The Perpetually Sailing SS Baychimo
Wikimedia CommonsThe SS Baychimo became trapped in pack ice in 1931, forcing its crew to abandon it.
First launched in 1914, the SS Baychimo was initially used as a German trading vessel, serving Germany’s Baltic posts during World War I.
After the war ended, the ship was given to the British government as part of Germany’s war reparations. The British fitted the SS Baychimo to journey to northern Canada for the Hudson’s Bay Company. The ship’s main role included collecting furs to bring back to Europe.
But in late September 1931, the vessel became trapped in pack ice on its way back to Europe. In early October, the crew began disassembling parts of the ship, convinced that the vessel would need to stay put for the rest of the winter. Most of the crew members were soon picked up by an aircraft, while a few others found shelter for the winter and planned to stay near the ship.
However, in November, a blizzard struck the area and the SS Baychimo disappeared. The remaining crew members all assumed it sank.
But just a week later, local trappers spotted the vessel about 70 miles from the crew’s shelter. The crew found the ship, but were unable to board because of broken ice in the area, according to the Anchorage Daily News.
When the crew tried to board it at a later time, they found that the ship had disappeared once again. This was not the last time that something like this would happen. Fortunately, the remaining crew members were picked up by February 1932, so the ghost ship was no longer their concern.
Strangely enough, over the next few decades, several eyewitness reports of the SS Baychimo came to light. The last of these reports came in 1969, from a group of Inupiat people, about 38 years after the ship’s abandonment.
In 2006, the Alaskan government organized efforts to identify the whereabouts of the ghost ship, but the vessel still has yet to be found.
