There are places on our planet that lie far beyond the boundaries of civilization and generally far from human eyes.
Even in our time, these places still remain essentially unexplored wastelands, where nothing seems to have changed over the millennia.
And when an abandoned boat is found in one of these places, it is not clear to whom it belonged, it becomes clear that there is some kind of secret hidden here.
In the South Atlantic Ocean is the uninhabited volcanic island of Bouvet, 49 square kilometers in area and almost entirely covered with glaciers.
Officially, it belongs to Norway, although South America is closest to it. And it is one of the most remote islands in the world (after Easter Island and the Tristan da Cunha Islands).
Bouvet Island is 1700 km away from the coast of Princess Astrid of Queen Maud Land, Antarctica. The part of it that is not covered with ice is bare volcanic rock. Ice piercing winds are constantly blowing here, and the animals here are mainly penguins and elephant seals. In other words, it is practically impossible for a person to survive on this island.
The island was accidentally discovered in 1739 by the Frenchman Jean-Baptiste Charles Bouvet de Lozier, who mistook it for the Cape of the Unknown Southern Land. Further, for two centuries, the island was mainly observed by the British and were amazed at its coldness. The coastal cliffs always had turbulent waves, and storms were frequent in the sea. Because of this, the British did not even land on it.
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The first landing of people on Bouvet took place only in 1927, when the Norwegians sailed here on the ship "Norvegia". At the same time, the island was declared Norwegian. The crew of the ship walked inland, quickly realized that there was nothing interesting here, and then sailed back to their homeland.
Norwegian expedition to Bouvet Island.
In 1955, the South African ship "Transvaal" sailed here, which was looking for a place for a weather station. However, Bouvet did not suit them. In 1958, the Americans sailed by on the Westwind and saw that Bouvet Island had been partially ice-free, probably due to volcanic activity.
The next ship sailed to Bouvet in 1964, it was the ship of the British Navy "HMS Protector" and it was his crew who saw the very anomaly on the island, for which we are telling you this story.
When the British chose a small, shallow lagoon to dock, they found a half-submerged boat, which they described as "a whaling boat or a lifeboat."
The boat was full of various supplies and things that were partly lying on the shore, but there was no trace of its crew. There were no identification marks or inscriptions on the boat, and even from things and products it was impossible to determine the nationality of the boat.
The same boat.
At the same time, there were no traces of a fire or signs of an outstretched camp near the boat. If people got here by boat, why didn't they light a fire and start building a shelter for themselves? They only partially pulled the supplies out of the boat, and then as if something distracted them and they never returned to her.
When inspecting the lifeboat, it was found that it really could only get here from a large ship, it had no sails, no space for a mast, or an engine. There were only a couple of oars.
At the same time, no one knew of any large ships that could suffer disaster in these waters, and the nearest trade routes pass a thousand miles from here.
This boat and its crew appeared as if out of nowhere, and then all the people from the boat disappeared into nowhere.
Due to the harsh weather and cold, the British could not explore the abandoned boat for long. In addition, there were aggressive elephant seals in the shallow water and on the coast. And when the next ship sailed to Bouvet Island in 1966, he no longer found any boat in this place. Not a dime was left of her.
At Bouvet Island. Contemporary photo.
The mystery of the boat and its crew still haunts both researchers of anomalous phenomena and ordinary historians. Where did the people go, from whom no bones were found on the island? What ship did they come from? Is it possible that they were picked up from the island so quickly that they did not even have time to unload the supplies? Or did they go somewhere deep into Bouvet and died there?
According to naval records, between 1955 and 1964, no large ships appeared in the Bouvet area and no shipwrecks were recorded. Therefore, if there was any ship, he was extremely secretive.
At some time, suspicion fell on the Russians, who had voyages to the Antarctic region in the 1950s. In 1958, the ships "Slava" and "Ivan Nosenko" allegedly sailed to the island and even installed two coastal stations on it. However, this fact itself and the fact that the boat belonged to Russian sailors is only a hypothesis without factual confirmation.
It is curious that there is another insoluble mystery connected with Bouvet Island. On September 22, 1979, in the Bouvet region, the American satellite Vela 6911 recorded very strong bursts typical of nuclear explosions.
At the same time, none of the countries has yet taken responsibility for the alleged nuclear bomb tests. In history, this incident is called the Vela Incident.
