The Lifeboat on Bouvet Island
On the most remote island on Earth, explorers found an abandoned lifeboat with oars and supplies. No ship was reported missing, and no one was ever found.
What was reported
Bouvet Island, in the South Atlantic, is the most remote island in the world: about 1,600 kilometres from Antarctica and further still from South Africa. It's almost entirely covered by a glacier, with steep cliffs and no harbour, and no one lives there.
In 1964, a team visiting the island found a small lifeboat in a lagoon, with oars and some supplies, and signs that someone may have been there. There was no ship known to be missing, and no sign of the people who brought it.
Explanations offered
No one knows where the lifeboat came from or what happened to whoever was in it. Some have speculated about a lost ship, a secret expedition, or Cold War activity in the area. Bouvet is also near the site of the 1979 Vela incident, an unexplained flash detected by a satellite.
- When
- Found in 1964
- Where
- Bouvet Island, South Atlantic Ocean
- Witnesses
- A British and South African expedition
- Status
- Never explained
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.
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