Modern day Mary Celeste

[STEED]

Bit spooky this one.

Australian "ghost ship" mystery puzzles rescuers
SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australian rescuers were on Friday trying to solve the "Mary Celeste" style mystery of a yacht found floating off the coast with its engine running, food on its table ready to eat, but no crew.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070420/wl_nm/australia_yacht_dc;_ylt=AqmkmULwm8DE4OhFBVXi2kln.3 QA

[Letum]

"hey everybody, lets all go for a swim at once!" ?

Nah, couldnt be that if the life raft was gone.

It can't be the weather either if food was still on the table.

Piracy prahaps?

[baggygreen]

Most recent release by the police is that they've called off the search, cos following the Yacht's gps system it seems they were in an area where there was severe squalls, about a week ago. The police believe the men were all washed overboard.

How a wave that could tear a sail and wash 3 men and a boat away wouldnt have upset the cutlery and crockery on the table i'll never figure out though:hmm:

[Safe-Keeper]

The first plausible explanation I could find was that one fell overboard and the others dived in to help him, but even that seemed funny.

The newest theory is that since the fenders are deployed over one side of the boat, the vessel was boarded, which points to a kidnapping. Did this happen in an area where piracy was common?

As for Marie Celeste, yes, she was the first thing I thought of, too.

[TteFAboB]

Aquatoids strike again.

^ link.

[Safe-Keeper]

The first two games never die, do they?

[TarJak]

Originally Posted by Safe-Keeper

The first plausible explanation I could find was that one fell overboard and the others dived in to help him, but even that seemed funny.

The newest theory is that since the fenders are deployed over one side of the boat, the vessel was boarded, which points to a kidnapping. Did this happen in an area where piracy was common?

As for Marie Celeste, yes, she was the first thing I thought of, too.

They were apparently only a few days out of Townsville on the North Queensland coast, inside the Great Barrier Reef. Not an area known for piracy, but not completely out of the question. The QLD coast and some of the islands in the Reef have been known to be used for yachts carrying drugs and other contraband from Asia into Australia. It's a big and largely lonely coastline up there.

Apparently they had planned to travel around the top end of Australia and take the boat down the West Coast to Perth over the next few months.

Unless the bodies are found or there is some forensic evidence still on the yacht I doubt anyone will find out what happened.