Mary Celeste Redux

I think it could be alot of possibilities.

The Pirate one - Don't think so. There would definately be signs. The Kidnapping / Assinitation theory - definately possible, but you would think there would be blood and other signs of struggle. What does a kidnapper care about setting the table?

Also, what of the life raft? The first article quoted said there was a missing life raft - could have one or two guys fallen off and the other used a life raft to get to them? Still doesn't make much sense to me because every sailor knows to get his life jacket before *intentionally* (just wanted to clairfiy that) going overboard, wether or not in a life raft.

I think the most intriguing part of the story is the shredded sail. This is contradictory to the "pristine" conditions of the rest of the boat.

But, props to the OP! Good find, it's nice to see strange other things going on besides lights in the skies! Congrats

[edit on 20-4-2007 by zeeon]

@ flice-
as u said

When cases like this surface, does anyone ever look into if the individuals have any kinda of daily life problems they would want to abandom? ie. debt, threats to their lives, the eminent loss of a job leading to a messed up life?


i dont think that would be the case becasue it is said the meals wer ready on the table so if you mean to say these people committed suicide then no, a person wouldnt prepare food and commit suicide leaving the meal on the table.
no offence meant mate..

hope those guys are well and found soon..

peaceout..

Seems more likely that these guys have seen something (maybe floating on the water) and have been amazed/intriged at it so have jumped in the lifeboat to check it out, or tried to help someone/something in trouble and their lifeboat has sunk (most are inflatable) and they have either swam to the shore of a remote island, OR the engine on the lifeboat has failed and so they have drifted onto a small uninhabited island.


An interesting thing that hasn't been mentioned yet is that the boat has it's fenders (bumbers) out on the port side. These are used when docking with another boat or docking at a jetty to stop the boat being damaged.
Did another boat come up alongside??

Weird, hope they are found alive and well though.

The liferaft they would have had is a 4 man valise mounted ne. They don't have engines, they are designed to drift with the current rather than the wind, deploying drogues for this purpose. Thats why they are searching along the yachts track.

www.force4.co.uk...

This is as big as they would have had on a cat that size.

I have an interest because I'm writing this from the saloon of an old wooden Grand Banks.

I hope they're found, and soon.

I think EPIRBS should be made cheaper with government subsidies. Worldwide. It would save hundreds of lives.

I hope they are found.

Very weird for them to vanish like that.

I hope they are found alive and well. But just imagine for a second your on a boat out at see. Its a very confined enviroment it would shurley be scary in such conditions if something on the more bizzare side happend.

Just the plain remote and helpless state you would be in. Well lets hope there drifting in the life raft and are found soon.

Sends a chill down my spine actually.



[edit on 21-4-2007 by h3akalee]

Wow I have no theory on this one,
Kidnappers would take the boat.
Pirates would take the boat.
Murder/ suicide would have lift signs.
A man over board the captain would have thrown a life jacket, or one would assume that the brothers would have done the same.
If some how all three were tossed at the same time the storm would have been so violent that it would have been mentioned in the article.
Who would play a prank like this, and why?

As Ned Flanders would say “this is a dilly of a pickle”

Weird, no emergency equipment is missing, one of the sails is shredded but apart from that the yacht is in good condition.

Surely if it was piracy there would be a sign of struggle, computers would be taken as well as other valuables and they would also scuttle the boat.

Drug deal gone wrong, why leave the boat floating around to be found, much easier to sink it and once again no sign of violence.

A storm, well apart from a shredded sail, which could of happened since the yacht has been floundering there doesnt seem to be any noticable damage and surely if a huge wave had hit the boat there would be obvious signs of damage.

Cant see all 3 men being taken by a shark or a croc, or all drowning at the same time while having a swim.

Ive spent some time at Airlie Beach which is the last point they left from and there are a lot of small islands up around that area.

I guess that just leaves aliens, time warps or other dimensions.

I dont really mean to be flippant and i hope their found safe and well.


(edit to add this)

Guess you can exclude foul weather.

source

Greg Connor, a forecaster with the Bureau of Meteorology, said the sailors would have faced moderate southeasterly winds of about 35kph, typical weather for this time of year.
"It would have been excellent sailing conditions," he said. "There's no reason to believe this is a weather-related incident."

[edit on 21/4/07 by mojo4sale]

Tonight's TV news report showed Police Forensic Investigators going over the boat.

They're working on a theory that perhaps all three men were washed overboard at the same time...??? I'm not sure how that can be substantiated though?

Early GPS reports were that the boat could have been drifting from last Sunday?

That's just what I heard on the 6pm TV news...

UPDATE.

Yahoo!7News

Three West Australian men who mysteriously vanished from their catamaran are believed to have fallen overboard almost a week ago.

All three fell overboard at the same time? Something not right about that, they were all experienced seamen, even if one fell overboard and the others went in to save the him, as experienced sailors they certainly wouldnt have gone in without using emergency equipment or sending a distress signal.

Police have scaled back the search already?

Wont go over the things that this is not, as everyone has explined very thoughly.

One sugestion that is not been said yet is that this could have been an abduction of these certain individuals, but purly for them, not privacy but politial, just a hunch.

This is in the complete wrounng fourm though, i lie its in like 4 fourms, but i think this one has the most hits.

Tonight's TV news - police have stopped searching for the missing men.

So ends that mystery, hey? A ghost-boat in the Townsville docks with two families not giving up hope...

All three men.. washed overboard at the same time.. in calm weather with moderate winds.. without any signs of anything on the boat being disturbed by the ridiculously high waves.......

uhm... okay, then. I guess it's more likely than some explanations for things down around aussie-land... *cough*portarthurmassacre*cough*... not that North America is any better.

this story would be so much simpiler if that sail was not torn, why is the sail torn, it makes no sense, unless it was dilibertly torn to stop the boat from caching the wind in the sail???

Originally posted by TKainZero
this story would be so much simpiler if that sail was not torn, why is the sail torn, it makes no sense, unless it was dilibertly torn to stop the boat from caching the wind in the sail???

If it had been unmanned for up to a week it could have been shredded by the wind, if it was slack and being whipped about? just a thought.


Police have called off the search but the families and some local sailors will continue looking. The fenders over the side tend to suggest that they may have been boarded.

Yahoo!7 News

"How do you get three guys disappear all at once?" he asked.
"It's very strange and the thing I found even stranger was the fenders over the side - if you're outside the reef you don't have fenders over the side of the boat.

The fenders would tend to suggest kidnapping.. but... you'd think that kidnappers would take valuables and/or scuttle the boat to make the whole thing look more like they just disappeared in a storm or something.

it just strikes me as weird that they'd take all 3 men, but not disturb anything on the boat, not take anything from the boat, or take the boat itself. and what would they want all 3 men for?

too many unanswered questions.

Just now on our local tv, news service is saying another boat has been found capsized and drifting off the Queensland coast.
This is off the coast near Coloundra and police say it appears to have been abandoned for up to a month judging by the amount of barnacles attached to the hull.

Nothing to suggest that they are linked in any way but its a major coincidence if you ask me.
Will see if i can find a link to a news report.

My opinion is that they probably wanted to 'dissapear' themselves for one reason or another.

Shark attack claiming 3 lives simultaneously seems unlikely, alien abduction also seems unlikely.

I wouldn't be surprised if it was linked to some high level crime with a large payout.

Then again it could be some awful tradgedy, in which case i apologise to family and friends.

It would be very interesting to know these people's professions. Unless we have some sort of floating serial killer/s, this all sounds a little odd.

[edit on 23-4-2007 by seenitall]

I believe two of them were older retired gentlemen and the third, who was the skipper also looked to be well into his 50's.
They all had large close family's so the intentional disappearing doesnt make sense.
The police are saying they believe they were probably caught in a squall and washed or blown overboard, yet when the boat was found there were clothes neatly folded on the deck, wouldnt that have been washed over board as well!!
Too much doesnt add up.
Still cant find a link to the latest claim of another boat found drifting off the caost.

Damn, mojo beat me to it.

Yeah, another abandoned boat has been found off the QLD coast.

Something is fishy (pun intended)...