Ghost Ship Packed with Rotten Fish Found at Sea

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Oddly Enough - Reuters

Ghost Ship Packed with Rotten Fish Found at Sea
Tue Jan 14, 9:23 AM ET Add Oddly Enough - Reuters to My Yahoo!



CANBERRA, Australia (Reuters) - Australian police said on Tuesday they were baffled by the discovery of a ghost ship full of rotting fish -- but no crew or life rafts -- drifting off the remote northwest coast of Australia.



The 65-foot High Aim 6, registered in Taiwan and flying an Indonesian flag, was intercepted and boarded by the Australian navy last week about 185 miles west of the fishing port of Broome after it was spotted drifting aimlessly.


A massive search in the area has turned up no survivors, life rafts or clues, but the presence of up to three tons of rotting mackerel and tuna in the hold has convinced police the boat was used by fisherman, not people smugglers.


"There weren't any indications on board that anything untoward had happened. The conditions on board were quite good," a spokeswoman for the Australian Federal Police in Perth told Reuters.


She said the long-line fishing boat, which would have a crew of around 12, appeared well-equipped and seaworthy.


The weather in the area has been calm for weeks.


Police have launched an international investigation in a bid to track down the owners or crew of the boat.


"The only factor we have to work with at the moment is the fact that it is Taiwanese-owned, so we'll be going to the owners to try to learn a little bit more about the crew and a little bit more about the history of the vessel's passage to this point," the police spokeswoman said.

www.cnn.com...

Ghost ship mystery deepens
Tuesday, January 14, 2003 Posted: 11:46 PM EST (0446 GMT)



Police say they may never find out what happened to the ship's crew


PERTH, Australia -- The riddle of an Indonesian-registered, Taiwan-owned trawler carrying several tons of rotting fish, seven toothbrushes, but no crew is baffling Australian police.

The "ghost ship" was found last week drifting aimlessly off the Western Australian coast and has since been towed to a quarantine bay close to the fishing port of Broome.

However, police say that despite an extensive search there is no sign of the ship's crew, or any indication of what might have happened to them.

"We have insufficient evidence at this stage to even speculate on what has occurred," federal agent Bill Graham told reporters.

The mystery has deepened further after investigators revealed Tuesday that the ship, the High Aim 6, had recently been some 3,500 nautical miles (6,500 kilometers) away in the Marshall Islands, halfway between Papua New Guinea and Hawaii, The Australian newspaper reported.

Shortly afterwards the owner reported to U.S. authorities that the ship was missing after he had been unable to contact its captain.

Adding to the confusion are mixed reports as to the numbers of those onboard.

Toothbrushes
As time goes on the prospects of locating the crew alive decrease
-- Bill Graham, Australian Federal Police






Police say the only clue as to how many crew the ship may have carried being the discovery of seven toothbrushes in the living quarters.

There is, however, no clue as to what might have happened to them, or why they might have abandoned an otherwise perfectly serviceable ship.

Police believe the captain of the vessel was from Taiwan, with Indonesians making up most of the rest of the crew.

An aerial and naval search of the surrounding seas did not yield any sign of life or any life vessels that might have come from the ship.

It is unclear whether the ship even carried life rafts.

Piracy
"At this stage we have not located the crew or discovered any plausible reasons for their absence from the ship," Graham was quoted as saying.

"The simple answer is we may never determine the fate of the crew," he added.

The vessel was found carrying more than three tons of rotting tuna and mackerel in its hold, and had plenty of fuel and food.

Officials say one possibility if that the boat piloted itself all the way from the Marshall Islands.

Another line of inquiry is focusing on the possibility of piracy, a growing problem in the region.

However, investigators say there is no sign of a struggle, or that anything might have been stolen from the boat.

"Our main concern is for the safety of the crew, " Graham told reporters. "As time goes on the prospects of locating the crew alive decrease."


CREDIT.

Texan.

Funny, the report i heard mentioned that they suspected the crew to be fishing illegally and may have jumped ship in fear of getting caught.

Didn't hear that report.

Is there an article somewhere. ?

Just the news reports. I've been following it... most logical explaination is pirates, but, still it's darn mysterious. And it's one of those oddly registered vessels so it'll be hard to track down who the crew was and if they ever show up again.

"well equipped and sea worthy"

yup, sounds fishy to me! (I crack myself up - lol)

Yeh, It's hard to see what pirates would hope to gain by terrorising a boat load of fisherman. ?

Apart from a boat full of rotten fish. LOL.

"Police say the only clue as to how many crew the ship may have carried being the discovery of seven toothbrushes in the living quarters."

Seriously, how many deep sea fishermen are the type to brush their teeth? I bet the crew was more like a dozen or so...

Seems obvious that they got onto another vessel, only problem is why? And, if they were planning to leave, they wouldn't have expended all of the effort to get all that fish. So, you can deduce that they got onto another vessel against their will, as they obviously wouldn't leave behind their paychecks...

I heard what i posted on 2 local radio stations. check cbc.ca they might have a write up online.

Here's some more information quaneeri. This is weird.

www.etaiwannews.com...

Taiwan seeks help in locating crew of 'ghost ship'
Cellphone of missing engineer reportedly recorded over 80 phone calls from Bali

2003-01-16 / Taiwan News, Staff Writer /

The Taiwan-registered longline fishing vessel High An No. 6 is towed by a Royal Australian Navy vessel (not shown) to the port of Broome , some 1,100 kilometers southwest of Darwin in this handout picture taken on January 9 ,2003.(REUTERS)
Ten Indonesian crew members, the Taiwanese chief engineer and captain are all still missing from an abandoned fishing boat which departed from Bitung, Indonesia on November 16 last year. It had been headed towards Marshall Islands to fish. After losing contact with the vessel, authorities launched a search to locate the ship, which was later found drifting by the Australian Navy January 3, with no one on board.

Relatives of the Taiwanese crew members are concerned that they may have been thrown over board by pirates, or that the Indonesian crew members mutinied.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it had requested the help of neighboring countries in looking for the missing crew.

Pingtung District Prosecutors' Office also set up a task force to launch an investigation into the crews disappearance, and was seeking help from the Australian police. Ko Pi-hsia (������), Pingtung District Prosecutors' Office representative said they will ask the international police department of the National Police Administration to provide information for further investigation.

The cellphone of a missing Taiwanese crew member had been used to make more than 80 phone calls from Bali, Indonesia, local media reported yesterday.

The Taiwan-registered fishing boat Hai An No. 6, flying an Indonesian flag, sailed from Tungkang fishing port in Pingtung county, to Bitung, Indonesia to pick up 10 crew members.

Due to cheap labor costs of the southeast Asian countries and China, Taiwan's fishing industry often employs workers from these countries. Mutinies sometimes occur because of harsh working conditions on fishing vessels.

The Hai An No. 6 left Bitung November 16 and set sail for the Marshall Islands to fish. The two Taiwanese crew, captain Chen Tai-cheng (��ƞ��) and chief engineer Lin Chung-li (�L����) had kept in close contact with their families in Taiwan through radio, but the communications mysteriously ceased after December 6.

The missing ship was finally located by the Australian navy drifting in waters off the Australian northwestern port of Broome. The Australian navy intercepted the boat four days after it was spotted, and found all the crew had disappeared. The cargo hold contained rotting mackerel and tuna. The long-line fishing boat was towed into Broome for examination last Friday.

A massive search in the area failed to turn up survivors, life rafts or clues, but the presence of up to three tons of rotting mackerel and tuna in the hold has convinced police the boat was used by fishermen, not smugglers.

Australian police said conditions on board the ship were good and the ship appeared well-equipped and seaworthy. In addition, weather in the area has been calm for weeks.

However, the family of the chief engineer Lin received a large cellphone bill of NT$ 40,000. The bill showed that the cellphone was still being used in Bali.

The family of Lin did not wish to cancel the service hoping that the cellphone can help them locate Lin.

MOFA spokeswoman Katherine Chang (�i�p��) said the ministry has asked for the assistance of the United States, Australia, the Marshall Islands, Indonesia and Interpol to help locate the crew.

Although these nations have reported no progress so far, she said, "the search will continue."

CREDIT above url
















[Edited on 09/08/2002 by MountainStar]

"Ten Indonesian crew members, the Taiwanese chief engineer and captain"

See? I told you there was a dozen or more, LOL!!!

Anyways, that bit about the cell phone is pretty telling. One thing I don't see mentioned, were there any unused lifeboats on the ship? They state none were found in the water, but what about on the ship itself?

This story gets weirder by the day.

The High Aim 6 that was found January 4, 2003 floating of the Australlian Coast will become an Artificial Reef.

Click Here For Article

The owners of the vessel have said they don't want it back because it would be uneconomic to restore it to seagoing condition.

Mr Witheridge said an agreement had been reached with the Broome Fishing Club to sink the vessel about three nautical miles offshore in more than 40m of water.


A date has not yet been set for the vessel to go to its watery grave.

Update: It might be pirates or mutiny.

Or maybe a fatal attack from the dreaded Gingivitis...

www.theage.com.au...

"Pirates or a mutiny are probably behind the mysterious disappearance of the crew of a Taiwanese fishing boat.

The boat was found in the Indian Ocean, abandoned with a cargo of rotting tuna and mackerel, an industry official said yesterday.

The Hai An No. 6 (or High Aim 6) was spotted drifting off the coast of north-west Australia on January 4, about six weeks after leaving Indonesia with its Taiwanese captain and chief engineer, and 10 Indonesian crew members.

No lifeboats were found on board, and there were no signs of a struggle. Police and international maritime authorities are trying to solve the mystery.

"We believe that there might have been some wrongdoing by the Indonesian crew, or that pirates attacked the boat and abducted the fishermen," said Lee Ah-duey, the director of the Liu Chiou District Fishing Association, in southern Taiwan.


He said the best clue was a record of calls made in Bali with a mobile phone belonging to the chief engineer, Lin Chung-lee.

Phone records show that 87 local calls were made with the phone.

The Australian Navy intercepted the boat four days after it was spotted adrift. It was deserted except for a hold full of rotting mackerel and tuna.

After leaving Taiwan on October 31, the Hai An sailed to Indonesia, where it picked up its Indonesia crew before leaving port again on November 16.

"The two Taiwanese crewmen called their families every day," Mr Lee said. "The last time they called was on December 6."

The last known contact was on December 13 when the captain contacted the boat's Taiwanese owners from the Marshall Islands, halfway between Papua New Guinea and Hawaii."

They were attacked by pirates...

The crew was killed...

The pirates didn't find anything worth stealing...so they left it adrift... Although at least one of the pirates got a cell phone....

Originally posted by quaneeri
Yeh, It's hard to see what pirates would hope to gain by terrorising a boat load of fisherman. ?

Apart from a boat full of rotten fish. LOL.

Ideally they would get the boat which would turn up with a different registration(Libyan maybe) and be used for smuggling. With no investment the ship could be scuttled if need be when the smugglers are caught.