A “ghost ship” that was drifting for at least a few months perplexed beach-goers who found it washed up on a Washington state island.
Twitter user Ryan Clark tweeted a photo Tuesday of the large boat resting on a Whidbey Island beach after it was brought in by the tide.
“You didn’t lose an old ferry on #whidbeyisland did you? Washed ashore near Clinton!” Clark tweeted, tagging the official Washington State Ferries account.
Joe Smiley, a representative for the state Department of Natural Resources, officials who first received reports of the boat drifting without a crew near Port Townsend “a couple of months ago.”
Larry Altose of the state Ecology Department said the boat had been seen adrift in Port Susan, near the Tulalip Indian Reservation, Dec. 30. Tulalip police investigated and determined the boat didn’t have any fuel aboard, so the state National Resources Department’s derelict vessel program was contacted.
The boat, called Liberty, was built in 1980 and measures 50 feet long and 12 feet wide. Officials said crews will pull the 16-ton boat off the beach during the next high tide and it will be towed to Everett.
The ship’s origins, and how it came to be adrift, were unclear.
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Source: United Press International
