Over the centuries, numerous vessels have been found floating on the high seas without a crew — here are some of the most disturbing cases.
AlamyAn illustration of the Flying Dutchman, a legendary ghost ship.
Throughout maritime history, sailors have reported sightings of ghost ships with eerily similar details — empty vessels appearing out of the blue, with no one aboard and no sign of what happened to the crew.
These ships travel unmanned across the seas, reminding mariners who witness their silent journeys of the many dangers of open water.
These ghost ships are an integral part of seafarers’ lore. But while some stories of these vessels are simply urban legends, there are several real ghost ships that have been spotted drifting across the oceans.
From the Mary Celeste to the SS Baychimo, here are some of the most mysterious and bizarre ghost ships from history.
The Infamous Ghost Ship Mary Celeste
DeAgostini/Getty ImagesThe Mary Celeste, a merchant ship found abandoned near the Azores Islands in 1872.
On November 7, 1872, the American vessel Mary Celeste set out on a voyage from New York City to Genoa, Italy. The people aboard included Captain Benjamin Briggs, his wife and two-year-old daughter, and seven crewmen.
The ship’s last entry placed the vessel near the Azores Islands, located about 1,000 miles west of mainland Portugal, on November 25th.
Then, on December 5th, Captain David Morehouse of the British brig Dei Gratia discovered the Mary Celeste abandoned 400 miles east of the Azores.
Morehouse sent his men to investigate, and they soon discovered that the entire crew was missing — along with a lifeboat. Eerily, nearly everything seemed to be in good order on the ship, aside from disassembled pumps. The crew’s belongings and a six-month supply of food and water remained in the vessel. Everyone’s clothing was neatly packed away.
Though there was about three feet of water in the ship’s hull, the vessel was still seaworthy and did not suffer any serious damage. The Mary Celeste was in good enough shape that Captain Morehouse was able to take it to Gibraltar. There, he informed British authorities about the missing crew.
Despite an investigation, the crew was never found and a court declared that it did not suspect foul play. In the following years, the story of the ghost ship Mary Celeste became legendary. Theories about what happened to the 10 missing passengers ranged from mutiny to wrathful sea monsters.
In 2002, documentarian Anne MacGregor and oceanographer Phil Richardson attempted to solve the mystery themselves. Using the data in the captain’s log, the two researchers postulated that Captain Briggs had misidentified his location by more than 100 miles. Additionally, they learned that the ship had apparently faced rough seas and winds shortly before the last log entry.
A disassembled pump found on the ship led the researchers to believe that Captain Briggs was worried about the amount of seawater in the ship’s hull. For a captain responsible for the lives of his crew and his family, he possibly made the ill-informed call to abandon ship out of fear that it was sinking.
