Black Sea Missing Ship Mystery

[dennisjay]

Probably sunk for insurance money!

TODAY'S ZAMAN

Cargo ship missing in Black Sea in bizarre incident
Many questions remain unanswered about the disappearance of a Turkish cargo vessel and its crew off the Turkish coast of the Black Sea.

The Panama-flagged MV Rezzak and its 25 Indian crewmembers were traveling from Novorossisk, Russia, to Bartın, Turkey with a shipment of steel billets. The ship lost communication with tracking centers in the early hours of Feb. 18. Turkish authorities have found no trace of the ship except a life raft drifting some five nautical miles off the Turkish coast, India's DNA newspaper reported on Feb. 23...

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TODAY'S ZAMAN

[hellosailor]

Gale conditions, old rustbucket? Flying flag and carrying crew usually known as "cheap" not top class? With a dense cargo that might simply have been loaded improperly?

Could easily have broke up or rolled and sunk. If the cargo shifted and she rolled and sunk quickly, that's all it would take. Think "Edmund Fitzgerald".

[Reality Check]

The Black Sea in winter can be a hard place to be. Back during the "Cold War" I discovered this when as an USAF communications tech I was assigned to a SAR (Search and Rescue) aboard a Turkish Destroyer (WWII vintage) when a RB-57 went missing on some undisclosed mission. Was suppose to be a 4 day activity which turned into 14 days. After the 3rd day our bring along food ran out and we started eating the echmec bread, garlic and Chi... a hot and very sweet tea. Not sure if it was the weather/ seas or the new food but I was sick as a dog for the remaining 11 days and spent 5 days in the hospital when I got off the boat to get my fluids up to where I could walk again.

I lived and worked in the area between Istanbul and Synop which is on the Black Sea for more than a year and in general the commercial boats are typically in very poor condition... if not for pumps screaming at near full power... I suspect most would sink to the bottom even if tied up to a mooring in good weather.

Have never considered sailing in the area in winter.. BUT the area around the Dardanelles and Princes Islands would be a treat in the summer.

[imagine2frolic]

Without a doubt ALIENS!!!!!!!beam me up Scotty

[crypticguise]

Originally Posted by Reality Check

The Black Sea in winter can be a hard place to be. Back during the "Cold War" I discovered this when as an USAF communications tech I was assigned to a SAR (Search and Rescue) aboard a Turkish Destroyer (WWII vintage) when a RB-57 went missing on some undisclosed mission. Was suppose to be a 4 day activity which turned into 14 days. After the 3rd day our bring along food ran out and we started eating the echmec bread, garlic and Chi... a hot and very sweet tea. Not sure if it was the weather/ seas or the new food but I was sick as a dog for the remaining 11 days and spent 5 days in the hospital when I got off the boat to get my fluids up to where I could walk again.

I lived and worked in the area between Istanbul and Synop which is on the Black Sea for more than a year and in general the commercial boats are typically in very poor condition... if not for pumps screaming at near full power... I suspect most would sink to the bottom even if tied up to a mooring in good weather.

Have never considered sailing in the area in winter.. BUT the area around the Dardanelles and Princes Islands would be a treat in the summer.

Small world! One of my buddies spotted your comments on the internet. We were there when that RB-57 went down. We also were in the USAFSS and were flying a mission in the Black Sea at the time on an RC130. We were Airborne Radio Intercept Analysts - Russian Language Specialists and regularly flew missions in the Black Sea out of Incirlik AB at Adana, Turkey. After the RB went down we also were part of the airborne and sea flotilla looking for any remains of the aircraft or flyers.

Only parts of the RB were found and loaded on what may have been the Turkish (US Navy?) destroyer you were on. We flew back to our base at Rhein Main AB in Frankfort, Germany on Christmas eve in 1965.

Five of us and our wives located each other online and after 43 years had a short reunion last June. Here is where we visited and where you can get more information about that fateful RB flight: This is the National Security Agency's Vigilance Park at Fort Meade Md:

National Vigilance Park - NSA/CSS

If you'd like to share email with us contact me at: usamef@yahoo.com.

crypticguise (John)