The SS Ourang Medan was a Dutch merchant vessel purportedly found drifting at sea sometime
between 1939 to 1948. Several ships picked up an ominous distress signal from the stranded vessel
and set out on a rescue attempt. Upon discovery and investigation of the ship, it was found that
everyone on board the Ourang Medan were deceased. The ship
held no survivors, and no cause of death could be deduced. While on board, the rescuing crew either
hear an explosion, or notice a fire breaking out in the ship's cargo-hold, forcing everyone to
evacuate. Soon after, the Ourang Medan was said to have exploded, with its remains sinking
beneath the tides.
Due to a lack of evidence, numerous inconsistencies and contradictory statements, it is widely
speculated that the story of the SS Ourang Medan is more likely a creepy urban legend,
rather than proof of a genuine ghost ship.
Several accounts released differing statements on the timeline and location surrounding the events
of the SS Ourang Medan:
The earliest known mention of the incident originated from a November 21, 1940 issue of the
Yorkshire Evening Post followed by a November 22, 1940 issue of The Daily Mirror.
Both state that the story took place in 1939, 200 miles from the Solomon Islands.
[1]
Three articles in the Dutch-Indonesian newspaper De locomotief: Samarangsch handels- en
advertentie-blad published in 1948, base their version of the story around June
1947, some 460 miles from the Marshall Islands.
[2]
A September 1999 issue of the Fortean Times also places the events in June 1947, but in
the Straits of Malacca.
[3]
An October 1948 edition of New York's The Albany Times, which references Dutch newspaper
Elsevier's Weekblad as its source, states that the SS Ourang Medan was
discovered in 1948 in the Straits of Malacca.
[3]
This was corroborated by a 1952 article entitled We Sail Together, written in the U.S. Coast
Guard's publication, Proceedings of the Merchant Marine Council.
[1]
Similarly, American author, Vincent Hayes Gaddis echoes these sentiments in his 1965 book,
Invisible Horizons.
[4]
Extensive research conducted by different investigators in the years since the story was
told revealed that not only is there no registration records for a ship named Ourang Medan
across numerous countries, but there is no mention of the incident at all in Lloyd's Shipping
Register or Charles Hocking's The Dictionary of Disasters at Sea.
No solid evidence or information concerning the supposedly sunken ship has turned up, and logs from
the Silver Star make no reference to any such event.
[5]
The differing versions of the story that detail contradictory locations, timelines and ship
names give credence to the story potentially housing some truth that has been exaggerated over
time, or is nothing more than a fictitious story.
According to the 1939 version of the story, information came from an author in Trieste, Italy that the SS Ourang Medan steamship had become stranded 200 miles from the Solomon Islands. [1] The ship sent out the following SOS message: [1]
SOS from the steamship Ourang Medan. Beg ships with shortwave wireless get touch doctor. Urgent.
This was followed by a second SOS message: [1]
Probable second officer dead. Other members crew also killed. Disregard medical consultation. SOS urgent assistance warship.
And a third and final message: [1]
crew has…
A rescue party boarded the motionless SS Ourang Medan, and found around twelve crew members'
lifeless bodies, but with no visible wounds. It was stated that the ship should have had a crew of
around fourty. The sound of an explosion sent the rescuing sailors back to their ship, with
additional explosions sinking the SS Ourang Medan.
[1]
The 1947/48 versions are similar, but include a number of changes from the original, with the SS
Ourang Medan, now a freighter ship stranded either 400 nautical miles from the Marshall
Islands or somewhere in the Straits of Malacca.
[1]
The distressed ship relayed the following SOS via Morse code:
[1]
S.O.S. from Ourang Medan - we float. All officers including the Captain, dead in chartroom and on the bridge. Probably whole of crew dead -
This was followed shortly by a final, haunting SOS: [1]
I die.
A United States vessel, the Silver Star hears the SOS and sets out to investigate. Upon
boarding the stranded ship, the crew of the Silver Star are met with nothing but the dead
bodies of the entire crew, including the ship's dog; their faces contorted in fear with mouth's
agape, eyes wide open, and arms outstretched in front of them as they lay frozen on their backs.
Further inspection yielded no results as to the crew's cause of death. As the rescue party from the
Silver Star were preparing to tow the Ourang Medan to port, a fire broke out in the
ship's cargo-hold, forcing everyone to evacuate. Soon after, the Ourang Medan was said to
have exploded, with its remains sinking beneath the tides.
[6]
The sole survivor of the SS Ourang Medan is said to have perished shortly after relaying
his story to an Italian missionary on Taongi Atoll. The survivor, a German sailor details how the
SS Ourang Medan set sail from China to Costa Rica, avoiding authorities while carrying the
illegal cargo of sulfuric acid which subsequently spilled and killed the entire crew
with its noxious fumes.
[6]
The unnamed Italian missionary passed this story on to its author: Silvio Scherli of Trieste,
Italy, who is also said to have produced a report on Trieste "Export Trade" in September 1959.
[1]
Other versions of the story omitt the inclusion of a survivor entirely.
[7]
Due to such little information being given throughout the story, as well as a mixture of details depending on the source, many theories of the fate of the SS Ourang Medan have been shared over time:
The story circulated by Silvio Scherli recounts the sole survivor mentioning that the SS Ourang
Medan was hauling illicit quantities of sulphuric acid, the fumes of which supposedly
smothered and killed the crew. If this story is to be believed, then this theory is a foregone
conclusion. Others believe that the chemicals, gained as part of Operation Paperclip after Axis
scientists were incorporated into the Allied forces following the Nuremberg Trials, were being
covertly transported across seas so as to bypass the 1925 Geneva Protocol. Chemical weapons ranging
from potassium cyanide and nitroglycerine to Zyklon B, Sarin and Tarun have been speculated as
potential cargo that could have escaped and ignited to kill the crew and cause the fire.
If the SS Ourang Medan had been carrying illegal chemicals which subsequently killed
its crew, it could spell an international-level disaster for any governments found to be involved.
[5]
An alternative theory posits that in order to dispose of such mass quantities of toxic chemicals,
it was decided that they would be transported somewhere remote and destroyed at sea, sinking all
evidence of the chemicals and the crew who happened to die in transit.
[5]
In both instances, it could be speculated that the ship was intentionally destroyed at the behest
of corrupt government officials in order to cover up their schemes, which would explain the lack of
documents and records that reference the Dutch ship.
[6]
American author, Vincent Hayes Gaddis proposed the idea that a malfunction or undetected fire in the ship's boiler system may have caused the SS Ourang Medan to become stranded. Given long enough, escaping carbon monoxide could have caused the deaths of the entire crew. The fire could have continued to spread, causing the explosions that led to the sinking of the ship. [4]
Some speculate that the SS Ourang Medan may have been involved in a clandestine naval
operation, similar to the 1943 Philadelphia Experiment. The Philadelphia Experiment was an alleged
event that saw the U.S. Navy attempt to make their ship, the USS Eldridge invisible to enemy
radar, only for the test to go awry. Instead of turning invisible, the ship supposedly teleported
to Virginia's Norfolk Naval Shipyard, before teleporting back to its original location in the
Philadelphia Naval Shipyard. It was rumoured that the crew aboard the USS Eldridge were
horrifically affected by the experiment, with some losing their minds, and others having their
bodies fused to the ship, but still very much alive.
[8]
If the SS Ourang Medan were involved in a covert operation of this magnitude, it would
surely explain the lack of documents and records, as well as the mysterious circumstances
surrounding the death of its crew.
The Strait of Malacca was well known as a significant trading route for ships transporting an assortment of goods between the Indian and Pacific Oceans. A theory put forth was that the SS Ourang Medan may have been boarded by smugglers or pirates that took advantage of ships navigating the region. [9] Their captives could have killed the crew, took what they wanted, and set the fire to ultimately destroy the ship and cover their tracks, though this theory doesn't account for the lack of external wounds on the crew.
Whilst there's no evidence that something supernatural occured on the SS Ourang Medan, some believe the unexplainable details can only be attributed to something otherworldly. Some accounts say that rescuers reported a cold chill on board the ship, despite the temperature being well over one hundred degrees fahrenheit that day. Other sources say that the corpses of the crew looked like they were undergoing rapid decomposition before their very eyes, despite their SOS being received only mere hours before discovery. [10] All this, and the fact that the crew died with such anguished looks on their faces, with their arms in a position that seemed to be defending themselves from something, has fuelled further speculation that malevolent ghosts or a curse upon the ship may have been the cause.
Similar to the theories revolving around supernatural causes, there are those that believe the crew of the SS Ourang Medan fell victim to something not of this world. Though details are scarce, those that believe this theory use it as an explanation for the crew dying, frozen with anguished expressions on their faces, arms outstretched, and no visible wounds. In his 1955 book, The Case for the UFO, astronomer, author, Morris K. Jessup hypothesized that the crew of the Ourang Medan may have been attacked by extraterrestrials for reasons unknown. [11]
The simplest, and most widely believed theory of the fate of the SS Ourang Medan is that it never truly existed in the first place. This would explain the scant details, the lack of reports and evidence, and the contradictory versions of the story. The tale of a ghost ship is one many sailors share, and it's likely that the details of the story have simply distorted over time as it has been passed on from one person to the next. [12]
