Without a Trace: Ships That Just Disappeared at Sea

Throughout history, ships have disappeared at sea, seemingly vanished without a trace. Today let's look at five ships which never arrived at their destinations; White Star Lines' SS Naronic, Hans Hedtoft, Blue Anchor Lines' Waratah and the Collins Line paddle steamer Pacific.

Oceanliner Designs explores the design, construction, engineering and operation of history’s greatest vessels– from Titanic to Queen Mary and from the Empress of Ireland to the Lusitania. Join maritime researcher and illustrator Michael Brady as he tells the stories behind some of history's most famous ocean liners and machines!

#ships #sinking #lost #abandoned #vanished #disappeared #titanic

[OceanlinerDesigns]

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[PitterPatter]

*Ship named "Pacific" traveling through the Atlantic*

*Atlantic Ocean:* And I took that personally

[Jedi_Master_Obi-Wan_Kenobi]

Everytime I think of a Ocean Liner going missing, I always think of the fictional Italian Ocean liner Antonia Graza (based on the Andrea Doria) from the movie Ghost Ship. The thought of a liner crossing the North Atlantic with over a thousand people on board disappearing without a trace then being found floating derelict by a salvage team in the Mediterranean decades later without any sign of what happened is haunting

[hopel]

love that mike went through the Hans Hedtoft section without mentioning the T word. The desire must have been immense 😄

[robertchandler]

SS Waratah is always mentioned, but poor SS Koombana of March 1912 rarely ever rates a mention. One of great remaining mysteries on the West Australian coast. She was lost in a cyclone somewhere between Port Headland and Broome with 150 lives gone, just a month before Titanic went down. A mixed cargo an passenger vessel on the Fremantle to Wyndham run, she was only 4 years old at the time of her loss and state of the art, carrying her passengers in great luxury.

[vvgr]

It's stunning how Hans Hedtoft is similar to Titanic. Both were considered as very safe, encountered ice berg on maiden voyage, collided with it ripping rivets and opening too many watertight compartments and sank before any help could arrive. She definitely needs more recognition.

[eugenegilleno]

For those who have served at sea, we have all experienced huge waves, that literally gave us that sinking feeling. One minute you can see the sky, the next; all that can be seen is a wall of water. During storms, ships steer into the wind and attack the waves head on - it’s the waves hitting port or starboard that are really dangerous, causing roll over.

[IntrepidMilo]

In the summer of 2022 during Oceangate's Titanic expedition, there was an unknown object discovered near the wreck of the Titanic. This caused great excitement and there began a discussion as to what ship it might have been. The Noronic was one of the ships mentioned. Turns out it was not a ship at all, it was a pile of rocks.

[DieUnstillbareGier]

SS Waratah is my favorite 'mystical disapperence ship'. She's so shrouded in mystery and still we don't know what happend to her. My personal theory is that her poor stability was the main culprit. I think she was hit by a rouge wave that came out of nowhere and she capsized and sank within minutes. Mike, I am happy you do this videos and keep on doing these. Amazing work you do.

[Yassified]

It would be interesting to see a video about how was life for paying passengers on these cargo ships from Cunard, White Star or any other shipping company at the time.

[dnmz]

South African here. The Waratah is a well known story down here. Happy to see it getting mentioned online

[billharm]

Indeed, ship loss continues today. Some vanishings (perhaps many) are modern piracy: Turn off the transponder, change the paint scheme, add a new name, forge some papers. Presto! Ship and cargo continue and a large insurance claim is filed. However, genuine sinkings do occur. I listened to one. In the early 70's, I was in the USN aboard a fleet ballistic missile submarine in the Pacific. A typhoon intersected our patrol route for a few days. The strong weather reached unexpected depths, but we had little concern. On sonar we heard other vessels laboring in the storm. Engines raced when screws broke water, then bogged to a near stall when the propeller plunged deep. A couple of days after we first recognized a particular sonar contact, it broke up and sank. The sounds of rending metal and collapsing tanks is quite distinct. The event was over quickly. The storm raged on. I've always wondered about that ship's identity and the human loss.

[JagerLange]

Glad to see SS Waratah got mentioned - I first heard about the ship when I saw a memorial to it in a church in my uni town, and the whole case has interested me ever since. Same with that of the Hedtoft, as it's such a shame that all that historical data went with her and the crew.

[TheHylianBatman]

I had actually heard of the Hans Hedtoft!
As someone who loves paper trails and research, I found it a shame then, and find it a shame now.
So much knowledge is lost when a person dies, but that person can, at least, take precautions to prevent it ALL being lost by writing things down and spreading them.
But when you lose the writings... there's no recovery from that. It's a shame!
What an awful experience. Could you imagine being on one of those? Knowing it's over?
I don't think I could handle it.

[Maritime_History]

Glad you covered these ships Mike, great work. RIP to everybody who vanished with these ships.

[ChickVicious]

It's almost more chilling to hear contemporary accounts by highly skilled and experienced men that identified issues in advance of ship disasters. In a way, we always have experts who can identify issues in a situation where the majority see no (or relatively little) risk and we tend to dismiss them, but it makes one pause and think whenever we see evidence of a potential aversion of tragedy had those people's analyses been considered.

[Chord_]

Been obsessed with Naronic's disappearance ever since I was a kid, when I found a website called "What Happened to the Naronic?" I poured over that site so much as a kid, though I believe it's since been taken down. Personally, I think, even if none of the bottles found claiming to be from the ship are genuine, they all still tell *a version* of the truth, that being that the ship went down in poor weather. Unfortunately, without it having the notoriety as some of the big passenger liners like Waratah, I don't think there'll ever be a chance to truly go out and find it.

[robertward]

Another ship disappearance you might find interesting is that of the Marine Sulfur Queen, a WW2 vintage tanker adapted to carry cargoes of molten sulfur. She disappeared in, I believe, the Gulf of Mexico and no trace of her has ever been found except, if I remember correctly, part of a name board or other kind of wood plaque showing signs of fire damage.

[johnjephcote]

Apropos the Waratah, a Cape Mounted Rifleman, Edward Conquer (who become a Colonel in the S.A.Air Force), had been heliographing on the right bank of the Xora River and noted thro' his telescope a large ship approaching, making heavy going. Her shape and colour matched that of the Waratah exactly, yet he had not known of the ship's existence and he let a comrade also see the vessel through the eyepiece. He saw her roll to starboard and a following wave came over her and he saw no more, also telling Adshead, his comrade. There was no squall to hide any possible reappearance and he telegraphed his base camp to report his sighting. His report was met with some disbelief and he heard no more as, apparently, the message was not passed on or connected with the loss which was afterwards made known.

[pedenharley]

Mike, thank you again for another great video. Each of these stories gives me chills, but thank you for keeping the stories and the memory of the passengers and crew alive.