship was part of the ice massif. In 2006, the Alaska government attempted to locate the Arctic Ghost Ship, but all attempts to locate the ship were unsuccessful. Where Baychimo is now—whether it lies at the bottom or is covered with ice beyond recognition—remains a mystery.

Flying Dutchman, 1700s

This is probably the most famous ghost ship in the world, whose popularity was increased by Pirates of the Caribbean and even the cartoon SpongeBob Square Pants", where one of the characters was named Frying Dutchman - Frying Dutchman.

There are many legends associated with this ship, forever wandering the ocean, and the main one concerns the Dutch captain Philip Van der Decken (sometimes called Van Straaten), who in the 1700s was returning from the East Indies and was carrying a young couple on board . The captain liked the girl so much that he faked the death of her betrothed and proposed to her. The girl refused Van der Decken and threw herself overboard out of grief.

Immediately after this, the ship was caught in a storm near the Cape of Good Hope. The superstitious sailors began to grumble. In an attempt to prevent a mutiny, the navigator offered to wait out the bad weather in some bay, but the captain, desperate and drinking after the suicide of his beloved, shot him and several other dissatisfied people. One of the popular versions of the legend says that after the murder of the navigator, Van der Decken swore with the bones of his mother that no one would go ashore until the ship passed the cape; he has incurred a curse and is now doomed to sail forever.

Usually people watch the Flying Dutchman at sea from afar. According to legend, if you get close to it, the crew will try to convey a message to the shore to people who have long been dead. It is also believed that meeting a “Dutchman” promises illness and even death. The latter is explained by yellow fever, which is transmitted by mosquitoes that breed in containers with food water. Such a disease could destroy the entire crew, and a meeting with such an infected ship could really be fatal: mosquitoes attacked living sailors and infected them.