A newsflash was heard all around the world in April 2007 with the eerie story of a ghost ship that was found 80 nautical miles northeast of Townsville with no-one on board. The full story to date is startling to say the least so here is the tale of the Kaz II mystery.

The Kaz II Mystery
© Evan Schnalle 7-5-2007

Des Batten felt at home on the Kaz II his sparkling new yacht,
he had worked on ships when he was young sailing the seas a lot.
Pete and James Tunstead joined Des sailing the trip of a lifetime,
they’d planned it for a year; sun, sea and song it would be sublime.

Pete was Des’s neighbour and together with his brother Jim,
they’d shared some good times and yarns with Des, both light hearted and grim.
So Des asked them to help him sail his new catamaran home,
because they too were seasoned seamen who loved the briny foam.

Before setting off these hardened sailors packed their boating gear,
they’d taken their rods, clothes, life jackets, food and of coarse some beer.
They were cheery as they set out, it was a clear and calm day,
on their lazy trip home ‘round the north coast to WA.

That was the last time anyone saw the blokes on the Kaz II
but the boat was sighted four days later by a coast watch crew.
A rescue team approached and found the front sail torn and blowing
and when they came in close they could hear the motor was going.

Then the team boarded the yacht but they found nobody on board
yet phones and wallets were laying ‘round which weren’t properly stored.
And likewise in the yacht’s cabin two laptops were sitting there,
they were still switched on, which on an abandoned vessel is rare.

A wide spread search was quickly called to find the three missing blokes
many folk scoured the seas and shores though some thought it was a hoax.
Nothing was missing from the boat not even one life jacket,
so theories started to fly about a slave smuggling racket.

But this story was far fetched and didn’t seem to hold water
because the yacht hadn’t been ransacked, like you’d think it oughta.
No one else had boarded the boat, ‘cause there were no fingerprints
that’s what the forensic experts said after their search for hints.

The crew may have been thrown over board if they’d hit rough weather
that had enough power to heave three of them off together.
But the table was set for a meal just as neat as you please,
and the searchers were looking everywhere in the local seas.

Or maybe the boat floated away when they went for a dip,
‘cause some clothes were folded and laying near the back of the ship.
The search was called off without sightings or finding any clues
which caused the men’s relatives to be overcome by the blues.

What enigma separated these fellas from the Kaz II?
Different theories have been flying around and I’ve heard a few.
There are mysteries out on the seas where tankers and tall tales flow.
Where are the crew from the Kaz II? Well maybe we’ll never know.