Ghost ships bring that sudden air of mystery and suspense to the room and conversation. You’re out on the water in your beautiful cruise ship and all of a sudden you see a dark and creepy boat off the side. It doesn’t appear that anyone is on it, and it’s just floating all by itself. Or there are people on board just standing and staring, but when you bring it up to the captain or someone else with the navigation equipment, they state there was nothing over there, they didn’t see anything. Now there are real abandoned ships floating in the massive water surrounding the planet, but there are also the fictional ones as well. I’m not sure which is creepier honestly.
The Flying Dutchman
Well, this story is after the name of the Captain and not the boat itself. The Flying Dutchman haunts the waters of South Africa near the Cape of Good Hope. Captain Hendrick Vanderdecken is said to have cursed himself and his crew during a storm in which he stated he could get his ship to Table Bay despite anything that was thrown at him. The boat, and all its crew perished on that fateful night, and now, as punishment from God, they are forced to sail the waters for the rest of eternity.
El Caleuche
This ship haunts the waters off Chile. The only time it comes out is at night (which is generally when you would see a ghost ship honestly), and only through the fog or mist, but the ship itself is brightly lit. This isn’t a haunting however in the creepy way, as the ship and its crew guard the water and punish those who try to harm Chile. The ship has a crew and witches, who travel on a seahorse and on calm night music and laughter come from the ship itself.
Lady Lovibond
A ship that was deliberately wrecked by the first mate. According to legend, the ship is seen every 50 years on the anniversary of its demise. The story, goes that the captain was celebrating his recent marriage with his new wife, family, and guests, when the first mate (who through a jealous fit of rage at not being the groom) felt his blood boil, killed the helmsman, and then crashed the boaton the Goodwin Sands, killing everyone on board. It’s said, that when the ghost ship appears, people have went out to rescue survivors, who weren’t really there.
SS Valencia
This ghost ship is again based off of a real wreckage. Taking place in the “Graveyard of the Pacific” the ship hit a reef. Those on the boat hung on for 36 hours to the sides of the ship and riggings, but were eventually taken out to see. Out of 136 passengers only 37 passengers survived. Because of the accident, the Panchena Point Lighthouse was created along with the West Coast Trail. Some of the more haunting points of the story is that people see the Valencia in the exhaust of the rescues boat City of Topeka which did save some of the passengers. Also fishermen have seen lifeboats with skeletons on the open waters or in caves. Interestingly enough one of the ships lifeboats drifted into the Barkley Sound in 1933, still in relatively good condition, a full 27 years after the ship wreck.