The Octavius, the Ship Found Frozen
A whaling crew boarded a drifting ship off Greenland and found its crew frozen at their posts, the captain at his desk, pen in hand. The last log entry was thirteen years old.
What was reported
The story goes that in 1775, the whaler Herald came upon a sailing ship drifting among the icebergs off Greenland. The boarding party found every member of the crew frozen, below decks and in their bunks, and the captain sitting at his desk in the cabin.
His logbook's last entry was dated 1762. The Octavius, it was said, had tried to sail home from Asia through the Northwest Passage, become trapped in the ice, and drifted for thirteen years. The frightened boarders took the log and left.
Explanations offered
No records of a ship called Octavius or of the Herald's find have been traced, and the story first appeared in print decades later. It's probably a sailors' tale, though similar to real cases of ships lost in the Arctic ice.
- When
- Said to be 1775
- Where
- Off western Greenland
- Witnesses
- The crew of a whaling ship, according to the story
- Status
- Probably a legend
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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