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30 Of The Most Unusual, Most Mysterious, Or Just Weird Things Seafarers Ever Experienced During Their Journeys
The sea has always attracted people, from those days at the dawn of creation, when the first fragile raft of branches and vines was assembled, all the way up to modern times with snow-white liners and giant container ships that are not afraid of any storm. The sea has always attracted our attention, and as soon as we hear some attractive maritime story, we all turn our ears.
Somewhere out there, in the bottomless blue of the oceans, the drakkar of the brave and frantic Leif Eriksson cuts through the waves, the formidable and recalcitrant Moby Dick swims there, and the forever damned crew of the Flying Dutchman tries, against all odds, to pass Cape Horn in the midst of the storm season. There, at the bottom of the sea, lie countless treasures of pirates, as well as a priceless stone that the old lady threw overboard at the end of that one film. The sea beckons us with thousands of incredible tales.
Here's to you from fifty more - most recently, a thread appeared in the AskReddit community, the author of which asked "Sailors, what's the most unusual thing you've experienced while at sea?" Perhaps it would be better if they didn't, because among the most unstoppable things in this universe is definitely the desire of literally any sailor to tell about their own incredible adventures. So the resulting thread now has 3.2K upvotes and over a thousand of the most diverse and bizarre comments.
Scary and funny, blood-curdling and thought-provoking, maritime tales for all tastes are gathered in this salt-soaked selection that Bored Panda has made just for you. So whistle everyone upstairs, we sail to the mysterious island of sea stories, so feel free to read them all - and may a fair wind help you!
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#1
I wasn't there to witness it myself as I was only 5 years old at the time, but it happened to my dad. He was a crabber in Alaska in the late 70's - early 80's. They were pretty far out in the Bering, late at night, in just terrible weather - high winds, snow dumping all around them, just miserable conditions, hauling in pots, and that's when it happens... My dad has a massive heart attack. The captain immediately gets the coast guard on the horn, but the weather was just to bad for them to send out a chopper. So the captain turns the boat around and hauls a*s as fast as he can to the nearest port. But it still took nearly 6 hours (so I was told anyway) as they were pretty far out and coming in in heavy seas against a strong wind. Dad had 5 more heart attacks on the way back, but luckily one of his buddies on the boat was a former military medic. He managed to keep my dad alive and an ambulance was waiting for him when they docked. They got dad to the hospital and got him stabilized, threw him on a life-flight to Seattle where he immediately underwent a triple bypass. He never went back out to sea after that, and years later when I was 15, dad and I were just wandering around the Seattle Center (where the space needle is) and all of a sudden we hear someone call my dad's name. We turn around and my dad calls back "Well hello there Cap!" And that was the day I got to meet and hug the boat captain that helped save my dad's life.
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#2
Not a sailor but a lifelong surfer so I’ve spent plenty of time in and around the ocean.
I was camping on the beach in Baja with some friends when I noticed the moon was going to be setting over the ocean in a few hours. The moon that night was just a sliver, almost like a finger nail.
We had actually gotten kind of skunked wave wise that day and into the night the ocean was almost completely flat. Like a lake flat. No wind as well. Just sheet glass. Not a cloud in the sky.
Just when the moon lowered to the horizon, it started to glow bright orange. And just when it hit the edge of the ocean, the reflection shimmered all the way to the sand. It looked as if the moon was floating on the sea for just a few minutes. It was one of the most beautiful sights I have ever seen. Far more beautiful than any sunset.
#3
Was sailing off the coast of the big island Hawai'i in February. We were mostly interested in fishing since the wind had died down. There were no other boats around that were visible and it was a very calm and peaceful day. Now often you'll see Humpback whales breaching in Feb and you can also hear them singing if you are underwater. That is cool enough, but this encounter was awesome. I was baiting a hook, and suddenly on the starboard side of the boat a pod of about 20 [melon head whales](https://us.whales.org/whales-dolphins/species-guide/melon-headed-whale/) comes up right beside the boat and they just start staring us down. I lean over and this one dude moves a little closer and just keeps moving his head so he can eye me up and down. They all just kept staring at us with an expression of "WTF are these? Hoo interesting, don't look like they can swim at all." They eyed us at close quarters for about 5 min and then just took off. The weirdest part of the encounter was the close eye contact I had with the first whale was definitely two individuals sizing each other up. Best part of the whole day.
#4
On my phone so this is probably not going to do it justice! Was gently sailing down the northeast cost of New Zealand heading into Auckland at about 2-3 am. I was on watch and the other crew member was asleep below. It was a pitch black night,no moon and the sea was very still so as soon as you look overboard all you saw was black! Eventually you saw stars but it was impossible to distinguish sea from sky.
As I was keeping a watch I saw what I thought was a shooting star just MUCH bigger! It came again and again agin until there were about 30 of these shining glittering trails shooting around the boat. It was very disconcerting and it took me a few minutes to click what was happening.
We had sailed into a patch of luminescence while dolphins were swimming around the boat planing on both it and our wake. I had not noticed them due to it being so dark!
For something so simple it was a very moving almost spiritual experience and it will remain one of my all time most fondest memories!
#5
I was US Navy. Pretty sure we heard siren calls somewhere northwest of the Marshall Islands. Was on the smoke deck at three separate occasions at night and anyone who was out there heard what sounded like a distant scream/screech echoing over the waves. I remember it well cause it caused several man overboard scares where we'd all have to go muster to make sure those sounds weren't any of ours. Never actually saw anything, so I rationalize that it could've been some kind of animal or sea bird, but that s**t sounded human... but not entirely human. We joked for weeks after we left the region that Ariel (the Little Mermaid) was gonna kill us. This was 2013, but I still remember that sound like it was yesterday. The kind of sound that hits your core like a freezing wind does. Not something I'd want to hear again.
#6
Off the coast of South Africa, I worked aboard a cage-diving boat. I witnessed many amazing things, but one day a 5-plus metre female white shark approached the boat. She simply hung around and observed us, showing no interest in the cage, the chum, or the baitlines. Every time she returned to the surface, my brain would temporarily refuse to accept what I was witnessing due to how enormous she was. Like "That is what? It's so big, Jesus." She was very composed and observant. It was the first time I truly understood that, despite the fact that it is entirely foreign, there is some sort of intelligence operating in that brain.
Best Behave 1 year ago (edited)
They are intelligent. They’re sentient, and have complex social relationships.
#7
My area occasionally gets phytoplankton blooms.
If you're boating at night and sail into a bloom, [the wake of your boat will suddenly start glowing blue](https://www.ocregister.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/OCR-L-NEONWAVESTIPS-0324-07-1.jpg?w=620).
It's pretty darn bright, easily seen with the naked eye, and appears out of nowhere. One minute you're sailing in complete darkness, the next you're in glowing water.
#8
My dad and i rarely tell this to anyone because they laugh it off but this really happened. We were bith sober, awake and alert, and nothing we can think of in our world can explain it: We were motoring into an anchorage at about 10pm one night. The sea was perfectly still and the waves gently washed against the pebble beach. That was the only sound, apart from the quiet engine noise coming from underneath the floorboards. We both had our head through the top hatches, because it was quite nice weather. All of a sudden, a weird ball of cloud or mist with a faint light in it floats in from out of the night, like just materialised, hovers for long enough for both of us to see it, pauses, and then just accelerates upwards and away at about a 45 degree angle and completely disappears into the night sky. I s**t you not. That was almost 7 years ago and we both remember it exactly the same as the other. Nothing explains it. As far as Im concerned, that wasnt something from this earth
#9
When I was in the Navy, I served on a ship with a flat-Earther.
I don't know how someone goes to sea and continues to believe that the Earth is flat. [There's no experience that makes it more clear that the Earth is round than sailing the ocean.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_TpeNZYTmw)
liam newton-harding 1 year ago
The truly insane thing about flat earthers...apart from the whole earth is flat thing...is that they believe ONLY the Earth is flat. The Sun? Great big sphere. Mars? Sphere. Saturn, and Jupiter? Spheres. Earth? Great big disc, with an ice-wall around the edge that the World's Governments are keeping secret from us. You know, the same Governments that leave top secret documents in taxis, or on the top of their desk, at home.
#10
Migrants from haiti. Litterly floating on a makeshift raft constructed of soda bottles and spray foam.
#11
2 things. I was in the navy and deployed to Persian gulf 2x. First, it was like jelly fish season or something and when you looked in the water it looked like a massive amount of plastic bags but it was all jellyfish. And at night, the splashes coming from the ship glowed like blueish purple. Pretty awesome.
Second, still in navy and outside of Hawaii. I had flight deck watch from 6pm to 6am. Basically standing on the flight deck trying to sneak naps in the intakes of chained jets. We are outside of Hawaii waiting for high tide so we could get on shore. I see the Hawaiian islands as the sunrises. Then I see a bunch of humpback whales breaching between the ship and the shore. Probably the most surreal amazing thing I’ve ever seen. And I was alone just watching and basically tripping at how f*****g awesome it was.
#12
I was on a run between California and Hawaii, and I was out on deck doing rounds on deck equipment, checking oil levels etc. I saw one of those free fall lifeboats just hanging out in the distance and was like wtf. I called the bridge, they said a ship accidentally dropped their lifeboat a few years ago and now it turns up from time to time. Was glad to know no one was on it, but it gave me a brief scare.
#13
When the water is dead flat, and the sky is clear, at night, it's really possible to get completely disoriented and fall in. You can't tell where the water begins and the sky ends, so you always keep your hand on the lifeline.
#14
Lots of crazy little things, but I was on a ship that lost a man overboard in the Atlantic. Reports were that a life saver was thrown immediately after he fell in, the lookout said he saw a swell overtake him as he was going toward the life saver.., and that was it. We searched for hours, never seeing a single sign.. search lights in the water.. dark shaped swimming past them. Makes you realize how small we are in nature. Still think about it to this day.
#15
We were fishing in a bay with several other boats. The fog suddenly rolled in, but it. Was only about 4 or 5 feet high on the water. All the boats disappeared and all you could see was guys standing up in the fog fishing. It looked like fishing in heaven. This was pre cell phone so no photo, but I would have loved to have a photo of it
Leoninus Fate 1 year ago
I actually just learned about this! sea fog or lake fog forms when warm, moist air rolls over colder waters, rainforests have this a lot too with changes in temperature between their night and day! Thanks genshin!
#16
Being the middle of nowhere and seeing a star go streaking straight across the sky and when I said “wow”, the aft watch said wait a half hour, sure as s**t there was again in the same spot. It was a satellite on a geosynchronous orbit!
David Wilson 1 year ago
Umm, a satellite in geosynchronous orbit would appear fixed in the sky to an observer on Earth.
#17
Flying fish timed a wave right and jumped out the water and through an open hatch directly into the galley. Freeboard was like 7 metres. The chefs s**t themselves haha.
#18
I've told this story before so sorry for the repeat. Anyways...
Back in the 90's/early 00's I used to fish commercially for sea scallops in the Gulf of Maine. The boat I worked on was an old New England dragger, built in 1926, wood hull. It was all sorts of creaky and groany like you would expect an old wood boat to be, and when you were below deck you could actually see the hull "breathing," expanding and contracting as it rode up and down the waves. It was pretty freaky but also kinda cool at the same time!
Anyways, we mostly did day-trips, but at certain times of the season would venture further out for longer overnight trips. On more than one of those occasions, at night while down in the bunk trying to get some sleep, I would suddenly hear sharp "rapping" on the outside of the boat, distinctly like the sound of someone knocking on a wood door. Sometimes it was a one and done. Sometimes you'd get one or two at a time in waves throughout the night. Less often it would repeat over and over almost methodically moving around the boat for several minutes. It might start under your feet, then right beside your head, then switch to the other side of the boat, further down, etc. And then just suddenly stop.
Aside from the fact that we were miles out at sea, the boat's draft was 6.5", and almost all of the knocking was coming from below the water line, so there is no way it was a person doing it trying to play a prank or something. I wasn't the only one to hear it either; the captain admitted to hearing them sometimes while he was down there, and at least one of the previous owners of the boat had heard it before too. His theory was that was that when a scallop bed becomes too crowded, they would migrate by swimming up into the upper water column to find new areas to populate, and as we drifted through the "school" - or whatever you call a group of migrating scallops - their shells banging into the hull was what made the knocking sounds.
No idea if there is any validity to that, and I'm not convinced a sea scallop shell could knock as loudly and forcefully as the sounds we were hearing, but damned if I have any better explanation for it!
#19
Was in the Pacific Ocean on the way to Hawaii. Sunny day with no clouds, no waves, and a light breeze. I walked outside the ship and saw what looked like a few dozen bubbles in a small patch drifting by which made me think a whale or other creature was passing or close by. Then we drifted through a patch of these bubbles but there were thousands and they weren't popping. I noticed that they seemed to have mohawks and some were slightly purple. I asked someone on watch but they had no idea what it was so I kept asking around until someone said they looked like jellyfish. Turns out we went through a whole smack of Man Of War Jellyfish
Dawn Woolley 1 year ago
Once when I was a child I was walking along the beach and saw the most brilliant, bright blue object lying among the bits of shell, driftwood and cast up seaweed. It was dried out and very definitely dead, but the most beautiful deep blue. I didn't know what it was at that time, so picked it up to take back to our camp. Within moments I felt a horrendous burning pain. That day I learned that what we called bluebottles can still sting even in death.
#20
My dads bestie used to captain these HUGE cargo ships around Africa. They got a little too close to Somalia and as happens when one does that, Pirates attempted to seize the ship. They had to essentially blast the s**t out of people with fire hoses. He doesn’t talk about it much.
#21
While at sea we were on our way home from a “West Pac” (we went to the gulf, our marines disembarked and participated in OIF). On the way home, we were between Hawaii and San Diego. A marine was by the trash drop off, stripped down to his green shirt and shorts and jumped overboard. He was witnessed jumping so they immediately called for a man overboard. My dept was responsible for some SAR coordination so we are all gathered around a scope and listening to the radios. After two hours the helicopter spotted the guy, alive. They sent in rescue swimmers. Then we hear the pilot say something along the lines of “he’s swimming away from the rescue swimmer(s)!”
The fact that this guy was chilling out to sea and still had the stamina (I assume he was great at floating) to swim away from the rescue swimmers, was amazing to me.
#22
The first time you see a large sea turtle is kinda strange they look like floating boulders.
But the sea for as strange as it is is an amazing place as well seeing a flying fish or looking in the water and seeing fish as far as you can see is incredible.
I saw this quote on one of these once: “The sea gives and takes in equal measure”
#23
I suppose it was strange because my captain said he’d never seen it in all his years at sea.
It was a massive tuna that breached like it was a dolphin.
#24
Fishing offshore in S Florida, dolphin/porpoise are not unusual but usually in schools of 5 or so. One day we came across hundreds and hundreds, in small pods of 5-7 but pods everywhere over what would be blocks. Cool as s**t. We stopped trolling and just stayed with them briefly. All around our boat, checking us out, which isn't unusual. Everywhere. Going north.
Grudge-holding Treefrog 1 year ago
Probably heading to a large food source like a bait ball (thanks Planet Earth)
#25
I’ve only been out a few times on my ship in the US Coast Guard, but seeing countries from a distance never gets old to me. Haiti, Cuba, Turks and Caicos, etc. A random fish popping out of the open ocean. Sunsets and sunrises spent outside on watch.
The Panama Canal and Gatun Lake are among the most impressive and beautiful things I have ever seen.
Also, handmade Cuban migrant rafts. Heartbreaking work, but the ingenuity and resourcefulness of those people amazes me. To set out on the open ocean on a boat made of pallets and styrofoam is something else. Safety of life at sea is one of our biggest reasons for interdiction.
#26
Dead calm, glass-like water and low cloud. So perfectly flat water and no discernible features or horizon, almost pure silence too, it's weird, so weird
Katy McMouse 1 year ago
A couple of times, I've been in these conditions on Lake Erie, at night, and it is strangely more terrifying than being on the lake in a storm. I don't even like being on the shore, looking out, at night.
#27
Was in the US NAVY on lookout. Around 2 in the morning somewhere in the middle of the Pacific. I spotted a strange plane that was pink and blue flashing lights. These are not normal colors of plane lights. Control insisted it was a satellite because they couldn't see it on the radar. Wasn't no damned satellite. It was much bigger than any stars around it, the usual size of a plane in atmosphere. Or some kind of rocket maybe?
After a few minutes, it disappeared. No, I don't believe in aliens but we weren't near any sort of landmass for hundreds of miles.
#28
I'm telling my partner's story. He is an Atlabtic Ocean winter fisherman. He says the most unsettling thing that has happened to him was experiencing the doldrums in winter with fog so thick you can barely see the ocean that is just a few feet over the side of the boat.
They are in a 40 ft boat, so easily creamed by any tankers out there. Heavy fog rolls over them and everything just stops. No wind. Barely a ripple in the water. And they just sat there watching their radars and whatnot to make sure they weren't in anyone's path and just waited for the fog to lift and the air to keep moving.
Another creepy one is a friend had a man over board. They were able to hook the guy's clothes with a gaffe and where dragging him back on board. Remember, this is winter in the Atlantic ocean, the boat had to turn around to come alongside the man overboard. He had been in the freezing water long enough that he couldn't move limbs. The gaffe broke and the man fell back into the water. Due to the water in his coveralls and boots, they say he immediately sunk like a rock. In an almost instant he was gone. Couldn't see him. Couldn't bring his body home to his family.
#29
Commercial fishing, I saw a dolphin giving birth with another holding her up, an oil rig being delivered that was so tall, it disappeared in the clouds, and a seemingly empty cargo ship almost ran us over. The nastiest thing I ever saw was a man dressed in a nightgown tied to a bow in a storm for whining.
I had also never seen a real tuna fish or goliath grouper. They're as big as Volkswagons.
Kate Haslam 1 year ago
Saw a leatherback turtle once on a whale watching trip. Speaking of things as big as Volkswagens.
#30
Volunteering to help search for survivors when the Swiss Air plane crash of “98. Grim s**t, still gives me nightmares.
What do you think ?
Old Roadie 1 year ago (edited)
Oahu, Hawaii: ferry to Ford Island had monster hammerhead shark cruise alongside and nearly swamp the boat. Swore that beautiful shark knew what it was doing... definitely a "hey guys, watch this!" vibe. **FWIW If you can find Google Earth image of Oahu's Iroquois Point, at harbor entrance, circa 2002-05, you will see an unidentified object in water. Too big for a shark, and water too shallow for whales. It looked like a giant snake.
Colin Matthews 1 year ago
was out on a small tinnie off banks peninsula, south island NZ a bunch of hectors dolphins went past us. tiny little things they are endangered and there is a set net ban to protect them about 5 minutes later a pod of orca went charging by looking to eat them for breakfast. The dolphins took to hiding by the boat, or bolting for shallow water. Strange time though being in the middle of a life and death struggle.
Salty Sasquatch 1 year ago
I'm sorry to say that shallow water wouldn't have helped them. I watched a documentary that showed orcas coming up ONTO the beach to catch seals. They had to time it so a wave would get them on the beach then wash them back out to sea. They didn't catch seals every time, but often enough. This was on a South American beach, don't remember which.
Load More Replies...
Helen Bennett 1 year ago
This story is giving me goosebumps up and down, and bringing me back to the beauty, the awesomeness, the fear, strangeness and amazing vastness of this planet. Thank you <3
Old Roadie 1 year ago (edited)
Oahu, Hawaii: ferry to Ford Island had monster hammerhead shark cruise alongside and nearly swamp the boat. Swore that beautiful shark knew what it was doing... definitely a "hey guys, watch this!" vibe. **FWIW If you can find Google Earth image of Oahu's Iroquois Point, at harbor entrance, circa 2002-05, you will see an unidentified object in water. Too big for a shark, and water too shallow for whales. It looked like a giant snake.
Colin Matthews 1 year ago
was out on a small tinnie off banks peninsula, south island NZ a bunch of hectors dolphins went past us. tiny little things they are endangered and there is a set net ban to protect them about 5 minutes later a pod of orca went charging by looking to eat them for breakfast. The dolphins took to hiding by the boat, or bolting for shallow water. Strange time though being in the middle of a life and death struggle.
Salty Sasquatch 1 year ago
I'm sorry to say that shallow water wouldn't have helped them. I watched a documentary that showed orcas coming up ONTO the beach to catch seals. They had to time it so a wave would get them on the beach then wash them back out to sea. They didn't catch seals every time, but often enough. This was on a South American beach, don't remember which.
Load More Replies... Helen Bennett 1 year ago
This story is giving me goosebumps up and down, and bringing me back to the beauty, the awesomeness, the fear, strangeness and amazing vastness of this planet. Thank you <3
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