Unexplained Mass Disappearances. Where’d They Go?

Ep. 154

Unexplained Mass Disappearances

 

Today we're talking about unsolved stuff…but in a different way. We're talking about unexplained mass disappearances. How can large numbers of people just disappear without a trace? Where'd they go? Why'd they go? Did somebody make them leave? Bigfoot again? Aliens? Supernatural? Chainsaw? We may never know….but that won't stop us from discussing, speculating, and inevitably making really bad jokes on today's episode. So all aboard bitches let's roll!

 

Let us begin back…back…waaaaay back in 1918. We're talking about the USS Cyclops. Aside from having a great name, it fits the bill on mass disappearances. USS Cyclops (AC-4) was the second of four Proteus-class colliers built for the United States Navy several years before World War I. A collier is a fancy name for a big ass coal cargo ship. The USS Langley, the first aircraft carrier in the US Navy, was a converted collier. This was actually the second ship to bear the name Cyclops. She had been swimming around hauling coal and helping refugees between the Baltic sea, the Bahamas, and Mexico since 1910. In 1917 she was covered to help haul troops and coal all over the world during WW1.  In March 1918, the ship was given a new cargo: tons and tons of dense manganese ore, used in steelmaking. She left Brazil loaded up with the brittle metal, then voyaged to Barbados to resupply for the long journey home to Baltimore. That's where things get interesting. On the journey home something went wrong and the ship was never heard from again. Not even an sos. The last known transmission from the Cyclops was "weather fair, all well" at the beginning of the trip home. When the ship did not reach Baltimore a massive search was undertaken. Every naval ship from Cuba to Puerto Rico was sent out to search for debris. At the time, given it was during the war, the general consensus was that she was sunk by the Germans. But during the search, ships could not find any debris field that would be evident if it was torpedoed. In fact no one found anything…anything at all. It seemed the ship just disappeared. 306 people were just… gone. It remains to this day, the single largest loss of life in the history of the United States Navy that did not directly involve combat! Wow that's pretty crazy. So what exactly happened? Well there are theories abound my friends! 

 

First there is a mini conspiracy theory that the captain sabotaged the ship or even took it all the way to Germany! Why, you ask? Well let us tell you. It is said that the crew was unhappy with the captain. You see, Captain Worley was hated by his staff and officers and was accused of being pro German. It was discovered later that Worley was actually German born and had changed his name at some point. It's not known why he changed his name. On top of that, the US Consulate General of Rio, named Gottschalk, boarded the ship with 73 other local sailors. Gottschalk was very popular with the German community in Brazil. Couple this with the fact that upon leaving Brazil, the ship was said to have been overloaded and people began to speculate. They say that Worley and Gottschalk purposely sabotaged the ship in some way to favor the Germans back home. Either that or the thought is that they essentially stole the crew and cargo and headed back to Germany. Seems plausible, until you try and figure how a few men could have forced 300 men to go back to Germany. 

There are several theories of the ship being struck by a rogue wave or breaking up at sea. One sailor reported when they reached Rio, that on the way, the deck of the ship would sway when the ship was struck with large waves. He says the ship was showing signs of structural failure. Could that have been the issue? If so…where was the debris? Another theory was that the ship was overloaded and ran into a storm in which the unstable ship overturned and sank to the bottom of the ocean. Again…why no debris though?

 

For a BBC Radio 4 documentary, Tom Mangold had an expert from Lloyds investigate the loss of the Cyclops. The expert noted that manganese ore, being much denser than coal, had room to move within the holds even when fully laden, the hatch covers were canvas, and that when wet, the ore can become a slurry. As such, the load could shift and cause the ship to list. Listing is caused by the off-centerline distribution of weight aboard due to uneven loading or to flooding. By contrast, roll is the dynamic movement from side to side caused by waves. If a listing ship goes beyond the point where a righting moment will keep it afloat, it will capsize and potentially sink. Combined with a possible loss of power from its one engine, it could fill with water and go down in bad weather.

 

Then there's our personal favorite…the Bermuda triangle just straight fucked it up and aliens took it. That's right passengers…this happened in the infamous Bermuda triangle!!! So of course there are numerous theories involving the Bermuda triangle and supernatural goings on.  Most of these Bermuda triangle theories involve either aliens coming down and abducting the ship and crew, or aliens under the ocean coming up and claiming the ship for themselves. We here at the train, well at least Moody, think that this is the most plausible explanation of course. 

 

So what do you guys think? Aliens?.... Yea it was aliens…

 

Ok so up next we’re heading up to the great white north. For those of you who don't know…that's Canada.. You know America's hat. Anyway.. we're looking at the lake Anjikuni incident. The telling of this mystery was taken from mysterioustrip.com.  Anjikuni Lake is located deep in the Kivallig area of rural Nunavut in Canada. Placed near the Kazan River, the lake is perfect for fishing and trout. Anjikuni fastly became a home for the Inuit tribe; it developed soon into a colony and became popular almost instantly on a cold November day in 1930. Joe Labelle, a Canadian fur trapper, was more than an efficient individual who spent a lot of time doing outdoor activities. He was very familiar with the area; he knew that the people established a community. Joe was acquainted with the Inuit stories of wood ghosts that were reportedly harmful, and this remote part was soaked in the tales of the Wendigo. Labelle generally didn’t have any fear or anxiety; however, this specific night at the lake became different. The full moon was casting a spooky luminosity all over the village, and no one was moving. The Huskies that were usually loud with the influx of travelers were quiet as well. The only sound he could hear was of his own steps made on the snow and the concave reverb of his greeting. He quickly understood something was not normal, and he started investigating as soon as he entered the village. The village was in complete silence, and he could see no one. No noise of conversation or laughter was detected. What’s worse was the complete lack of smoke originating from chimneys that denoted the presence of living beings.

 

Joe noticed a fire at a distance and went towards it to inspect; the fire seemed to be burning for a significant amount of time. Upon further investigation, he found that someone started their supper preparations; however, they didn’t finish making it.

LaBelle continued towards the village, ready to bump into someone who could tell her what was really happening here. Joe, stepping out of his uncontrollable feelings, began an investigation into the Inuit’s homes to search for any clues related to the silence and made a sudden and quick decision to leave the village.

 

He found that several homes were well-stocked with food and weapons; he further found a burnt meal in another house. In one spot, he found a repair of a junior sealskin that was yet to be finished. Sadly, he couldn’t conclude anything.

 

As there wasn’t any conclusive answer concerning what took place, it must certainly have been an unexpected event that spread widely and involved all 30 men, women & children in the village. Food, clothing, and weapons were left behind. But Why? There was no answer

 

More investigation directed him to a pair of findings that was enough to give him goosebumps. To the extent that he was able to tell, whatever happened, had happened recently.

 

He examined the entire village and found no new traces in the snow apart from his own. The most ghastly discovery he made was of the dogs. Seven of them had starved to death. This evidence was enough to persuade him to head to the nearest telegraph office located farther away. That would mean that Joe had to overlook basic requirements such as shelter and food; however, he was in a hurry to leave the place and seek assistance.

As beaten and frostbitten as Labelle was, he finally stumbled into the telegraph office. In a few minutes, he sent an emergency message to the nearest RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police) camp. By the time the Mounties reached, many hours later, Labelle had calmed himself enough to talk about his distressing stories.

 

According to 1984’s article – The world’s most significant UFO mysteries, written by Roger Boar and Nigel Blundell– the Mounties, when on their way to the Angikuni Lake mystery, took a bit of time to rest at a shack alongside a trapper and his two sons. They explained to the trapper and his sons that they are heading towards Anjikuni Lake to solve a ‘problem.’ The Mounties asked the trapper if he had seen anything strange these past few days. Upon asking this question, the trapper was compelled to admit that he and his two sons had noticed an eerie luminous object flying all over the sky a few days ago. He further stated that he had seen giant, gleaming ‘flying objects’ changing shape right before their eyes. And this object was flying towards the village at Anjikuni lake.

 

So did this event even happen? Or was LaBelle making it up. According to skeptoid.com( see we look at both sides equally) here are a number of things about the Joe Labelle story that raise red flags. For one thing, it happened in November, when average temperatures are 13°C degrees below freezing. Angikuni Lake is a sheet of ice; kayaks pulled up on the beach would not be "battered by wave action". The very presence of kayaks so far inland is suspect, though not impossible. Migratory Inuit would often park their kayaks to hunt caribou. These eastern Iglulik kayaks were made of sealskin stretched over willow branches. But the small Angikuni Lake is landlocked so far inland on the Barrens that neither willow nor sealskin were available, and this would be, by far, the farthest inland that the historical use of Iglulik kayaks would have ever been documented. Not impossible, but highly suspect.

 

Labelle described a permanent settlement, a "friendly little Eskimo village" of "about thirty inhabitants" that he'd known "for many years". A statement from the Mounted Police says "A village with such a large population would not have existed in such a remote area of the Northwest Territories." They had left sealskin garments behind, in a region where there was caribou hide rather than sealskin; and as a trapper Labelle should have been able to identify it properly. So there was either a series of quite improbable circumstances, or Labelle was wrong. 

 

Today, no physical evidence exists of a village at Angikuni Lake, and nobody has ever published an account of going up there and clearing away any remnants. So we have to rely on documentary evidence to find the true history of the vanishing village.

 

So with all the contradictory evidence what is real and what isn't. Was there a group of Inuits that completely disappeared or was it a tall tale? Could it be a combination of both and the truth is somewhere in the middle? Who knows…either way…crazy story!

Next up we head to Brazil and the village of Hoer Verde! We got the following info mostly from coolinterestingstuff.com. The Mysterious legend of Hoer Verde, the town with 600 inhabitants that vanished, is certainly confusing and troubling.

 

The case will cause you to ask questions, questions like “how can anything like that ever happen with absolutely no evidence to suggest anything unusual had happened?”

 

Like so many legends from the area, information on Hoer Verde is difficult to track down. But what information is accessible is not only disturbing, but incredibly perplexing.

 

As visitors to the village entered the small town they were immediately struck by how dead everything was. Unlike other villages of six hundred no one was walking through the streets.

 

Hanging signs waved in the gentle wind creaking noisily juxtaposed with the uneasy footsteps and subdued whispers of those passing through. As they passed by local houses and looked in the windows it was evident immediately that something wasn’t right. No one was anywhere to be seen.

 

The police were called, and investigators descended on the town to look through the village. As they came to the town’s school they found a gun, which they took to be forensically examined. And then the investigators looked to the blackboard on which the words, “There is no salvation” were written. After a cursory examination, they realized that it had been fired the day before, but by whom they were unsure.

 

A manhunt ensued for the 600 villagers in the small town. Despite this, no trace of any of the locals was ever unearthed.

 

As newspaper reports of the town’s disappearance reached the west it was considered a curiosity, but with the shifting political climate of Brazil in 1923 it was considered possible that the town had evacuated to avoid conflict with guerrillas.

 

Another mysterious element is the original language of the phrase “There is no salvation.” Though the phrase has been largely translated into English, the phrase holds little significance in English or Portuguese. However, if the words had been “Illic est haud salus.” in Latin or some variation of it, this could have been related to the phrase “Extra Ecclesiam nulla salus” which is a Catholic phrase meaning “Outside the Church there is no salvation.” If this was the case in a largely Catholic area, the lesson could have been a religious lesson which was interrupted by some unknown force, but with no specific significance itself. 

 

So what happened…we don't know…but you know there are some crazy theories!!

 

Let’s start with the most bizarre theory that is floating around. This theory states the 600 residents of Hoer Verde were swallowed by a black hole taking them all to a fourth dimension. yes…that's a theory. Along those lines there's the inevitable alien abduction talk. Could aliens have really come down and abducted 600 people? We like to think so but who knows. 

 

The next  theory people point to is the political landscape in Brazil leading to soldiers or revolutionaries forcing all the villagers to evacuate. The only thing is the villagers disappeared in 1923. There was no civil war going on at the time, as is sometimes referred to with the legend. Also the revolution didn't occur until 1930 and another occurred in 1932. In neither case was a village of 600 reported to be wiped out or relocated. 

 

And then there’s the issues of the names of the towns, one town is completely nameless in the legend while Hoer Verde is a rather strange name for a village or town in Brazil, for one Verde translates to green from Portuguese to English but Hoer is not a word in Portuguese. It seems to be a Dutch word that is a derogatory word for sex workers.

 

Second, the legend states the town has been forgotten to time but one source we found says they were able to find multiple lists of towns and villages dating back to the 16th century for Brazil. No name comes close to Hoer Verde except for Ouro Preto, which translates to black gold and the history for it goes back to 1698.

 

So this story is pretty crazy huh. Well turns out it may also be completely made up. There's been a research dive that traces the origins of this story to a fairly recent article in a sketchy Russian newspaper written by a man named Mikhaylov Andrei. To put this guy into perspective, in the same article he blames the disappearance at the colony of Roanoke on protoplasm coming from the ocean and devouring the people off the colony…yea…he claims it happens every few millennia. So while the myth of Hoer Verde lives on…it may just be that…a myth!

 

Next up we are gonna look at the Moche civilization. Information for this tale we got from an article on Fodors.com. The Moche culture remains one of the most mysterious unknowns of Peruvian history, and with the more prominent Incas filling up most of the pages in the history books, the Moches do not receive as much attention. The Moche believed in gory human sacrifice and produced famously beautiful pottery, built huge, bizarre brick pyramids and had a complex and efficient irrigation system. Some of the aqueducts are still in use today.

 

All researchers can glean from the Moche civilization is through a collection of artistic masterpieces from archaeological digs, writings from Spanish invaders (the Moche did not use a predominant written language), and other fragments left behind in Peru’s northern coastal regions. The Moche civilization lived and flourished along the northern coast of Peru from the 1st to the 8th century A.D., with their highest concentration of residents in the popular Trujillo region and Chicama valley. Due to the riches of this land, which included access to sturdy clay and precious metals, the Moche civilization accumulated significant wealth and power during this pre-Incan period. At the foot of the Cerra Blanca Mountain, Moche’s capital city covered 300 hectares, or 3 million square meters of an opulent environment that offered residents a tight community of people, storehouses, open plazas, and ramps for easy entry to multiple-level structures. The upper elite also planned fields surrounding the city (indicating a class-based society). Building this capital took the Moches 600 years to complete and involved no fewer than six construction phases. 

 

      In addition, the capital included two now-famous pyramids often open to tourists today: the Huaca Del Sol (Temple of the Sun), a structure standing more than 50 meters in height and encompassing an area of 340 by 160 meters, and the Huaca De La Luna (Temple of the Moon), built using millions of adobe bricks. Which, if you know anything about photoshop, is quite a feat. Researchers believed both were used as prodigious religious tombs.

 

  Although monuments and temples remain for archeologists to research today, most of the tangible objects left behind by the Moches were artistic, creative artifacts full of intricate designs and pops of bold colors. Considered skillful metalworkers and adept potters, the Moches produced sophisticated headdresses made of real gold for their goddesses, jewelry of valuable metals, chest plates to show prestige, textiles for ornamentation and wardrobe, utensils for eating, and tools for working in the fields.

 

        In 700 A.D., the Moches moved their capital city to Pampa Grande in the Lambayeque Valley, approximately 40 miles from the Pacific Ocean. They constructed this city to include large pyramids and temples made of dirt using a method called chamber and fill, which allowed loose dirt to clump into cribbed walls. No one knows exactly why the Moche civilization eventually disappeared. Many researchers believe El Niňo caused substantial damage to the fields and irrigation systems, as they found confirmation of flooding at every single ceremonial site. (The chamber and fill approach appeared to hurt them significantly.) Archeologists also think the Moches abandoned Pampa Grande quickly and as they left, set their city on fire—but why?

 

The El Nino mentioned above is a prevailing theory. It is said that it was…wait for it… A SUPER EL NINO!!!!! So basically the easiest way to describe it is that the Moche faced 30 years of flood condition weather and rain followed by 30 years of drought conditions. Harsh. Some say this led to an issue with fertile soil so the citizens couldn't really dig, plant and grow crops. Also, because of the El nino theory, Dramatic changes in the ocean's environment could also be one of the reasons why the Moche, an early pre-Columbian civilization in Peru, fell apart over 1000 years ago. 

 

No one is 100 percent sure what happened to the Moche. The Moche are not the only civilization to have disappeared without a discernible reason. They are scattered throughout history and the world from the Aztalan civilization in the American West to the inhabitants of great Zimbabwe. The disappearances of civilizations is definitely an interesting topic overall.

 

Changing the tone a bit, we're next going to look at an airliner that disappeared with 95 military personnel on board. Flying Tiger Line Flight 739, a Lockheed Super Constellation airliner, was scheduled to transport 96 military personnel from the US to Vietnam and disappeared on March 16, 1962. 

 

According to the military, the men were under orders to relieve soldiers in Saigon tasked with training Vietnamese troops to fight the Viet Cong guerillas. As such, the flight was operated by the Military Air Transport Service (MATS). A few stopovers were made along the route—one in Honolulu, one in Wake Island, and a final one in Guam. With nine and half hours of fuel remaining, their final stretch was estimated to take around six hours. Sadly, however, they were never seen again.

 

Guam Centre grew concerned when the flight failed to make its scheduled position report at 15:30. They attempted to contact the aircraft without luck. When the flight also failed to make its destination, a distress status was initiated, and one of the largest search and rescue operations to date commenced. The search was conducted by the U.S. Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard and Marines and covered more than 200,000 square miles. It came up empty, and nearly 60 years later, not a trace of the flight has been found. 

 

Strangely, another MATS-operated Super Connie in the Flying Tiger Line, this one carrying secret military cargo, also met with tragedy that day. Departing from the same airport at roughly the same time as Flight 739, Flight 7816 (N6911C) crashed during an attempted instrument approach to Adak Island, Alaska. Of the seven people on board, six crew members suffered minor injuries, and one died after becoming trapped in the fire. The timing of the incident with Flight 739’s disappearance raised many red flags.

 

The only potential clue to Flight 739’s fate came from onboard a Liberian tanker, the SS T L Linzen, where witnesses noticed vapor trails moving west and disappearing into a layer of cumulus clouds. A few seconds later, they observed a large, two-pulse explosion, followed by two fireballs falling from the sky at different speeds. The ship’s radar flagged a target approximately 17 miles from its current position, or roughly 500 miles off the coast of Guam. The location fell in line with the approximate flight path of 739, so search and rescue operations gave focus to the area. It is in the remote Pacific Ocean, so it’s a wonder that anyone witnessed the event at all. 

 

The idea of a Super Connie exploding mid-flight was too improbable for aircraft experts to believe, leading many to the conclusion of sabotage. For one, L-1049Hs were not known to have any fuel problems or electrical issues near fuel tanks. Additionally, nothing on board would have been powerful enough to blow apart. So, if the plane did explode, the theory goes, it would likely have been caused by impact with an external force, such as a meteor or, more sinisterly, a missile. With the United States in the throes of the Vietnam and Cold Wars, proponents of the shoot-down theory have pointed toward the Soviet Union as a possible villain in this scenario. 

 

Assuming the explosion was unrelated, another possibility is that the flight was hijacked and those onboard taken hostage. However, the kidnappers would have likely made demands for the men’s release at some point, and such demands never came—or were at least not made public knowledge. Kidnapping theories are common with disappearances of aircraft, including Malaysia Flight 370. 

 

For surviving families, the most popular theory has always been that the men were part of a secret military operation gone awry. This is supported by claims that they left behind important items, such as their IDs and wedding bands, and gave long, drawn-out goodbyes—as if they knew they were never coming back. Still desperate for answers, some family members recently attempted to submit their DNA to the military database used to identify bodies found abroad. The government denied those requests, citing legal reasons. It has also denied decades of pleading to have the servicemen’s names added to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial wall, remaining adamant that they were never part of any war mission.

 

Maintenance problems had already been addressed while the plane was in Guam, but it’s rare for a mechanical issue to cause an explosion, though it can’t be completely ruled out—likewise with sabotage. While neither option can be dismissed entirely, there’s no evidence that they happened. 

 

The missile theory is also speculative. If an enemy had chosen to shoot down this flight, who would that have been? The Soviet Union, which was a Cold War adversary, was the only other nation capable of downing a high-flying plane mid-ocean. But why would the Soviets have done it? And why in such a remote expanse of the Pacific? There’s no clear motive and no evidence to support such a claim. A more likely explanation is the explosion of ordinance, accidentally or as an act of sabotage by some unknown actor, aboard the secret military flight. 

 

In late 2020, surviving family members constructed a monument in South Portland, Maine, honoring the servicemen of Flight 739. We got most of this indoor from a cool article on planeandpilotmag.com

 

How about some of your favorite quick hitters!

 

SS WARATAH

 

In July 1909, the SS Waratah was heading for Cape Town, South Africa, on its way back from Melbourne, Australia, making a scheduled stop in Durban on the way. It was carrying over 200 people, both passengers and crew, but as it left port to complete its journey, one passenger elected to remain behind. 

 

Engineer Claude Sawyer had made many journeys by sea, and he was so concerned by the behavior of this brand new ship that he disembarked in Durban and sent a message to his wife describing the ship as "top heavy." The Waratah left port at 8 a.m. on July 26, and headed into rough seas for its journey to Cape Town. At 6 a.m. the following day it overtook another ship, the Clan McIntyre, and exchanged signals, before the Waratah disappeared into the distance, never to be seen or heard from again. 

 

According to the Master of a vessel called the Clan McIntyre, when the Waratah passed him, his ship was sailing into nine meter waves and a violent storm. Two ships later claimed to have seen bodies and debris in the water, however nothing was ever actually recovered. 

 

An expedition sponsored by author Clive Cussler claimed to have found the ship in the 1980s. However, when the searchers eventually reached the wreck, they actually discovered a World War II transport vessel instead. The mystery of the SS Waratah's fate remains.

 

AZTALAN INDIANS

 

Just outside the small town of Lake Mills in south central Wisconsin, on the banks of the Crawfish River, lie the remains of a Native American city called Aztalan. The Wisconsin settlers who discovered it in 1836 named it "Aztalan" due to a misplaced assumption that the Native Americans who lived there had a connection to the Aztecs.

 

The ancient city contained stepped pyramids, conical mounds, evidence of housing, fishing, and farming, and even a substantial defensive stockade wall containing up to 30 watchtowers. And according to local legend, they even built large stone pyramids in the bottom of what's now called Rock Lake in Lake Mills. But the valley was later flooded, meaning that evidence to prove this legend true is hard to come by. 

 

At its peak, Aztalan would been occupied by around 500 people between 700 to a thousand years ago. But at some point after 1300 AD, the site was mysteriously abandoned, and no one really knows why. 

 

According to an article published by Wisconsin Natural Resources Magazine, evidence points to a few different theories about their fate: a lack of resources, drought, and violence from other nearby Native American settlements. 

 

Despite a very obvious intention of these early Wisconsinites to remain — nothing says "I'm staying!" like a large defensive wall — they're now nothing more than local history and legend.

 

ROMAN 9TH LEGION

 

The Ninth Legion was a Roman military formation of around 5,000 soldiers stationed in York in Northern England during Rome's occupation of Britain. This unit maintained control of the wild inhabitants of what would later become northern England and Scotland. In 108 AD, an inscription in the City of York places the legion in the city. However, 50 years later, when a new record of the legions was completed, no mention of the ninth appeared

 

What could've happened to erase the existence of 5,000 soldiers? No one really knows.

 

According to a Roman writer, many Roman soldiers were killed in Britain at the beginning of the second century, necessitating several reinforcements. This included the arrival of a new Legion, the Sixth, in 122 AD, which took up residence in the now presumably empty York. 

 

No records describe the Ninth Legion's fate. Some theories suggest the Legion was simply sent elsewhere, though there's little evidence to support this. Meanwhile, Emperor Hadrian visited the British Isles at the beginning of the second century. To take control of the Briton-on-Roman violence, he ordered the construction of a 73 mile long, 15 foot high, fortified wall across the island to keep the invaders out of Roman territory. And you don't go doing that unless you've got a good reason — like say losing an entire legion. 

 

Hadrian's wall still stands today. However, there's still no sign of the ultimate fate of the Ninth legion — and there probably never will be.

 

SS POET

 

The SS Poet was a former World War II troop transport that was mothballed for 20 years after the war, before being bought and converted to carry cargo. Considered "old but sturdy" in October 1980, the ship had an experienced crew of 34 men — including the captain who'd been at sea for 41 years — when it mysteriously disappeared.

 

On the morning of October 24, 1980, the SS Poet sailed from Philadelphia with a load of corn bound for Egypt, where it was due to arrive on November 9. As it passed Cape Henlopen later the same morning, the Poet sent its last message before heading out into the Atlantic, and into history.

 

The following day a storm blew up in the North Atlantic with 30 foot waves and 60 mph winds. But for a ship like the Poet that shouldn't have mattered. When the storm finally passed it left behind no trace of the Poet, no debris, and no distress signal was ever heard.

 

A popular explanation for the loss proposes an undiscovered hull leak that would have caused the ship to become unstable and founder in the bad weather. However with no evidence to back that up, fingers were soon pointed at the owner who had failed to report the ship missing for several days after losing contact, and at the coast guard who didn't begin a search for another four days after that. Well-built ships with experienced crews don't just vanish without cause, but that doesn't mean we'll ever know what it was.

 

we got these quick hitters from an article on grunge.com.