Case of Ghosts Ships

THE BAYCHIMO
Launched in 1920, the cargo steamer Baychimo was used for transporting pelts and furs along the coast of the American Northwest. In 1931, she became hopelessly locked in an arctic icepack, forcing the crew to abandon ship. Incredibly enough, the freighter somehow broke free of the ice and drifted, empty and abandoned, for 40 years in the waters off Alaska. Sighted by many sailors over those four decades, the ghost ship was seen conclusively in 1969, before it disappeared for good.





THE JOYITA
On October 3, 1955, the luxury yacht Joyita set sail from American Samoa bound for the Tokelau Islands, two days away. It never arrived. A massive search by the Royal New Zealand Air Force turned up nothing; five weeks later the vessel was found sailing more than 600 miles off its original course, engines running and navigation gear intact, but the 25 people on board had vanished. One persistent theory claims that Japanese soldiers left over from World War II on a nearby island had attacked the yacht and killed everyone on board.





THE FLYING DUTCHMAN
Though frequently dismissed as a legend, many believe the famous Flying Dutchman was a real ship. Sailing from Holland in May 1821, its captain was so intent on reaching the South Seas that he planned to travel around the treacherous Cape of Good Hope during a vicious storm. This led to an argument in which the captain murdered the first mate before proceeding on his deadly course. The ship did indeed sink in the tempest, and was cursed to eternally sail the seas as punishment. Spotted hundreds of times over the years, in every ocean on earth, the Flying Dutchman is most often-reported ghost ship of them all.





THE MARY CELESTE
Possibly the greatest maritime mystery ever, the case of the Mary Celeste has baffled historians for nearly 150 years. On December 4, 1872, the British-American merchant ship was found drifting in the Atlantic, its sails up and functioning, oil barrels full (ruling out piracy), and plenty of food and provisions on board. The captain's log was intact and the personal belongings of the ten passengers and crew were untouched. But everyone on board had vanished.





THE ELIZA BATTLE
Built in 1852, the Eliza Battle was a luxurious steam-powered paddleboat that catered to wealthy travelers. One night in February 1858, while sailing on Alabama's Tombigbee River, the boat caught fire and sank, killing 26 people, including many women and children. Locals say that ever since, on nights with a full moon, the riverboat can be seen floating along the river, music still playing and fires still burning on its deck. Many believe that spotting the ghost ship signals bad omens for others sailing the Tombigbee.





THE OCTAVIUS
On October 11, 1775, while sailing off the west coast of Greenland, the whaling vessel Herald (above) came upon a mysterious ship. It was the Octavius, a British cargo vessel thought to have sunk more than a decade before. A party from the Herald climbed aboard the Octavius to find its entire crew frozen to death, including the captain, who was seating at his desk, hovering over the ship's log, his pen frozen in his hand. His partly completed log entry was dated early 1762, meaning the Octavius and its ice-encased crew had been drifting the waters of the far North Atlantic for 13 years.





THE SS VALENCIA
On January 22, 1906, while sailing in bad weather off the coast of Vancouver, British Columbia, the steamer SS Valencia struck a reef and began to sink. Confusion ensued as, amid panicked cries from passengers for help, the steamer's crew tried to lower life rafts into the rough seas, causing several to capsize and one to disappear altogether. Of the 180 people on board the Valencia, only 37 survived; the rest drowned or went missing.

Five months later, the Valencia's missing life raft was found in a far-off cave... with eight skeletons in it. How it got in the cave and how its occupants died remains a mystery. Ever since, numerous sailors have reported seeing the ghostly steamer drifting near the reef where it went down, passengers still on its decks and still crying out for help.





THE AIM HIGH 6
On January 8, 2003, the Taiwanese fishing vessel Aim High 6 was seen off the west coast of Australia. But when routine attempts to contact the ship failed, a rescue party went aboard, only to find its crew had vanished. The ship still had plenty of fuel and provisions. Ten days after the ghost ship was discovered, mysterious calls were still being made on the ship's engineer's cell phone. Then they suddenly stopped as well. Exactly what happened aboard Aim High 6 has never been determined.





THE OURANG MEDAN
On June 15, 1947, two ships sailing off the coast of Malaysia intercepted a strange radio message from the freighter, Ourang Medan. A ghostly voice managed to say the vessel was in extreme danger before the transmission abruptly ended. When rescuers arrived, they found the Ourang Medan's crew dead, terrified expressions frozen on their faces, pointing at something above.

Before the rescuers could make sense of this, the ship suddenly burst into flames, sinking within minutes. Though one rumor claimed a UFO had attacked the freighter, there's never been an official explanation regarding the ship's demise.





THE CALEUCHE
Locals swear a ghost ship named the Caleuche appears almost every night off the coast of Chile. Described as being strikingly beautiful, the ethereal sailing vessel is said to carry all the souls who have perished in the nearby seas over the years. When spotted, the Caleuche is always shining brightly, surrounded by multicolored lights and accompanied by the eerie sounds of festive music and uproarious laughter.





THE LADY LOVIBOND
On February 13, 1748, the captain of British sailing vessel Lady Lovibond took his new bride on a sea voyage to celebrate their marriage. However, seafaring legends say bringing a newlywed on a cruise invites bad luck... and that was the case for the Lady Lovibond. Overwhelmed with lust for his captain's new bride, the ship's first mate apparently sank the Lady Lovibond off the coast of Kent, England, drowning all on board.

The ship has been sighted about once every fifty years since near the spot of its sinking, appearing as a vessel in distress. It seemed so real to one ship captain in 1898, that he dispatched a rescue party to help her before the apparition disappeared in the fog.





THE USS CYCLOPS
The Cyclops is possibly the largest ghost ship ever. When it vanished on March 4, 1918, it was one of the biggest cargo ships of the U.S. Navy, capable of carrying more than 10,000 tons below deck. Among the theories: it was a German submarine attack (no attack was noted by the Germans), a rogue wave or giant exploding methane or gas bubbles. Most intriguing is that the Cyclops was sailing through the heart of the Bermuda Triangle when it suddenly disappeared.





THE PRINCESS AUGUSTA
Residents of Block Island, Rhode Island, claim that if one is standing on the island's northern shore on the Saturday between Christmas and New Years, they will see a ghost ship suddenly appear, burst into flames, then sink. The ship is rumored to be the Princess Augusta, which was wrecked off the island in a blizzard shortly after Christmas 1738. Since then, hundreds of people on Block Island have seen a bright light that resembles a ship ablaze right off their coast, always on the last Saturday of the year.





THE HMS EURYDICE
The 26-gun frigate HMS Eurydice was commissioned by the Royal Navy in 1843. Caught in a heavy storm off the Isle of Wight in 1878, it sank with a heavy loss of life. Since then the Eurydice has been sighted frequently sailing off the British coast. In 1930, a British submarine commander had to take evasive action in order to avoid colliding with the ghost ship. And on October 17, 1998 no less than Prince Edward reported spotting the phantom ship a mile offshore while filming a TV documentary on the Isle.




STAR OF INDIA
Built in Great Britain in 1863, the Star of India is the oldest active sailing ship in the world today. But it was a 15-year-old stowaway that has made it a famous, haunted ship. When the ship's crew found the boy hiding onboard in 1882, they put him to work instead of throwing him overboard. But the boy soon fell from the topmast and died.

People who've been aboard the ship since swear they've heard the boy's disembodied voice speaking below decks. Others say they feel a cold hand on their face when they stand in a certain spot on the ship. Others have heard the sounds of a young boy crying. The Star of India might be the only ghost ship that allows visitors. Home-ported at the San Diego Maritime Museum, anyone going aboard is warned they do so at their own risk.