Ourang Medan

One English reference to the ship and the incident is in May 1954 issue of the Proceedings of the Merchant Marine Council, published by the United States Coast Guard.[3] An earlier English reference was published on October 10, 1948 in The Albany Times of Albany, N.Y. and references its original source as Elsevier's Weekly.[4] The word Ourang (also written Orang) is Malay or Indonesian for "man" or "person",[5] whereas Medan is the largest city on the Indonesian island of Sumatra, giving an approximate translation of "Man from Medan". Accounts of the ship's accident have appeared in various books and magazines, mainly on Forteana. Their factual accuracy and even the ship's existence, however, are unconfirmed, and details of the vessel's construction and history, if any, remain unknown. Searches for any official registration or accident investigation recorded have proven unsuccessful.[2]

The story's first appearance was a series of three articles in the Dutch-Indonesian newspaper De locomotief: Samarangsch handels- en advertentie-blad (February 3, 1948,[6] February 28, 1948,[7] and March 13, 1948).[8] The story is mostly the same as the later versions, but with significant differences. The name of the ship that found the Ourang Medan is never mentioned, but the location of the encounter is described as 400 nautical miles (740 km; 460 mi) southeast of the Marshall Islands. The second and third articles describe the experiences of the sole survivor of the Ourang Medan crew, who was found by an Italian missionary and natives on Toangi [sic] atoll in the Marshall Islands. The man, before perishing, tells the missionary that the ship was carrying a badly stowed cargo of sulphuric acid, and that most of the crew perished because of the poisonous fumes escaping from broken containers. According to the story, the Ourang Medan was sailing from an unnamed small Chinese port to Costa Rica, and deliberately avoided the authorities. The survivor, an unnamed German, died after telling his story to the missionary, who told the story to the author, Silvio Scherli of Trieste, Italy. The Dutch newspaper concludes with a disclaimer:

"This is the last part of our story about the mystery of the Ourang Medan. We must repeat that we don't have any other data on this 'mystery of the sea'. Nor can we answer the many unanswered questions in the story. It may seem obvious that this is a thrilling romance of the sea. On the other hand, the author, Silvio Scherli, assures us of the authenticity of the story."[8]

Silvio Scherli is said to have produced a report on Trieste "Export Trade" on September 28, 1959.[9]

New evidence found by The Skittish Library shows there were 1940 newspaper reports of the incident taken from the Associated Press in British newspapers the Daily Mirror and the Yorkshire Evening Post. Again, there were differences in the story. The location being the Solomon Islands, and the SOS messages different from later reports. The story still appears to originate with Silvio Scherzi in Trieste.[10]

According to the story, at some point of time in or around June 1947[2] (Gaddis and others list the approximate date as early February 1948[11][12]), two American vessels navigating the Straits of Malacca, the City of Baltimore and the Silver Star, among others passing by, picked up several distress messages from the nearby Dutch merchant ship Ourang Medan.[2][13] A radio operator aboard the troubled vessel sent the following message in Morse code: "S.O.S. from Ourang Medan * * * We float. All officers including the captain, dead in chartroom and on the bridge. Probably whole of crew dead * * *." A few confused dots and dashes (of Morse code) later, two words came through clearly. They were "I die." Then, after that chilling message, there was nothing more heard of.[3] When the Silver Star crew eventually located and boarded the apparently-undamaged Ourang Medan in an attempt at a rescue, the ship was found littered with corpses (including the carcass of a dog) everywhere, with the dead bodies found sprawled on their backs, the frozen (and allegedly badly-frightened) faces of the deceased upturned to the sun above with mouths gaping open and eyes staring straight ahead, with the corpses resembling horrible caricatures.[3] No survivors were located and no visible signs of injuries on the dead bodies were observed.[11][12] Just as the ship was to be prepared for a tow by the Silver Star to a nearby port, a fire then suddenly broke out in the ship's No. 4 cargo-hold, forcing the boarding party to hastily evacuate the doomed Dutch freighter, thus preventing any further investigations to be carried out. Soon after, the Ourang Medan was witnessed exploding before finally sinking.[11][14]

Public interest in the story of the Ourang Medan is reflected in correspondence sent to the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (C.I.A.). In December 1959, C.H. Marck Jr. of Scottsdale, Arizona sent a private letter to Director of the C.I.A. Allen Dulles. Within the letter, Marck first asks the recipient of the letter if they believe the story of the Ourang deals with “something from the unknown” then retells the story of the Ourang and its sinking.

The letter was released to the public May 5, 2003. The person to whom Marck wrote remains redacted by the C.I.A.[15] But in the letter, Marck references an earlier writing he sent on May 29, 1958. It was answered briefly "on behalf of Mr. Dulles" by the "Assistant to the Director," who takes a dismissive tone. This response, released May 7, 2002, establishes the C.I.A. as the recipient.[16]

Several authors note their inability to find any mention of the case in Lloyd's Shipping Register.[2][13][14] Furthermore, no registration records for a ship by the name of Ourang Medan could be located in various countries, including the Netherlands. While author Roy Bainton states that the identity of the Silver Star, reported to have been involved in the failed rescue attempt, has been established with high probability, the complete lack of information on the sunken ship itself has given rise to suspicion about the origins and credibility of the account. Ships logs for the Silver Star did not show a record of any such rescue attempt. Bainton and others have put forward the possibility that accounts of, among others, the date, location, names of the ships involved, and circumstances of the accident might have been inaccurate or exaggerated, or that the story might be completely fictitious.[2]

One British researcher has found the story of the Ourang Medan, transposed to the Solomon Islands, but also with a Trieste connection, in two British newspapers in 1940 (The Yorkshire Evening Post for 21 November 1940 and The Daily Mirror for 22 November 1940), both quoting AP (The Associated Press) news agency.[1]

• The Dark Pictures Anthology: Man of Medan, a 2019 video game influenced by the Ourang Medan.

• Letter sent to CIA inquiring about incident
• CIA response to inquirer
• A in-depth look at the 75+ Year Old Legend of The SS Ourang Medan
• An episode of the Thinking Sideways podcast about the ghost ship, featuring an interview with Roy Bainton.