Mystery of the Antarctica Ghost Ship That Still Has No Answer

Bright Side

Frozen solid within the brutal, unforgiving ice of the deep Southern Ocean, an eerie, abandoned vessel remains one of the most chilling and unexplained maritime mysteries in modern history. Our latest exploration documentary dives deep into the baffling enigma of the Antarctica ghost ship, breaking down the bizarre satellite anomalies and recovered nautical logs that still leave seasoned maritime experts completely stumped. We explore the terrifying realities of navigating the deadly Drake Passage, examining how extreme sub-zero temperatures and unpredictable rogue waves can mysteriously wipe out an entire crew while leaving the ship's hull perfectly intact. Watch now and help us unravel the haunting, unanswered questions behind the frozen phantom ships that are still drifting through the Earth's most isolated and dangerous waters!  Animation is created by Bright Side.  ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  Music from TheSoul Sound: https://thesoul-sound.com/   Check our Bright Side podcast on Spotify and leave a positive review! https://open.spotify.com/show/0hUkPxD34jRLrMrJux4VxV  Subscribe to Bright Side: https://goo.gl/rQTJZz  ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  Our Social Media:  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/brightplanet/  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brightside.official  TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@brightside.official?lang=en   Stock materials (photos, footages and other):  https://www.depositphotos.com  https://www.shutterstock.com  https://www.eastnews.ru  ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  For more videos and articles visit: http://www.brightside.me  ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  This video is made for entertainment purposes. We do not make any warranties about the completeness, safety and reliability. Any action you take upon the information in this video is strictly at your own risk, and we will not be liable for any damages or losses. It is the viewer's responsibility to use judgement, care and precaution if you plan to replicate.

Transcript

00:00Strange things occur in the cold waters of Antarctica.

00:04One of these things happened to a ship called Jenny.

00:07It was a small schooner whose history began in 1822.

00:11The boat and its crew set sail and disappeared a year later.

00:16For 18 years, the ship was considered sunk.

00:19People forgot about it, but in 1840, the vessel reminded the world of itself.

00:26That year, the whaling ship Hope sailed through the Drake Channel in Antarctica.

00:32The crew members noticed a ship among icebergs.

00:35It was the schooner Jenny.

00:37It was floating slowly in the dark, with no signs of life.

00:41The captain of the Hope, Mr. Brighton, gave the order to approach the mysterious vessel.

00:47They thought it was some creepy ghost ship.

00:49But as they came closer, they noticed crew members on the deck.

00:55The sailors of the Hope called out to them, but received no answer.

01:00This time, it became clear that something terrible had happened to the Jenny.

01:05When Brighton boarded, he realized that the Jenny crew members weren't missing.

01:10They were here.

01:12Frozen people stood like statues.

01:15Brighton went down to the lower deck and found the captain.

01:19He was sitting frozen at the table, holding a pen.

01:24Brighton looked at the logbook.

01:26The last record was made on May 4th, 1823.

01:30The captain wrote that he was the only living member of the crew.

01:34They spent 71 days without food.

01:38It seemed that the ship got lost in the sea, because its captain went off course, or sailed

01:44into an iceberg.

01:45But no one knew for sure.

01:46According to rumors, the crew of the Hope abandoned the frozen ship and left it to drift in the

01:57cold waters.

01:59According to other rumors, this whole story is fiction.

02:03The story of the Jenny was described in a German magazine in the middle of the 19th century.

02:08Still, there was no further evidence of the ship's existence.

02:13Already in our time, Cambridge University decided to explore the case of the Jenny.

02:19The researchers discovered that one of the crew members of the Hope, who didn't disclose

02:24his name, told someone the legend of the frozen ship.

02:28Someone shared the story with another guy, and it was published in a German magazine called

02:33Globus.

02:34One of the most famous ghost ships was the Mary Celeste, and there's no doubt about its

02:45existence.

02:45The history of this vessel was documented in court.

02:49People wrote about it in newspapers, but the most exciting thing is that the ship continued

02:55to be used even after 10 people disappeared from its deck.

03:00The history of the Mary Celeste began in Canada in 1861.

03:05When it was first built, the ship was called the Amazon.

03:09It changed captains several times, and it also hit some rocks.

03:14The boat was sold, bought, then sold again, repaired, and sailed under the name Mary Celeste.

03:22In 1872, it had a new captain, Benjamin Briggs.

03:27He was a decent, brave man with a lot of experience in navigation.

03:32He had a beloved wife, a daughter, and a son.

03:35When he went on his last voyage, he took his wife and daughter with him, and his son stayed

03:41in America.

03:43In November of 1872, the Mary Celeste sailed from the port to New York with 10 people on

03:49board, and disappeared.

03:52Eight days later, another ship, the Dei Gratia, also left New York and followed the same route.

03:59Dei Gratia's captain, David Morehouse, noticed the Mary Celeste and immediately realized something

04:05was wrong.

04:06The ship was moving too freely, as if no one was controlling it.

04:10The captain tried to contact the crew members, but no one answered him.

04:15Then, together with other sailors, he climbed aboard the Mary Celeste.

04:21The ship was in good condition.

04:23There was no damage.

04:25The hold was slightly filled with water, but it could be easily pumped out.

04:30Everything seemed fine, but one lifeboat was missing.

04:34The crew members' valuables were in their cabins.

04:38The cargo was in the hold.

04:39The supplies of water and food were untouched.

04:43Judging by the records in the logbook, the ship was caught in a storm, but it was not

04:48too strong.

04:49Other ships also sailed through this storm, but nothing bad happened to them.

04:54The last record was dated November 25th, and it claimed that everything was fine.

05:01The sails of the Mary Celeste were slightly damaged, but perhaps it happened after the crew had

05:07disappeared.

05:08The whole ship was in excellent condition.

05:11But what made the people leave it?

05:13Part of the crew of the De Gratia stayed on board the Mary Celeste to bring it to dry land.

05:19Everything went well.

05:21They delivered the ship to the closest port.

05:24Next, the captain of the De Gratia appeared before the court and told about what had happened.

05:30However, the prosecutor and the judge didn't want to believe in the story of the Mary Celeste.

05:36They were sure the captain got rid of the ship's crew to get money for its cargo.

05:41According to the maritime laws of that time, if you found a ghost ship with valuable cargo,

05:47then a substantial part of this cargo belonged to you.

05:51So, many people thought that David Morehouse decided to earn some money.

05:57This version seemed to be more valid than the one about the mysterious disappearance of 10 people.

06:03Fortunately, no one accused the captain of committing a crime.

06:07They thanked him for his service and gave him a monetary reward.

06:11However, his reputation was damaged, which greatly affected his career,

06:16as many believed he attacked the crew of the Mary Celeste.

06:21But even after this terrible case, trial, and investigation, the story was not over.

06:27The Mary Celeste was still an expensive and efficient vessel.

06:32It sailed several times, but then one captain crashed it into the reefs to get insurance.

06:38The court revealed this deception and accused the captain of intentional property damage.

06:45The story of the Mary Celeste became famous all over the world.

06:50People began to build their theories, realistic and not.

06:55Someone believed the ship had sailed through the Bermuda Triangle.

06:58But this version was quickly refuted, as the route of the Mary Celeste passed thousands of miles away from the

07:06Bermuda region.

07:08Did the Kraken or another giant monster attack the ship?

07:12Nope.

07:13Since the boat was found in almost perfect condition, there were no signs of a struggle.

07:18One of the most popular versions was that the crew of the Mary Celeste stole some valuable cargo and sailed

07:25to Spain on the rescue boat.

07:27However, those who knew Captain Benjamin Briggs said he was a good, honest man.

07:33Besides, he had a son in New York, and Briggs would never leave him.

07:38A more thorough investigation revealed that a series of accidental circumstances could have caused the disappearance of the ship's crew.

07:47Before its last voyage, the vessel delivered coal.

07:51Perhaps the pump intended for pumping water got clogged with coal after that.

07:56And when the ship got into a storm, the hold filled with water and the pump broke.

08:02The captain couldn't understand the amount of water, because numerous barrels in the cargo hold blocked the view.

08:10Benjamin Briggs assumed it was dangerous to stay on the ship during a storm, so he evacuated with the passengers

08:16on a lifeboat.

08:17Perhaps they were close to land and decided to sail there, but the storm intensified and overturned the boat.

08:26Also, one record in the log journal said that the chronometer was faulty.

08:31It was a device that helped to determine your location at sea using longitude.

08:36Briggs got lost and didn't know which way to sail.

08:40The storm was strong, and he couldn't determine whether the ship would sink.

08:45Perhaps Briggs decided to leave the ship in a rescue boat when he saw the coast of the Azores.

08:51The uniqueness of this ghost ship case is that, unlike many others, you can investigate it yourself.

08:57There's a lot of information about the Mary Celeste on the internet.

09:01There are documentaries and research articles.

09:04Perhaps you'll be able to notice something that others haven't seen, and solve the mystery of the disappearance of ten

09:11people.

09:14On a fine summer night of August 30, 1892, a shipping magnate took his family for a cruise on Lake

09:22Superior.

09:23They were traveling on the Western Reserve, which was supposed to be one of the safest ships of its day.

09:29It was made of a type of steel like that used to construct the infamous Titanic.

09:34And it ended up with a similar tragic destiny.

09:38The ship broke in two and was found only 132 years later, in 2024.

09:45The 300-foot steamship was the first steel-plated freighter on the Great Lakes.

09:50One newspaper called it the Inland Greyhound because of how quickly it cut through the water.

09:56Peter H. Minch was the owner and inventor of this vehicle, which had been built just two years earlier in

10:02Cleveland.

10:03On the night of its last voyage, the ship set off toward Two Harbors, Minnesota.

10:09Minch brought along five of his family members, his wife, their two kids, his sister-in-law, and his niece.

10:15There were also 22 crew members aboard.

10:19It was a pleasant and smooth ride while they were sailing across Lake Huron.

10:23But as soon as they left Whitefish Bay, the lake turned wild, and the crew had to drop anchor for

10:29a while.

10:30Later that evening, as they entered Lake Superior around 9 p.m., a fierce summer storm moved in with powerful

10:38winds and crashing waves.

10:40Then disaster.

10:41The ship began to split in two.

10:43Within just ten minutes, the Western Reserve was completely underwater.

10:48Everyone managed to get into lifeboats.

10:50The Minch family, with some crew members, took the wooden one.

10:54And the remaining ten people got into the metal one.

10:57But the storm was so brutal that the metal boat sank right away.

11:01And only a few made it into the other lifeboat.

11:04That second boat floated for the next ten hours.

11:07A steamship passed by, but didn't notice or hear the people calling for help.

11:13Around seven o'clock the next morning, the lifeboat got within a mile of shore near Deer Park, Michigan.

11:19They were so close to safety.

11:22But sadly, the lifeboat flipped too, and they all ended up in the freezing water.

11:27The only survivor of this tragedy was 24-year-old Harry Stewart, the ship's wheelsman.

11:33He swam a full mile through the freezing water and made it to shore, almost unconscious, but alive.

11:40He later mentioned he survived only thanks to a heavy-knit, close-fitting pea jacket.

11:47The Western Reserve was lost for over a hundred years, until a couple of determined explorers finally tracked it down.

11:54They spent over two years searching non-stop for the wreck off Michigan's Upper Peninsula.

12:00Daryl and Dan Ertel found it using a side-scan sonar that looks half a mile out on each side.

12:07One day, they saw a tiny blip on the left side of the scan.

12:11It was small, but Daryl measured the shadow, noticed that it was about 40 feet tall, and realized it must

12:19be something important.

12:20So they turned back and scanned directly over the spot.

12:24They saw cargo hatches and the wreck that looked like the ship had snapped in two,

12:29with one half lying on top of the other in an almost impossible position.

12:34Each piece measured around 150 feet long.

12:38And once they checked the width, they knew for sure that they had just found the legendary Western Reserve.

12:46Historians are still not sure why the vessel, that was supposed to be unsingable, suddenly snapped in half.

12:52But they have a few solid theories.

12:55One idea is something called pogging.

12:58It happens when the ship rides up over a giant wave, and the bow and stern are left hanging in

13:04the air,

13:05with nothing underneath to support them.

13:07That puts a large amount of pressure on the middle, and it bends down like a stick when you're pulling

13:12both ends.

13:14Another plausible reason concerns the steel the vessel was made of.

13:18Back then, steel was the hot new substitute for iron.

13:22But quality control wasn't perfect.

13:24Some steel plates weren't made very well, which could have caused a serious weak point in the ship's body.

13:31There's also the chance that the ship didn't have enough ballast, which is the weight used to keep it stable.

13:37Or maybe it wasn't balanced correctly.

13:42Sadly, just eight weeks after the Western Reserve tragedy,

13:46another vessel that had been built at the same time with similar mill runs of steel plate,

13:51repeated the destiny of its twin.

13:53The W.H. Gilsher was a steam freighter used to transport cargo between ports on the Great Lakes.

14:01It set out on what was supposed to be a routine trip on October 26, 1892.

14:08Loaded with over 3,000 tons of coal, the ship left Buffalo, heading for Milwaukee.

14:14Captain Leeds H. Weeks and a crew of 18 were on board.

14:17Everything seemed normal at first, and by the afternoon of October 28,

14:23the ship passed through the Straits of Mackinac and entered Lake Michigan.

14:27It was expected to reach Milwaukee by the 30th, but it never made it.

14:32A massive storm slammed into Lake Michigan and Lake Huron on October 28 and 29,

14:38and created havoc on travel plans for many, many ships.

14:42When the storm finally passed and boats started pulling into port,

14:47people began to piece together what happened to the W.H. Gilsher.

14:51One captain who was sailing nearby on his schooner said he saw a large steamer

14:56battling the storm about 20 miles northwest of North Manitou Island around 8 p.m. on the 28th.

15:03The ship looked helpless, and there was no movement or sign of life.

15:08Another captain later saw furniture and parts of the ship's bridge

15:12floating in the lake near south Manitou Island.

15:15Then two more steamers picked up broken pieces of W.H. Gilsher's pilot house in the same area.

15:22It became clear that the storm had destroyed the freighter, and tragically, no one survived.

15:29The Great Lakes are a hotspot for shipwrecks,

15:32and there have been between 6,000 to 10,000 of those starting in the 17th century.

15:38Back in 1679, the Griffon became the first European vessel to vanish without a trace on the lakes.

15:46It sailed all the way from Buffalo, New York, to Green Bay, Wisconsin,

15:50passing through Lake Erie, the Detroit River, Lake St. Clair, and Lake Huron,

15:55before reaching Lake Michigan. After a stop in Green Bay, it started heading back,

16:00and then it was never seen again.

16:03In 1975, one of the most famous shipwrecks happened

16:08when the massive 729-foot ore carrier, S.S. Edmund Fitzgerald, sank in Lake Superior.

16:15A false storm was supposed to stay far south of their route, but things changed fast.

16:21Another freighter, the Arthur M. Anderson, was following behind

16:25and kept in radio contact with the Fitz's captain, Ernest McSorland.

16:30By the afternoon of November 10th, waves were smashing over the deck,

16:34and wind gusts at over 80 miles per hour were hitting both ships hard.

16:39By 7.20 p.m., the Anderson couldn't reach the Fitzgerald by radio anymore,

16:44and it had vanished from radar.

16:46There was no distress call, no warning. The huge ship had just disappeared.

16:53Later, search crews found the wreck, over 530 feet under the surface,

16:58broken into two giant pieces.

17:00No one of the 29 crew members survived, and no one witnessed what really happened.

17:06There could be all sorts of reasons for such tragedies,

17:10from errors in judgment and equipment failure,

17:12to simply being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

17:17The Great Lakes are massive bodies of water,

17:20with weather systems that you would expect to find in seas.

17:24These inland seas sit deep in the middle of the continent,

17:27and hurricane-strength winds and powerful storms form here.

17:31Many of them hit in November and December,

17:34when the waters are still warm from the summer,

17:36but Canadian cold air is starting to push down.

17:39There's a huge difference in temperature between the air and water.

17:44This difference, and strong winds, lead to massive waves.

17:48Plus, ice forms more easily in freshwater than in saltwater.

17:52It builds up on ships quickly,

17:54and crew members also have to get around tricky ice waters.

17:58Water levels here are also unstable.

18:00In wet years, storms are more likely to happen,

18:03and this makes the risk of damage or disaster higher.

18:11That's it for today.

18:12So hey, if you pacified your curiosity,

18:14then give the video a like and share it with your friends.

18:17Or if you want more, just click on these videos,

18:19and stay on the bright side!

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