There is something about a ship lost at sea which sends shivers down our spines and evokes a sense of mystery and chilling fatefulness. Maybe because the sea can become an endless void which is instinctively unnerving. However, even though thousands of ships have gone missing at sea some have become legendary and their tales timeless.
The U.S.S Cyclops was built in 1910 and was used in World War I to transport coal for the Navy. In 1918 on its way to the U.S from Brazil it completely disappeared without a trace not even a single S.O.S call. The shocking thing about this disaster is over 300 men lost their lives and to this day nobody has found any wreck or evidence of the ship. It remains the single largest loss of life experienced by the United States Navy of a vessel not in combat. According to records it was apparently overloaded with manganese ore, which could have contributed to its unfortunate demise.
The Ourang Medan is allegedly a Dutch merchant ship that sank in Indonesian waters in 1947. According to sources two ships answered an S.O.S call. The City of Baltimore and the Silver Star which were both American vessels. The distress messages exclaimed the rest of the crew were apparently dead. When the Silver Star arrived they found the entire crew dead on board with terrified expressions. As the crew of the Silver Star investigated The Ourang Medan allegedly set on fire and sank. To this day nobody knows exactly what happened on board and caused the fire. However, some believe the ship was carrying nitroglycerin and some kind of nerve chemicals which caused the deaths of the crew and eventual fire.
