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.
Seeing a ghost ship is unusual in itself, but two? This is exactly what happened to the US Navy destroyer "USS Kennison", which encountered an unknown ship that appeared out of nowhere twice within five months, according to its logbook.
You don't have to go far out to sea to encounter a ghost ship. Sometimes this happens quite unexpectedly near the coast, as in the case of the "USS Kennison" in California. This ship, named after a US Navy officer during the War of Secession, is an American destroyer that was launched in 1918 and was used to monitor the west coast of the USA and hunt Japanese submarines during the Second World War.
Return from deployment
On the morning of 15 September 1942, the warship returned from a mission in the Pacific. According to Howard H. Brisbane, one of the sailors on board, everyone on board was exhausted and just longed to get back on solid ground and see their loved ones again. At the entrance to San Francisco Bay, very close to the Golden Gate Bridge, visibility was limited by dense fog. They navigated using radar to avoid running aground on the reefs of the Farallon Islands.
Brisbane, who was standing at the front of the bridge, heard a series of unusual whistling noises, followed by a muffled cracking sound. But he could not recognise anything in the impenetrable fog. Two other crew members joined him, Torpedo First Class Jack Cornelius and a lookout nicknamed "Tripod".
A ship straight out of the past
Suddenly, the three men saw a ghostly silhouette emerge from the dense fog directly in front of the bow of their own ship - that of a two-master from the previous century. The strange ship with its square square sails looked dilapidated, as if it had spent many years at sea. It moved slowly past the astonished sailors. The silence was only interrupted by the lapping of the water. There was absolutely nobody to be seen on the bridge of the sailing ship, no light, no sign of life.
Jack Cornelius spoke to the officer on watch over the radio intercom. But by then the ship had already disappeared again. The officer initially thought it was a joke ("What do you mean, a ghost ship?"), but he checked the radar screens anyway. There was absolutely nothing there. During the subsequent questioning, the three men on the bridge gave the same description. The incident is recorded in the log of the USS Kennison and is considered a true account, as the crew's ability to identify ships as friendly or hostile had been honed by a long patrol in the Pacific.
It repeats itself
However, the story does not end there, because five months later, in April 1943, the "USS Kennison" was still patrolling off the Californian coast, but this time much further south, 50 nautical miles off San Diego. Howard Brisbane was again on watch on the bridge, together with Carlton Herschell. The night was starry and the sea was calm. The two sailors chatted and enjoyed the beautiful night after another dangerous mission escorting a troop transport in an area frequented by Japanese submarines.
Howard Brisbane was watching the water with binoculars in a wide sweep when he suddenly spotted the white bow wave of a ship to starboard. When he looked up again, he recognised the silhouette of a Liberty freighter heading towards them.
Carlton Herschell said to Howard Brisbane that they must have seen this ship on the bridge for about 20 miles on the radar. The officer on watch was still waiting for their report, which they had to deliver quickly to avoid getting into trouble. When they contacted him, however, he told them that he had seen absolutely nothing unusual on the screen. The two men put their binoculars aside. The ship could now be seen with the naked eye. It was only a few kilometres away and still heading straight for them. Brisbane used a technique for instrumentless vision at night, where you don't look directly at the object, but alternately to the right and left of it. He recognised the structures of the unknown ship quite clearly when it suddenly disappeared. "It was there, and the next moment there was nothing to see," explained Brisbane afterwards, supported by Carlton Herschell. This incident was also entered in the logbook of the "USS Kennison" without any explanation ever being given.
An encounter with a steamer that was lost in 1853?
The "USS Kennison" then intensified her anti-submarine warfare operations until 22 September 1944 and then operated from San Diego from November onwards as a target ship for aerial torpedo exercises. Decommissioned in Virginia on 21 November 1945, she was sold to Luria Brothers & Company, Inc. in Philadelphia on 18 November 1946 and scrapped there.
Although the second ghost ship remains a mystery, there is a more than speculative hypothesis (as it would challenge our view of the universe) that the sailors of the "USS Kennison" near San Francisco may have actually seen the "SS Tennessee". This steamer sank in the Golden Gate Strait in 1853 after running aground on rocks and falling victim to strong currents. The 550 passengers and 14 chests filled with gold were safely disembarked before the steamer sank in the bay. The site of the drama was named "Tennessee Cove" in honour of the sunken ship, which is said to have regularly haunted the entrance to the bay ever since.
Since the unusual observation in 1942, numerous witnesses have reported seeing old ships disappearing into the fog off the Golden Gate Bridge. These stories have gained renewed attention since the discovery of a graveyard of old shipwrecks west of the bridge in 2014. Could it be that some captains of these old ships from centuries past, not accepting their fate, have returned to show themselves to the living?
The book
Lars Bolle
Chief Editor Digital
