2007 Apr 21 - Ghost Ship Discovered Near Australia D12.

...

... The 39-foot Kaz II was discovered drifting along the outer Great Barrier Reef Wednesday April 21 2007, 80 nautical miles from Townsville. Its sails were up and engine running, with a table set for dinner, but no sign of the three-man crew, authorities said. The case gained widespread media attention, and the mystery has yet to be solved.

1998 Aug 18 - Brisbane Man Disappears Over Carribean D13.

...

Brisbane man Paul Hooper, 29, pilot and stockbroker Paul Baxter, 26, trader Conrad Dobinson, 27, and accountant Cliff Rotze, 28, were on holiday aboard a hired Piper Archer when it vanished mid-flight in the vicinity of the carribean. The weather was fine, and intervention by Cuba was ruled out. An extensive search failed to reveal a locator or any wreckage. The crew were flying from the Bahamas to Kingston, Jamaica, after hiring the plane in Florida. A report from the Coast Guard assumed fatalities but has not given any cause. "There were no signals, maydays, everything just disappeared," Mrs Hooper said. The story achieved far more media attention in the UK than Australia.

1984 - Bulgarian Yachtsman D11.

...

... A Bulgarian yachtsman, on a round-the-world tour, vanished near Wilson’s Promontory.

1983 - The Trawler “Annteak” D10.

...

... The trawler Annteak disappeared near Mallacoota.

1979 - The Yacht “Brenda” D9.

...

... The yacht Brenda vanished on her maiden voyage from Stanley to King Island.

1978 Oct 21 - Frederick Valentich - Single Engine Cessna D8.

20-year-old Frederick Valentich was flying a single-engine Cessna 182 airplane from Melbourne to King Island, 140 kilometres south. At 7:06pm Valentich radioed Melbourne Air Flight Service describing a large aircraft with four bright lights passing 300 meters above him and then “coming for him”. It had a long shape, a green light and a “sort of metallic light on the outside”. The object seemed to be stationary above him. Then it vanished. At about 7:10pm Valentich reported his engine was “rough idling and coughing”. [a] At 7:12pm and 9 seconds, he reported, “Ah Melbourne, that strange aircraft is hovering on top of me again. It’s hovering and it’s not an aircraft”. [b] His final transmission at 7:12pm [and 49 seconds] was “Delta Sierra Juliet Melbourne” followed by 17 seconds of a loud metallic noise. An extensive search in Bass Strait failed to turn up any trace of the pilot or his plane. [a] The Department of Transport selectively released copies of their “Aircraft Accident Investigation Summary Report" on the Valentich Case. The report, dated 27 April 1982 and signed by A R Woodward, indicates that the location, time of occurrence and degree of damage to aircraft to be all ‘Not Known’. The degree of injury is given as “Presumed Fatal”. Finally the report states, “The reason for the disappearance of the aircraft has not been determined.” [c] Just shortly before the tragic incident, a large metallic discoid UFO was photographed just off the southern Victorian coast not far from Valentich. [d] Government files do not connect the disappearance with the UFO in any way. During a two month period centred around January, 1978, holiday makers, fishermen, school teachers, local police and lighthouse keepers in the Cape Otway area reported seeing UFOs.[e] [a] (Griesburg 1985) (Chalker 1984) (Haines 1987) (Moravec 1992) [b] (Timothy Good, Need To Know - UFOs, The Military and Intelligence, pg 318; Australian Department of Transport - Transcripts) [c] (UFOlogist Vol. 7 #2, 2003, pgs 15-16) [d] (Pinkney, A Paranormal File) [e] (PoliceUFO.com, Officers Witness To Valentich UFOs) (Project1947, forum) (theozfiles, ufos subrosa) (theozfiles, blogspot) [See also youtube, Unsolved Mysteries]

1969 - Fuji Light Aircraft D7.

...

... On Christmas Eve, a Fuji Light Aircraft vanished in the Strait while flying from King Island to Moorabbin airport.

1935 Oct 2 - Airliner “The Loina” D2.

...

... The airliner "The Loina" was lost over Bass Strait. With three passengers and two crew aboard the plane, it had left Melbourne’s Essendon airport for Western Junction, Tasmania, at 8:15 am. At 9.51 am the captain, A. N. Evans, radioed that his height was 1000 feet and that he was approaching Flinders Island. That afternoon’s Melbourne Herald summated the situation in its headline, ‘ABOUT TO LAND’ SHE RADIOD – THEN SILENCE. Later that day, searchers found wreckage that shocked and mystified them. They retrieved, far southwest of Settlement Point, three twisted chairs and a petrol tank so astonishingly telescoped that it suggested the plane had nose-dived at a colossal rate, shattering splinters on impact. Particularly puzzling to the investigation team was a charred patch, about 4 inches (10 centimetres) in diameter, found on a fragment of flooring. Shreds of carpet adhered to the fragment, and grooved marks suggested that someone had tried to stamp out an intensely localized fire. The Air Accident Committee’s interim report (28 October 1935) says, “The charred portion of floor is so small that the committee does not consider the fire could have disturbed the pilot to such an extent as to cause him to loose control." Despite intensive sea and air searches, the rest of the aircraft and its human cargo were nowhere to be found. At the subsequent inquiry, investigators were at a loss to speculate about what had caused Loina’s abrupt disappearance – when she had been virtually gliding distance of the aerodrome.

1934 Oct 19 - Mail-plane “Miss Hobart” D1.

...

... On October 19, 1934, 12 people were aboard the Miss Hobart, a Quantas Empire Airways DH86 airliner, when it disappeared. Witnesses told of the drone of a plane's engines suddenly stopping and of strange lights and a peculiar cloud low over the sea. The new mail plane Miss Hobart, which was carrying 10 passengers from Launceston to Melbourne, disappeared over Bass Strait. The DH86, with four Gipsy VI engines, was one of the most powerful in Australia. The owners, Holyman's Airways, said that even had two of its engines failed, it could have maintained height. Miss Hobart transmitted her final message at 10.20am, when she was 13km from Wilsons Promontory. Co-pilot Gilbert Jenkins radioed, "Everything OK. Captain Holyman requests that Captain Haig of the Vacuum Oil Company meet him at Laverton at 11.30am." Strange lights were seen in the sky that night and three nights later, not far from where the plane had last reported its position. (Pinkney, A Paranormal File) (Rex Hunt, Australian Yowie Hunter) (Timothy Good, Need To Know - UFOs, The Military and Intelligence, pg 11) (Norman, Paul, "Countdown to Reality", Flying Saucer Review, Vol 31 no 2, 1986, pgs 13-22.)

1920 - Two Schooners and De Havilland 9a Aircraft D6.

...

Army captains W. Strutt and A. G. Dalziel set out in a De Havilland 9a aircraft to seek two missing schooners. Unexplained lights had been seen around the entrance to Bass Straight around the time SS Emelia J. had dissapeared. The plane never returned. The fate of the pilots and the schooner’s crews remains unknown. (Timothy Good, Need To Know - UFOs, The Military and Intelligence, pg 11) (Norman, Paul, "Countdown to Reality", Flying Saucer Review, Vol 31 no 2, 1986, pgs 13-22.)

1906 - German Cargo Vessel “Ferdinand Fischer” D5.

...

... The German cargo vessel Ferdinand Fischer was lost in the Strait en rout to Tasmania. No wreckage. No survivors.

1901 - The S. S. Federal D4.

...

... The S. S. Federal disappeared in the Strait with twenty-two crew.

1870 - The Vessel “Harlech Castle” D3.

...

... The Harlech Castle vanished at the Strait’s eastern end. No trace of the vessel or its twenty-three crew was found.