Murder, Suicide, And Tragedy: 9 Of History’s Most Mysterious Cruise Ship Disappearances

Published September 7, 2022

From newlywed couples traveling on their honeymoon to cruise employees who vanished under suspicious circumstances, these chilling cases will make you glad you're on dry land.

For some, traveling by cruise ship is a dream vacation. Out at sea, guests eat well, enjoy entertaining shows, and bask in stunning ocean views. But being on a cruise ship can also turn into a nightmare — as these cruise ship disappearances prove.

The people on this list took cruises for different reasons. Amy Lynn Bradley was on a cruise with her parents and brother. George Allen Smith boarded a ship for his honeymoon. And Hue Pham and Hue Tran went on a cruise as Mother’s Day gift from their children.

None of them came home. And, to date, no one is exactly sure what happened when they vanished from a ship in the middle of the ocean.

Amy Lynn Bradley’s Haunting 1998 Cruise Disapperance

Amy Lynn Bradley

amybradley.netAmy Lynn Bradley and her family shortly before she disappeared from a cruise ship.

When the Bradley family boarded a cruise ship called Rhapsody of the Seas on March 21, 1998, they were looking forward to a fun family vacation. But two days later, their 23-year-old daughter Amy Lynn vanished.

Amy’s father, Ron, last saw her sitting on the deck of their stateroom. When he looked again, Amy was gone. The family started to get worried as the day progressed and they couldn’t find her, but the Rhapsody of the Seas crew refused to cancel the docking at their next port, Curaçao.

“When we discovered Amy missing, we begged the ship’s personnel to not put the gangway down, to not allow anybody to leave the ship,” her mother, Iva, told NBC. “And they put the gangway down anyway.”

The Bradley family never saw Amy again. But over the years, a number of people have reported spotting the missing woman around the Caribbean — and each sighting is more disturbing than the last.

Alleged Photo Of Amy Lynn Bradley

Dr. Phil/Bradley FamilyA photograph that the Bradley family received in 2005, allegedly of Amy, that suggests she was sexually trafficked.

According to The Sun, sightings of Amy Lynn Bradley range from tourists who think they spotted her on a beach in 1998 to a U.S. Navy sailor who said he met her in a brothel in 1999. He claimed that she introduced herself to him as Amy Lynn Bradley and begged for his help — but he didn’t initially report it because he thought he’d get in trouble.

But the most disturbing alleged sighting of Amy came in 2005 when her family received a photo of a sex worker named “Jas” lying on a bed. “When I first looked at the picture, it wasn’t the Amy I know,” her mother said, according to The Sun. “The picture looks like a harsh and tormented Amy.”

As such, Amy Lynn Bradley’s parents remain convinced this cruise ship disappearance was a kidnapping.

“We’ve maintained from the beginning that someone saw Amy and took Amy from that ship,” her father told NBC.

author
Kaleena Fraga
author
A staff writer for All That's Interesting, Kaleena Fraga has also had her work featured in The Washington Post and Gastro Obscura, and she published a book on the Seattle food scene for the Eat Like A Local series. She graduated from Oberlin College, where she earned a dual degree in American History and French.
editor
Cara Johnson
editor
A writer and editor based in Charleston, South Carolina and an assistant editor at All That's Interesting, Cara Johnson holds a B.A. in English and Creative Writing from Washington & Lee University and an M.A. in English from College of Charleston and has written for various publications in her six-year career.