GHOST SHIPS
On 6 November 2023, a mysterious sailing boat beached on the Weststrand on the German East Frisian island of Norderney and caused quite a sensation. It looked like a prop from a Hollywood pirate movie – the self-built boat was certainly no normal affair. It was rumoured that no one was on board, as a mysterious ship without any lights had repeatedly been seen near the island of Juist over the past few weeks. The beached “phantom boat” attracted large crowds of sightseers who wondered where it had come from.
However, this modern mystery was soon solved. The captain came forward, a 70-year-old man from Freiburg, Germany, who had been intermittently living alone on his ship, the , for 17 years while sailing the North Sea. The boat was quite derelict even before he stranded on the island on his way from Hooksiel near Cuxhaven to the islands of Spiekeroog and Juist. The skipper at first refused assistance and was unwilling to leave his ship, but finally
