The Mysterious Ghost Ship and mummified captain
Fishermen searching a ghost ship they had discovered drifting 62 miles off the coast of the Philippines found the captain’s mummified remains slumped over a desk near the radio, possibly preparing to make a last-ditch mayday call before he passed away.
Or perhaps he was just dozing off when he suffered a heart attack. Authorities believe he died of natural causes, but the cause of death is still unknown and there were no indications of foul play. Mark Navales, the deputy police chief of Barobo in the Philippines, told AFP, “It is still a mystery to us.”
Among the mysteries are the length of time the man had been dead and the duration of time the 40-foot yacht, commonly identified as Sayo (or Sajo, according to Barobo Police), had been drifting.
According to AFP, forensic experts identified the man as Manfred Fritz Bajorat, 59, of Germany, and they concluded he had been deceased for over four days.
Christopher Rivas, a fisherman, and his friends discovered the yacht with most of the cabin submerged and its mast damaged. The Mirror said that picture albums, clothing, and food tins were scattered throughout the cabin.
Around 4:30 p.m., the fishermen found the ghost ship. towed it to Barobo on Thursday, and when they arrived on Friday, the police there opened an investigation. Bajorat’s friend thinks he has one more piece to the puzzle.
A world sailor named Dieter told Germany’s BILD newspaper, “He was a very experienced sailor,” the Daily Mail reported. He wouldn’t have gone into a storm, in my opinion.
“I believe the mast broke after Manfred was already dead.”
The Daily Mail cited the BILD in reporting that a friend had gotten in touch with him on Facebook a year prior on his birthday, although The Express stated that no one has claimed to have seen him since 2009.
Reportedly having sailed around the globe for two decades, Bajorat separated from his spouse, Claudia, in 2008. He had taken her sailing. On May 2, 2010, she subsequently passed away from cancer.
According to the Daily Mail, Bajorat penned an epitaph and shared it on a sailors’ Internet forum.
“Thirty years we’ve been together on the same path,” he wrote in his letter. “Then the power of the demons was stronger than the will to live. You’re gone. May your soul find its peace. Your Manfred.”
Mystery solved
When fishermen found the boat drifting 62 miles off the coast of the Philippines, no one knew how long a mummified sailor’s body had been slumped over a desk by a radio on a ghost ship.
Despite the lack of evidence of foul play, police in Barobo, a town on Mindanao Island in the Philippines, had opened an investigation to see if a crime had been committed.
Fortunately, the majority of the mystery has now been resolved.
According to the autopsy conducted by [the] regional crime laboratory, acute myocardial infarction is the cause of death, national police spokesperson Chief Superintendent Wilben Mayor told Agence France-Presse, as reported by Breitbart News and Daily Mail. “The German national is estimated to have been dead for more or less seven days.”
Authorities concluded on Wednesday that Manfred Fritz Bajorat, 59, died from a heart attack, as some had speculated. No crimes were committed.
Authorities were perplexed by the body’s mummified state, but forensics specialists told the Express that a body can be mummified or preserved quickly by a combination of tropical heat, dry wind, and salty sea air.
As a forensic Egyptologist from Monash University’s Department of Forensic Medicine, Dr. Janet Davey told the Express, “all you need is the right conditions so the body does not decompose.” “Dry and slightly windy conditions are necessary for a body to mummify naturally, unlike the ancient Egyptians who artificially mummified bodies. “It also helps when the body is in an enclosed area so insects do not attack the body.”
Fisherman Christopher Rivas and his friends found the 44-foot yacht with a broken mast and the cabin filled with clothes, food tins, and photo albums when they came across Bajorat’s nude corpse in the cabin. It’s unclear if the mast broke prior to or following the captain’s passing.
Additionally, authorities in Germany located a member of Bajorat’s family.
Chief Inspector Dominador Plaza, head of Barobo police, told AFP, “It looks he has a daughter [Nina] based in Germany and the embassy is to fly her here to identify the dead body.”
After splitting up with his wife Claudia in 2008, Bajorat, who is rumored to have traveled the world for 20 years, mostly with her, passed away two years later.
