Ghost ships have fascinated people for centuries. They symbolise the unknown at sea, stories that defy any clear explanation. Some are based on real events, others are pure legends, passed on by generations of sailors. In his book "Maritime myths" collected numerous of these puzzling cases.
A real horror film
The Dutch cargo ship occupies a special place among the ghost ships. One reason for this is the eerie circumstances under which it was discovered. But can this story be taken at face value?
The story of the "SS Ourang Medan" makes many an old sea dog shudder. It begins in June 1947, when several ships in the south-west of the North Pacific received a distress call in Morse code from a Dutch ship. The ship claimed to be the "Ourang Medan".
"The entire crew is dead"
The emergency call
The first message terrified those who received it: "SOS Ourang Medan... We are adrift ... All the officers, including the captain, are dead, in the chart room and on the bridge ... Probably the entire crew is dead". Then the nearby ships' radios picked up a series of confusing dots and dashes, as if the sender had panicked, and finally one last message: "I am dying". After that, there was complete silence.
The discovery of the ship
The "Silver Star" managed to determine the position of the ship in distress by taking a triangular bearing. The captain had his ship turn round to come to the aid of the "Ourang Medan". The weather was clear and the sea was calm. Approximately at the suspected location, the sailors of the "Silver Star" came across a freighter floating unusually still on the water. From their position, they could see no movement on deck. An ominous premonition crept over the perplexed sailors. A small group of sailors set sail from the "Silver Star" to board the pilotless ship. When they reached the deck and entered the cabins, they were greeted by a terrible sight. The entire crew was dead. The most terrifying thing, however, was not the death of the sailors, but the expression of abysmal fear that distorted their features, as well as their outstretched arms that signalled a final struggle for survival. As if these unfortunates had tried to defend themselves against a relentless attacker.
Dead on the bridge and in the map room
As stated in the distress call, the captain of the freighter and his officers were found dead on the bridge and in the chart room. The rescuers were particularly disturbed by the fact that every member of the crew was sitting in their seats, their faces horribly distorted by the same fear. The radio operator had died in his seat, his finger still on the button used to send a Morse code message.
No explanation at all
No traces of violence
Apart from this macabre sight, the "Ourang Medan" provided no clues as to what might have happened. There was not the slightest sign of outside influence. The bodies showed no signs of violence or injury, not even defence wounds.
Fire and explosion
The only thing that stood out was the very cold air on the freighter, while outside it was a stifling 43 °C. The sailors of the "Silver Star" were deeply shocked and returned to their ship, where the captain ordered the floating graveyard to be towed away. But to everyone's surprise, as soon as the sailors had left the ship, a fire broke out on the ghost ship. Despite the desperate efforts of the crew of the "Silver Star", the death freighter exploded shortly afterwards and sank into the sea, taking its secret with it into the abyss.
Speculation
The alleged CIA report
Later, at the end of the 1950s, a report is said to have been sent to the CIA containing a description of the deceased crew:
Their cold faces were turned towards the sun, their mouths open and their eyes wide open ... All were dead. Even the ship's dog, a small terrier, was lifeless, its teeth bared in rage or agony.
The theory with the nerve gas
This extraordinary story caused much speculation, especially about the cause of death of the crew. One widespread theory was that the "Ourang Medan" had been carrying - legally or illegally - a very dangerous nerve gas that had spread on the ship due to inadequate protective measures and quickly killed the entire crew. This gas allegedly came from a stockpile that the Japanese army had left behind in China and which the US army had confiscated after the end of the world war. As the gas could not be transported on a normal ship without prior authorisation, the US army is said to have decided to load the cargo onto an unregistered ship and transport it secretly either to the USA or to a Pacific island.
Toxic chemicals as the cause?
But was it really a gas that triggered these terrible symptoms in the sailors? If so, this gas should be able to produce hallucinations or cause the muscles of the victims to "freeze" in this panic-like position. According to the theory, the "Ourang Medan" was involved in the smuggling of highly dangerous chemicals such as potassium cyanide, nitroglycerine or the storage of a nerve gas. Seawater is said to have entered the ship's cargo holds and caused a chain reaction to produce toxic gases, leading to the death of the crew through asphyxiation and/or poisoning. Later, the seawater is said to have reacted again with the nitroglycerine, causing a fire and the fatal explosion on the "Ourang Medan".
Where is the truth?
A perfect ghost ship story
You have to admit that of all the often frightening stories about ghost ships, the story of the "Ourang Medan" is probably the worst. An unknown ship was in distress at sea, the entire crew dead, their faces frozen in unspeakable horror, before a mysterious explosion destroyed the ship and it sank into oblivion. The spectacular and gruesome details of this discovery are the main reason why this story has remained so vivid. On the internet (in blogs) and on social networks (especially YouTube and Facebook), it regularly pops up in ever creepier versions. And of course, the story of the ship is almost always presented as true, without its authenticity ever being doubted. But beyond the gripping content, many aspects raise questions.
No entry in the registers
In fact, there is no reference to a cargo ship named "Ourang Medan" in ship registers such as the Lloyd's Shipping Register. Furthermore, as naval historian Roy Bainton has shown, there are no records of a ship with this name in the Netherlands or elsewhere.
An illegal ship?
It cannot be ruled out that it was an illegal ship operating outside the law and regulations. According to the story, the "Ourang Medan" set sail from a small Chinese harbour (whose name is unknown) to set course for Costa Rica, avoiding any contact with the maritime authorities of the countries it called at, which could also point to dishonest and undoubtedly illegal activity.
Doubts about date and place
If the mere existence of the ship is unclear, its appearance is all the more puzzling. There are no reliable sources to prove the authenticity of the incident. For a long time, it was believed that the first reference to the "Ourang Medan" could be found in a series of three articles published on 2 and 28 February 1948 and 13 March 1948 in the Indonesian-Dutch newspaper De Locomotief. In each of these articles, the main features of the story are largely identical: the distress call, the discovery of the ship, the explosion and the sinking, as well as an indication of the date and location: June 1947, about 700 kilometres south-east of the Marshall Islands. However, the name of the ship that is said to have discovered the freighter is not mentioned, suggesting that it was added later.
Silvio Scherli
The alleged survivor
The second and third articles in the newspaper De Locomotief mention a single survivor of German nationality who was discovered by a missionary on the Taongi Atoll. This anonymous survivor is said to have told the missionary before his death that the "Ourang Medan" had indeed loaded a large cargo of sulphuric acid. Toxic vapours from damaged containers had caused the deaths of the crew members. He alone had managed to reach the coast in a lifeboat. The missionary then reportedly told the story to an Italian from Trieste (a free state near Italy that existed between 1947 and 1954) named Silvio Scherli, who then passed it on to the press. This is how the story got back to Indonesia.
The warning from "De Locomotief"
In its third article, the Dutch newspaper concludes its "investigation" with the following warning:
This is the last part of our story about the mystery of the "Ourang Medan". We must emphasise once again that we have no further information on this "mystery of the oceans". Nor can we answer all the unanswered questions surrounding this story. It seems obvious that this is an exciting novel set on the ocean. On the other hand, the author Silvio Scherli claims that his story is true.
A third-hand source
The Dutch newspaper seemed to have made up its mind between myth and reality at the end of the 1940s. However, we should bear in mind that all their findings came from one and the same person, who had not observed anything himself and whose information came at least from third parties.
A story is taken up and changed
Associated Press spreads the case
Despite the doubts, the story was picked up by the Associated Press news agency and then spread by several newspapers. There were some differences, such as the location (the Solomon Islands rather than the Marshall Islands) and the wording of the distress call. In the October 1948 article "Secrets of the Sea" by Win Brooks, the location of the ship is moved to the Strait of Malacca between the Malaysian peninsula and the Indonesian island of Sumatra.
The US Coast Guard's version
The story was undoubtedly given a stamp of authenticity when it was reproduced in English in the Proceedings of The Merchant Marine Council, a publication of the US Coast Guard. The editorial "We Sail Together" of 9 May 1952 deals with various famous marine mysteries. In one paragraph it gave the same version of events, with two changes: The event happened in February 1948 (rather than June 1947) in the Straits of Malacca (where there is a city called Medan, which may have caused confusion). In any case, within a few years, the original narrative changed fundamentally. For decades, the story of the "Ourang Medan" remained a kind of urban legend of the sea that could not really be confirmed by any investigation.
Did the story take place much earlier?
A blogger's find
The rise of the internet and social networks has made it possible for curious people to conduct their own research into previously inaccessible or unknown documents. Initially, it was the blogger Alexander Butzige who reported in 2013 in the forum Bermuda Triangle Central that he had found an article in the French magazine Sept Jours from 7 September 1941 with the title: "After 20 months, the secret of the "Ourang Medan" is revealed". He also referred to another article in an issue of 29 December 1940 entitled "The first report on a great mystery of the sea". Alexander Butzige concluded from this that the incident must have occurred on 13 November 1939. So there are supposed to be press articles from 1941 about an incident that, according to other sources, only happened in 1947? How is that possible?
The French articles
I have these two articles on the website www.gallica.fr researched. In fact, things get complicated, because according to these two unsigned articles, the events are said to have taken place in November 1939 near the Fiji Islands in Melanesia (where the only survivor of the lifeboat is said to have landed), and the "Silver Star" was in fact an American torpedo boat. What's more, the "Ourang Medan" was not a Dutch ship at all, but an Australian government vessel transporting prisoners, and it is said to have been sold to a smuggler.
The first printed version
British newspapers as the earliest trace
The other important discovery in the age of digital information is the work of Estelle Hargraves, an English amateur historian at the Skittish Library. In 2015, she rummaged through British newspapers from the pre-war period and found that reports about the "Ourang Medan" had appeared in several British newspapers such as The Daily Mirror, The Yorkshire Evening Post and The Hampshire Telegraph in November 1940. These are the earliest known printed references to the case. All of these newspapers take syndicated content from the Associated Press.
Deviations in the early version
This first version of the story is almost identical, with a few differences: The incident took place south-east of the Solomon Islands, the rescue ship has no name, but it is a British merchant ship, the text of the distress call was different and there was not a single survivor who went ashore in a lifeboat. So everything we know about the facts comes from an (anonymous) officer of an (also anonymous) British merchant ship.
The contradiction surrounding the "Silver Star"
At this point, you honestly don't know what to make of it. Did the "Ourang Medan" really exist? Did the incident take place in 1939, 1940, 1947 or 1948? Where exactly? Near the Marshall Islands? Off Malaysia? Or near the Solomon Islands? If the story took place in the early 1940s, it is in any case impossible that the "Ourang Medan" was discovered by the "Silver Star", as it was only built in 1942 under the name "Silver Star Park" and renamed "Santa Cecilia" in 1945 in order to be transferred to Brazil. She was briefly renamed "Silver Star" again until 1947, when she was renamed "Santa Juana" until she was scrapped in 1971. It is therefore obvious that the "Silver Star" could not have been travelling in the Pacific in 1947, and her more than uncertain role is therefore a pure invention.
The real "culprit"
The trail leads to Trieste
The question is: Who was the source of the Associated Press in 1940? The matter is clear, because the city of origin was ... Trieste. Strangely enough, this was the birthplace of Silvio Scherli, who eight years later told a revised version of the story to the newspaper De Locomotief. So it seems that Silvio Scherli told a story to the Associated Press in 1940 that was widely copied in British newspapers and later elsewhere. However, the events surrounding the Second World War came to the fore and the story of the "Ourang Medan" was forgotten.
Scherli tells the story again
Silvio Scherli must have been very disappointed by this, as he had already published his own version of the story in the newspaper Il Piccolo on 16 October 1940. In 1947, the Italian started again and suggested an improved version to De Locomotief, whose authenticity he guaranteed. Undeterred, he published another article under his own name for the magazine Trieste Export Trade in 1959.
One man's obsession
Only one source remains
Ultimately, there is only one source behind the story of this ghost ship with its dead crew: a man who was so obsessed with this event that he wanted to report on it again and again in the media of his time. Was he so fascinated by this case? Did he believe so strongly that the story was his own creation? Did he want to gain money or fame from it? Who was this Silvio Scherli anyway?
Who was Silvio Scherli?
From the little information that can be found about him, it is clear that he was born in 1901 and lived in Trieste for a long time. He worked as a merchant seaman, which enabled him to travel the world's oceans. Some suspect that he invented the story of the "Ourang Medan" during a trip to the South Seas and named his ghost ship after the Indonesian harbour where he docked several times.
Conclusion of the search for clues
Although Silvio Scherli was wrong about the Silver Star and the island where the sole survivor is said to have landed (as the tiny Taongi Atoll is uninhabited, has no fresh water and has never harboured missionaries), we must acknowledge his tenacity, which enabled him to create a seafaring legend that some still consider authentic in the 21st century.
The first rule in the field of unexplained phenomena is never to take a story at face value. Although the story of the "Ourang Medan" is fascinating, it contains too many contradictions, ambiguities and a lack of evidence. There is therefore little point in making assumptions about the causes of the incident, as it is obviously a legend that has been embellished over the years. Why try to explain something if you are not sure whether there really is anything to explain?
The book
Lars Bolle
Chief Editor Digital
