A “ghost ship” recently appeared in Penacola Beach, a Florida beach. The boat seemed abandoned and the appearance of its broken candles quickly caught the attention of the residents. However, after a long investigation, The authorities discovered that he hid a shocking story. Its owner is a man from Texas and the last trip he made with “The Lady Catherine” It was May 21.
The X user (former Twitter) Allie Garrett, 35 -year -old Pensacola resident, filmed with his drone the finding that went viral. “The Lady Catherine sailed on her final trip and nobody knew. Weeks after the crew was rescued by the US Coast Guard .
The Lady Catherine sailed Fort Pierce on May 21with plans to dock in Rockport, Texas. Its owner is Michael Barlow, 39who said he had special plans for that sailboat. “We were going to explore the world with my wife and my nine -year -old son,” said the man.
In an interview with NBC News, Barlow said: “We are normal people. We have normal, very basic finances. And this was the only way to show my son that there is a world beyond North America. ”
It all began to complicate when on the trip, Barlow and a friend crossed the strong winds and the huge waves, which eventually became the Hurricane Alberto. This climate phenomenon affected his ship and left it inoperable. “Our front candles exploded”the man said and added: “We lost the engine, and the ship turned. It was devastating “.
Barlow used a satellite communication device to inform the authorities that were trapped in dangerous waters. On June 1, the Coast Guard in New Orleans was alert of two navigators, whose “boat was disabled approximately 300 kilometers south of Panama City “. A helicopter and a surveillance plane found Barlow and his friend on the boat, but a boat rescue to boat was impossible in those unstable waters.
“They told us: ‘We can come to look for you right now, but you have to leave the boat’. We were betting our lives if we stayed, ”recalled the sailboat owner. Barlow chose the rescue above the ship that bought for $ 80,000. However, when the boat appears in Florida, the economic landscape changed.
There are different options for the captain to recover his boat. Taking the Lady Catherine to a dry dock for repairs costs US $ 20,000while the arrangements could exceed the value it had before Hurricane Alberto.
Another possibility is to invest US $ 28,000 for the boat to be removed and demolishedwhich at least would stop financial loss. Anyway, Barlow says that thinking in terms of “business”, what makes more sense is Use the ship and sell the parts that are not damaged To recover some money and in the future, start from scratch with the project.
