When rescue workers reached the 40–foot catamaran Kaz II drifting off the Great Barrier Reef on April 20, it may have appeared the three–man crew had decided to go for a quick dip before sitting down to a meal.
The vessel's engine was running, as were several computers. The sails were up. Food and utensils were set out on the table. T–shirts and towels were neatly folded on the deck. A dinghy and three life jackets were still in place.
A shredded mainsail was the only sign that anything was out of the ordinary. That and the fact that the three Australian sailors, who had last made radio contact five days earlier, were nowhere to be found. Authorities called off the search for the bodies of Kaz II skipper Des Batten, 56, and brothers Peter and James Tunstead, 69 and 63, on April 21–and there is still no good explanation of what exactly happened to them.
Reports of eerie "ghost ship" incidents have fueled the imaginations of mariners and storytellers for centuries. If only the boats themselves could talk! Some cases, like that of the Kaz II, appear to be bona–fide mysteries that may never be solved. Others can be traced to less sensational origins, such as moorings that succumbed to the wrath of a storm. But in all cases, we are left to wonder about a vessel's sense of survival even in the absence of captain or crew. For boat owners, these stories prompt the inevitable query: How would my boat fare on her own?
MOST ARE NOT GHOSTS 
Cumberland County Museum ArchivesThe Mary Celeste
Although the term "ghost ship" is attached to virtually any story involving an abandoned vessel, Coast Guard officials say the vast majority of marine craft found drifting unattended are neither mysterious nor remarkable. Most turn up following periods of severe weather, and authorities use identifying information on the boat to track dow its owners, who often have no idea that the craft has gone sightseeing without them.
"It's kind of like if someone abandons their car. There's a lot of information that will lead us to the boat's owner," says Coast Guard Petty Officer Nyx Cangemi in Atlantic City, Nee Jersey.
Such was the case of a boat that appeared just one day after the Kaz II was found. An unmanned vessel was discovered in Queensland waters, loaded with fishing and scuba diving gear, a full tank of fuel and keys still in the ignition. Marine growth on its hull suggested the 19–foot fiberglass fishing boat had been adrift for several months. In this case, however, the mystery was short–lived; authorities confirmed within days that the boat had broken free from its moorings the previous December in Noumea, New Caledonia, where it was registered, and had drifted approximately 700 miles without a crew before being found.
Upon approaching an abandoned vessel, the Coast Guard's primary concern is whether any crewmembers may need rescuing. To this end, they first attempt to determine how long the craft may have been adrift.
"The first thing we look at is if there's any marine growth," says Petty Officer First Class Jennifer Johnson, in Miami. "If so, then it's derelict, and it's highly probable that it got loose from its mooring or tie."
If authorities find a relatively new or nearby debris field, however, that suggests that the boat was abandoned fairly recently and that crewmembers may be nearby in the water, Johnson says. In these situations, as in the case of the Kaz II, family members or other parties often will have already notified authorities that the crew members were suspected missing.
