The mysteries surrounding these ghost ships involve everything from sulphuric acid to a famous yacht race.
Alamy An illustration of the Flying Dutchman, one of the most famous ghost ships in history.
In maritime history, sailors across time have reported stories with eerily similar details — stories of ghost ships appearing out of the blue, with not a single soul aboard and no sign of what happened to the crew.
These ships travel unmanned across vast swathes of ocean, reminding sailors who witness their silent journeys of the mysterious dangers of the open sea.
These ghost ships are an integral part of sailors’ lore. But while many stories of these ships are simply urban legends, there are occurrences of real “ghost ships” that have emerged from the sea.
From the famed Mary Celeste to Baychimo, here are some of the most famed and mysterious of the real-life ghost ships.
The Infamous Ghost Ship SV Mary Celeste
DeAgostini/Getty ImagesThe Mary Celeste, a merchant ship found abandoned off the coast of Portugal in 1872.
On November 7, 1872, the Mary Celeste set out on her voyage from New York City to Genoa, Italy. The crew included Captain Benjamin Briggs, his wife and daughter, and seven crewmen.
The ship’s last entry placed her at the Azores, islands off the coast of Portugal, on November 25.
Ten days later, Captain David Morehouse of the Dei Gratia discovered the Mary Celeste abandoned 400 miles east of the Azores.
Morehouse climbed aboard, only to discover the crew was missing alongside a lifeboat. The crewmen’s belongings and a six-month supply of food and water remained in the vessel. The boat was seaworthy and did not suffer any extreme damage.
She was in good enough shape that Captain Morehouse sailed the ship to Gibraltar and informed British authorities of the bizarre events. Despite an investigation, the crew was never found and a court declared that it did not suspect foul play.
In the following years, the story of the ghost ship Mary Celeste became a legend. Several theories about what happened to the ten passengers varied from homicidal crewmen to wrathful sea monsters.
In 2002, documentarian Anne MacGregor and oceanographer Phil Richardson attempted to crack the mystery for themselves.
Using the data in the captain’s log, the two researchers postulated that Captain Briggs had misidentified his location by over 100 miles. Additionally, the night before the last log entry, the ship faced winds up to 35 knots.
A disassembled pump found on the ship also led researchers to believe that Captain Briggs may have worried about the amount of seawater in the ship’s hull.
For a captain responsible for the lives of his crewmembers and his family, he possibly made the ill-informed call to abandon ship out of fear of the ship sinking.
While this theory is plausible, the crew is still missing, and therefore the truth remains a frustrating mystery.
