By akademiotoelektronik, 25/11/2022

The 9 Scariest Ghost Ship Stories

Ghost boats populate the marine world. We have selected our 9 favorite stories from around the world to celebrate Halloween. Attention, chills guaranteed!

The SS Valencia and its ghost lifeboat

On January 20, 1906, the SS Valencia left San Francisco for Seattle. But this steamship gets lost in the storm. He ended up drifting off course. While missing the entrance to the strait for Seattle, he hit a reef. It is midnight, January 22, 1906. In the panic, the evacuation of the 108 passengers is chaotic. Three canoes overturned before being floated, and only three canoes were rescued. A lifeboat is missing. Local fishermen claim to have seen it drifting in the area for many years. Ghost or lost boat, no one will ever know.

The most beautiful stories about shipwrecks and lost treasures

The Octavius ​​frozen in time

This ghost ship story is one of the oldest. In 1775, the Herald, a whaler, was sailing off Greenland when suddenly it was struck by a ship, the Octavius. The sailors shout for an explanation, but only the sound of the waves and the wind answers them.

Intrigued, they board the Octavius. What they see terrifies them. All the crew members froze to death. At his desk, the captain still has his pen in his hand. He died while writing his logbook. On the page, it is noted 1762. This ghost ship therefore haunted the coast of Greenland for 13 years.

The sudden disappearance of the Yarmouth

In 1812, the Yarmouth set sail for the West Indies from Canada. The two-master was to deliver a cargo of salted fish and timber. The outward journey is going very well, since a letter sent from the West Indies informs Canada of their arrival and their planned return. Several weeks pass. The sailboat does not return.

Suddenly, almost a year after their departure, the boat arrives in the port, under full sail. He lowers his mast and drops anchor. But no one gets off the ship. The stunned witnesses of the scene decide to approach with a boat. In the distance, they hear the captain's voice yelling at them to stay away. Suddenly, the boat disappears.

The following year, the boat suddenly reappeared before evaporating again. The occurrence is getting lower and lower every year. Finally, in 1872, the ghost ship disappeared forever.

The mysterious disappearance of the crew of the J.C. Cousins

The schooner J.C. Cousins ​​was a pilot boat in Astoria, Oregon in 1883. This large 20-meter yacht left on October 6, 1883 for take up his post at sea. At that time, the crew was made up of 4 sailors, recently recruited, and a captain. In the evening, he noted in the logbook, "everything is fine on board".

The next morning, the ship is observed sailing quietly. Suddenly, the ship pivots on itself following a change of wind. He then heads straight for the coast, and runs aground on a sandbar. The people who witness the scene run to his aid.

On board, they find no one. The ship seems abandoned of all human life. However, potatoes are still cooking in a saucepan, on a hot stove. All the sailors' belongings are there, tidy. The lifeboat is secured to the boat and the lifebuoys are intact. There is not the slightest trace of struggle or disorder. The crew was never found. At the time, a commission of inquiry tried in vain to solve the mystery, but it remains intact.

The legendary and terrifying Flying Dutchman

The legend of the Flying Dutchman has inspired many, from Richard Wagner to the screenwriter of Pirates of the Caribbean. If the stories vary according to the sailors and the times, here is its essence. A long, long time ago, a Dutch ship got caught in a storm.

Has he been refused a place in port? Did he defy the seas without the knowledge of his sailors? All is it that the boat was swallowed by the waters. It has since come back to haunt the boats. The Flying Dutchman still appears in bad weather and is a bad omen for all sailors who see him.

The strange death of the crew of the SS Ourang Medan

In 1947, the SS Ourang Medan sends out a distress call: "All the officers, including the captain, are dead, lying in engine room and on deck. The crew is surely dead. Before help arrives, a second distress message is sent: “I am dying. ".

When the emergency services finally board the freighter, they are horrified to discover that the entire crew has died. Their bodies are twisted with their arms towards the sky, as if defending themselves from an invisible enemy. Suddenly, the engine room caught fire, forcing the rescuers to abandon the boat. It will sink before the rescuers have been able to carry out any autopsy.

What really happened? Historians have since sought to verify this story, without success. The SS Ourang Medan does not appear on any official register.

The legendary disappearance of the crew of the Mary Celeste

The legend of the Mary Celeste was made famous by Arthur Conan Doyle. Indeed, the creator of Sherlock Holmes chose to use this legend in one of his short stories.

On November 7, 1872, Mary Celeste set sail for New York to go to Geneva, with a cargo of alcohol. Almost a month later, between the Azores and Portugal, the Dei Gratia, another brigantine, crosses his path. The captain of the ship is surprised by the strange behavior of the Mary Celeste. He therefore asks his sailors to board the ship. Once on board, the crew discovers that the ship has been abandoned. There is no one on board. Where have the ten crew members gone? Nobody knows. Only the lifeboat was missing on board.

After finding it, the sailors of the Dei Gratia drove the boat to Gibraltar, hoping to collect some money from the insurance companies. A trial took place. But, the attorney general found no evidence against the crew of the Dei Gratia. In 1884, when Conan Doyle published his short story, he revived the case, and a new series of theories on what could have happened. Even today, the mystery remains unsolved.

The strange disappearance of the crew of Kaz II

Not all ghost ship stories date back to the 19th century. Some are very recent like that of the Kaz II. On April 18, 2007, a helicopter noticed a drifting catamaran. Called Kaz II, this boat seems abandoned on the Great Barrier Reef.

On April 20, when the maritime authorities boarded, they noticed the engine, which was still running. However, there is no one on board. Food is placed at the table. The only detail that is out of the ordinary: the mainsail is torn.

What happened to the 3 men in their fifties who were on board? Did their inexperience at sea cause their downfall? Their bodies having never been found, the mystery remains intact.

HMS Resolute, saved from the ice then transformed into a presidential office

The story of HMS Resolute is fascinating. In 1854, this British navy ship was sent to recover a ship stuck in the ice. Unfortunately, fate decided otherwise. On September 10, 1855, in the Davis Strait, an American whaling vessel George Henry, drifting on the pack ice, was overtaken by a warship. The crew does not answer his calls.

He then asks four sailors to cross the ice floe to have a look. They then discovered the HMS Resolute, abandoned 16 months ago off Melville Island. The boat has therefore covered more than a thousand kilometres.

Another remarkable fact: the vessel survived the grip of the ice and still seems to be navigable. The captain of the George Henry decided to take the ship back with him. The trip was complicated, without a proper navigation instrument or map. But, he arrives on Christmas Eve 1855 in Connecticut. The Senate and Congress then bought the boat from the whalers in order to return it to the Queen of England. When the boat reaches the end of its life, Queen Victoria then orders that three "Resolute" offices be built with its wood. A model is still in the Oval Office of the White House and still used by the President of the United States. A copy can be bought for 7000 dollars.