Kaz II

The 12-metre catamaran, the Kaz II, was discovered with no crew off the coast of northeast Australia in April 2007. The yacht which had left on Sunday 15 April, was spotted about 80 nautical miles close to the outer Great Barrier Reef on the following Wednesday. When it was boarded on Friday, the engine and a laptop was running, the radio and GPS were working and dinner was ready to eat, but the three man crew were nowhere to be seen. All the sails were up, but one was badly damaged. Survival equipment including three life jackets and an emergency beacon, were found on board. A search for the crew was abandoned on Sunday 22nd as it was decided they all would have perished after that length of time.

Just a little oddity that i noticed but apparently is still quite the mystery a year + later. Normally I'd write the ship off to pirates, given the location. However, the problem with this theory is that everything of monetary value was pretty much intact.

Ghost ships still occur, I guess, even in this day and age.


Thoughts?

These sort of cases are always very strange. Could it be that the crew get ready to set sail but are called away at last minute, foolishly allowing the boat to trundle off on its own accord? Can they trace the registration ID of the boat back to its owner, or was that person missing too (presumably even sea craft have some sort of ID indicating ownership?)?

You probably should read this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaz_II before coming up with any more theories ...

I think it certainly shows how legends can grow even in this day and age. Probably even quicker given the methods of communication available in this day and age.

I love how the forensic report basically says 'inconclusive'. I'm not too sure about the hypothesis they forward re the string of accidents that would have resulted in the ship being totally abandon. It seems somewhat... Rube Goldberg.

Urisk: as far as tracing registrations and owners... even in this day and age that can be difficult, particularly with ghost ships. Look into the case of the Jian Seng for an example. Massive tanker. No known owner. Was found drifting off Australia in 2006. They towed her out and scuttled her in deep water not too long after they finished examining her. Was something of a scandal down under in the Australian parliament at the time because such a huge vessel had gotten so far into national waters before it was detected in an area that was under close scrutiny.

Thanks for the input Baron, it was certinly helpful.

mysteryshopper wrote:

You probably should read this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaz_II before coming up with any more theories ...

Who are you speaking to? I don't have any "theories" because this is the first time I have come across this particular case. I don't seem to remember many theories that end with question marks; I was merely asking some questions that hadn't been immediately answered to me. And instead of going away and reading up on it, I figured that since this is an open discussion on the matter then perhaps my questions could be answered.

A plural, general 'you' - no one in particular. It's just that it is clear from the article that a lot of work has already gone into solving the mystery so there's no point anyone theorising without reading the full background first.

Ah OK, just that some statements do not always translate well on 'tinternet. That's the problem with "Cyberspace". But it's all cleared up now


But indeed you are right. There's nothing wrong with some speculation, curious musings, but trying to solve a case without hte background information is silly.

What makes the whole thing interesting is that we have a string of theories that have been put forward that, well, frankly the most 'normal' of them still seems like a scene out of 'Final Destination'.

As someone who's familiar with freshwater sailing, at least, I can't think of the last time someone went overboard that the whole crew didn't don life vests right then and there, assuming they didn't have them on to begin with.