‘Ghost ship’ washes ashore after surviving hurricane

A 'ghost ship' washed ashore the a Florida Panhandle beach after being abandoned at the start of Tropical Storm Alberto.

An abandoned vessel dubbed a ghost ship for its eerie appearance washed ashore weeks after surviving a hurricane.

Pensacola Beach residents were shocked to see a 45-foot sailboat with ripped sails become beached in Florida’s Panhandle on the evening of June 18.

‘We called it the “ghost ship.” It quickly became known as the “ghost ship” across Pensacola beach,’ meteorologist and storm chaser Allie Garrett told NBC News.

Francine Farrar of Meridian, Mississippi, said the vessel ‘looked ghostly, just kind of coming in’.

‘We just thought this sailboat broke loose from the marina, that someone didn’t tie it down well enough,’ said Farrar.

Social media posts of the ‘ghost ship’ eventually reached Michael Barlow, 39, who identified it as The Lady Catherine III, which he bought in Fort Pierce in May for $80,000.

Barlow had set sail on The Catherine on May 21, heading to Rockport, Texas, to dock it and carry out plans to ‘explore the world’ with his wife and their nine-year-old son.

He and a friend were in the ocean when they encountered dangerous waves caused by what became Hurricane Alberto, the first tropical storm of the Atlantic hurricane season.

‘We lost the autopilot the first day forcing us to hand steering for the next two days. We then lost our headsail from a wild wind shift followed shortly by the engine,’ wrote Barlow on a GoFundMe page for his sailboat recovery effort.

‘This effectively left us with zero control of the vessel, for fear of broaching, absolutely defeated, feeling like I had literally been smacked by the hand of God, and nearing hypothermia and fearful for our lives we radioed the Coast guard.’

The US Coast Guard in New Orleans on June 1 responded to a vessel that was ‘disabled’ about 190 miles south of Panama City, and spotted The Catherine with Barlow and his friend on board.

Learning that a boat-to-boat rescue was impossible due to the choppy waters, Barlow decided to abandon the ship.

‘Helicopter aircrew hoisted the two persons aboard and transported them to Panama City Airport in Panama City, Florida,’ stated the Coast Guard.

Barlow said he and his friend tried to leave The Catherine in a condition to survive the storm.

‘We lashed everything down and we hoped she could ride it out,’ he said.

Tropical Storm Alberto brought heavy rainfall and flood threats to parts of the Texas coast and moved inland to northeast Mexico and left at least four people dead.

When The Catherine turned up on the beach almost 20 days later, Barlow said, ‘I knew it was her.’

Barlow must pay $20,000 to move his boat to a dry dock and repairs could cost tens of thousands of dollars. He hopes to salvage her instead of paying $28,000 to have her hauled away and destroyed.

The GoFundMe page had raised Barlow’s $10,000 goal as of Tuesday afternoon.

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