‘Ghost ship’ washes up on Florida beach

TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — A “ghost ship” washed up on a Florida Panhandle beach in June.

The ship, “The Lady Catherine III,” belonged to a Texas man who is likely to lose much of his life savings after purchasing the sailboat, NBC News reports .

The ship washed ashore in Pensacola on June 18.

“I saw this tattered sailboat, it looked ghostly, just kind of coming in,” Francine Farrar, a 46-year-old from Meridian, Mississippi, told NBC News last week.

“We called it the ‘ghost ship.’ It quickly became known as the ‘ghost ship’ across Pensacola beach,” said Allie Garrett, a meteorologist and storm chaser who took multiple photos and drone footage of the prone vessel.

Shortly after photos of the ship were posted online, 39-year-old Michael Barlow recognized the vessel.

It was the same one he was rescued from weeks earlier, NBC News said.

Barlow owns The Catherine, and on May 21 he set sail on the ship, leaving Fort Pierce with plans to dock in Rockport, Texas. Barlow was planning on closing down his excavation business, selling his belongings, and starting a new life with his family exploring the world on The Catherine.

“We were just going to explore the world,” Barlow said of his wife and 9-year-old son. “We’re normal people. We have normal finances, very, very basic. And this is the only way I could take my son and show him there’s a whole world out there, beyond what’s in America. It’s the only way to do this realistically until this happened.”

NBC News says Barlow and a friend were at sea when high winds and waves that would eventually become Hurricane Alberto rendered the ship inoperable.

“We went through storms one after another, after another, after another, and then that last storm just hit us and exploded my front headsails,” Barlow said in an interview from Honduras, where he’s temporarily living and teaching scuba. “We lost our headsail, we lost our motor, and we were getting turned. It was unforecast and it was devastating.”

Thanks to a Garmin satellite device, Barlow got word to authorities about his situation. The Coast Guard in New Orleans was alerted and a helicopter found the pair in the rough seas.

The Coast Guard could not rescue him by sea due to the waves, so they gave Barlow a choice: stay with the boat and risk your life, or get in the helicopter and leave the $80,000 boat behind.

Seventeen days after choosing to be rescued and leaving The Catherine behind, the boat showed up nearly 200 miles away, and with it a new slew of problems.

NBC News reports Barlow now has to decide between paying $28,000 to have the ship taken away and demolished, or paying much more to have her docked and repaired, a price that could end up higher than his original purchase price.

“If we’re talking about business numbers, it’d make more sense to scrap the boat,” Barlow said. “That’s just the stone-cold truth.”

Barlow has to move the boat or face a third-degree felony, punishable by a fine of up to $5,000 and even prison time, officials said.

“Yes, our officers have been in contact with Mr. Barlow,” Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission spokesperson Faith Fawn said in statement. “He has 30 days from the date the uniform boating citation was issued to bring his vessel into compliance.”

Barlow told NBC News that he isn’t giving up on his dreams of sailing the world.

“This definitely did not shake my resolve as far as sailing goes. I love the ocean. I respect the ocean. It’s relentless and beautiful at the same time.”

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