Ghost Ships [lyb052]

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Mankind has always had a morbid fascination with the mysteries of the sea. There is also a very good reason why sailors are so notoriously superstitious. Stories of ghost ships, mysteriously abandoned vessels and tales of unexplained disappearances on the high seas have been circulating for as long as man has sailed the oceans. However, some of these mysteries have a more abiding fascination than others. Since the Mary Celeste was found drifting and abandoned in 1877, or since the future King George V encountered the ghostly wraith of the Flying Dutchman's ship off the Cape of Good Hope a decade later, mariners and landsmen alike have tried to explain away these mysterious encounters. Since the Mary Celeste first captivated the world's attention, several other equally inexplicable cases of ships being abandoned have been unearthed. Apart from the highly tangible evidence of the vessels themselves, only a few tantalizing clues were left behind to suggest what human tragedy lay behind the blue water mystery. In a few even more perplexing cases the loss of an entire ship along with her crew have occurred without leaving behind any clue as to what went wrong. The often well-founded vessel simply disappeared without a trace. Equally fascinating is the substantial body of tales about ghost ships, either vessels with a reputation for being haunted, or cases where the ship itself has appeared as a phantom. It would be easier to dismiss many of these stories if the ghostly appearance didn't appear in the accounts of numerous reputable witnesses. Many of these ghosts and ghost ships cannot be rationally explained away. The author Angus Konstam describes himself as a natural sceptic, unwilling to accept these stories at face value. However, after uncovering all the evidence he has admitted that some of these accounts simply defy logic. Follow him on his investigative journey into some of the most abiding and perplexing mysteries of the sea.