Zebrina (ship)

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For the gastropod, see Zebrina.
For the plant Tradescantia zebrina of Commelinaceae family, see Tradescantia.

Zebrina was a schooner-rigged, 3-masted sailing barge, of 189 tons, built in 1873 at Whitstable, originally intended to trade in the River Plate. She was discovered aground on the coast of France in October 1917 with her crew missing.

The Zebrina sailed from Falmouth in October 1917, commanded by Captain Martin, with a cargo of Swansea coal for Saint-Brieuc, France. Two days later she was found ashore on Rozel Point, south of Cherbourg, without damage except for some disarrangement of her rigging, but without her crew.[1]

At the time it was assumed that her crew had been taken off by a U-boat preparatory to the submarine sinking the vessel by gunfire. The U-boat presumably sighted, or was sighted by, an Allied vessel and departed the scene before she could sink the Zebrina, and was later sunk herself with the crew of the Zebrina aboard.[2]

The case is often referenced in popular books about mysterious disappearances, when her destination is commonly misprinted as Saint Brieux, and it is claimed that she was found adrift.[3][4]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Leather, John (1984). Barges. Adlard Coles, p. 52. ISBN 0229115942. 
  2. ^ George Griffith Carr, George (1971). Sailing Barges. Conway Maritime Press, p. 127. 
  3. ^ Begg, Paul (1979). Into Thin Air: People Who Disappear. Newton Abbot, p. 60. ISBN 9780715377246. OCLC 6160803. 
  4. ^ Marshall, Richard (1982). Mysteries of the unexplained. Pleasantville, New York: Reader's Digest Association. ISBN 9780895771469. OCLC 10605367. 

[edit] References

  • Masters, David (1936). When Ships Go Down: More Wonders of Salvage. Eyre & Spottiswoode. 


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