Posted on 08/25/2006 6:20:48 AM PDT by Marius3188
A £300,000 schooner has been found floating empty in the Mediterranean - echoing the fate of the Marie Celeste over 130 years ago.
The 66ft twin-masted vessel had no name and no other identification markings.
On board there was a half-eaten meal, maps of the Med, piles of clothes and a punctured dinghy.
The boat was found drifting off the Sardinian resort of Punta Volpe.
Strong currents were pushing it towards rocks and coastguards boarded the vessel just in time and towed it to the port of Olbia.
Officials found a plaque with the name Bel Amica but said that initial checks with shipping registers had found no yacht with that name.
A spokesman said: "It gave the impression of being abandoned very quickly. It could be piracy, we just don't know."
The original Marie Celeste, which was on a voyage from New York to Italy, was found empty and drifting off the coast of Portugal in 1872.
Stephen Crane fan, then?......:)
Dan Rather, I ain't!........
Carrol A Deering bump
Yeah, it's still true that there's no Izvestia in Pravda, and no Pravda in Izvestia . . .
I have the book, haven't read it yet, tho. And it has nothing to do with that book, either........
I've heard lots of horror stories from long-range cruisers (pirates less common than food poisoning, multiple people overboard trying to rescue the first MO, and slipped mooring or dragged anchors), there are more vessels drifting around out there than you would think. It's more usual to find them in the Indian Ocean or the western Pacific than the Med or Caribbean, though.
I would just love to work for them...they are the American MSM with a warped twist.
Oh, yeah. The Med is a hotbed of pirate activity. LOL
Good grief man...do I have to keep guessing til I hit it?....:D
Hahah its coming up!
They make the National Enquirer look like credible sources....;]
Well, then, if you don't have courage, what else do you do to maintain your security? ;^)
Check you mail........
Maybe something to do with a red badge and the Marines?
Thanks for your service!
Badger, this is mushrooming!
I can't..........
Oh, are we being a little naughty with our screen name?!!?
The missing yacht 'Ouzo' was a Sailfish 25 similar to this one.
Missing Yacht Dead Men Identified (English Channel, UK - 8/20/06)
Police investigating the disappearance of a yacht in the English Channel have identified two bodies recovered in the search for its three-man crew. The bodies of Rupert Saunders, 36, of Tooting in south London, and Jason Downer, 35, of Broadstairs, Kent, were found in the sea on Wednesday evening.
Mystery surrounds why the yacht and its crew foundered at sea. All three had a zest for life, following testing professional careers, along with a love for sports, including sailing.
Mark Roadaway, of the Solent Coastguard, said: "There are a number of potential scenarios that could have caused this incident. "Whatever it was it was fairly sudden and very traumatic." A massive sea search of the area has failed to find the 27ft (8.2m) boat.
The bodies of Mr Saunders and Mr Downer were located five miles south of St Catherine's Point on the Isle of Wight, and 10 miles west of where Mr Meaby's body was recovered.
"On Sunday, 20 August, they set out to sail from Bembridge on the Isle of Wight to Dartmouth, Devon, a voyage with which they were familiar, having done the same trip before.
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