For generations, sailors have told each other the legend of the Flying Dutchman. This image always made hearts beat faster. The mystery and romance associated with it excited the imagination. And for good reason: the legend is really very poetic.

Every year, dozens of ships disappear in the oceans. These are not only fragile skiffs and boats, elegant yachts and pleasure boats - among the missing there are also passenger liners and bulk carriers.
What happened? Where have you gone? Any sailor will answer you that everything here is very simple and hopeless: they met with the "Flying Dutchman".

It was about three hundred and fifty years ago, and maybe more. Now no one will tell us what the name of the captain of this ship was. Leafing through yellowed books and old ship's logs, some say that it was Captain Van Straaten from the beautiful city of Delft. Others swear they called him Van der Decken.

But be that as it may, everyone agrees on one thing: this captain was the most evil and most ferocious man in the world. It was said of him that he always carries a thick whip with a lead ball on the end. And during a thunderstorm, his red beard flares up with fire.

His ship sailed to distant Java, and to the shores of India, and to the Antilles. Where other ships crashed and died, his ship remained safe and sound - not a single hole, not a single scratch on the bottom. It seemed that the ship was charmed, and everything was indifferent to it: storms, whirlpools, and underwater reefs. Everywhere the captain was accompanied by unusual luck. He was known in all ports of both hemispheres. He was vain and proud, like the devil himself, he loved gold, but fame was dearer to him than gold.

The crew was a match for the captain: gallows, inveterate scoundrels, thugs. What honest sailor would volunteer to serve under this captain? One name was terrifying.
He transported everything: pepper, cinnamon, silks. He did not disdain living goods either. There was nothing to breathe in the hold. Slaves died by the dozen from disease and starvation.
No problem! Dead overboard! If only half of them survive, they will still be able to resell them at a profit.
The sharks grew fat as they followed the ship. They did not lag behind him: they knew that there would be a life.
- My glorious little fishes! - said the captain to these creatures. - Today you ate to your heart's content. Tomorrow I'll throw you a feast again.

They say that on occasion he raised a black flag and attacked merchant ships. But who could accuse him of this, because there were no living witnesses left!
When the captain walked along the narrow streets of the port town, even the old sailors pulled off their hats from their heads and bent their backs, ossified from old age. You will not have time to bow, you will try his famous whip.
He entered the pub. And behind him, with cackling and shouting, his team tumbled in. The visitors tried to quietly get out of the tavern as good as they could. Even the bullies with pood fists turned sour at once.
The owner's hamstrings were shaking. He quickly began to turn among the barrels of beer. One look from the captain - and his legs became more agile than the legs of a young deer. The owner brought bottles of the best wine, roasted turkeys and capons to the table. He did not even dare to mention the payment.
And then, with a timid flicker of candles, puffing on a long pipe, the captain began his stories.
About how the fore-mast collapsed in a storm, but he still drove his ship through the ring of reefs, although every wave threatened to blow it to pieces.
In the north, his ship was almost covered with ice. A three-masted schooner sailed past, frozen into an iceberg. People clung to the masts, begging for help. But this did not make him turn back. Three sailors from his crew went crazy. Well! He found a good treatment for them: overboard, into ice water.
The captain fell silent and ran a captious glance over the faces of the listeners. Yes, they are numb! They look at him without blinking. Horror froze in his eyes.
And then pride overwhelmed him. Still would! He is the love of the sea! The sea obeys him!
Woe to the newcomer who dared to break this silence and insert a single word:
- I remember, and I am in the same latitudes, once ...
Friends will begin to push him with their elbows to the side, but it's too late.
The captain's frantic, crimson face turns to him. Blue, piercing eyes flash lightning. A blow of the fist - and the unfortunate one falls dead. Then two sailors by the legs drag him over the threshold, and that's it, remember his name ...

They said that the damned captain prays to the devil and the devil helps him in everything. Again and again he went out to sea and each time returned with rich booty. Such perishing him around the diabolical luck.

Once the captain had to sail from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean, from the island of Martinique to the islands of Juan Fernandez.
- Sailing in the month of March past Cape Horn? other captains said. - Who will decide on this, except for him?
When the last barrels of corned beef were already loaded onto the ship, a richly dressed young man approached the captain.
He was a stranger in these parts and did not know anything about the terrible glory of the captain.
- The father of my bride lives on one of the islands of Juan Fernandez, - the young man said to the captain. - He is seriously ill and wants to bless us before he dies. If you take me and my fiancée there, I will pay you handsomely.
The captain took them on board, along with servants and luggage, and went to sea. He got one of the servants drunk and found out that the young man was rich and was carrying a lot of gold with him.
By order of the captain, the sailors seized the young Spaniard and threw him into the sea, followed by all his servants.
- And you, beauty, choose what you want! the captain called to the girl. “Either you will be my maid, or follow your fiancé.”
- Damn it, killer! the girl exclaimed. May you never see the shore again! - And rushed into the bottomless abyss.
The captain just laughed his satanic laugh. And as if in response, a roar and whistle of a hurricane was heard. He flew in from the west.

The ship was just approaching Cape Horn.
- Trouble! We are lost! the sailors spoke in fright.
Cape Horn!
To the death of sailors, a black cliff rises here, forever shrouded in fog. Waves break with a roar, crashing against the rock.
Here the currents of two oceans collide. Even in calm weather it is not easy to swim past this rock.
- Cape Horn - the entrance to the underworld! sailors say.
But the captain does not think to turn back.
Counter hurricane! All the better! Round Cape Horn in this weather! There will be something to talk about when we return to Delft.

Water mountains are falling on the ship. The hail dances across the deck. Masts and gear are covered with ice crust.
The ship, all crackling and trembling, climbs the wave. But every time the wind throws him back. For the second week now, the ship has been spinning like a dog on a leash in one place.
In the breaks of rapidly rushing clouds, the moon will either flash or hide.

Terrible storm in the green light of the month. Everything was mixed up: shreds of clouds and scraps of foam. Ice floes and wreckage of broken ships dive in the waves. It can be seen that the devil himself was mixed into this trashy stew, because everything that can howl, rage and rush at the rocks has now gathered here.
Yes, the storm has set a good trap for you, captain.
The sea has spoiled you for so many years. It threw you a fair wind, then a calm, then a light storm. And now it decided to show that you are the same simple sailor as everyone else, the same plaything of the sea.
The captain is blinded by rage. Woe, he's completely lost his head! It seems to him that the storm is taking away his glory along with shreds of sails, a flag and pieces of a mast.
How? Turn back, and then the little people will tell that he gave in, chickened out, gave up? Of course, with him they will be silent. But how can he wipe the smile from their faces, shut their mouths, as soon as he turns away. They will secretly mock him!
The sailors look on in horror. A huge black raven appeared out of nowhere and perched on the mast.
The wind tears the ropes, breaks the yards, but the crow does not care - it only puffs up its feathers.
"Kar-r! .. Kar-r!" - with his ominous croaking, he seems to prophesy their death.
- A hundred devils and a thousand witches! the captain shouts. - Let the devil take my soul! I'll round that damned Cape Horn, even if I have to swim until the Doomsday

Lightning, twisted into a ball, fall on the ship. A raven with a hoarse croak circles over the deck.
The devil took you at your word. You are cursed, captain! You will swim forever. You will never go around this cape. A hurricane of unprecedented strength will always be waiting for you near Cape Horn. The waves will become a wall, the wind will throw your ship back.
How much time has passed since then, no one knows. No one else keeps track of time on this ship. No one has ever stepped ashore from this ship.

A ghost ship is rushing along the waves. Even his name has changed. "Flying Dutchman" - that's what people now call him.
Forever forward and forward. The Flying Dutchman can't stop. In a vain effort to slow down the terrible run, they dug into the bottom of the anchor. The anchors plowed the bottom for a long time until the anchor chains burst.
Longing for the earth, for the homeland turns him to the shore. But as soon as a strip of land appears in the distance, an invisible force repels, throws the ship away from the shore.
Trouble is foreshadowed by a meeting with the "Flying Dutchman" in the middle of a raging sea.

The one who saw him, the blood freezes in the veins. Here is a huge wave lifted him to his crest. No, this is not a ship, this is just the skeleton of a ship. It glows red all over. The wind whistles between the ribs of the frames. The masts are broken, the ropes are mixed up. But the torn sails are inflated to failure. No, these are not sailors crowded on his deck, these are ghosts. And then there's the damned captain. He is at the bow of the ship. The wind whipped up a holey cloak behind his back.
The Flying Dutchman slides off the wave. And the wind is roaring louder. The waves rise higher and higher. As if the "Flying Dutchman" unleashed all the winds and storms.

And those who saw the ghost ship are already saying goodbye to life. Woe to the sailors who lost their courage in the hour of danger! They can no longer weather the storm.
Only a few lucky people manage to survive after meeting with the "Flying Dutchman".

Here is what the English sailors said.

Three-masted sailing ship "Gloucester" went to the shores of England.
Suddenly, in broad daylight, to the right along the side, as if rising from the depths of the sea, the Flying Dutchman appeared. It was calm, but the Flying Dutchman was flying at an incredible speed, as if he had his own wind, inflating his torn sails. Instantly he was near the Gloucester at a distance of one cable.
The boat pulled away from the Flying Dutchman. The oarlocks creaked piercingly as the ghost sailors piled on the oars.
The people on the Gloucester seemed to be petrified.

The boat came quite close, and a canvas bag fell on the deck. The shabby canvas was shattered, and letters were scattered across the deck.
And then the boat disappeared. The Flying Dutchman also disappeared from sight.
The sailors looked with horror at these letters, not daring to approach them.
Jung sobbed loudly. Scary boy! Here, even experienced sailors are trembling. The sea is calm, and the "Flying Dutchman" has disappeared from sight, but how to escape when here they are, damned letters!
All the same, these scraps of paper will carry them into the abyss of the sea.

And then said the old sailor, with hair as white as sea salt:

There is only one way for us to be saved. I heard about him when I was still young, from sailors as old as I am now. We must take the letters from the Flying Dutchman and nail them to the foremast. Then the "Flying Dutchman" will lose power over our ship.
The most desperate of the sailors hastily, hurrying each other, nail the letters to the foremast.
The Gloucester is off course. Hurry to the nearest port! Just to get rid of this terrible mail.
Letters from the dead have come home.
A young Dutch woman in a snow-white cap with surprise takes a crumpled, yellowed letter from the hands of the postman.
A strange address is written on it: "Rosé van Holp, on St. Nicholas Street, in the house where the hardware store is, opposite the Green Goose Inn."
The postman walked around the city a lot with this letter. The Green Goose tavern is long gone, the hardware store is gone, its iron sign is rusting somewhere in the attic.

The girl drops the paper and is afraid to pick it up.
The letter is addressed to her great-grandmother, who has been buried in her grave for many years.
And the "Flying Dutchman" continues its endless journey...
How many times stubbornly and hopelessly did he return to Cape Horn! But each time, like a chip, it was picked up by a furious hurricane, circled in the air and thrown back into the sea.
Woe to the ship if it meets in the middle of the ocean the "Flying Dutchman" - a harbinger of certain death!
Does his cruel captain experience joy, taking out his anger and despair on an oncoming ship? Or is he tired of dragging a load of curses and tears?
Who knows!
Like a restless one, he rushes along the waves of the seas and oceans. Today the Southern Cross shines for him, and tomorrow - the constellation Ursa Major.
Death is desirable and tempting for him. Exhausted by endless wandering, how many times did the captain rule his ship on the rocks! But the rock, turning into a wave, gently spread under the holey bottom of the ship.
The Flying Dutchman is condemned to eternal wanderings.
So says the legend.

edited news fox cub - 22-02-2011, 07:18

After emptying a bottle of rum for a snack of vegetables, corned beef and fresh bread, I usually get into a kind of dreamy state in which I remember past legends. And often young sailors ask me to tell the story of the Ghost Ship.

Well, when the weather deteriorates, and the wind changes and howling terribly in the chimney, seeping through the windows with a draft, it doesn’t penetrate to the bones with a chilling breath, forcing you to move closer to the hearth, but terrible stories about ships that plow the seas-oceans, alone without lights , appearing out of the mist to deliver a mortal blow to those unfortunate ones who are not able to recognize his approach by ominous signs; and others - in a deadly halo of light, foreshadowing a storm in which the downpour strips the flesh from the bones, and lightning smashes the masts to pieces. Others pass by, and it is impossible to overtake them, it is impossible to board them and learn their secrets.

For every sea has its own ship. And there is no torment more terrible for his crew than not being able to tell about the fate that befell him.

Flying Dutchman

Enough has been said about the Flying Dutchman even without me; I will only say that they were two different ships, out of ignorance of geography, land rats, merged into one. The first of them tried to bypass the Horn, the second - the cape, called in those days the Cape of Storms.

Among the reasons for their curse is usually the will of heaven, although in the first case it is ignorance of what is in southern hemisphere the season of storms falls at a time when in the north the weather is extremely seaworthy, and in the second - an attempt to pass the Horn against the wind, which is fatal even now.

Kaleuche

But here are other ships - one of them sails in the Pacific Ocean, and is called "Kaleuche". This name does not belong to the ship, t as the natives call it, attributing to it mysterious and monstrous properties - to appear out of nowhere and hide in the fog, holiday lights are always on board, and beautiful, enchanting music is heard - but woe to those who sail to its sounds, they will run aground and reefs, into the fog and into the storm, to certain death.

But there is something else: Captain Kaleuche knows about all the treasures that are hidden at the bottom of the sea. More than once, the gold hunters, who got on board this ship through cunning, ingenuity and even arcane magic, tried to find out from the captain about the gold - and the captain, respecting the courage of those who are not afraid of death and curses, with a bitter smile showed them that they were looking for. He also always warned them that every treasure had a terrible price. Whatever the human greed, each of them was waiting for the loss, and the pain from it was not able to drown out even all the gold in the world. And then, having drunk this cup to the bottom, the broken and tormented former brave man once saw Kaleuche leaving in the fog on the horizon, and on board everything that the man who went to look for the hidden gold had lost. Needless to say, now you won’t give even a couple of coins for the life of this poor fellow?

Ice Ship

Those who walk on south seas(and some in the north), of course, they are afraid of icebergs, but the Ice Ship inspires them much more. Sometimes he is seen frozen in the ice, sometimes - floating; it is white-white from hoarfrost, softly ringing with icicles frozen on gear, mournfully tells the fate of those whose fire went out - both literally and figuratively. Another daredevil can board this ship and find people there covered with a crust of ice - the helmsman, helplessly sagging at the helm, the captain at the table, where an unfinished line blackens in the ship's log, huddled in close arms under the blanket of the unfortunate, trying to save at least a crumb of heat , a cook, clutching a tinderbox in his hand, trying to the last to strike a spark ... They say that a meeting with him is marked by icy rain, and the sailors are exhausted, breaking off the rapidly growing ice from the sides, and if they despair, and the fire in their souls goes out - this the ship will replenish the ice fleet.

Is there a good omen? Rarely, but there are such ships. For example, a nameless sailboat, illuminated by lights on the ends of the yards, on the claw, bowsprit and tackboard - it is impossible not to notice it, it is approaching and soon you see how the same lights are lit all over your ship. The sailor's soul is calm at this moment, because he knows that the thundering ghost ship shared his luck with him, and let there be a storm, let there be a battle - the ship will pass through them and survive.

Unnamed

There are other ships whose names have been erased by time, and some of them appear only from time to time, and some are doomed for centuries to repeat their last hours, disturbing tourists and giving rise to rumors, but no one has yet been able to board them.

Today, in the era of satellite navigation and radar, there is a whole generation of those who consider themselves sailors, staring at the screen and pressing buttons. And no, no, let the rumors spread through the taverns - such and such a ship, so many tons, insured by Lloyd, having so many souls of the crew on board, did not arrive at its destination, and from that moment it is considered missing.

And we never know - did he meet the ghost ship that sent him to the bottom with a ramming blow - or did he become one himself? And maybe soon some sailor, pale as death, entering a tavern and draining a glass of rum, will tell that he saw a steamship, without lights, in a fierce storm around the coast of Alaska, and everything would be fine, but no smoke hovered over its pipe, and its body was rusted and not a trace of paint remained.

Or maybe he saw an old clipper ship, under full sail, rushing through a storm (which, of course, no reasonable captain will do), disappearing as if it were not there in just a couple of moments.

Or maybe he saw the sky lit up with crimson flames, and in clouds of smoke, two ships exchanged side by side with thunderous volleys before disappearing without a trace.

Many dead are buried in our seas-oceans. And many ghost ships ply them at the will of not people, but winds and currents. When you see them - stay away, they no longer belong to this world.

They are called ghost ships or phantoms. They are one of the many secrets that the oceans hide from man. Sailors at all times, with their stories about them, did not have to scare the hell out of a person who was disposed to hear about ghost ships drifting with the flow across the seas and oceans. Although in most cases, the sailors' stories are true. It is believed that many phantoms are still in the oceans. Some of these ships have neither crew nor passengers. Others simply come into view and then disappear into the mist. Below you will find a list of ten phantom ships that still haunt the oceans today.

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10

Kaleuche

This is the most famous ghost ship in Chile. It is said to be seen every night near the island of Chiloe off the coast of Chile. It is also believed that on board are the souls of people who drowned in the area of ​​the island. Kaleuche appears in the dark, brightly lit and with loud music and laughter coming through. After a few minutes, the ghost disappears.

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9

SS Valencia

The ocean liner SS Valencia was built specifically for the route between Venezuela and New York. During the Spanish-American War, this ship served to transport troops. The ship sank off the coast of Vancouver in British Columbia in 1906 and became one of the most famous ghost ships. The ship was blown off course after being badly damaged near Cape Mendocino. Only 37 people survived the crash. Later, a local fisherman claimed to have seen a life raft nearby with the remains of the crew.

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8

Urang Meda

In Indonesian waters, under mysterious circumstances, this ship sank, and its entire crew died. The history of this phantom is quite mystical. Two American ships heard a distress call off the Malaysian coast. The call came from a ghost ship. The crew is believed to have been dead by then. The last message from the ship consisted of only two words: "I'm dying."

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7

Carroll A. Deering

This ship is well known among the ghost ships on the east coast of the United States. It sank in 1921 in North Carolina. The roar was heard by the coast guard, who immediately went to the rescue. When they found the ship, there was no one on board. The ship was almost gutted and there were no lifeboats. The ship's passengers were never heard from again.

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6

Beychimo

Beichimo is a cargo steamer, with interesting history ghost ship. It was built in Sweden in 1914 and was owned by the Hudson Bay Company. The steamer was used to transport skins along the coast of Victoria Island. When the ship got stuck in the ice, the crew abandoned it, and the empty steamer drifted in Alaska for forty years. He was last seen in 1969.

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5

Octavius

It is believed that Octavius ​​is a legend, not a real-life ship. However, he is one of the most famous phantoms. It was a whaling ship that was wrecked in 1775. The crew and all passengers froze to death. According to stories, the captain of the ship died right on his desk, filling out the ship's log. The ship drifted for 13 years until it was discovered by other ships.

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4

Joita

A fishing boat that was found completely abandoned in 1955. The crew, as well as 25 passengers, disappeared. The ship was found more than 600 miles from where it went missing 5 weeks before it was discovered. Today Joyta is considered one of the most famous ghost ships of the 20th century.

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3

Lady Lavibond

This ghost ship is from the UK. The ship went on its last voyage in 1748, but, unfortunately, sank. Everyone on board died. It is said that the captain of this ship was celebrating a wedding, while his first mate, also in love with the captain's bride, sent the ship to the sandy shoals. As a result, the ship sank along with the crew. This phantom appears every 50 years near Kent.

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2

Mary Celeste

The Mary Celeste is a merchant ship that was discovered in 1872 floating aimlessly in Atlantic Ocean. When the ship was found, it was in excellent condition, although it became one of the ghost ships. The cargo hold was full, but there were no lifeboats. The entire crew was also absent. There were no signs of a struggle on the ship. All personal belongings of the crew and passengers remained in place. Today, the Mary Celeste is considered the most mysterious ghost ship.

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1

Flying Dutchman

The Flying Dutchman is perhaps the most famous ghost ship in the world. In the late 1700s, stories about him first appeared among sailors and fishermen. And now there are still reports that the famous phantom ship and its crew are shown to the eyes of sailors. Even the Prince of Wales saw this ship once.

In the Philippines, fishermen found the mummified body of a 59-year-old man who had lain for several days in a half-flooded yacht. Writes about it on Tuesday The Independent.

According to the publication, a German navigator named Manfred Fritz Bayorath, who operated the yacht Sajo, died a non-violent death. According to the police, who conducted the examination, the cause of death, most likely, was a heart attack. The sailor's body was turned into a mummy due to the salty ocean air and dry weather.

The man was identified through documents and numerous photographs that law enforcement officers found on board the yacht, which, according to the newspaper, drifted for several months in the Pacific Ocean before it was discovered by fishermen.

It should be noted that in the world it has happened quite often before and there are still situations when ships without a crew were found on the high seas. Such ships are called "ghost ships". This term is most often used in legends and fiction, but it can also refer to a real ship that had previously disappeared, and then after some time was found at sea without a crew or with a dead crew on board. In most cases, many meetings with such ships are fiction, however, real cases are known that are documented - thanks to entries in the logbook, for example. "MIR 24" recalled the most famous "ghost ships" in the history of navigation.

(George Grieux. Full Moonrise. From the Ghost Ship series.)

In 1775, a merchant ship from England called the Octavius ​​was discovered off the coast of Greenland, carrying dozens of bodies of frozen crew members. The ship's log showed that this ship was returning to the UK from China. The ship set sail in 1762 and attempted to navigate the rough Northwest Passage, which was only successfully crossed in 1906. The ship and the frozen bodies of its crew drifted through the pack ice for 13 years.

Almost a century later, in 1850, on the shores of Rhode Island, a mysterious sailboat called the Seabird was stuck in shallow water, carrying wood and coffee from the island of Honduras. On board, in one of the cabins, only a dog was found, which was shaking with fear. No people were found on the ship, despite the fact that fragrant coffee was boiling on the galley stove, there was a map and a logbook on the table. The last entry in it read: "We went abeam the reef of Brenton." Based on the results of the incident, a thorough investigation was carried out, which, nevertheless, could not answer the question of where the crew of the sailboat had gone.

(Abandoned by the crew of the Mary Celeste)

On December 4, 1872, 400 miles from Gibraltar, the ship "Dei Gracia" discovered the brigantine "Mary Celeste" without a single crew member on board. The ship was quite good, strong, without damage, but, according to legend, during the entire time of its voyage it very often got into unpleasant situations, which is why it received a bad name. The captain with his team of 7 people, as well as his wife and daughter, who were also on the ship at the time of the cargo transportation, among which was, in particular, alcohol, disappeared without a trace.

Many "ghost ships" were found by sailors and fishermen in the last millennium. So, at the end of January 1921, the lighthouse keeper of Cape Hatteras noticed the five-masted schooner "Carroll A. Dearing" on the outer edge of the Diamond Shoals shoal. All the sails of the ship were removed, there was no one on board, except for the ship's cat. No one touched the cargo, food and personal belongings of the crew members. The only things missing were the lifeboats, the chronometer, the sextants, and the logbook. The steering control of the schooner did not function, in addition, the ship's compass and part of the navigational instruments were broken. Why and where the Carroll A. Dearing team disappeared, it was not possible to find out.

(The SS Valencia in 1904)

In 1906, the passenger steamer SS Valencia sank off the southwest coast of Vancouver Island. 27 years after the disaster, in 1933, sailors found a lifeboat from this ship that was sailing in the area in good condition. Moreover, the sailors claimed to have observed the Valencia itself, following down the coast. But it turned out to be just a vision.

In February 1948, according to legend, merchant ships located in the Malacca Strait near Sumatra received a radio signal from the Dutch ship Orang Medan: “SOS! Motor ship "Orang Medan". The ship continues to follow its course. Maybe all the members of our crew have already died.” This was followed by rambling dots and dashes. At the end of the radiogram it said: "I'm dying." The ship was found by English sailors. The entire crew of the ship was dead. The faces of the crew members were frozen in horror. Suddenly, a fire broke out in the hold of the ship, and soon the ship exploded. A powerful explosion broke the ship in half, after which the Orang Medan sank. The most popular theory for the death of the crew is that the ship was carrying nitroglycerin without special packaging.

At the beginning of 1953, the cargo ship "Kholchu" with a cargo of rice was discovered by the sailors of the English vessel "Rani". Due to the elements, the ship was significantly damaged, but the lifeboats were not touched. In addition, there was a full supply of fuel and water on board. Five crew members disappeared without a trace.

"Ghost ships" met in the new century. So, in 2003, the Indonesian fishing schooner "High AM 6" was found drifting without a crew near New Zealand. Large-scale searches were organized, which nevertheless did not give a result - 14 team members could not be found.

In 2007, in Australia, there was a story with the ghost yacht Kaz II. The ship left Airlie Beach on April 15, and a few days later was found off the coast of Queensland. Rescuers boarded the yacht and saw the engine, radio, and GPS laptop running. In addition, dinner was prepared and the table laid, but the crew, which consisted of three people, was not on board. The sails of the yacht were in place, but badly damaged. Life jackets and other life-saving equipment were not used. On April 25, it was decided to stop the search, since hardly anyone could survive for such a time period.

(Trawler Maru before sinking. Photo: U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 1st Class Sara Francis)

The Japanese fishing boat Maru (Luck) drifted and crossed the Pacific Ocean after the devastating March 11, 2011 struck the country. The ship was first spotted at the end of March 2012 by a Canadian Air Force patrol. The Japanese side, after receiving notification of the discovery of the trawler, managed to establish the shipowner. However, he did not express a desire to return the ship. On board the "Luck" there was a minimum amount of fuel and there was no cargo, since before the earthquake in Japan the ship was intended for disposal. Nothing was reported about the fate of the Luck crew. Due to the fact that the vessel posed a threat to navigation, the US Coast Guard fired on it in April 2012, after which the trawler sank.

(Russian ghost ship "Lyubov Orlova" is drifting in the waters of Ireland, TASS)

On January 23, 2013, a double-deck cruise ship built back in the Soviet years left the Canadian port of St. John's for towing for scrapping to the Dominican Republic. However, in the afternoon of the next day, the towing cable burst at the Charlene Hunt tug pulling the ship. As a result, the ship drifted. Attempts to take him in tow again proved fruitless. Thus, since January 24, 2013, it has been in free drift in the Atlantic Ocean without a crew and identification lights. In March, the Irish media reported that signals had been recorded from the Lyubov Orlova emergency beacon 700 miles off the coast of Ireland. This may indicate that the ship has sunk, as the emergency beacon is activated when it enters the water. Searches were made in the area from which the signals were received, but nothing was found. In early 2014, there were rumors that a drifting ship inhabited by cannibal rats could allegedly wash up on the coast of Ireland. However, there is still no reliable information about the fate of the ship. Most likely, it sank in February 2013.

The concept of "Ghost Ship" appeared a long time ago, according to one version, this was facilitated by the legend of the "Flying Dutchman".
The Dutch captain Van Der Decken was a hard and cruel man. A drunkard, a blasphemer and a foul-mouthed man, he was not afraid of either God or the devil and kept his team in constant fear.
But what could not be taken away from him was the fact that he was an excellent sailor: experienced, courageous and stern. In the late autumn of 1641, his fast vessel was rushing under full sail from the East Indies to Amsterdam, carrying a cargo of spices and two passengers - a beautiful girl and her fiancé. The beauty sunk into the heart of Van Der Decken and he decided to win her in his usual way. Approaching the couple on deck, he fired at young man, threw the corpse overboard and turned to the girl with an insistent offer to share all the hardships and joys family life. But the beauty chose to commit suicide by throwing herself into the abyss. This spoiled the mood of the captain and he took another portion of rum. The schooner was approaching the Cape of Storms at that time. This place on the southern tip of the African continent, where the waters of two oceans converge - the warm Indian and the cold Atlantic, giving rise to heavy winds and swift currents, is now called the Cape of Good Hope (what else can sailors hope for in this inhospitable place?). A storm was coming in that promised to be terrible, even for these places where the sea is never calm. Decken orders the team to move forward. The sailors, seeing that this is madness, refuse, and the navigator, old friend The captain, who has been with him for more than a year, offers to hide in a quiet bay and wait out the rampant elements, for which he receives a bullet in the forehead from the captain and goes to feed the fish. Following him, Van Der Decken sends several more crew members to the forefathers, and the remaining sailors obey him. After repeated attempts to break through, Decken, shaking his fist at the sky, shouts that he will pass this cape, even if it takes eternity, decorating his speech with strong words and blasphemy. According to an old marine legend, the heavens did not forgive Captain Van Der Decken and cursed him, his ship and crew. From then until the Second Coming, a rotten schooner with decayed sails and a crew of the dead rushes about the seas-oceans, instilling fear in the sailors. And do not bring the Almighty to meet you at sea this old schooner on the stern of which is written "Flying Dutchman". Port of registry "Eternity". This is just one of the variants of the legend about the "Herald of Death", as the sailors also dubbed this ghost ship. According to other sources, the captain's name was Van Der Straaten, according to others, in general, Bernard Focke. In German maritime folklore, Captain von Falkenberg appears, who sailed in the North Sea and loved to play dice with the devil, and in the end lost his soul. And besides, there is a legend about the “Flying Spaniard”, the ship of the repentant pirate Pepe of Mallorca, but meeting with him, unlike meeting with the Dutchman, brings good luck to sailors. But the essence of all these legends is the same - ghost ships.

Do they exist? Where do they come from and where do they go? Let's try to figure it out. The very first documentary mention of a ghost ship with the dead on board can be considered a place in the Old Testament, where on the fortieth day of sailing, when the rain stopped, Noah went out onto the deck of the ark “And Noah saw the dead floating on the waters of the tree and there were people on them. The people were dead. And Noah saw how one of the dead people and rivers arose: Why did you save your own, and left us to die? And Noah answered: For you are the kingdom of sin. March 15, 59, the picturesque town of Bahia. The bloodthirsty emperor Nero orders the prefect Sextus Aphranius Burrus to execute the sailor Aniket for not following the emperor's order and not killing Nero's mother Agrippa in the seas. Aniket's yacht was burned, the crew was thrown to the lions, and Aniket himself was killed by the Praetorians. Here is what Seneca wrote about this: “That same night, the inhabitants of Bahia saw a strange ship in the sea, rushing in full sail at full calm. The sailors of the trireme, the one that had brought Agrippa into the bay days earlier, swore that they could see the captain in the bloodied cloak at the wheel. They recognized him as Aniket. And the inhabitants of Bayi said that the team was all from the dead.
In subsequent centuries, navigators undoubtedly met ghost ships (what is the legend about the pirate ghost ship "Kenara" that robbed everyone in its path and disappeared without a trace), but I could not find more or less intelligible data, so let's move to times more than us close ones. During the period of active geographical discoveries, legends about ghost ships became widely known. The superstitious fear of sailors gave rise to unthinkable stories, in particular, in those days, sailors believed that a ship that crossed the equator would inevitably fall into a fiery hyena, or be torn to pieces by sea monsters. This fear was dispelled by a certain Bartolomeu Dias, who in 1487 rounded the ferocious Cape of Storms and went out into Indian Ocean. But Dias never reached India - the exhausted team insisted on returning. According to the chronicle, in 1500 Bartalomeu went missing with his ship at the same bloodthirsty Cape of Storms. The sailors of Dias, who reached Lisbon, talking about the difficulties and hardships of this voyage, all as one claimed that the captain was cursed by providence and doomed to roam the seas incorporeal. There were also those who saw this ghostly ship with Captain Dias at the helm. In 1770, a ship approached the island of Malta, whose name history has not preserved. An epidemic of an unknown disease broke out on board. The chief master of the Order of Malta, not remembering sympathy, ordered the ill-fated ship to be towed away into the sea and not allowed to fire a cannon shot. Then the unfortunate team went to Tunisia (Tunisia on the world map), but the local ruler was warned and he refused to shelter the wanderers, transferring the stock fresh water, food and some medicines. Of the last forces, the sailors reached Italy, but even there they were expected to be refused. Both in France and England. So the entire crew of the damned ship died out, turning the vessel into a floating crypt.

On August 11, 1775, the crew of the whaling ship Herald, which was not far from the coast of Greenland, saw a strange shining ship right on the course, on the deck of which there was no movement. The masts and sides of this ship were covered with ice, which created an ominous glow. The ship did not respond to any signals, so the captain decided to land on the Octavius ​​(the sailors could hardly read the name on board the ship). What was found on the ship led everyone into a depressed state. In the cockpit, the frozen corpses of sailors rested on hammocks; the captain was sitting in his cabin at the table, forever bending over the logbook; the body of a woman rested on a bunk nearby; an officer was sitting on the floor, and wood chips and flint were lying next to him, next to him, under a sailor's jacket, lay the corpse of a ten-year-old boy. The captain of the Herald wanted to inspect the hold, but the sailors refused to continue on board this ship, which had become a funeral. The logbook became brittle from many years of frost and dropped by someone in the bustle, crumbled into pages, almost all of which were immediately picked up by the wind and carried away to the sea. Only the first three and one last page were saved. From this meager information, it became known that the Octavius ​​left England on September 10, 1761 and headed for China. Probably on the way back, the captain decided to go through the Northern Passage in order to significantly shorten the way home and not pass through the Cape of Good Hope (again!), but the ship was jammed with ice and all the people died a cruel death. Thus, it is likely that the ghost ship with a frozen crew was the first to pass through the most difficult Northern Passage, and it spent 13 years sailing ... As soon as the Herald moored from the Octavius, the floating cemetery was picked up by the current and quickly disappeared into the fog.

The early morning of one of the days of 1850 for the inhabitants of the city of Newport, on the coast of the US state of Rhode Island, was marked by an unusual event. At first, they saw a small sailboat sailing towards the shore in full sail. Right on the most dangerous reefs. People tried to signal the team, to warn of danger, but the schooner did not react. Right in front of the rocks, a large wave lifted the ship and, throwing it over the reefs, gently lowered it onto the sandy beach. When people got to the vessel, another surprise awaited them. On board the "Sea Bird" (as the ship was called) perfect order reigned. A kettle was boiling on the stove, the wardroom smelled of expensive tobacco, the table was set for breakfast. All navigational instruments, life-saving equipment and lifeboats - everything was in its place. The only thing missing was people. The last entry in the logbook read: "We went abeam the reef of Brenton." This headland is only three miles from Newport. The most thorough police investigation did not yield any results: neither people, nor their bodies, nor any traces could be found.

Another ship, the Brigantine Amazon, left the docks at Spencer's Island in Nova Scotia in 1862. On the very first voyage, the captain died, and the sailors began to talk about the evil fate that gravitated over this ship. The owners and captains changed several times. After a series of hardships that followed the brigantine in 1869, a storm threw her ashore in Nova Scotia, and the then owner managed to sell the ship inexpensively to an American industrialist. He gave the brigantine the name "Mary Celeste" under which she became famous, but sadly. The fateful voyage began on November 7, 1872, when Captain Benjamin Briggs, 38 years old, loaded 1701 barrels of cognac into the hold, left the port of Staten Island, New York and headed for the port of Genoa. But the ship never reached Italy. It was discovered 600 kilometers from Gibraltar two months later, on December 5th, by the ship "Dei Gracia" under the command of Captain David Reed Morehouse. At the time of discovery, all sailing equipment was raised on the Mary Celeste and the ship quickly moved forward. When the "Dei Grazia" caught up with the brigantine, the captain and chief officer went down to her deck, they found only an echoing emptiness. The hold of the Mary Celeste was 3.5 feet filled with water, the hatch covers were removed, the stern windows leading out of the captain's cabin were taken up with tarps and boarded up. Everything in the cockpit was turned upside down, but the chests with the personal belongings of the sailors were not touched, the main navigational instruments, as well as the ship's documentation, were not found, the only lifeboat was missing, the compass was destroyed. Everything indicated that the team was urgently evacuated, if not for some circumstances - in the captain's cabin were found the jewels of his wife Sarah Elizabeth Cobb-Briggs (who was also on board with her two-year-old daughter Sophia Matilda) for a rather large amount and two weighty wads of money, a stretched accordion stood on the bed, a music notebook lay next to it. An untouched supply of provisions for half a year was found in the pantries, nothing significant was taken from the galley either. This greatly puzzled the investigators: what made people leave the ship without taking provisions and water with them, if the Mary Celeste did not sink, moreover, she went under full sail? If the crew, the captain and his family did not leave the ship, then where did they go? There are still no answers to these questions. The investigation, which lasted 11 years, did not come to any conclusions and was finally closed, and the verdict was: “In the complete absence of any data that can shed light on this case, it should be feared that the fate of the crew of the Mary Celeste will increase the number of the secrets of the ocean, which will be revealed only on that great day when the sea will abandon its dead. If a crime has been committed, which makes much suspect, then there is little hope that the criminals will fall into the hands of justice.” The Mary Celeste has brought misfortune to many people, but not to Captain Morehouse. Spitting on prejudice and superstition, he took the ship in tow and delivered it to the port of Gibraltar, receiving 20% ​​of the cost of the ship with cargo, which made him a very, very wealthy person. After this sensational case, “Mary Celeste” plied the expanses of the oceans for another 12 years, until in 1884 she ran into a reef off the coast of Haiti and sank, dragging a few more people and an unsolved mystery to the bottom.

On July 11, 1881, the frigate of the British Navy "Bacchae", rounding the Cape of Good Hope, met a ghost ship. Here is an entry from the logbook: “During the night watch, our traverse crossed the Flying Dutchman. First, a strange reddish light appeared, emanating from a ghost ship, and against the background of this glow, the masts, rigging and sails of the brig clearly loomed. The consequences of this meeting were not long in coming. The next day, the sailor on Mars, who was the first to notice the ghost ship, fell off the mast and crashed to his death. A few days later, the squadron commander suddenly died. The future English monarch George V, who served as a midshipman cadet on this frigate, later did not regret that he overslept this meeting.

The American schooner "White", in 1888, was abandoned by the crew due to a strong leak. But the ship did not sink, but rather, drawn by the winds and currents, drifted across the Atlantic for another year and covered more than five thousand miles during this time! In early 1889, the White ran aground near the Hybrid Islands.

Another American schooner, Fanny Wolsten, abandoned by the crew in 1891, also due to a strong leak, was drawn by the Gulf Stream in three years and traveled 8,000 miles. During this time, she was seen more than forty times. The Fanny Wolsten did not rest until the autumn of 1894. On January 11, 1890, the brig Marlborough left Lyttelton (New Zealand) for London with a cargo of wool and frozen meat. The crew consisted of 29 people. The experienced captain J. Hurd commanded the ship. These data were recovered with great difficulty many years later. In 1913, the crew of the English steamer Johnson, not far from the shores of Tierra del Fuego, discovered a sailing ship at full speed going on a collision course. The captain was surprised by the lack of movement on the deck and the rather strange general appearance of the sailboat. He ordered a rescue team to be put on board the ship. Here are the lines from his report: “The sails and masts are covered with green mold, the deck boards are rotten. The logbook pages stuck together, the ink spread, not a single entry could be made out. All crew members are in their places: one lies at the helm, three - on the deck at the hatch, ten watchmen - at their posts, six - in the cockpit. There are still rags of clothes on the skeletons. For 23 years, the restless brig dangled across the expanses of the sea unnoticed by anyone; what happened to the crew that died in their places could not be established.
In general, during these years, the number of meetings with abandoned ships sharply increases. Historians attribute this dynamic to humanity's massive transition from sailing ships to steamboats. Having become a burden, requiring expensive repairs and modernization of sailboats, the owners simply throw them into the will of the waves. So the insurance company "Lloyd" was calculated that for the period from 1891 to 1893, 1828 reports of captains about a meeting with the "Flying Dutchmen" were registered. But there were also inexplicable encounters.

On September 14, 1894, the three-masted Ebiy Ess Hart was seen from the German ship Pikkuben. A distress signal was raised on it, the rescue team found 38 corpses on the ship, whose faces were disfigured by the seal of horror. These were the corpses of all members of the crew, except for the captain, who miraculously survived, but could not tell anything, as he was hopelessly distraught. Extremely rich in such events and the twentieth century. In order not to bore you, I will give only the most unusual ones. On January 26, 1923, on board a ship en route from Australia to England, in the waters near the Cape of Good Hope, two assistants to captain N.K. Stone and two sailors observed a ghost ship.

Here is an excerpt from Ernest Bennett's book Ghosts and Haunted Houses. Eyewitness accounts” (1934): “At about 0.15 am we saw a strange glow ahead along the port side. It was pitch dark, there was continuous cloud cover, the moon did not shine. We looked through binoculars and a ship's telescope and discerned the luminous outlines of a floating ship, a two-masted one, empty yards were also luminous, sails were not visible, but a light luminous haze was observed between the masts. They weren't navigation lights. The ship seemed to be heading straight for us, and its speed was the same as ours. When we first noticed it, it was about two or three miles away from us, and when it was half a mile away from us, it suddenly disappeared. This spectacle was observed by four people: the second assistant, the trainee, the helmsman and myself. I can’t forget the frightened exclamation of the second assistant: “Lord, this is a ghost ship!” The second assistant confirmed this story exactly to Bennett, the other two witnesses could not be found. On December 4, 1928, the Danish training four-masted sailing ship Kobenhavn left Buenos Aires. His goal was to continue his round-the-world trip. On board were the crew and 80 cadets of elite naval schools. A week later, when the sailboat traveled more than 400 miles, a radiogram was received from its board, in which the captain reported on the successful voyage and complete order on board. This message is the last thing known about the people on the Cobenhavn. Subsequently, the sailors repeatedly met a graceful four-masted vessel with a white stripe along the side (international designation of a training vessel), sailing under full sail with no signs of life on the deck and yards. A number of search expeditions were equipped, but they did not bring any results. The parents of the cadets, influential and prosperous people, not particularly relying on the state, organized a search on their own, but, alas, also to no avail.
The logbook of the Dutch freighter Straat Magelhees, under the command of Captain Piet Alger, contains an entry reporting that in the early morning of October 8, 1959, at the southern tip of the African continent, a sailing ship suddenly appeared out of the fog, heading on a collision course. The captain and crew with great difficulty managed to avoid a collision. They did not have time to come to their senses, as the sailboat disappeared into the fog. In his report, the captain indicated that the ship was very similar to the Kobenhavn.
According to the reports of American sailors in 1930, 267 abandoned vagrant ships were destroyed by the US Navy. 1933 The lifeboat of the passenger steamer SS Valencia was discovered off the southwest coast of Vancouver Island. There would be nothing surprising in this story if the Valencia had not sunk in 1906. That is, the boat blabbed into the sea for 27 (!) Years and at the same time was quite well preserved. The sailors also said that they often see the phantom of the ship itself here, walking along the coastline. During World War II, German U-boat crews repeatedly observed the Flying Dutchman east of Suez. Admiral Karl Dönitz wrote in his reports to Berlin: "The sailors said that they would rather meet with the forces of the Allied Fleet in the North Atlantic than experience the horror of a second meeting with the phantom."
February 1948. Dutch radio stations picked up a distress signal from the Strait of Malacca. The radio operator of the ship "Urang Medan" appealed to mankind. First, multiple SOS, then suddenly: “The captain and all the officers were killed. I’m probably the only one left alive ... ”, a series of illegible dots and dashes, then:“ I’m dying ”and the air was empty. The rescue team that arrived found only corpses on the ship: the captain on the navigation bridge, officers in the navigation and wheelhouses, sailors throughout the ship, a radio operator in the radio room at the station. Everyone's faces are contorted in horror. Even the ship's dog died. There are no traces of violence on any of the bodies. There is no damage on the ship.
1956 Residents of the island of New Georgia (from the archipelago of the Solomon Islands) watched a submarine dangling helplessly in coastal waters from a log cabin, a human corpse dried up by the sun. When the boat was washed ashore, it was possible to establish that it was an American submarine from the Second World War. What happened to the crew remains a mystery. In early 1970, the American Badger State transport ship, which was considered sunken, was accidentally discovered loaded with bombs. At the end of December 1969, the transport got into a severe storm and the movement of the deadly cargo began from pitching. As a result, one of the bombs fell off the mounts and exploded, a hole with an area of ​​​​10 square meters. The load of bombs did not detonate and the crew tried to leave the ship, but two life rafts were washed off the deck by waves, and the third was lowered, 35 sailors fit in it, but it was overturned by a 2000-pound bomb that fell out of a hole, and people ended up in water, the temperature of which did not exceed 9oC. Only 14 people were saved. And the Badger State, contrary to expectations and logic, did not sink, but drifted for several more months, threatening the inevitable death of passing ships. In 1970, the transport was scuttled by an American gunboat. In 1986, in the Philadelphia area, passengers of a pleasure boat noticed an old sailboat with torn sails. Its deck was crowded with people in cocked hats and doublets of the 16th century, with muskets, sabers and boarding axes. They shouted something and waved their arms and weapons. As it turned out later, the crew of the phantom turned out to be ... Hollywood extras who took part in the filming of the film about the "Flying Dutchman"! a gust of wind broke the cable that held the ship and the unfortunate pirates were carried towards the open sea. The enumeration of encounters in the seas-oceans with mystery ships is endless.