from Wikipedia
A ghost ship is a term used for two types of vessels. The first use refers to an ethereal ship that appears as a ghostly apparition. They are usually ships that have been lost at sea or have been sunk, but somehow mysteriously reappear. The second use of the term describes a real ship that is thought to be lost or sunk but physically reappears later, usually after their crew mysteriously disappear without any explanation or die by some unknown cause.
By far the most famous of the first type of ghost ship is the Flying Dutchman. That ship has become synonymous with the phenomenon so that "Flying Dutchman" is often used as a generic term for any apparition-type ghost ship.
Perhaps the most famous of the second type of real ghost ship is the Mary Celeste, a ship that was found abandoned between Portugal and the Azores in 1882, devoid of all crew although the ship was completely intact. Another of this type of ghost ship was the MV Joyita discovered abandoned in the Pacific Ocean in 1955. In 2006, the Jian Seng was found off the coast of Australia, and as of 26 March little is known of its origin, or reason for being here.
Ghost ships in English literature
Well-known examples of ghost ships in English literature include:
- The Rime of the Ancient Mariner (1797-1798) by Samuel Taylor Coleridge
- Rokeby (1813) by Sir Walter Scott.
- The Demeter, featured in Dracula (1897) by Bram Stoker.
- Ampoliros (Dune) the legendary "Flying Dutchman" of space, mentioned in Dune (1965) by Frank Herbert.