This Mysterious Boat Washed Up On Ireland’s Coast, And There Wasn’t A Single Trace Of Any Crew

[Music] residents of County Mayo in Ireland got quite the surprise in the fall of 2016 when a boat appeared on a local beach completely out of the blue and when officials subsequently went to investigate the mysterious vessel they were amazed by what they discovered the waters off the west coast of Ireland can be wild at best of times so when an unusual boat was spotted bobbing around aimless on the ocean in November of 2016 onlookers were deeply concerned for any passengers that might have been trapped inside as a result of rescue crews set out to recover the vessel and bring it to dry land but when the team got inside the boat they were shocked to discover that no one was on board situated on Ireland's Atlantic coast County Mayo is the third largest Irish County and has a population of over 130,000 people furthermore the area is known for its imposing rocky sea cliffs some of which are among the tallest in Europe but mayo's majestic coastal scenery has been somewhat overshadowed in recent years by the bizarre array of items that have washed up on the county shores in June of 2017 for example an American tourist found a kilo of cocaine on a beach in the area then a few months later a seemingly random helmet and lifejacket were discovered it's now believed though that the latter two items belonged to either Paul Ormsby or Seiran Smith two coast guards who disappeared in March of that year after their helicopter crashed shipwrecks have been found along the area's coastline to the British sailing ship SV arethusa sank off there after it was attacked by the Germans in 1917 while the remains of another wreck emerged in 2017 as the Atlantic is known for its wild and stormy waters though shipwrecks perhaps shouldn't come as too much of a shock however that didn't stop 2016 strange boat based discovery from surprising many of the people involved on an autumnal day of that year locals spot in an unusual houseboat near cross beach before subsequently informing the authorities understandably Coast Guard and lifeboat crews then hurried out on an emergency mission to recover anyone who might still be inside but after securing the vessel with ropes the rescue who were bewildered to discovered that there wasn't anybody on board one of the first people on the scene was the Bali glassed Coast Guard units Michael Hirst who notified another Coast Guard crew before rushing to the beach to help I didn't know what to think I was just concerned about safety and securing it he told the Daily Telegraph then I thought where in the name of God did this come from and who built it indeed the vessel was unusual in itself - Hirst revealed that the boat was made of offcuts of timber spray foam and polystyrene while it also had solar panels and Purse Plex windows what's more the mysterious vessel was fairly small for an ocean-going craft measuring approximately 12 feet wide 20 feet in length and 10 feet high such was the peculiarity of the boat in fact hers compared it to a floating Caravan but while the outside of the vessel was weathered internally it remained relatively good condition I wouldn't go out on it but if you were homeless it could be like a castle first added now of course when the bizarre boat was found there was no trace of any crew members inside which begged the question just where it the craft come from to try and get some answers the Coast Guard unit decided to investigate the ghostly vessel a little more thoroughly and on closer inspection the team discovered a message scribbled on one of the walls happily for the team the handwritten note gave them a big hint about both the mystery boat builder and where the vessel had originated I Rick small donate this structure to a homeless youth to give them a better life that Newfoundlanders choose not to do the message read no rent no mortgage no hydro from this information it's believed that the Rick's small in question is an eco adventure based in Ontario Canada and the Canadian had developed quite the reputation for travelling across the country in unusual ways in fact he once journeyed 4375 miles from British Columbia to Newfoundland on a tricycle powered by solar energy and once members of the Irish coast established the boats potential owner they got in touch with authorities in Halifax Canada to let them know of the discovery needless to say the Canadian officials were shocked that the vessel had made it so far amazingly small had reportedly been intending to sail the boat across the Atlantic himself thankfully though the Canadian authorities managed to dissuade small from making the treacherous four thousand mile crossing they said the owner was hoping to cross the Atlantic in the boat but they managed to discourage him a spokesman for the Irish Coast Guard revealed the boat was last seen in Portugal Cove in Newfoundland during the summer and it broke loose the Halifax authorities were amazed it made it to Ireland in one piece after the news of the vessels remarkable journey spread some people revealed that they'd seen the boat before it had drifted away from its Canadian home and surprisingly many were stunned that it had survived a trip across the Atlantic Ocean it's amazing how it got here Hugh Gillespie shared on Facebook meanwhile another Facebook user Colton McDonald added I worked at a local lumberyard here in Newfoundland I spent a lot of time helping Rick get the material he purchased from the art weird character but really interesting amazing how far the vessel got I'll have to just speculate on what happened to him back in Ireland Mayo County Council had an empty houseboat on its hands so the vessel was placed in a nearby storage depot meanwhile an official known as a receiver of wreck was assigned to look after the boat with the vessels rightful owner having one year in which to claim it but in the weeks after the vessel washed ashore small didn't contact the authorities and despite efforts to find and inform small of the boats discovery the Canadian seemingly couldn't be reached all of which meant that a decision couldn't be made on the boats future for at least one year but with the vessels future still in the balance many groups declared that they wish to take ownership of it after all small had seemingly intended to give the boat away and the structure needed only minor refurbishments among the interesting parties were the nonprofit group Men's Shed which had offered to work on restoring the vessel perhaps more bizarrely it was suggested that the boat could become a tourist attraction on Ireland's Atlantic way the vessels arrival on the beach led hundreds of people to flock to see it so it was hoped that a permanent beachfront residence for the boat might boost local tourism either way Hirst explained that many people wanted the bizarre boat to remain in mail if the vessels not claimed and it remains in Ireland we'd like to see a couple okely first hold the mayo' news there's been a lot of interest in it and the feeling locally is that because it came ashore here it should remain here check out these other videos from let me know if you haven't made the move to subscribe to our channel all you need to do is click on that red subscribe button thank you for watching

Channel: Let Me Know

Views: 1,733,760

Rating: 4.2367764 out of 5

Keywords: abandoned, adrift, Atlantic, atlantic ocean, beach, boat, Canada, coast, Coast Guard, County Mayo, Eco-travel, Halifax, homeless, Houseboat, Ireland, Mayo, Mystery, newfoundland, ocean, Portugal Cove, Rick Small, sea, ship, shipwreck, vessel, wreck, Bizarre and Offbeat News

Id: BNJmHuFbSN4

Length: 7min 21sec (441 seconds)

Published: Sat Oct 06 2018