Missing Ship Spotted After 50 Years - What Happened?

The SS Béchimo is a ship that is drifting in the ocean without a crew; the last time it was sighted was more than 50 years ago. The story is similar to that of the Flying Dutchman, a ship that is supposedly destined to sail forever and bring disaster to anyone who sees it at sea. However, the SS Béchimo was built for a German company in Hamburg and was initially used as a regular cargo ship, trading supplies between Hamburg and Sweden in the Baltic Sea.

It was built in 1914 with a powerful steam engine and a steel hull. A few years later, it was acquired by the British, and in the 1920s, a Canadian company paid a hefty sum of money—roughly $188, 000—for the ship. The Hudson Bay Company, the new owner, used the ship extensively for a number of years, frequently sending it on voyages from its home port in Scotland to Siberia, Alaska, the Yukon, and the Northwest Territories. It also passed through the Panama Canal and even the Suez Canal, sometimes transporting passengers. The ship completed nine successful voyages before this stretch of good fortune came to an end.

The SS Béchimo had problems with ice and storms starting in the 1930s. When it was first trapped in ice in October 1931, 15 of the 22 sailors chose to stay on board and try to save the ship. They had furs and other valuable cargo worth about $58,000 on board. The company sent them supplies to survive the winter, and they set up camp near the ship using tarps and other materials, and they offloaded the cargo. At the end of November, a blizzard passed through the area, and it appeared as though it had taken the ship with it; the ice platform had survived, but the ship broke free.

Some of the crew members were certain that the ship had sunk, but soon after they heard from a local that it had been spotted about 45 meters off their camp, the crew moved on with their lives and the ship began its journey as a runaway vessel. The SS Béchimo was mostly spotted off the coast of Alaska, where prospectors, explorers, and treasure hunters all claimed to have seen it. Someone attempted to board the ship and take it to port, but got stuck there for days due to bad weather.

Some were more fortunate and succeeded in removing furniture, other valuables, and a whaleboat from the ship. Upon closer inspection, it was discovered that the ship was damaged and lacked a propeller, but it remained afloat without a crew for at least 38 years, making it the longest-sailing ghost ship in history. In 2006, the Alaskan authorities launched an investigation to unravel the mystery surrounding this Ghost Ship of the Arctic in the hopes of eventually locating SS Béchimo underwater or above. However, thus far, the project has not been successful.

The Dutch East India Company's captain accomplished the impossible at the time by sailing from Holland to Indonesia in just three months. They claimed he was flying over the sea, and some evil tongues explained that he had made a deal with evil forces to achieve that. Once the ship was sailing back home, its captain and crew vanished with the ship. The SS Béchimo is still one of the estimated 4,000 ships that have vanished off the coast of Alaska. If the legend of the 17th century isn't lying, this Ghost Ship could be sailing somewhere along the Flying Dutchman.

Another legend claims that the captain disobeyed the skies' command to let the ship sink during the storm, and as a result, a terrifying light form struck the boat and the crew, condemning them to wander aimlessly for eternity. Many sailors assert to have seen the renowned ship in Australian waters, and the man who first spotted it fell from the top of the mast and perished. There were more encounters with the legendary ship until the middle of the 20th century, when ships would almost collide with it as the Flying Dutchmen jumped out of the blue.

Scientists have a more rational explanation for this: atmospheric refraction. When light travels through layers of air with varying temperatures and densities, it bends and twists and occasionally creates incredibly bizarre optical illusions over the ocean, such as sightings of the Flying Dutchman. This is why, on hot days at sea, the air appears wavy and feels like you're looking at the road on a sweltering summer day. The Morana phenomenon has the ability to distort, stretch, or even elevate far-off objects over the Horizon.

Therefore, even though the ship is far away, the way the light is bending makes it appear as though it is floating above the ocean or even as though it is disappearing and then reappearing. The first accounts of ghost ships date back to ancient Greek and Roman mythology. One of the most well-known ghost ships in history is the Mary Celeste, a Brigantine that was traveling from New York City to genua and was fully stocked with provisions when it was discovered in the Atlantic Ocean in 1872. Ghost ships are most frequently seen in polar regions, especially over large sheets of ice that have a uniform low temperature. However, you can see them anywhere, even in deserts and over lakes on hot days.

The crew's personal possessions were also there, perfectly undisturbed. The last note in your log was made ten days before. The ship has inspired many eerie tales and legends, and we are still unsure of what happened to the crew. Another renowned Schooner, the Lady Laaban, is thought to have sunk off the coast of Kent in the middle of the eighteenth century. The story goes that the captain of the ship, Simon Reed, had recently tied the knot and was taking his new bride on a celebratory cruise despite the superstition that it would bring bad luck. They were headed to Portugal when the first mate, who also happened to be in love with the captain's new wife, went insane out of jealousy, attacked another crew member, took over the wheel, and steered the ship straight into the dreaded Goodwin Sands. No one on board survived, and the Schooner is said to reappear as a ghost ship every 50 years. These days, a lot of ships are intentionally abandoned and become ghost ships; thousands of them can be found floating in US rivers, lakes, and coast to waters.