There are many shipwrecks in the world every year. By itself, such a tragedy causes not only pity for the dead, but sometimes misunderstanding and even shock. And all because among these shipwrecks there are those in which both the ships themselves and all their passengers along with the crew disappeared without a trace.
Seasoned sailors tell many mystical stories and legends about abandoned submarines and ships inhabited by ghosts. It must be said that sailors are perhaps one of the most superstitious people in the world. They have very well developed intuition. Sometimes, stepping on the deck of a ship, they felt like they were going on their last sea voyage. At the same time, they simply could not dismiss all kinds of superstitions and accept, since in real life most of them almost always came true.
If we talk about the victims of the water disaster, their number is slightly less than the number of victims of military conflicts, but at the same time, they are much more than the number of victims of natural disasters - earthquakes and tsunamis. Thousands of shipwrecks lie on the seabed, which conceal the secrets of the wreck, as well as the energy of human pain. According to underwater researchers, the breath of death is very strongly felt next to the shipwreck. And the human imagination is agitated by legends about ghosts, restless souls of sailors.
Lloyd's London Maritime Register states that every year about 8,000 people die in shipwrecks and about three hundred ships die. Most of these tragedies are shrouded in mystery. Many submarines and ships were swallowed by the deep sea under very mysterious circumstances. It is quite obvious that if the cause of the tragedy is unknown, then this gives rise to many rumors and legends, sometimes too fantastic, associated with the other world and ghosts.
Among all these fantasy stories of shipwrecks and ghost ships, there are a few of the most common. One of these stories is the legend of the Flying Dutchman. This is a ghost ship, which, according to legend, roamed the sea under the command of Captain Philip Decken. The captain had a very difficult character, was unrestrained and very fond of women. One day a married couple appeared on board his ship. He really liked the woman, so the captain killed her husband, and offered her marriage.
However, the woman refused and threw herself from the deck into the sea waters. After that, the ship began to pursue troubles. Passing the Cape of Good Hope, the ship fell into a terrible storm. The crew of the ship demanded that the captain hide from the bad weather in the bay, but the captain punished the instigators of the riot by publicly dealing with them, and thereby forced the sailors to obey him implicitly. Decken was confident that his ship would be able to overcome the storm. He swore this to the crew. It was even rumored that in order to fulfill his promise, the captain even sold his soul to the devil, thereby bringing the curse of heaven on himself, on the sailors, and on the ship. Since then, the ship has turned into a ghost ship, which superstitious sailors nicknamed "The Flying Dutchman", doomed to forever surf the sea.
The history of another sailing ship - "Siberda" is not inferior in mystery. In 1850, the ship Seabird appeared off the coast of the American state of Rhode Island. He moved with great speed, and the waves carried him straight to the coastal reefs. It seemed that only a few seconds remained before the tragedy, but a few meters before the reefs, the wave suddenly lifted the sailboat and carried it to shallow water. People who lived in the village hurried to the ship, but were soon amazed by what they saw - there was not a single person on board, but at the same time there were clouds of smoke in the cockpit, a kettle was boiling in the galley, and the table was neatly served.
Moreover, all navigational instruments and documents were in place. It was recorded in the logbook that the ship with coffee on board was sailing to Newport from Honduras. The sailing ship's captain was John Durham. The logbook indicated that the ship was about to bypass Brenton Reef, located near the crash site. Then the sailors remembered that in the morning they had seen this ship on the high seas, and the captain greeted them.
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An investigation was carried out into the tragedy, but it did not clarify this story. The fate of the crew members remained a mystery.
From time to time, ghost ships appear in some places in Russia. So, in particular, we are talking about the Tsemesskaya Bay in the Black Sea. The ghost of the warship "Admiral Nakhimov" was repeatedly seen there. Some experts argue that the frequent appearance of a ghost ship in this place is associated with a graveyard of sunken ships, which is located near the Russian port. Recall that all these ships, which are currently resting at the bottom of the bay, were deliberately shot and sunk by commanders during the revolution.
Another mysterious story. Which sailors often tell among themselves, is the story of the disappearance of the Danish sailing ship "Cobenhavn" at the beginning of the last century. In 1928, this ship left the port of Buenos Aires. Since the ship was a training ship, on board were cadets of the elite naval schools of Denmark, who went on a round-the-world voyage. A week later, the captain of the ship reported on a successful voyage and order on board. This was the last message from the sailboat.
According to rumors, many sailors saw a beautiful four-masted vessel with a white stripe on board (the white stripe is the sign of the training ship), which raced through the waves. At the same time, no signs of life were found on board. The parents of the cadets were far from poor people, so they managed to organize a search expedition, which set off in the wake of the sailing ship, but the search did not bring any success.
Later, in 1959, the captain of the dry-cargo ship "Strat Magelhaes" made an entry in the logbook that a sailboat suddenly appeared to meet his ship near the southern coast of the African continent, barely avoiding a collision. The captain noted that the ship he encountered was very similar to the Cobenhavn.
Another ship that turned into a ghost ship is the Beichimo. In 1931, it was abandoned by the crew in the waters of the Arctic Ocean. Since then, he has been frequently seen at sea.
The story surrounding the SS Valencia passenger steamer raises no less questions. In 1933, a lifeboat from this ship was discovered off the coast of Vancouver. Despite the fact that more than three decades have passed since the tragedy, the boat was in good condition. And the ghost steamer itself is often seen at sea.
I must say that in the seas and oceans there are special mysterious and ominous places in which shipwrecks constantly occur. One of these unkind places is the Gubal Strait, located between the Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. Despite the fact that the strait is marked on all sea charts, and all captains and navigators have perfectly studied all the smallest details of its passage, at the bottom, nevertheless, there are many sunken ships. According to experienced sailors, contrary to all logic, a strong undercurrent suddenly appears in the strait, which throws ships onto the reefs. But with that huge number of sunken ships, people practically do not die here.
The secret of the Gubal Strait has not yet been solved by anyone. But if the strait gives researchers at least a small opportunity to look deep into the depths without disturbing their psyche and without taking life, then nothing like this can be said about the remains of the Salem Express ferry at the bottom of the Red Sea.
The wreck of this passenger ship still raises many questions: where did the captain of the ship disappear, how many people died on board, why the captain refused the help of American sailors and why treasure seekers, at great risk to their lives, do not abandon their attempts to search the remains of the ferry. According to one of the many legends, there was a cursed cargo aboard the ship, possibly Napoleon's gold taken from Egypt.
Be that as it may, but most of the marauders who hunt for treasure on sunken ships, after searching the bottom near the ferry, went crazy. What was the cause of the insanity - witchcraft, mysticism, conspiracy or something else - is not so important, since another insoluble mystery has appeared in the world.
But the story of the German submarine UB-65 is not only mysterious, but also full of tragedy. The boat opened the account of deaths at the first launch into the water: then several people died under the runners. During the test raids, several sailors were washed into the sea. The sailors did not want to serve on the submarine, because by the time it was put into service, the submarine had already had a bad reputation. On the first dive, she did not want to float.
The boat's misfortunes did not end there: during the descent, the commander died, one of the torpedoes exploded, as a result of which several sailors died. The rest of the crew began to see more and more ghosts on board. Periodically, an ominous green light appeared inside the submarine. Suicide cases increased on the boat. All this forced the military command to seek help from specialists in the field of magic. An exorcism ceremony was performed on board, the entire crew was replaced, after which the boat went to sea. However, after that no one saw her.
The history of the steamer Queen Mary is also shrouded in mysticism. This ship received the nickname "Gray Ghost". During the war, this ship served as a hospital ship, where thousands of soldiers died painfully. Moreover, one day the ship accidentally sank one of the ships of its own escort, because the crew was killed. According to one of the many legends, a terrible curse lies on the Queen Mary.
There are many similar stories around the world. This is the legend of the ghost ship "Mary Celeste" - a merchant ship abandoned by the crew in the Atlantic Ocean; it is fully usable, there is a necessary supply of food on board. No signs of a struggle were found on the ship, all the sailors' belongings were intact, but the crew itself, just like the boats and the logbook, were gone.
The story of the Lady Lavibond is no less well known. According to legend, the captain of this ship got married and decided to go on a cruise to celebrate such an important event in his life. The captain took his wife with him, despite the superstition of the crew that the woman on the ship was unfortunate. On February 13, 1748, the ship set sail. As it turned out later, the first mate was also in love with the commander's wife, so he took the ship straight to the beach. The ship sank, and everyone on board died. After that, every half century, the ghost of the ship appears near Kent.
And there are still a lot of such stories. But what is more important is not even their number, but what follows from this. It is very easy to dismiss everything incomprehensible and mysterious, but this does not mean that the mystery no longer exists. At present, humanity does not yet have a sufficient amount of knowledge necessary to explain the reasons for the existence of ghost ships. But it is quite possible that sooner or later a logical explanation will be found for them.