As reported by Lauren Montemurri for ActionHub.com, several sea kayakers setting off for a trip down the Ohio River re-discovered a maritime poltergeist while paddling: kayaker James Malott and friends came across a modern-day ghost ship….
According to the report, the 186-foot vessel is more than 112 years old, and remains almost perfectly intact.
The reports show that it was named The Celt by its 1902 architects and was originally a private yacht. When WWI began, it was commandeered by the Navy and renamed the USS Sachem. The yacht was then outfitted with torpedoes and other weapons to aid in the defeat of German U-Boats.
After the war, Montemurri’s research shows that the boat fell into the hands of none other than Thomas Edison, who spent time aboard conducting experiments in New York Harbor before sailing it to the Keys. He then returned it to the Navy, who returned it to the original owner, Captain Jacob “Jake” Martin of Brooklyn, New York, who used it for fishing during the Great Depression.
Once the U.S. entered WWII, the ship was reclaimed by the government and renamed the USS Phenakite. It spent the entire war training soldiers for battle. Its final purpose, Montemurri reports, was as a tourist ferry for the Circle Line company. “Its title,” she writes, “Circle V, is still barely visible on the ship’s hull. Madonna even filmed her video for “Papa Don’t Preach” on the boat deck before it was eventually retired and laid to rest on the Ohio.”
The boat was later purchased by a Cincinnati businessman who hoped to restore it, but has remained untouched for more than 30 years in its current position along the Ohio.
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