[teknohog]

The Silver Star's crew decided that the best course of action would be to guide the ship back into land, so that the bodies could be identified, and so they roped the ships together and began guiding the Medan back to port. None of the crew wanted to stay on the Medan (Who could blame them) and so they all sat on their own ship for the process. This turned out to be a most fortuitous turn of events, however, because one sailor soon spotted a torrent of smoke rising from the Medan's hold. Thinking quick, the captain ordered for the tow to be cut and they drifted away from the Medan just before the ship exploded and then sank. Down to the depths of the Indian ocean, taking all evidence of the crew's fate down with it. [links]

[casascius]

I always find it more interesting when we get a story that is either based on or inspired by true events. With such a foundation comes a certain air of verisimilitude that engrosses the audience with the story, this works especially well in horror settings. Just look at 1979's Amityville Horror, it's a decent movie in it's own right (if horror is your thing.) but once you learn that the featured 'haunted' house is real, along with the gruesome murder that allegedly cursed the place, things become so much more interesting. Perhaps as a consequence of the movie, the mystery of the, seemingly motiveless, 1974 murders has haunted the psyche of conspiracy theorist for decades. I've found theories that blame everything for supernatural ghosts to a secret mind-control experiment instituted by the CIA. Both the fictional movie and the real life event are propelled into 'urban legend' status due to their connection, and I feel the same may happen with The Man of Medan and the Ourang Medan.

[infraspace]

Perspectives on Games and the Gaming culture from down in Outer London.

[jonibangetz]

"Enough stalling, what happened to the Ourang Medan?" Well, me, that is the question that has been on everyone's lips for the past seventy years. In the year of 1947, (Or was it 1948, or 1940? Conflicting news reports point everywhere.) the SS Ourang Medan called into the coastguard with a distressing message in Morse. They reported the death of their Captain, their skipper and requested help to be sent their way. Before anymore details could be sent, however, the Medan went radio silent after issuing one final, chilling, message: "I die."

[m0mchil]

But none of this goes to explain what happened to the crew itself. It seems like some sort of supernatural entity went wild on the ship, in fact, the CIA expressed interest in such a possibility in the 50's. (Which we know due to unclassified correspondence released in 2002) But the more popular theories tend to be more. scientific, to borrow Supermassive's words. (From here on I will be delving into spoilers for The Man of Medan, so abandon blog those who care!) Just like in the game, the real reason for the death's of the Medan's crew could be due to some sort of chemical leakage. The twisted faces of the crew seem to indicate that they suffered the effects of some war-era Neuro-toxin leakage, perhaps due to sea water getting into the hold. That would also make any present Nitroglycerin highly volatile and unstable.

[Guillermo]

another ship called the Silver Star found the ship adrift and boarder her to find out what was going on. the found corpse's littered through the ship, the bodies were rigid and seemed like they were frozen in place with looks of absolute terror. here

[susisusan]

The Silver star attempted to tow the Ourang Medan back to port but a fire broke out in the Medan's cargo hold and the ship sank. [links]

[grrrl]

The final message from the ship was "I Die" here

[parallel]

When i saw the title and the look of the ship it reminded me of the real world ship called The Ourang Medan, In 1948 2 other ships in the Straights of Malaaca when they were receiving Morse code transmissions "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 * * *." more

[ryanrus13]

why i posted this? The title and the premise made me think of this ill fated ship and i figured its an interesting story so why not share it. its a known ghost ship, some claim it was some mystical powers that killed the crew while others are sticking to science. if you are intrested in the ship you can find out more about it. Have fun! here

[bethel]

Ourang Medan is not a combat ship, it's hard to imagine how such ship will have a role in SHMUP game like Azur Lane. The closest of "Non-combat" ship that we have is repair ship (Vestal and Akashi), and both are still have some use aside for their repairs, mainly as AA platform. There's not many combat ship with ghost stories associated with them, because combat ship's crew usually being busy on battle-readiness and shooting enemy ship instead of bothering with ghost stories. But, since sailors are known to being superstitious, the closest that I can find is UB-65 here

[nrtr]

If you want Combat Ships (edit: I forgot to specify 'Of WW2') that have ghost stories attached to them, the USS Hornet (Essex) is considered the most haunted warship in history - so much so her 'Black Ghost' nickname has taken on another meaning entirely - and USS Lexington (also Essex) is considered right up there with her (although a case of usually benevolent haunting). USS Laffey (Sumner) was also considered to be haunted, with claims that every year on the anniversary of her 'hell from the skies' affair, the poor girl would relive the entire event in the middle of the night and you could hear it all in real time. [links]

[D҉ataWraith]

The Ourang Medan is a RL ship with a ghost story attached to it and it's technically a ship so AL can make more shipfu. IDK how I want AL to design them but my theory would be ghost ships should be "Siren"-Hybrids as they are not normal ships. here

[tuxsoul]

Sadly, all of these are 'Revenge Series' ships, which means they are unlikely to be added into AL due to their earlier counterpart already being in the game. Which is sad, because all three of them represent high points in the apex of the USN might of WW2. more

[asdfman]

here

[eurekafag]

Curiously, a letter written by the assistant to the Director of the CIA, Allen Dulles in 1959, a man named C.H Marck Jr was declassified and posted online detailing Marck’s concerns about the recent story of the Medan.

[Inedible]

The ship which responded to the distress signal was the Silver Star (this name is recorded although it was later changed to the S.S. Santa Cecilia) and as it approached the Medan it was found to be drifting aimlessly, with all power shut off. more

[thaigamezone]

This does not however, explain the mysterious deaths of the crew. It is unlikely that the ship was attacked by outsiders (i.e. pirates) as it was claimed that the bodies had no injuries and all looked as though they had been literally “scared to death”. If the Medan was carrying poisonous gases then the deaths could have been appertained to a chemical gas leak. Again, this still does not explain the look of terror on their faces. [links]

[Aluminus]

Whilst plausible, if this poison is effective within seconds whilst in vapour form, why were the investigating crew of the Silver Star not also affected by it?

[jphjhjdgb88]

One chemical gas which is a known biochemical weapon used in terrorist attacks and was created in Germany in 1938 is Sarin, a nerve agent which suppresses the operation of the enzyme in the body that controls the glands and muscles. This results in the affected person’s muscles being constantly stimulated, leading them to become so tired that they can no longer continue breathing. It is most effective in vapour form and works within seconds once inhaled. It also causes numerous other effects so is it possible that at the end of the war, coming from Germany, the ship was transporting a cargo of Sarin which was badly contained, resulting the the gases leaking into the ship and killing the crew, who reacted in a state of panic due to the symptoms affecting them so quickly, and thus dying with the look of panic/terror on their faces. [links]

[bidcoin]

It is interesting that if the story itself is a hoax, as many people believe, then why would the assistant to the director of the CIA have an interest in it? It is unclear who the letter was addressed to, which also sparks interest as if the letter was sent to a relatively unknown in the CIA then what would be the purpose of redacting their name?

[!0suspectedof]

Gaddis puts forward the theory that an undetected smouldering fire or malfunction in the ship's boiler system might have been responsible for the shipwreck. Escaping carbon monoxide would have caused the deaths of all aboard, with the fire slowly spreading out of control, leading to the vessel's ultimate destruction. [11] [links]

[DarkMatter]

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. [links]

[icaro]

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 Taongi 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:

[george14]

The SS Ourang Medan was a supposed ghost ship which, according to various sources, became a shipwreck in Dutch East Indies (modern Indonesia) waters, or elsewhere, after its entire crew had died under suspicious circumstances, either in 1940, 1947 or 1948, depending on the newspaper source. [1] The story of the Ourang Medan has, to some degree, become a legend. [2]

[AStephen2011]

Bainton and others hypothesize that Ourang Medan might have been involved in smuggling operations of chemical substances such as a combination of potassium cyanide and nitroglycerin or even wartime stocks of nerve agents. According to these theories, sea water would have entered the ship's hold, reacting with the cargo to release toxic gases, which then caused the crew to succumb to asphyxia and/or poisoning. Later, the sea water would have reacted with the nitroglycerin, causing the reported fire and explosion. [2] here

[jackraymund]

One English reference to the ship and the incident is in May 1952 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]