'Ghost yacht' found off Australia

All the vessel's sails were up, although one was badly torn


The drifting yacht
Emergency services in Australia have launched a search for the three-man crew of a yacht found drifting off the North Queensland coast.
The vessel was found with its engine running, and a table laid for dinner, but there were no signs of any people.

An air and sea rescue operation has been launched to retrace the yacht's voyage, and pinpoint the search area.

The three-crew members are thought to have set sail for Townsville from Airlie Beach on Sunday.

The 12m (40 foot) catamaran was spotted by a helicopter on Wednesday, but a rescue team only reached the boat on Friday, and confirmed that there was no one aboard.


Rescue crews say they are puzzled by the mysterious disappearance.

"The engine was running, the computers were running, there was a laptop set up on the table which was running, the radio was working... and there was food and utensils set on the table ready to eat," said Jon Hall, a spokesman for Queensland's Emergency Management office.

"It was a bit strange," he added.

All the vessel's sails were up, although one was badly shredded, and lifejackets were still on board.

Mr Hall said rescue workers had recovered the boat's global position system (GPS) device, which might give them more clues as to the crew's whereabouts.

"That will now enable us to track backwards where this yacht has actually been in the last few days, and we're hoping that can pinpoint the search area for the missing crew," he said.

Twelve aircraft are now searching for the crew of the boat which is already being dubbed "the ghost yacht".

Any boater lost at sea is a sad story.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6574547.stm

There is a video there.

My bet is Pirates... fenders are out, being so far offshore they would not have the fenders out, looks like they were boarded.

They catch up to them with multiple egg beater boats like we've seen in pics here, rob the money, jewlery and off them overboard... it happens very often in that area.

Sounds like the "Mary Celeste"...

yep . . . my guess to. i would not even consider being out in the ocean like that unless heavily armed. shoot first ask later out there

The news article says there was an open laptop found onboard. If it was piracy wouldn't they have taken that along with whatever else they could grab?

= Don't grab the F-in laptop.
Or a cell phone.

My Ex-Father In Law was beaten and robbed. He was on a blood thinner, and didn't go to the hospital. Died of internal bleeding. The three that beat him (2 guy's, 1 chick) stole his money a Cell phone, and were using the phone. They are all doing some time now.
Glassdave, you probably remember the story on the news from a year, almost 2 years ago in Waterville.