The appearance of a ghost ship on any coast is a rare occurrence and the latest one on the Irish coast is no exception. It drifted with Storm Dennis and finally washed up off the coast of County Cork, Ireland. A passerby noticed the ship. It was stranded on the rocks of a fishing village and he informed the authorities. A local lifeboat chief described the discovery as "This is one in a million." Initial findings established the identity of the ship. It was the M/V Alta and it had, apparently, drifted thousands of miles for more than a year and was at the mercy of the winds and the waves.

To be more specific, it was on its own from the southeast of Bermuda since 2018. An official of the local Royal National Lifeboat Institution RNLI confided to a section of the media that he had "never, ever seen anything abandoned like that before."

The BBC says the ship was of 1976 vintage, had a number of owners and was flying a Tanzanian flag. It seems it was a fully crewed ship that was sailing from Greece to Haiti. That was in September 2018. Subsequently, different authorities sighted it as it drifted around the world.

Its last spotting was in September 2019 by a ship of the British Royal Navy and it has finally washed ashore in Ireland.

Brief history of the ghost ship

The US Coast Guard was aware of the M/V Alta. It seems it had encountered some technical problems that led to a power outage. It remained adrift for nearly three weeks and traveled more than 1,300 miles in the water southeast of Bermuda.

Finally, when the stock of food onboard exhausted, the coast guard helped them survive by airdropping food and other essential supplies. Later, with an approaching hurricane, the coast guard took a decision to airlift the crewmembers and move them out of harm's way to Puerto Rico. There were 10 of them. The crew abandoned the ship and the owners tried to salvage whatever possible.

The BBC adds that the partly damaged ship, minus any crew, was left to drift and in September 2019, it came to the notice of the Royal Navy. Its ice patrol ship HMS Protector sighted it in the mid-Atlantic. It confirmed that there was no one was on the ship. Right now, there are no signs of pollution from the ship. Environmental scientists who visited the location have confirmed this. The local Cork County Council will have to decide on the next course of action.

Journey of the ghost ship ended on the rocks

According to News AU, the ghost ship had been adrift in the Atlantic Ocean for over a year and finally ended up on the rocks of Ireland. The Irish Coast Guard sent a rescue helicopter to the scene but found no trace of any crew. They had abandoned the 250-feet cargo ship M/V Alta and it finally found land when it washed ashore near Cork, Ireland’s second largest city. This was due to Storm Dennis that lashed the coast with heavy rain and winds of up to 70 miles per hour. The Cork County Council is handling the issue and it will be conducting a physical check of the ship. The Council will also discuss with relevant agencies to decide the future course of action.

Maritime news site Fleetmon reports about two hijack attempts from Guyana when the owners tried to salvage the ship.

Ghost ship from North Korea turns up in Japan

In November 2017, a ghost ship from North Korea landed in Japan. There were skeletons in it, presumably of people who were trying to escape from the country. This is based on telltale traces of items unique to North Korea discovered on the ship. Another ghost ship was a wooden war vessel in Mallows Bay. It was on the Potomac River and came into the news when it shifted its position due to storms and floods. That disturbed the habitat of wildlife inside it. They had made it their home and the vessel was an ecosystem people felt should be preserved.
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