As Halloween is approaching, it seemed appropriate to tell you the odd story about ghost ships, and do not think that they are things of the past, last week the news broke of a ghost ship on Lake Michingan. If you browse a little through social networks you will see the images.
But beyond the opportune appearances, I'm going to tell you which have been the most famous ghost ships in history.
Surely the story of The Flying Dutchman is the best known. This ship left Amsterdam for the East Indies. During the voyage its captain, Van der Decken, killed his first officer, who opposed him. The ship sank and since then many fishermen and sailors claim to have seen it in various seas.
Another of the ships that sails aimlessly is the Lady Lovibond, a British ship, set sail in February 1748. The captain, out of control with jealousy, crashed the ship and sank it off the southeastern coast of England. The legend says that it can be seen in the vicinity of the place every half century.
On every continent these ghost ships appear, off the coasts of Chile the Caleuche appears, a ship that is said to appear every night near the island of Chiloé, with the souls of all the people who have drowned in that area. Those who have seen it maintain that music is heard and people laughing from the ship.
And as I was saying, don't think that all ghost ships are from centuries gone by, because The Lyubov Orlova, a Russian cruiser built in 1976, was trapped in the ice in Antarctica in 2006, just 10 years ago. Its owners abandoned it in 2010, and when it was being transferred to the Canadian coast the ship was floating adrift. Another tug tried to carry it, but the ocean currents dragged it towards the British Isles, then it disappeared. The last time they saw it was in April 2013, and the worst stories tell of cannibal rats inside.
This is about the stories of ghost ships, but there are ships with their own ghost ... like John Pedder, on the Queen Mary, you can read an article about him at this link.