On November 24, 1931, the temperature suddenly rose drastically from negative 60 degrees Fahrenheit to a flat zero degrees. During this time, an intense blizzard swooped in. Once the storm had passed, the men went outside—only to find that the SS Baychimo was gone!
Even though the crew members initially assumed the ship had sunk, an Inuit seal hunter explained to them that the ship broke away from the ice and was last seen floating 45 miles away at sea. Sydney Cornwell, the captain of the Baychimo, found the ship a few days later, but after ruling it unworthy of sailing, he unpacked all of their goods and valuables and surrendered the ship to the whims of the sea.
Soon after, though, Sydney was proven wrong about the Baychimo! Not only that, but it was done in quite an embarrassing fashion. Just a couple months after he’d deemed it unfit for sailing, the ship was reportedly seen 250 miles from where he’d originally abandoned it.
Over the following year, reports of the SS Baychimo were reported by several sailors from all around the world. Later in 1932, the Hudson Bay Company heard it was still afloat, but deemed it too far away to rescue.
