😉 Greetings, adventure lovers! The article “Ghost Ships: The Real Stories of Mariners” provides information on four of the most famous ghost ships.
Sailing has always been difficult, especially considering the many factors at the beginning of its development. Lack of clean and fresh water and food, unsanitary conditions and a low level of medicine, as well as difficult weather conditions and natural disasters at sea.
This sphere of human activity has long been shrouded in superstitions and myths. These include the legends about the so-called ghost ships.
Ghost ships
A special place among them is occupied by “The Flying Dutchman”, whose history is shrouded in many myths. Often this ship was observed at a decent distance, surrounded by a yellow-gold glow. Meeting with him, according to the legend of the sailors, invariably meant a quick disaster.
“Flying Dutchman”
In 1641 the ship was returning from India under the leadership of the Dutch captain Philip Van der Decken. The ship had to go around the Cape of Good Hope, but a violent storm began. A riot was already started on the ship, but the captain shot the instigators, one of them was his first mate.
The enraged captain then vowed that no living soul from the crew would step ashore until the ship rounded the cape, no matter what the cost, and even if it took forever. According to legend, it is after these ominous words that the ship and crew cannot find peace.
Octavius
The ship “Octavius”, sailing from China in 1762, was supposed to cross the Arctic Ocean, but was caught in the ice. A few years later, the ship was found along with the frozen bodies of the crew members.
The ship’s log indicates that Octavius drifted for about 12 years, but after research it turned out that he spent at least 16 sailing without a crew. The last entry in this log is the words of one of the sailors who saw the death of his comrades and expected his quick death.
Maria Celesta
This is a fully operational vessel found in the Atlantic Ocean. There were clothes and food on board, but the crew was not there. There is still no reasoned version of why the crew left the ship.
Drawing of the ship “Amazon” (Amazon), later renamed “Mary Celeste” (Mary Celeste)
On November 7, 1872, Captain Briggs was at the head of the Maria Celeste en route from New York to Genoa. The crew consisted of seven people along with Briggs, his wife and their little daughter.
The vessel was preparing to deliver 1701 barrels of commercial alcohol needed to fortify Italian wines. Unfortunately, Maria Celeste never made it to Italy.
Instead, the ship was later discovered in the middle of the Strait of Gibraltar, with no signs of a struggle, a missing lifeboat and ship’s log. The alcohol was intact, but there was not a single living person on board.
Theories of what happened ranged from alien abduction to team mutiny. There is no substantiated evidence of what happened to the ship’s crew.
Duke de Danzig
The French ship “Duc de Danzig”, which received permission for an armed attack on ships of other states. The corsair robbed small ships, after which they were either released or burned. In 1812, no one could find the ship for unknown reasons. There were rumors that he was seen in the Atlantic Ocean.
However, later the ship “Gallego” reported the discovery of a strange ship at sea. Stepping on it, the sailors saw a deck completely covered in blood and strewn with the corpses of the crew.
The ghost ship can appear for various reasons. Some stories are legends, some of the objects seen at sea may have been mirages, but there are also documented cases.
The ship could lose its crew for various reasons. Among them: epidemics, emissions of various substances into the atmosphere, a natural factor, or simply poisoning the team with supplies.
It is quite difficult to investigate such cases, since the only document that can attest to this (the logbook) may lack entries.
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