5. The Octavius
Although now considered more legend than anything, the story of Octavius remains one of the most famous of all ghost ship stories. The story dates back to 1775, when it is said that a whaling ship called the Herald stumbled across the Octavius floating aimlessly off the coast of Greenland. Crewmembers from the Herald boarded the Octavius, where they discovered the bodies of the crew and passengers all frozen solid by the arctic cold.
Although now considered more legend than anything, the story of Octavius remains one of the most famous of all ghost ship stories. The story dates back to 1775, when it is said that a whaling ship called the Herald stumbled across the Octavius floating aimlessly off the coast of Greenland. Crewmembers from the Herald boarded the Octavius, where they discovered the bodies of the crew and passengers all frozen solid by the arctic cold.
Most notably, the crew found the ship's captain still sitting at his desk, midway through finishing a log entry from 1762, which means that Octavius had been adrift for 13 years.According to legend, he eventually discovered that the captain had gambled on making a quick return to England from the East through the Northwest Passage, but that the ship had become trapped in the ice. If true, this would mean the Octavius had completed part of the Atlantic as a ghost ship, its crew and captain long dead from exposure to the elements.
4.The Joyita
The Joyita was a fisherman and charter boat found abandoned in the South Pacific in 1955.The ship, along with 25 passengers and crew, was on his way to the Tokelau Islands when something happened, it was not until hours later that Joyita was reported overdue and a rescue attempt was launched. A massive air search was conducted, but failed to find the missing ship, and not until five weeks later that a merchant ship stumbled upon Joyita drifting some 600 miles off its original course.
There is no sign of passengers, crew, cargo, or life rafts, and the ship was damaged and listing quite badly to one side. Further inspection by authorities found that the ship radio tuned to the universal distress signal, and a search of the deck finding a doctor bag and some bloody bandages. None of the crew or the passengers were never seen again, and the mystery of what happened has never been revealed. The most popular theory is that pirates killed the passengers and threw their bodies overboard, but other claims included everything from mutiny and kidnapping insurance fraud.
3. The Lady Lovibond
UK has a long tradition of legends about ghost ships, and the Lady Lovibond is perhaps the most famous. As the story goes, the Lady Lovibond captain, Simon Peel, had just got married, and decided to take the boat on a cruise to celebrate. He brought his new bride to be a long-long cruise to the belief that bringing a woman on board a boat is bad luck-and set sail on February 13, 1748. Unfortunately for Peel, his first mate was also in love with his new wife, and after watching the celebrations, people become angry and overwhelmed with jealousy and intentionally steered the boat into the deadly Goodwind Sands, a sand bar notorious for causing ship wrecks.
Lady Lovibond sank, killing all passengers. As the legend goes, since accidents Lady Lovibond can be seen sailing the waters around Kent every 50 years. This was shown in 1798 by several different captain, and in 1848 and 1898, when it was supposed to seem so real that some boats, thinking it was a ship in distress, actually sent rafts to help it. Lady Lovibond was again seen in 1948, and while there were no confirmed sightings in the last year in 1998, continues to be one of the most famous ghost ship legends in Europe.
2.The Mary Celeste
Undoubtedly the most famous of all the real-life ghost ship Mary Celeste was a merchant ship that was found homeless and adrift in the Atlantic Ocean in 1872. The ship was in a seaworthy condition, with all its sails still up and a store full of food in the cargo hold, but its life boat, captain's log book and, more importantly, the entire crew, disappeared mysteriously. There are no signs of struggle, and personal belongings of the crew and cargo of over 1500 barrels of alcohol were untouched, seemingly ruling out piracy as a possible explanation. In the years since the discovery of strange, a number of theories have been proposed regarding the possible fate of the crew of the Mary Celeste.
These include that of their passengers were killed by tornado, the crew mutinied, or even that eating flour contaminated with fungus led all the passengers to hallucinate and go mad.The most likely theory remains that a storm or some kind of technical issue led the crew to prematurely abandon ship in lifeboats, and that they later died at sea. However, the mystery surrounding the Mary Celeste has led to much wild speculation, and others have proposed everything from ghosts to sea monsters and alien abduction possible explanation.
1. The Flying Dutchman
Maritime folklore, no ghost ship is more famous than the Flying Dutchman, which has inspired numerous paintings, horror stories, films, and even an opera. The ship was first mentioned in the late 1700s in George Barrington's seafarer book Voyage to Botany Bay, and since then the legend continues to grow, thanks to numerous sightings of it by fisherman and sailors. As the story goes, the Flying Dutchman is a ship out of Amsterdam who captained by a man named Van der Decken. The ship was making its way toward the East Indies when it encountered dangerous weather near the Cape of Good Hope.
Determined to crossing, Van der Decken was supposed to be insane, kill the first mate, and vowed that he would cross the Cape, "even if God would let me sail to Judgment Day!"Despite best efforts, the ship sank in a storm, and as the legend goes, Van der Decken and now a ghost ship doomed to sail the seas for eternity. To this day, the Flying Dutchman continues to be one of the most-sighted of all ghost ships, and the people of the deep-sea fishermen to the Prince of Wales have all claimed to have seen it make a never-ending journey across the ocean.
