Posted on 08/25/2006 6:20:48 AM PDT by Marius3188
A £300,000 schooner has been found floating empty in the Mediterranean - echoing the fate of the Marie Celeste over 130 years ago.
The 66ft twin-masted vessel had no name and no other identification markings.
On board there was a half-eaten meal, maps of the Med, piles of clothes and a punctured dinghy.
The boat was found drifting off the Sardinian resort of Punta Volpe.
Strong currents were pushing it towards rocks and coastguards boarded the vessel just in time and towed it to the port of Olbia.
Officials found a plaque with the name Bel Amica but said that initial checks with shipping registers had found no yacht with that name.
A spokesman said: "It gave the impression of being abandoned very quickly. It could be piracy, we just don't know."
The original Marie Celeste, which was on a voyage from New York to Italy, was found empty and drifting off the coast of Portugal in 1872.
Could it be "The Flying Dutchman?"
Terrorist threats are very real in the Great Lakes. We have made the trip into Canada many times via Lake Erie and the Detroit River. We go to Windsor, Canada which is across the river from Detroit. All we do is call immigration, report our location, people onboard and that is it. When we return to US waters, we simply go back to our home marina. Is that an open border or what?
-The Mary Celeste encountered a waterspout (ocean tornado) based upon bilge water being above the bilge pump plungers and most hatches being battened. The weather for that day was calm and warm with a cold front coming in. He believed only a waterspout could explain the closed hatches and bilgewater above the pump plungers which would have occured from a positive pressure difference between the bilge and outside air pressure.
-The cargo of industrial alcohol had been disturbed and some caskets had leaked.
Several of the sails were torn and unfurled but had not been set.
The author's conclusion was that followig a waterspout the presence of the bilgepump water and the alcohol gave the crew the impression the boat not only was sinking but liable to blow up. He surmised they launched in the (missing) lifeboat to wait for the fumes to clear from a safe distance. A gust of wind came and unfurled one or more of the hastily pulled sails driving the Mary Celeste beyond the reach of the lifeboat.
It was known a strong gale hit that part of the ocean that night and the Mary Celeste's crew, perished at sea in the lifeboat.
Think I know where the crew is...
Down a well in Tehran (waiting to show themselves until
the appointed hour)!
Oh well, it was spooky while it lasted, lol!
You are correct...it does still sound very odd. This person must have some deep pockets to risk leaving a large boat like that anchored out for weeks unattended. And if that is the case...just pay to dock. Penny wise and pound foolish. Thanks again...where else but FR could we have someone like you with your "rusty" Italian help get answers to this mystery!
That's for sure, or maybe a sailor of the libertarian persuasion who needs to do a better job calculating the scope of his anchor rode next time? (Hmmm. Didn't I read somewhere William F. Buckley was going to be spending the summer on the Costa Smeralda? lol!)
p.s.)I just did a search for the veliero fantasma but couldn't find any updates if the guy reclaimed his boat yet.
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