Top 11 Mysterious Ghost Ships and Haunted Stories of the Maritime World

Many stories of ghost ships’ or phantom ships are popular as local legends, passed down by sailors or seafarers. These tales invoke curiosity and have been the subject of movies and plays. These ships were seen as a bad omen and abandoned ships, found adrift, are also included in this category.

Some marine legends lack authenticity and often become an exaggerated version of the original tale. However, haunted ships or ghost ships continue to provoke anticipation among the masses.

In this article, we will discuss 11 mysterious ghost ships of the maritime world.

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1. SV Kaz II

SV Kaz II was found adrift, 88 miles off the coast of Australia, near the Great Barrier Reef, just five days after it set sail from Airlie Beach towards Townsville, Queensland, in April 2007. Per investigation reports, the 12 m catamaran was sailing with a 3-member crew who were not experienced sailors. However, what happened to them remains a mystery to this day.

Their disappearance without a trace has been compared to the crew of Mary Celeste, another ship whose crew went missing under mysterious circumstances. Many believe rough weather conditions could be a reason; others blame pirates or communists.

Strangely, the vessel was found in perfect condition, except for the one sail, which had been shredded to pieces. The three men were never discovered. According to investigators, they might have drowned while trying to untangle a fishing lure caught in the vessel’s rudder. It is also envisaged that a sea monster could have swallowed them.

2. The Caleuche

The story of this ship is a legend in Chilota mythology. Caleuche is called a ghost ship that comes every night near the island of Chiloe, carrying the spirits of all the people who have drowned at sea.

The Caleuche is strikingly beautiful and surrounded by party music sounds and laughter.

However, it only stays for a few moments and then suddenly disappears or submerges in water. Three Chilota’ water spirits’ – the Sirena Chilota, the Pincoya, and the Picoy – who resemble mermaids, summon the spirits of the drowned.

3. The SS Valencia

In 1906, the SS Valencia sank off the coast of Vancouver, British Columbia, after encountering bad weather near Cape Mendocino and became a subject of mysterious ghost stories.

Eventually, 37 of merely 108 people were saved using lifeboats, among which one disappeared.

Since then, many fishermen have claimed to witness ghost ship sightings with human skeletons even after many decades post-sinking.

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4. The SS Ourang Medan

In 1947, while passing through the Strait of Malacca, two American ships went on a rescue mission after receiving a distress call from Ourang Medan.

The caller claimed to be a crewmember and conveyed the message of the death of everyone else on board. His words weirdly ended with “I die”. The rescuers found the ship unharmed, but the entire crew, including the dog, was dead with terrified faces and expressions.

Before further investigation, the abandoned ship caught fire and exploded. The probable reason could be over-exposure to nitroglycerin, which it was carrying illegally. The other mystery revolves around the story of paranormal activities and alien invasion.

5. The Carroll A. Deering

This ship ran aground in the notorious Diamond Shoals near Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, in 1921, where it was stuck for several days before any rescue team could arrive. After unloading a coal shipment, the vessel was travelling from Rio de Janeiro to Norfolk, Virginia.

Later, the Coast Guard found that the navigational equipment, logbook and two lifeboats were missing from the abandoned ship, otherwise undamaged.

Investigation showed that a few other ships had also disappeared under mysterious circumstances around the same time, which could be the pirates’ barbarity, crew mutiny, or extraterrestrial activity around the infamous Bermuda Triangle.

6. The SS Baychimo

Built in the early 1920s, this ship was trapped in pack ice near Alaska in 1931, leaving no hope for the owner of Hudson Bay Company but to abandon it.

However, it remained adrift for the next 38 years and was frequently sighted floating aimlessly in the waters of Alaska.

Weather conditions had always made it impossible to salvage, but since 1969, it has disappeared completely. A few expedition programmes were launched to trace this mysterious ghost ship.

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7. The Octavius

The Octavius became more than just a legend in 1775 when a whaling ship named the Herald found it drifting off the coast of Greenland with all of its crew frozen dead by the arctic cold.

To add to the spooky environment, the ship’s captain was found sitting at his desk, with a logbook in front of him, and finishing a log entry from 1762.

This could mean that the Octavius had been floating for 13 years and completed its passage to the Atlantic while returning to England from the Orient via the Northwest Passage as a ghost ship.

8. The MV Joyita

In 1955 this fishing and charter boat was found abandoned in the South Pacific, five weeks after it had been reported overdue. The air search mission could not trace it until a merchant ship found it drifting almost 600 miles off its source with no sign of passengers, crew members and cargo. The liferafts were missing, including the firearms and other equipment onboard.

There was a doctor’s bag and several bloody bandages on the deck, and the broken radio was tuned to the universal distress signal. Still, what happened there was never revealed as none of the crew was ever seen again.

9. The Lady Lovibond

An exciting story of love, jealousy and rage complements the tale of this haunted ship. In 1748, the day before Valentine’s Day, it was set to sail as a celebration of the ship’s captain’s wedding.

Nevertheless, his friend, who was too in love with her, out of vengeance, steered the ship into the notorious Goodwin Sands, sinking it and killing all on board.

Since then, it could be seen every fifty years, sailing around Kent. It was seen in 1798, 1848, 1898 and 1948 and some boats sent rescuers, assuming it was in distress, but later it could not be found. Although there was no confirmed spotting in 1998, this famous ghost ship continues to be a legend.

10. The Mary Celeste

British Ship Dei Gratia found the Mary Celeste on 4th Dec 1872, near the Strait of Gibraltar. It was weird as the latter had left New York eight days before the Dei Gratia and should have reached its destination, Genoa, Italy, by now. However, the boarding party from the British vessel discovered that below deck, things looked pretty standard with no signs of any attack.

Probably the most famous real-life ghost ship’s story embraces the Mary Celeste, found adrift in the Atlantic Ocean in 1872 in a completely unharmed condition with all its sails still up, the crew’s personal belongings intact and a cargo hold of over 1500 alcohol barrels untouched.

The only things missing were the lifeboat, the captain’s logbook and most importantly, the whole crew. Since pirate attacks could not be held responsible for such a phenomenon, theories of crew mutiny, waterspout killing, and consumption of poisonous food leading to madness came into being.

However, the most reasonable explanation could be a storm or technical issue, compelling the crew to immediately abandon the ship in the lifeboat and die later at sea. Apart from these, the mystery of this haunted ship is surrounded by ghosts and even sea monsters and alien abduction theories.

Captain Morehouse of Dei Gratia knew Captain Briggs of Celeste to be a capable sailor, leading to more suspicions about what happened. However, the poor fate of Mary Celeste has been immortalised in Arthur Conan Doyle’s short story written in 1884, J Habakkuk’s Jephson’s Statement.

11. The Flying Dutchman

This is the most famous ghost ship that has inspired numerous paintings, films, books, operas, etc. The Pirates of the Caribbean, the Dead Man’s Chest features the story and is the most popular movie based on this legend.

Van der Decken, the captain, on his way towards East Indies, tried to steer his ship through the adverse weather of the Cape of Good Hope but failed miserably even after vowing to drift until the doomsday. Legend says that since then, they have been cursed to sail the oceans for eternity.

To this day, hundreds of fishermen and sailors from the deep sea have claimed to have witnessed the Flying Dutchman continuing its never-ending voyage across the waters.

• The Mystery of Ghost Ships – HMS Erebus and HMS Terror
• The Unexplained Mystery of the Sea Serpent
• The Baltic Sea Mystery of the Strange UFO Object
• Unexplained Mystery: The Devil’s Sea (The Dragon’s Triangle)
• The Real Story Behind The “Davy Jones’ Locker”
• What are Sea Shanties? 

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blogspot, buy lovely, angels ghosts, top apps, scary for kids, PhotoBucket, hauntedamericatours

About Author

Zahra is an alumna of Miranda House, University of Delhi. She is an avid writer, possessing immaculate research and editing skills. Author of several academic papers, she has also worked as a freelance writer, producing many technical, creative and marketing pieces. A true aesthete at heart, she loves books a little more than anything else.

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