The Joyita found adrift
The merchant ship Tuvalu found the Joyita adrift on 10 November 1955 north of Vanua Levu, Fiji, with every passenger and crew member gone.
Captain Gerald Douglas was bound from Suva to Funafuti in the merchant ship Tuvalu. On 10 November 1955 he sighted the vessel Joyita adrift, north of Vanua Levu. Wikipedia puts her more than 600 miles (970 km) west of her scheduled route; the Fiji Times gives the distance as over 1000 kilometres.
According to Wikipedia, the ship was partly submerged and listing heavily, with her port deck rail awash. There was no trace of the passengers or crew, and four tons of cargo were missing. The radio had been left tuned to 2182 kHz, the international marine distress channel. The starboard engine was covered with mattresses, the port engine's clutch was part disassembled, and a starter motor was missing from the starboard auxiliary engine, so the ship had been running on a single engine.
The Fiji Times reports that the ship floated so well that sinking was close to impossible. Investigators wondered why the people aboard had left her when they could have waited for help. The Fiji Times calls the case the ghost ship mystery, a label from the press.
"Five weeks later, on 10 November, Gerald Douglas, captain of the merchant ship Tuvalu, en route from Suva to Funafuti, sighted Joyita more than 600 miles (970 km) west from her scheduled route, drifting north of Vanua Levu.[10] The ship was partially submerged and listing heavily (her port deck rail was awash) and there was no trace of any of the passengers or crew; four tons of cargo were also missing. The recovery party noted that the radio was discovered tuned to 2182 kHz, the international marine radiotelephone distress channel."
- Joyita — the ghost ship mystery, The Fiji Times
- Joyita and the many questions, The Fiji Times
- MV Joyita, state of the vessel, Wikipedia