The Bouvet Island Lifeboat

Lying deep in the South Atlantic, Bouvet Island has been described as among the most isolated places on Earth. The nearest land mass is Antarctica, more than 1,700 kilometers (1,100 mi) further south. No has ever inhabited the island and since plant life is unsustainable there, it is likely that no one ever will. Yet when a British expedition arrived from South Africa in 1964, they discovered an abandoned lifeboat in a lagoon on the island. Not far from the boat were oars, wood, a drum, and a copper tank. The boat was in a good condition, but the expedition party could find no trace of any passengers. The boat had no identifiable marks on it and therefore could not be traced back to any nation or shipping company.

Even more strangely, when another expedition was sent to Bouvet Island two years later, the lifeboat had vanished. All of the other objects found near it had also disappeared. To date no one knows how the boat got there—or what happened to the people that were in it.