LucidElement Posted January 13, 2015 #1 Share Posted January 13, 2015 (edited) This one is new to me, just came across it on listverse.com (always a great site)..just wanted to share with you this story and see what your thoughts are - its interesting to me that the books and dinner table was in talk... What Happened To The Crew Of The Zebrina? The Zebrina was a flat-bottomed schooner built in 1873. She was passed around among owners until her odd fate in 1917, when she was being used to haul coal between Cornwall and France, a trip that should have taken about 30 hours. On September 17, she was found beached on Rozel Point in France with no crew. http://listverse.com/2015/01/10/10-baffling-world-war-i-mysteries-we-may-never-solve/ Edited January 13, 2015 by Still Waters Added source link and shortened copied text 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Myles Posted January 13, 2015 #2 Share Posted January 13, 2015 Cool site. Not sure how I never came across it till now. I do enjoy ship mysteries. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sir Wearer of Hats Posted January 13, 2015 #3 Share Posted January 13, 2015 Not to be Sir Wet Blanket, but 1917 was during the First World War, and there are German U-Boats in the Channel. They wouldn't even have needed to have had a run in with a real U-Boat for their nerves to crack and them scuttle the ship and disappear into the night. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LucidElement Posted January 14, 2015 Author #4 Share Posted January 14, 2015 Not to be Sir Wet Blanket, but 1917 was during the First World War, and there are German U-Boats in the Channel. They wouldn't even have needed to have had a run in with a real U-Boat for their nerves to crack and them scuttle the ship and disappear into the night. I dont know Mr. Wet Blanket lol i dont think anyone would just jump over board.. especially the whole damn crew. Besides U-BOATS are UNDER water... these guys were on top sailing around. They wouldn't see them, you know.. Also what happened to your original avatar pic? I liked that one for sure haha. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rafterman Posted January 14, 2015 #5 Share Posted January 14, 2015 I dont know Mr. Wet Blanket lol i dont think anyone would just jump over board.. especially the whole damn crew. Besides U-BOATS are UNDER water... these guys were on top sailing around. They wouldn't see them, you know.. Also what happened to your original avatar pic? I liked that one for sure haha. Subs from that era spent a good deal of time on the surface. It would be much more common for a UBoat to surface and engage a target with their deck guns than to attack them while submersed. Keep in mind that in 1917 there really wasn't much of a threat from the air. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hanslune Posted January 14, 2015 #6 Share Posted January 14, 2015 Subs from that era spent a good deal of time on the surface. It would be much more common for a UBoat to surface and engage a target with their deck guns than to attack them while submersed. Keep in mind that in 1917 there really wasn't much of a threat from the air. The physical threat was growing but mainly Uboats sought to avoid being detected by airships and seaplanes. However: "As the war progressed the RNAS began to use the seaplanes offensively against the U-Boats as well. On the 20th of May, 1917 the UC36 earned the dubious distinction of being the first submarine ever sunk by an aircraft. The UB20 suffered a similar fate in July and the UB32 in August" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Myles Posted January 14, 2015 #7 Share Posted January 14, 2015 Not to be Sir Wet Blanket, but 1917 was during the First World War, and there are German U-Boats in the Channel. They wouldn't even have needed to have had a run in with a real U-Boat for their nerves to crack and them scuttle the ship and disappear into the night. Having no trace of them is what makes this a mystery. They mention in the story how items that were commonly taken from the ship were not taken. I find it odd that the captain didn't enter anything in the log (or take it with him). 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LucidElement Posted January 15, 2015 Author #8 Share Posted January 15, 2015 Im with Myles, if a Uboat or anything of the sort ripped through a ship like that, something would have been documented. This is almost up there with the Mary Celeste. There are always people who will be very skeptical about that situation .. Im not saying the go abducted lol, im just saying if Germans hoped aboard the ship and slayed them and then threw them over board.. there would have been signs of blood or even stolen goods... no way the Germans (or whomever for that matter) would have just randomly jumped on board killed the crew and left (called it a day)... Everything was untouched. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter B Posted January 15, 2015 #9 Share Posted January 15, 2015 (edited) One of my great grandfathers went to sea in 1863 at the age of 14 and spent much of the next 50 years involved in nautical events of various sorts. In the 1920s he wrote his memoirs. He provides some fairly vivid descriptions of things that can go wrong at sea with sailing ships at a time when radios were rare (or non-existent in his case), safety equipment primitive and weather reports grossly incomplete. Based on what he wrote, I'd suggest the mystery isn't finding a plausible explanation for what happened, but working out how to choose from among several plausible explanations. But there are also problems with the mystery as presented in the article you link: - What were the weather conditions were in the region where the ship operated. For example, would localised squalls be common in that part of the world (it's the North Atlantic after all)? - What was the history of the ship? Where did it operate? How did it behave in different weather conditions? How long had this particular crew been operating this ship? - What other ships (including submarines) were operating in the vicinity, Allied, German and neutral? - The article mentions the unusually large crew with the possibility it was a Q-ship, but what did the French authorities find when they searched the ship? Is there a possibility that some crew were found on board by the authorities (dead or alive or some of each) but this was suppressed for some reason? - The article says the ship was found with "slightly tangled sails". What exactly does this mean? Could there have been other clues to the ship's crew which were missed? For example, how much water was in the bilges? How did it compare with a normal amount? Did the ship have automated pumps? - The article doesn't say whether any of the ship's boats were missing, although the implication is that they weren't. (Incidentally, I note an article linked by the article you link pays more credence to the Q-ship theory: http://www.canterbur...tail/story.html) ETA: I note that a Google search on the ship's name comes up with a bunch of paranormal links. I see no reason to assume anything paranormal in the events described. Edited January 15, 2015 by Peter B Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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