Ghoulish Ghost Ships

Many speculations have been made, over the years, about the fate that might have befallen this cursed crew, the most likely explanation being that something big led them to abandon ship in the lifeboat, later dying at sea, but nobody actually knows, so  everything  from ghosts to sea monsters , even to  alien abduction, have been cited as reasons, but the truth is unlikely ever to be known.

Caleuche 

http://fc05.deviantart.net/fs70/i/2010/074/1/4/Caleuche_by_delacruz_art.jpg

In the history attached to southern Chile, talk of a ghost –ship, named the Caleuche, which makes an appearance every night, close by the island of Chiloe, is commonplace, this ghostly apparition summoned, local legend tells, by spirits of souls drowned at sea.  This spirit ship, local legends say, is an unknown kind of conscious being, sailing local waters, bearing those spirits. Strikingly beautiful, when actually seen, according to alleged witnesses, the Caleuche shines brightly, sounds of party music and people’s laughter always audible, appearances being short, and the ship sinking into water, once more. Three Chilota water spirits, Sirena Chilota, Pincoya, and Picoy, resembling mermaids, are said to be those who summon the spirits, who,  once aboard, are be able to resume their life as it was before they died, for eternity, so it is said.

Octavius 

http://www.artsycraftsy.com/dore/mariner_albatross.jpg

The Octavius tale, more legend than fact,  makes for the most famous stories of ghost ships, from  1775, when whaling ship  the Herald, found the Octavius, drifting unguided  off the Greenland coast. Crew members from the Herald boarded Octavius, finding bodies, of crew and passengers,  all frozen solid in the arctic air. Allegedly, the ship’s captain still sat at his desk, writing a 1762 log entry, indicating that Octavius had been  13 years, undiscovered,  later reports suggesting that, gambling on a quick return to England from the Orient, via the Northwest Passage, the captain had only succeeded in getting Octavius trapped in the ice, though  how she eventually got free, and drifted to Greenland is simply not known.

Lady Lovibond 

http://a3.att.hudong.com/26/25/14300000491308127769255216236.jpg

As far as English mariners are concerned, the most famous ghost-ship legend is that of The Lady Lovibond . Simon Peel,  so the tale tells, was a newly- wed, ship’s captain, taking her out, on a cruise, in celebration, though, in defiance of  seafaring tradition, taking the new bride onboard, inviting bad luck, as they set out on February 13th 1748. The first mate became overwhelmed, with rage and jealousy, also being in love with the captain’s new wife, and deliberately steered  into the deadly Goodwind Sands. Lady Lovibond sank, all aboard drowning, ever since,so  legend has it. Reappearing once every 50 years, sailing the Kent waters.  Sighted, supposedly  in 1798, and again in both 1848 and 1898, appearing so real, apparently  that life rafts were dispatched  to help the stricken vessel, Lady Lovibond was again seen in 1948 and 1998, allegedly, this odd story one of European ghost ship legends best known tales.

Baychimo 

http://www.hauntedamericatours.com/ghoststories/GHOSTSHIPS/IMAGES/Baychimo.jpg

A cargo steamer, deserted, and abandoned, the Baychimo drifted, undiscovered, around the seas, off Alaska, for nearly forty years. Owned originally by Hudson Bay Company, used for trading pelts and furs, this ship was built,in Sweden in 1914, meetingt an untimely fate in 1931,when she became stuck in an arctic icepack The crew abandoned her, afraidshe would break up, but she remained afloat, remaining, 38 years, cast adrift in Alaskan waters, without being salvaged, and after a final sighting in 1969, the Baychimo seems to have disappeared forever,but who knows?

http://www.armed-guard.com/marjump.jpg

These are but a small selection of myriad tales of ghostly vessels, each of them completely unverifiable, but fascinating, nonetheless. It may quite possibly be that are more things on earth and in heaven than we poor humans could ever understand, and that the truth is, indeed, out there somewhere, but surely the uncertainty is what makes such legends so exciting, and for that very reason, we might be better off kept in the dark.

 http://cache.daylife.com/imageserve/069v7B4fOF4aR/610x.jpg

All images used with permission