Ghost Ship?

I had a very strange sighting this year while at the beach. I was visiting an area where there are a lot of known shipwrecks and subsequently many ghost stories. When I�m on the coast I always like to get out the binoculars and check out the horizon and watch the ships at night. Well, one night a particular ship caught my attention as it was pretty large and I had noticed it in the same area the night before. It looked like some sort of large naval ship, which isn�t uncommon for this area. It was strange, though, to see it two nights in a row following the same path and in the same area. While I was trying to get a better look at this interesting ship I noticed something about a mile closer into shore and about a mile to the north of it. It was just simply this large black hulking �ship� just sitting in the water. It had no lights or reflective material of any kind. In fact, the only reason I noticed it was because the moon was almost full that night and it was kind of backlit with the horizon. I watched it for about two hours as it slowly moved south and over the horizon. In fact, I drug everyone out of the house and had them look at it so they didn�t think I was crazy. Looking back now I guess waking up my wife, in the middle of the night, to view this, wasn�t the best course of action but I was pretty intrigued. It seems quite strange that a large �ship� such as this would be sitting just of the coast with no lights what so ever.
Was this one of the elusive ghost ships of that area or Could it have just simply been a naval exercise (probably best explanation)? It�s important to note though, that this is the same area, that two years prior I watched one of the famous �black triangles� fly directly over top of me. So, could this have been something more?

they were probably saving generator fuel by turning off all lights.
It's not likely it was a naval ghost ship though.
Unless it was the mary celest in disguise

Smugglers, perhaps? What kind of area was this in, a bay? What country?

Seems intresting,

And also that your family seem this too, My idea would be to ask around a bit and see if anyone else latley has seem simular things,

And also try and keep a camera on you it would be great to see a pic of this,

When I was in the Coast Guard in the 90's, I worked in NY harbor. One of our jobs was to bust illegal immigration. We'd get a tip some how, and then look for suspicious activity. Usually, we would rearrange our lights to make us look like a fishing boat, not a Coast Guard Cutter. We never went "lights out", but I could see that as a possibility, especially considering the current environment of homeland security.

Re-reading your post, something else came to me. I worked on a buoy tender, and later a tug boat, but we also did law enforcement. All boats of that class have black hulls (although the superstructure is white). I'm not saying you didn't see a ghost ship, but just giving a possible explanation.

One of my old boats, the USCGC Penobscot Bay.

Originally posted by Ulvetann
Smugglers, perhaps? What kind of area was this in, a bay? What country?

This is what I thought at first but this was no bay as it was directly ocean front. Also, this was right off of the south eastern coast of the U.S. The strange thing though is that at the same time this was going on there was a strange blue strobe light going off up the beach. At first I thought it was a police siren but then it just turned off. This might have had nothing to do with the "ship"incident but it was strange. Also, this larger ship had to know it was there as it was only about a mile away at one point and with radar it had to be visible.

It could have been a listening ship, which travels round the coast monitoring radio and mobile phone conversations. We certainly have them going around UK coastal waters.

These are painted matt black and are designed to be unnoticed, although I do not know whether they are exempted from showing navigation lights.

Originally posted by Englishman_in_Spain
It could have been a listening ship, which travels round the coast monitoring radio and mobile phone conversations. We certainly have them going around UK coastal waters.

These are painted matt black and are designed to be unnoticed, although I do not know whether they are exempted from showing navigation lights.

This is what was so strange, the fact that this thing had no lights or reflective material what so ever. I thought at first that maybe it was a submarine that had surfaced but the water is so shallow there and filled with many shoals so I kind of ruled it out. I have a poor night pic that I will see if I can post. I have tried to manipulate it in photoshop but I'm not that good so maybe someone here can work some magic.

I have tried to manipulate it in photoshop but I'm not that good so maybe someone here can work some magic.

Post the pic! If you need to host the pic, try photobucket.com... or www.imageshack.us...
ATS has hosting as well, but I've never used it and can't really comment on it.

[edit on 3-12-2004 by curme]

Here is the link to the image. I circled the area where I believe the "ship" was. Hopefully someone with better Photoshop skills, than I, can make something out. The light in the background was from the larger ship that looked like it was investigating the area. Have fun.

Here is the original:

img27.exs.cx...

Somewhat enhanced:

img20.exs.cx...


[edit on 3-12-2004 by skychief]

I forgot to mention this was taken off of the North Carolina coast in October of this year. Hopefully someon can enhance it better than I can.

I've been trying to work on it, but that picture is pretty bad!
I'll keep trying though.

Originally posted by curme
I've been trying to work on it, but that picture is pretty bad!
I'll keep trying though.

I know, I tried to increase the exposure time but it was pretty dark. Actually, I was pretty impressed as it was almost pitch black at that point.

Creepy

*Zerinity*

not sure if its just me but in the circled area of pic 2, it looks like there is a face.

EDIT: found this on the net
saltfishing.about.com...

Hiding in darkness, they operate right under the nose of the law
We left the ramp very early. In fact, it was before daybreak. It was Saturday and we wanted to beat the crowds launching on what was forecast to be a beautiful day. We figured we could get the early bite and be out of the water before the late sleepers even launched. The jetties at the mouth of the St Johns River were barely visible in the darkness as a gray bulge on the waterline as we headed east from Mayport.

We had been catching sheepshead in good numbers and larger than average size during the past week, so we were targeting nothing but these bait stealers today. Unfortunately, there was at least one other boat targeting these same fish.

Over the past two years I have managed on several occasions to hang what appeared to be remnants of gill net material along the jetty rocks. I shrugged and passed these pieces off as so much trash from old nets, possibly even from before the net ban was instituted in Florida. Today I would find more netting, but not the remnant variety.

As we slowed and made a turn to go around the south jetty, a boat came by us in the darkness. Painted flat black and running with no lights, it was typical of the kind of net boats we used to encounter on the Gulf Coast of Florida in years past. I thought it strange that this boat would be running into the river with no running lights. The two men in the boat crouched low behind a small console and a pile of what looked to be netting rose from the front quarter of the boat.

At about the same time the light bulbs in my head went off, I saw another boat very similar to the first one. This one was up close to the rocks on the south side of the jetty and the two men were working feverishly at hauling in what turned out to be a long stab net. Sheepshead were flopping in the bottom of the boat as they rushed to leave before I got any closer. I heard them yell at each other and in an instant they too disappeared heading up the St Johns River.

It appears to me that these two boats were, under cover of darkness using illegal gill nets along the jetties and taking sheepshead in large numbers. Needless to say, we caught very few fish that morning.

I contacted the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) later that day and reported my encounter, but I doubt anything was done. I don�t see anything that could be done in a situation like that. I certainly was not about to confront these poachers, and unless a wildlife officer sat out there all night these people would be almost impossible to catch.

So, now I wonder even more about those net remnants I kept finding. Is there an ongoing illegal net operation being run at night off the jetties? Were these remnants actually from a net that tangled in the jetty rocks in the darkness on a rough night?

It remains to be determined whether these people are still poaching, but one thing is sure. The numbers of sheepshead on the jetties here in North Florida have steadily declined over the past several years.

The �antis� want to stop any form of fishing because the resource is being depleted. People such as these poachers give the antis more ammunition to use against legitimate anglers � even the legitimate commercial people.

It is the responsibility of each of us to report poachers, and you can do that in relative safety without confronting them on the water. In my case, boat numbers were non-existent. But if enough of us report these activities, the fish and wildlife folks will have more opportunity to catch and stop them. Ignoring it will not make it go away � ignoring it will certainly make the fish go away!



[edit on 1-1-2005 by llama009]

Man, I almost gave up on this thread. This has to be one of the strangest expierences I have ever had. There is definitely a ship there in the image, a large ship, but it had no lights or reflective material what so ever. It was just a hulking shape, floating there about a half a mile off shore. This other ship, I believe, was some kind of destroyer and there was no way it didn't detect this other "boat". May have been some kind of Naval exercise but why would it be done that close to shore in a tourist area? One other important note that I might have left out of the original post was the fact that there was a strange blue strobe going off a mile up shore, on land, during this sighting. It could have been kids on the beach but it was about one in the morning so it seemed out of place. Strange sighting to say the least.

I was looking at the pics and it could be a Naval Special Warfare Stab doing exercises. You know the SEALS just a thought. Also have you checked to see if any ships that have the same shape of that have gone down in your area of the coast? Ill do some checking with a seal buddy of mine to see if they where doing any training there in the last year or so.

I copied your enhanced picture to MS Paint and blew it up to 6 times magnification. It was extremely low detailed, but a silhoutte was visible.

What I see seems small, but with no perspective it is hard to be sure. It is slightly longer towards what I believe to be the aft, and is tapered at that end (which is how I decided that was the aft, reasoning that the higher side would be the bow.) There is a small superstructure of some sort, presumably just a small cabin. There is a lighter spot in the middle of this cabin, i would guess it to be a porthole or doorway from which faint light can be seen.

The key detail in my opinion is the low, tapered appearance of the shape's aft. I believe this points to your "contact" being a fishing boat, however I seem to vaguely recall some military ships having this shape- any naval buffs want to bear me out or correct me and tell us all what sort of ship has a low-sitting aft?

The apparent light from the taller structure seems to rule out submarine, plus I dont think the shape is right. I would expect a submarine to be longer in comparrison to it's superstructure and have the superstructure located relatively further forward.

I think the light spot also partially discredits the idea of it being an IBS or other small special warfare craft.

The strobe and the presence of the destroyer do seem to indicate that this could have been a naval drill of some kind, subject to a naval buff verifying the existence of a military vessel matching the shape I believe I see.


EDIT: And no ship that isn't crewed by the d*mned and captained by a man so evil that hell itself spat him back out could possibly have black sails, and therefore couldn't possibly be any other ship than the Black Pearl, is that what you're saying?

[edit on 2-1-2005 by The Vagabond]

That is what I thought it was but it was odd because that area of the coast is loaded with sand bars so it is very dangerous for ships to come that close. Of course these ships would have the best detection equipment so I'm sure they could navigate safely. I'll probably never know what it was but one thing is for certain, it makes for a good story.

Originally posted by The Vagabond
EDIT: And no ship that isn't crewed by the d*mned and captained by a man so evil that hell itself spat him back out could possibly have black sails, and therefore couldn't possibly be any other ship than the Black Pearl, is that what you're saying?
[edit on 2-1-2005 by The Vagabond]

This ship was definitely bigger than a fishing boat. It is hard, from it's position in the water, to be able to tell its size but I remeber it to look as if it was roughly 100 to 150 feet in length (I could be way off though). You have to admit though, that this is strange for a ship to be that close to the shore in a dangerous area, have no external lights what so ever, and have a destroyer investigating it. Plus, it was located in an area known as the graveyard of the atlantic so one can imagine why I wouldn't dismiss that it could have been something out of the ordinary.