Ghost ship lands in 'one in a million' place during Storm Dennis
By
Adriana Navarro, AccuWeather staff writer
Published Feb 17, 2020 12:20 AM EDT
A vessel which had been drifting out a sea since September 2018, ran aground near Ballycotton, Ireland, on Feb. 16 because of Storm Dennis.
A mysterious visitor docked on the shores west of Ballycotton in County Cork, Ireland, on Sunday amid Storm Dennis.
The motor vessel Alta was wedged upon the rocks of the Irish coast after being adrift at sea since 2018. No one was found aboard.
The 250-foot cargo ship built in 1976 was confirmed to not be polluting the area, according to the Irish Examiner.
The exact path it has taken over the years remains a mystery, though the Tanzanian-flagged cargo ship has been spotted adrift at least twice before it ended up in Ireland.
The motor vessel Alta was abandoned in 2018 about 1,300 miles away from Bermuda. It washed ashore in Ireland during Storm Dennis, a little over a year later. (Twitter/@hmsprotector)
In 2018, the U.S. Coast Guard had rescued 10 crew members from the Alta, according to the Coast Guard News. The crew had been stranded on the ship for nearly 20 days before help arrived during the height of the Atlantic hurricane season.
"We traveled over 1,300 nautical miles to get to the disabled ship ahead of Hurricane Leslie's forecasted track and brought the 10 crewmembers (sic.) aboard. We are all proud of our part in this coordinated Coast Guard response to rescue this crew," said Commander Travis Emge, the commanding officer of the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Confidence.
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The Coast Guard became aware of the stranded ship on Sept. 30, 2018, about 11 days after the ship had become disabled. The Alta had been en route to Haiti from Greece when it had become disabled about 1,380 miles southeast of Bermuda, the crew members unable to make repairs.
The crew had reported that they had enough food for two days and enough water for 15 days. On Oct. 2, an aircrew from the Coast Guard Air Station Elizabeth City dropped about a week's worth of supplies from an HC-130 Hercules airplane.
The Confidence arrived on Oct. 8, rescuing the crew and taking them to Puerto Rico. According to the Coast Guard News, the Coast Guard's Fifth District command center had been working with the ship owner to find a commercial tug to tow the vessel to shore.
Speculation arose from marine sources that the ship might have been hijacked at least twice in that time, making it difficult for the owners to locate.
A year later, the U.K. Royal Navy's HMS Protector came across a ghost ship in the mid-Atlantic.
"We closed the vessel to make contact and offer our assistance, but no one replied," a tweet from the HMS Protector said on Sept. 2, 2019. The HMS Protector docked in Bermuda, where it began to load aid to carry to the Bahamas after Hurricane Dorian.
While the ship does not hold tales exactly like the Flying Dutchman or the Mary Celeste, Ballycotton RNLI Lifeboat Operations manager John Tattan told the Irish Examiner that the ship washing up in Ireland, "is one in a million."
"It has come all the way up from the African coast, west of the Spanish coast, west of the English coast and up to the Irish coast," Tattan said. "I have never, ever seen anything abandoned like that before."
He added that it was a wonder how the boat had not been detected by one of the many fishing vessels off of the south coast before it came ashore.
Keep checking back on AccuWeather.com and stay tuned to the AccuWeather Network on DirecTV, Frontier and Verizon Fios.
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News / Weather News
Ghost ship lands in 'one in a million' place during Storm Dennis
By Adriana Navarro, AccuWeather staff writer
Published Feb 17, 2020 12:20 AM EDT
A vessel which had been drifting out a sea since September 2018, ran aground near Ballycotton, Ireland, on Feb. 16 because of Storm Dennis.
A mysterious visitor docked on the shores west of Ballycotton in County Cork, Ireland, on Sunday amid Storm Dennis.
The motor vessel Alta was wedged upon the rocks of the Irish coast after being adrift at sea since 2018. No one was found aboard.
The 250-foot cargo ship built in 1976 was confirmed to not be polluting the area, according to the Irish Examiner.
The exact path it has taken over the years remains a mystery, though the Tanzanian-flagged cargo ship has been spotted adrift at least twice before it ended up in Ireland.
The motor vessel Alta was abandoned in 2018 about 1,300 miles away from Bermuda. It washed ashore in Ireland during Storm Dennis, a little over a year later. (Twitter/@hmsprotector)
In 2018, the U.S. Coast Guard had rescued 10 crew members from the Alta, according to the Coast Guard News. The crew had been stranded on the ship for nearly 20 days before help arrived during the height of the Atlantic hurricane season.
"We traveled over 1,300 nautical miles to get to the disabled ship ahead of Hurricane Leslie's forecasted track and brought the 10 crewmembers (sic.) aboard. We are all proud of our part in this coordinated Coast Guard response to rescue this crew," said Commander Travis Emge, the commanding officer of the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Confidence.
CLICK HERE FOR THE FREE ACCUWEATHER APP
The Coast Guard became aware of the stranded ship on Sept. 30, 2018, about 11 days after the ship had become disabled. The Alta had been en route to Haiti from Greece when it had become disabled about 1,380 miles southeast of Bermuda, the crew members unable to make repairs.
The crew had reported that they had enough food for two days and enough water for 15 days. On Oct. 2, an aircrew from the Coast Guard Air Station Elizabeth City dropped about a week's worth of supplies from an HC-130 Hercules airplane.
The Confidence arrived on Oct. 8, rescuing the crew and taking them to Puerto Rico. According to the Coast Guard News, the Coast Guard's Fifth District command center had been working with the ship owner to find a commercial tug to tow the vessel to shore.
Speculation arose from marine sources that the ship might have been hijacked at least twice in that time, making it difficult for the owners to locate.
Related:
A year later, the U.K. Royal Navy's HMS Protector came across a ghost ship in the mid-Atlantic.
"We closed the vessel to make contact and offer our assistance, but no one replied," a tweet from the HMS Protector said on Sept. 2, 2019. The HMS Protector docked in Bermuda, where it began to load aid to carry to the Bahamas after Hurricane Dorian.
While the ship does not hold tales exactly like the Flying Dutchman or the Mary Celeste, Ballycotton RNLI Lifeboat Operations manager John Tattan told the Irish Examiner that the ship washing up in Ireland, "is one in a million."
"It has come all the way up from the African coast, west of the Spanish coast, west of the English coast and up to the Irish coast," Tattan said. "I have never, ever seen anything abandoned like that before."
He added that it was a wonder how the boat had not been detected by one of the many fishing vessels off of the south coast before it came ashore.
Report a TypoKeep checking back on AccuWeather.com and stay tuned to the AccuWeather Network on DirecTV, Frontier and Verizon Fios.