The ghost ship itself caught fire

In the past 200 years, 'ghost ship' Northumberland Strait has appeared many times, ignited itself and disappeared like a tantalizing, challenging human knowledge.

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With the continuous story since 1786 until now, the origin of the "ghost ship" Northumberland Strait has become one of the unexplained mysteries in maritime history.

For over 200 years, many people living near the Northumberland Strait running between Nova Scotia and Prince Edward (Canada) have witnessed a very strange phenomenon. Witnesses, whether on shore or under the sea, told them that they had seen a ship with three masts moving very quickly across the strait. And suddenly it caught fire and then disappeared without trace.

Picture 1 of The ghost ship itself caught fire
Northumberland Strait ghost ship.(illustrated on uhaul.com)

The time when the ship appeared scattered during the months of the year but most commonly is the autumn months, just before the wind from the northeast blows. Many people believe that the "ghost ship" Northumberland Strait is an omen of impending storms. The amazing thing is that all witnesses describe the same details even though their times lived hundreds of years apart. 'One October evening, when I was walking along the road back from my neighbor's house, overlooking the Northumberland Strait, I saw a ship on fire. The weather was very good so the ship's image was quite clear. It went on for about 2 minutes and then disappeared ' , from the reports of the "ghost ship" Northumberland Strait.

In 1912, another witness lived near Murray Harbor on Prince Edward Island, insisting that she and her eight-year-old son followed the train for 30 minutes. She said it was a ship with 3 masts, stopping when moving near them. It has a white sail, a glossy black body. Suddenly, fire flared up, the crew was drowned in the flames, she was not surprised, all disappeared as never before.

Besides the information of individual individuals, sometimes this phenomenon occurs before many people. At the time when the Confederation Bridge connected Nova Scotia and Prince Edward was not built, people wanted to cross the Strait there was no other way to take a ferry. And in these times, many people have had the opportunity to witness the 'ghost ship' with their own eyes.

In the book 'Folklore of Prince Edward Island' , Sterling Ramsay wrote: 'One evening in the evening of 1900, when the sunset was down, the people on the ferry that day saw a 3-mast ship. in a state of emergency, intense burning on the tail. A few men immediately climbed on the small boat heading toward it in hopes of rescuing the passengers and sailors on board. However, while they were trying to get close, it disappeared into the fog, right before their eyes. Soon after, a thorough search was conducted, even the divers entered, but no one found any of the mysterious ship's clues. '

Picture 2 of The ghost ship itself caught fire
Map of Northumberland Strait.(Photos: Wikipedia)

For years, people still find a way to approach a burning ship but have not done anything before it disappears into the air. Some lifeguards are even 'not going back' in an effort to help the distressed ship. In 1885, there was a crew member who participated in the rescue and believed it.

No one knows exactly the identity and origin of the "ghost ship" but there have been many assumptions given, in which seafarers think it is the Isabella ship, no one has seen since the month. 12/1868 during a storm in Nova Scotia.

The other opinion is that this is a ship of Highland Scots immigrants, missing at sea in the process of searching for new land; or it is also possible that the pirate ship had been sunk by British warships near the Merigomish during the Napoleonic wars.

In an attempt to find the answer, author Sterling Ramsay in "Folklore of Prince Edward Island" writes: The Northumberland Strait train is more likely to be an optical illusion of unknown mechanism. This phenomenon is quite common in this sea, combined with atmospheric conditions will make things almost invisible.

In 1905, William Francis Ganong - a scientist in the eastern Canadian state of New Brunswick - also gave an explanation related to illusion and said that its origin was probably due to electric fields.

Although the origin of this ghost ship is still a mystery, but with a lot of witnesses, plus the same story but constantly being reported again in a relatively long time (centuries) making it difficult for experts to ignore that strange phenomenon. The problem is that until now, no explanation has been accepted as convincing.