Case file · High strangeness

Kaz II, the 'ghost yacht'

A catamaran found drifting off Queensland, Australia, on 20 April 2007 with its engine running and its three-man crew gone.

2007 CE · -20.27, 148.72 · status: unexplained

The account

The three Perth men, relatively inexperienced sailors, had left Airlie Beach on 15 April heading for Townsville. The case was compared to the Mary Celeste.

The sceptical view

An expert concluded the men had probably gone overboard days earlier, and a coroner's inquest was held in Townsville in 2008; an accident at sea is the likely explanation.

The researched reading

A tragic sailing accident that the press called a ghost ship. The coroner’s reconstruction fits all the evidence.

Explanation	Weight	Why
Undetermined	44%	The share a generic explanation had beyond what has been shown for this case: it fits many cases like this one, but has not been demonstrated for this one.
A known natural phenomenon	40%	Queensland coroner Michael Barnes reconstructed it from video on board and the yacht’s state: a fishing line fouled the rudder, one man fell from the stern platform, another went in to help, and the boom likely knocked the third overboard as the boat sailed on at speed in choppy water.
Perception, memory or mind	4%	Inexperience and poor judgment (not wearing lifejackets, leaving the helm) contributed, but that is part of the accident.
Something in the surroundings	4%	Wind shifts and swell in the Whitsunday passage are what made recovery impossible.
A cultural story	4%	The "ghost yacht" and Mary Celeste comparisons are media framing.
A hoax or fabrication	3%	The coroner ruled out foul play and a staged disappearance.
Genuinely anomalous	1%	The physical evidence points to an accident at sea.

Official position: A 2008 coroner’s inquest found the three men most likely fell overboard and drowned.

Connections in the atlas

Sources

Wikipedia: Kaz II

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