Friday Fun Facts- Ghost Ships

What makes a ghost ship? There are those that appear with no crew and every piece of identification stripped from their being. Then, there are the ones that show up looking as if the crew abandoned her mid meal. All belongings and cargo accounted for- just no men. What happened? Where did these ships sail to before they met their mysterious end?

Too many questions, not enough answers.

2012.( That surprised you, I bet.) It’s not all ancient stories. A luxury vessel drifted into Ft. Lauderdale. Running lights still on, the engine purring, but no captain. In fact, his wallet and cell phone were still by the wheel. Authorities looked for any crew for weeks. No bodies, no wreckage, no ransom notes, nothing.
1813. A schooner was destroyed in Nova Scotia by one of its crew mates, killing everyone. The ghost ship appeared for the next two years, witnessed by many, and exploded into a fiery ball at the same spot where the schooner vanished. Now ships who frequent the area say a ship shows up to ram them on foggy days, but disappears as it hits.
2007. A boat named the Lunatic (What could possibly go wrong with that moniker?), captained by a 70 year old man, set sail for an around-the-world trip. He spoke frequently on short wave radio but made his last contact in January. 1 month later, his ship shows up off the coast of Australia looking ragged and mossy with no one on board. 3 months later, it was spotted by a world class Scientific vessel floating in the middle of the sea- forever wandering without its captain.
2007. (Popular year) Another luxury boat that had 3 grown men on board came into harbor in Australia. The engines were running, all lights were on, radio was working, and the table was set for dinner with wine poured in the glasses. All personal effects were undisturbed. So…what could make 3 men disappear without a trace in beautiful, calm weather? The mystery has never been solved.
 1947. A dutch ship was discovered off the coast of Indonesia with her entire crew dead on board. No signs of violence or any kind of wounds were found on the bodies. However, they all died with their arms outstretched as if pointing to something and their faces were contorted in horror. While authorities began their investigation, a mysterious fire broke out in the hold and consumed the whole ship. A morse code message was found stating the captain and all members of the crew were dead. Then a second one showed “I die” was all it said. Since no one ever claimed the ship, it was sunk. Whoa.
 1921. The Bermuda Triangle. (Everybody’s favorite mystery) The ship set sail from Rio and there were problems from the get go. The crew thought the captain didn’t know what he was doing, but he calmed them down. So why did the boat show up off the coast of Cape Hatteras 3 days later with the crew gone, mid meal, and no trace of what happened? There have never been any clues.
 1748. (This story if great for romance writers!) This schooner was purposely wrecked off the coast of England when the first mate was insanely jealous of the captain marrying a beautiful young woman. They were travelling to Portugal for their honeymoon when he took over the ship and rammed it into rocks. 50 years later, a sighting of the boat was made in the same spot where it crashed. 50 years after that, lifeboats were set out when it was spotted again. It faithfully showed up every 50 years until 1998 when it didn’t appear and has never come again.