There is something deeply unsettling about a ship sailing itself. No hands on the wheel, no voice on the radio, no soul on deck. Just a vessel drifting across open water as if the sea itself swallowed everyone aboard. These are not fairy tales or Hollywood horror plots. They are real, documented events that have baffled investigators, coast guards, and maritime historians for centuries.
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. What is even more shocking is that these cases did not stop with the age of sail. They keep happening. Let’s dive in.
1. The Mary Celeste (1872): The World’s Most Famous Ghost Ship
Some mysteries age well, and this one has lasted over 150 years. On November 7, 1872, a captain, his wife, their 2-year-old daughter and seven crewmen set out from New York to Italy aboard the Mary Celeste. They never made it. A month later, the British ship Dei Gratia caught sight of the American boat drifting in the Atlantic, and the crew boarded the Mary Celeste only to find it completely empty.
All their belongings were still onboard, and the ship was in good condition, well-stocked with food and water. Even more mysteriously, the crew’s items, navigational tools, and cargo were untouched. The only thing missing was the lifeboat. The crew then found the ship’s log and discovered it was the Mary Celeste out of New York City. The last entry in the log was ten days prior and 400 miles away.
Over the years, numerous theories have been proposed, including a sudden seaquake, fear of an alcohol explosion, or even piracy. However, none of these explanations fully account for the strange and complete disappearance of the crew. Honestly, the sheer normality of the ship when found makes this case even more haunting. It was as if everyone had simply been lifted off the deck mid-breath.
2. The SS Baychimo (1931): The Arctic Phantom That Refused to Die
The SS Baychimo was a cargo steamer that became trapped in ice off Alaska in 1931. After being abandoned by its crew, the ship miraculously broke free and drifted aimlessly through Arctic waters for over 30 years. Think about that. Thirty years.
Surprisingly, the Baychimo was spotted numerous times over the next several decades, drifting aimlessly through Arctic waters, often in locations far from where it had originally been abandoned. Despite numerous efforts to salvage the ship, it was never successfully recovered. The last reported sighting was in 1969, nearly 38 years after it was left to the mercy of the Arctic.
The last confirmed sighting of the Baychimo was in 1969, yet the ship was never recovered. Some believe it still wanders the Arctic, a silent relic of the early 20th century. That is either a testament to how tough steel is, or a reminder that the ocean does not give up its secrets easily.
3. The Carroll A. Deering (1921): The Ghost with a Meal Still on the Table
The Carroll A. Deering ship was a five-masted schooner that ran aground off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, in 1921. The ship was completely abandoned, with the crew’s personal effects, lifeboats, and navigation equipment missing. What made investigators pause was what was still there.
When they went aboard, they found food laid out as if the crew were getting ready for a meal, but their personal belongings and the lifeboats were gone. That image alone, a hot meal with no one to eat it, is one of the most eerie details in all of maritime history. Five departments of the United States government conducted official investigations to uncover what happened to the Carroll A. Deering, but nothing was ever discovered.
Despite several theories involving piracy, mutiny, or Soviet involvement during the early days of the Cold War, the case remains unsolved, leaving the Carroll A. Deering shrouded in mystery. Even a full government investigation hit a complete dead end. Some cases are simply built to remain unsolved.
4. The MV Joyita (1955): 25 People Vanished Without a Trace
The MV Joyita was a merchant vessel that went missing in 1955 while on a routine voyage in the South Pacific. Five weeks later, it was found adrift, partially submerged, with no trace of the 25 passengers and crew. Twenty-five people. Just gone.
All radios and navigational equipment were damaged, and lifeboats were missing. The cargo was mostly untouched, and a doctor’s bag containing bloody bandages was discovered, raising questions about what had happened. That bloody doctor’s bag sits at the center of this case like a clue no one can decode. 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.
One explanation posits that Joyita’s captain may have been injured or killed. Without his knowledge of the boat’s ability to stay afloat, minor flooding may have led inexperienced crew members to panic and abandon the vessel. It remains one of the most debated maritime puzzles of the 20th century.
5. The SS Ourang Medan (1947): A Ship Full of Terror-Stricken Corpses
This one is genuinely disturbing. The Ourang Medan is a legendary ghost ship purportedly discovered adrift in the Strait of Malacca in the late 1940s, with its entire crew mysteriously dead, exhibiting terrified expressions and no visible injuries. According to maritime lore, shortly after the bodies were found, the ship mysteriously caught fire and exploded, sinking to the bottom of the sea and destroying any evidence that could explain the bizarre incident.
When the Silver Star crew eventually located and boarded the apparently undamaged Ourang Medan in an attempt at a rescue, the ship was found littered with corpses everywhere, with the dead bodies found sprawled on their backs, the frozen and allegedly badly frightened faces of the deceased upturned to the sun above with mouths gaping open and eyes staring straight ahead. Even the ship’s dog was dead. Strikingly, there were no signs of physical injuries on the bodies, no blood, no visible wounds, suggesting that whatever catastrophe had overtaken them had not been violent in nature.
According to Lloyd’s Register of Ships, which has kept a record of every merchant ship since 1764, no ship by the name of SS Ourang Medan was ever documented. And there are no official incident reports about the ship’s sinking. What’s more, no evidence of the wreck was ever found in the Strait of Malacca or elsewhere. So did this ship even exist? That question alone is enough to keep you up at night.
6. The MV Alta (2018-2020): The Atlantic Drifter That Shocked Ireland
This is one of the most remarkable ghost ship stories of the modern era. In October 2018, the ship was on a voyage from Greece to Haiti. Such a long trip is unusual for a ship of this type and size, which typically stays closer to shorelines. The ship’s engines failed in the Atlantic Ocean, leaving the crew stranded. The United States Coast Guard rescued the crew about 2,200 km south-east of Bermuda, and the ship was abandoned.
After its ten-man crew was rescued in October 2018, the MV Alta was left derelict and adrift, beginning one of the most remarkable phantom voyages in modern maritime history. For 496 days, the ship drifted crewless across the Atlantic, covering an estimated 2,300 nautical miles. Its exact course remains a mystery, as its AIS was not functioning, leaving no electronic breadcrumbs to follow.
The MV Alta’s epic, silent voyage across the Atlantic came to a sudden and violent end on February 16, 2020, courtesy of Storm Dennis. The storm was a major weather event, battering Ireland and the UK with hurricane-force winds and causing widespread flooding. The ship was stateless, abandoned and unpowered with no operational automatic identification system that could have alerted the Irish authorities to the drifting vessel. The Irish Coast Guard and Naval Service were unable to identify the ship’s position or identity as it approached Irish waters due to the lack of an active on-board tracking system.
7. The Kaz II (2007): Engine Running, Meal Ready, No One Home
The Kaz II was found adrift on April 18, 2007, near the Great Barrier Reef, 88 nautical miles off Townsville, Queensland, Australia. When boarded on April 20, the engine was running, a laptop was running, the radio and GPS were working and a meal was set to eat, but the three-man crew were not on board. That detail gets me every time.
All the sails were up but one was badly shredded, while three life jackets and survival equipment, including an emergency beacon, were found on board. A search for the crew was abandoned on April 22 as it was considered unlikely that anyone could have survived for that period of time. The coroner believed that the men may have fallen overboard.
Derek Batten and brothers Peter and James Tunstead had set sail on the Kaz II on a routine journey, but all three vanished without a trace. A laptop still open, dinner on the table, engine humming. It is hard to imagine a more eerie scene in the middle of the open ocean.
8. The Yong Yu Sing No. 18 (2021): A Weather Event That Erased a Crew
The latest ship found adrift was the Yong Yu Sing No. 18, a Taiwanese fishing ship. Just ten years old, the vessel and its 10-member crew departed from its home port in Taiwan only to be found empty by the U.S. Coast Guard near Midway Island three days after its last contact. Three days. That is all it took for ten people to disappear entirely.
The Yong Yu Sing No. 18 was discovered adrift near Midway Island with all crew and a lifeboat missing, and with damage from what appeared to be a collision. After an extensive investigation, authorities determined the crew must have been swept into the sea by a significant “weather event.”
The word “weather event” feels strangely clinical for what essentially means that ten people were washed into the Pacific Ocean. It is hard to imagine that ships could still be mysteriously found floating adrift in the days of radio communications, global positioning systems, and long-range identification and tracking systems. Still, as late as January 2021, ghost ships are still being found floating in the ocean, missing crews, under mysterious circumstances.
9. The Chinese Vessel Off Vietnam (November 2024): The Most Recent Entry
Ghost ships are not ancient history. In November 2024, a 50-metre steel-hulled vessel bearing Chinese registration marks was found abandoned off the coast of south-central Vietnam, believed to have drifted from Hainan Province and stripped of valuable parts. This is perhaps the clearest sign that these events are still unfolding right now.
Vietnamese officials ruled out hijacking and noted the vessel had no fuel or crew aboard. The ship had been systematically stripped, which raises uncomfortable questions about organized removal of equipment rather than a sudden emergency. The 50-metre steel-hulled vessel bearing Chinese registration marks was found abandoned off the coast of south-central Vietnam, believed to have drifted from Hainan Province and stripped of valuable parts. Vietnamese officials ruled out hijacking and noted the vessel had no fuel or crew aboard.
It is hard to say for sure what drove whoever was on board to abandon a vessel that size in that condition. Natural disasters, sudden storms, rogue waves, and other natural phenomena can force a crew to abandon ship, especially if they believe the vessel is in immediate danger. In such cases, the ship might survive, but the crew, having hastily departed, is never seen again. The 2024 Vietnam case is a reminder that this phenomenon did not end with the age of sail.
What Drives Crews to Abandon Their Ships?
Let’s be real: understanding why crews leave their vessels is central to understanding ghost ships. In some historical cases, ships have been found abandoned after incidents of piracy or mutiny. The crew may have been killed, taken captive, or forced to abandon the ship, leaving it to drift. Other causes are far more mundane but equally deadly.
Ships that suffer mechanical failures, such as a broken rudder or engine problems, can become adrift, and if the crew is unable to fix the issue, they may abandon the vessel in search of rescue. In some cases, the fear of impending disaster or the stress of isolation at sea may drive a crew to abandon ship prematurely. This could explain some ghost ships where the vessel was found to be in relatively good condition.
More recently, ships which travel with their mandated automatic identification system turned off to avoid detection and monitoring have also been referred to as ghost ships. That adds a modern, deliberately deceptive dimension to this phenomenon. Not all ghost ships are mysteries of fate. Some are mysteries of intent.
Conclusion: The Sea Keeps Its Secrets
What all nine of these vessels share is something simple and deeply unsettling: the ocean accepted them without question and the answers went with the waves. Some cases were eventually explained. Most were not. Yachts, fishing vessels, and private ships of all kinds have been reported by the U.S. Coast Guard, British Royal Navy, and U.S. Navy by the dozens since the end of World War II. Many are written off as victims of weather, some have been found to be the result of mutiny, many more just go unsolved.
The Mary Celeste remains the most famous. The MV Alta is the most recent to make global headlines. The Ourang Medan may never have existed at all. Yet each one of them pulls at something primal in us. Ghost ships continue to capture the imagination of seafarers and storytellers alike. Whether rooted in fact or embellished by folklore, these mysterious vessels remind us of the vast, unpredictable power of the sea and the dangers that lurk within its depths.
The next ghost ship is likely already out there, drifting somewhere beyond the horizon, waiting to be found. What would you do if you were the first one to board it? Tell us in the comments.
