Without a Trace: Ships That Just Disappeared at Sea 

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*Ship named "Pacific" traveling through the Atlantic* *Atlantic Ocean:* And I took that personally

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

So Happy you're My Friend! Thank you for your hard work!

Just chiming in to say how much I appreciate it when Mike says- it’s Mike your friend.- thanks I need that! 😊

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.

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.

I suggest making a Top 10 list of the Deadliest Ship Sinking’s of All-Time.

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.

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.

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.

I hadn’t heard the story of the Hans Hedtoft before, but it did remind me of another anecdote, one mentioned by the filmmaker Werner Herzog in his documentary about volcanoes of all places. Apparently when Denmark was returning an ancient codex containing the Old Norse “Poetic Edda” to Iceland in 1971, they sent it on a ship with military escort. I imagine the previous incident with the Hans Hedtoft was a big influence on that decision.

Mike, having looked into the disappearance of SS Waratah, it appears that the gold bullion you mentioned was, in fact, the lead ingots you also mentioned, and that they are one and the same, but the lead was listed as "bullion" in the manifest, and this probably explains the confusion. I did wonder why there had not been rather more frenetic searching, and this probably explains the reason.

Mike could you possibly look at telling the stories of some of the shipwrecks around the Australian coast? There are some fascinating stories about early shipping to and around Australia

The story of the SS Waratah has allways intrigued me, would be very interesting to see an sepereate video on her including the search efforts!

not gonna lie man, your growth over the past year has been astonishing, i remember subscribing back in august and you had just reached 40k and within under half a year you've gained over 100k! keep it up man your stuff is great

I’d be curious to know how many ships have been saved by the various safety features brought in over the years. Like double bottoms and such. I hear a lot about how ship x or y was lost even though it was “unsinkable” and whatnot but these features must have been effective enough to make people think such things.

As a Dane im very happy to see Hans Hedtoft being mentioned, i have always seen it as a bit overlooked outside of Denmark

This man is the best dressed, best spoken gentleman I have ever seen. I enjoy listening to him immensely.

You know if you can make a story about the ss denmark Her propeller blades where ripped off doing a storm She begun to sink slowly but later got towed by an Allens cargo ship And after a Lil time She sank ropes cut, and lifeboats from the Allen's line vessel to rescue the passengers (babies where lowered down in buckets)

Fascinating stories, Mike- this is just the sort of thing I love about your channel. Regarding the Waratah, considering the bullion on board, I'm surprised that the sea bottom around the Eastern Cape hasn't been thoroughly scoured over the years by various searches.

It's amazing to think how much of the ocean we know nothing about, only a small bit being explored. Makes you feel small.

It seems that white star line has a hard time getting boats to New York😂😂

Great stories that are lesser known, and each could get their own full video. Nice job as always!

I worked on the USCGC Taney a museum ship in Baltimore that was the sister ship of the USCGC Campbell. The Treasury class Cutters were designed to sail through incredibly rough seas so if the Campbell couldn't reach the Hans Hedtoft then she must have been lost in truly appalling conditions

Mike, you do excellent work with your research and your delivery. Thank you!

Great vlog as always! Keep up the good work! A few years back I bought a book about fishing vessels gone missing. One of them was suspected of being rammed by a Soviet submarine. One of Hurtigruten ships experienced a 60 deg list during a storm across the Vestfjorden to Bodø. The door to the bridge wing was closed. That saved at least one life on the bridge…

Thank you for producing and sharing! Great video (as always)!

Amazing video Mike! The fact that you do all of these animations and all of this research for these videos is amazing! Keep it up!😀

Great video as always! Your ship recreations are just amazing. One idea for a video might be for a list of ships where the reason for sinking was figured out after finding the remains of the ships in modern times.

Another awesome vid from MB and OLD - Good Work Mike!

Hey Mike started watching a couple months ago and now I am obsessed, keep it up 🚢

I fricking love this channel i always was interested in ocean liners and this is just the content i needed about these and i love it keep up your awesome work

Splendid presentation...calm and factual......plus interesting visuals.

Thanks for including as much evidence as possible and for avoiding melodramatic music and etc. Also, kudos for very informative contextual commentary.

Very good job for the videos you have making recently keep on doing the great work! ❤

Oh hell yeah, happy to catch this upload before bed. My favourite of your videos is the rogue wave one, so this looks to be an awesome follow-up.

Hey Mike, I realize that this ship never experienced any REAL calamity at sea, but do you think that there's any chance we could get a brief documentary on the SS City of New York 1888 (later SS New York, the ship that was moored next to Oceanic and almost collided with RMS Titanic on it's maiden voyage while leaving port)? I've always loved the look of that ship when it was first built. It ended up looking like an old homely cargo ship in 1912.

Thank you for those four fascinating reports, Mike.

Hi Mike!!!! Another good video love a little mystery. You'd think they would stop calling their ships "unsinkable" at this point, can you imagine what it would be like to drain the ocean and explore all the shipwrecks... or just explore all the things at the bottom of the ocean!

I only discovered your channel late last year but I'm glad I found it. Your content is fantastic 👍

I never tire of hearing or reading about the Waratah. Another great video! A+ presentation! Perhaps a look at the loss of the Munchen?

It's lovely to have a live background back! Please don't get rid of the whiskey chart either!

This is a great video! Thank you so much for the content!

Pleased to see that you included the ill-fated "S.S. Waratah" in your list Amigo.. I first heard of the story in South Africa some years ago. As you are no doubt aware the strip of ocean between the east coast of Mocambique/south east coast of South Africa and the west coast of the island of Madagascar, is called the "Mocambique Channel". It is notorious apparently, because the warm Mocambique current sweeps down from the Equator to meet with the cooler Agulhas current sweeping up from the South Atlantic/Southern Ocean region. Add to this that at certain times of the year one also has the effect of the South East Trade Winds, with the occasional cyclone forming, blowing across the ocean surface towards the KwaZulu/Natal coastline and one has a potentially very dangerous mix indeed. There have been several reports over the years of "ship-killing" waves forming in this area and it was put to me as the likely scenario for the loss of the "Waratah". Only goes to show that no matter how sophisiticated we humans might think our structures to be, they are really quite puny against "Mother Nature's" ire..!!

Very interesting stories and another great video, Mike !

Great video as always, super informative.

Another famous Australian ship is the SS Koombana. Although wreckage washed ashore the ship still remains undiscovered with all on board lost.

Thanks Mike for including SS Waratah in your video. As always I find your videos fascinating and of excellent quality - Regards from the UK!

What a fantastic channel to discover! I started with planes and moved through all the aviation stuff and channels worth watching. Then when I was watching a cruise video I come across one of this dude's vids. Gave it a chance watch and was hooked :) Our TRUE history is fascinating. Thanks for bringing forward some awesome material that you normally wouldn't run across unless looking for specifically.

I love your videos and I also LOVE that the “bell” is a ship bell and not the high pitchedm headache inducing bell sounds that most channels use. Love this channel

Hey Oceanliner designs, I have a theory about the loss of the SS Waratah It is that the ship leaves Durban bound for Cape town and passes the SS Clan Maclntyre. According to Wikipedia, the next day, the weather which was already getting worse deteriorated into a Hurricane. The ship then ran into the hurricane listing badly. the ship was then struck by a rogue wave on the side which caused it to lean over. As the SS Waratah began to stabilise, the containers which contained the lead and ore concentrate broke free causing it to mix resulting in the ship capsizing. Due to the water entering through the funnel shaft, some boilers exploded due to the inrushing water and the ship then sank. What do you think?

I’ve been enjoying your videos mike! Keep it up, can’t wait to see what else you have in store for us!

Another fascinating video as usual Mike, good job

Brilliant video, Mike. Keep up the good work ya amazing ship nerd!

Yet another great video. Entertaining, informative, high production value, and more! We need to get you more subscribers, Mike! 😃😃😃

Great video man keep up the great work.

Yet another superb video sir! Well done.

Just love your narration style ❤

I really like the way you talk and telling us. It just feel perfect and also calming at the same time. I'm might try to talk like this when I have to give presentation because it just so good.

Great video. I bet there could be even more of these mystery disappearances videos because there's been a lot of these. Do you think that maybe a shift in Waratah's cargo combined with a rouge wave could take it down? I feel like that could be a logical idea given it's heavy cargo and the rough weather it experienced before going missing. Stability issues or not, that combination could sink almost anything.

I really hope all these wrecks are stumbled upon and the mysteries are given *some* closure. Every time I hear stories like this I just want to dedicate my life to searching.

Excellent work, Mike!

Great video Mike, you always seem to re invigorate my interest I’m maritime history. Do you have much information on the ship called “The Star of Greece” that sank not far off the South Australian coast, I was hoping to find out the story of it’s sinking in a high detail and the history it had before it went down but I’m struggling to find something.

I love your videos and content! One of my favorite channels on RU-vid!

Hey man, I just wanted to say I really dig your channel. Always fascinating content. Well done.

Love these videos and your drawings are Bloody phenomenal

Another fascinating and informative video. Thanks Mike

I had no idea about most of these ships! glad I could learn :)

Another very entertaining and informative video. The story of the "Pacific" and the Collins Line in general is endlessly fascinating and tragic.

I thought maybe the SS Poet would be on this list. She disappeared in 1980, after departing Philadelphia, loaded with grain. Bound for Port Said, Egypt. 34 men lost. Only a very lucky break (for me) I wasn’t one of them. I was assigned as Radio Officer aboard, but missed joining the ship just before sailing. My replacement died instead of me.

Superb video as usual from you. Just shows no matter how good your ship is the ocean will have the last word in bad weather.

Great video as always sir

Thanks for another great video - and this is yet one more that will go onto my "Tabletop RPG Horror Scenario Seeds" list for inspiration! :D

...your presentations get better and better...Glad to see that you have found your voice to the world....

That first boat hit a berg, how fortuitous.

Sawyer the Engineer was a friend of my grandfathers many years ago. I actually live in durban now and have sailed on a few sail boats as Chef between Durban and Cape Town. Beautiful trip but its known for scary weather at times. Great video as always

My favourite lost ship is the Munchen, which to date has still never been found. Apart from the Pacific I'd never heard of any of these other ships though, and it's always interesting to hear about these.

Great job Mike

Great and really interesting video, love mysteries like this, always very interesting

Thank you. Another good one.

Amazing video ❤❤❤ great job and wonderful content 😊😊

One of my great-grandfathers was a merchant shipping captain in the late 19th century. In his memoirs he describes how he was captaining a sailing ship off the coast of south Africa when it was caught by a sudden squall. Before he could order the sails to be taken in, the ship was blown over onto its side, and water started flowing in through open hatches. He said that the ship was less than a minute from sinking when the wind suddenly changed direction, caught the sails, and righted the ship. He then reflected on how easily the ship could have disappeared without trace, with an "overdue" notice appearing in newspapers in the following months. Some years earlier he'd served on the tea clipper 'Ariel', which later disappeared without trace on a voyage from London to Sydney.

Mike, Your page is magnificent I love hearing your stories about the Titanic and the Olympic they are my favorite ships. I also loved this story as well ..But I would really love to hear about what happened to the Ship RMS Mauretania .

Incredible video as always

Really diggin' your channel. Mike Brady.

Great work mike 😊

Top quality presentation skills, which is rare on youtube, even on many popular channels; I even watched the "commercial" which I always skip in vids on other channels. I expect we will one day see this young man on television.