Myth or truth? Unsolved mystery of SS Ourang Medan, urban legend of 1940s

In the late 1940s, ships passing through Malacca, Malaysia, received distress signals from an unidentified ship. The message came in two parts. The unsettling distress message in Morse code read “SOS from Ourang Medan … we float. All officers including the Captain, dead in chartroom and on the bridge. Probably whole of crew dead …” This initial transmission was followed by a series of unclear and indecipherable Morse sequences which culminated in a final, grim statement: “I die.” There was no further message. The American ships Silver Star and City of Baltimore, which received the signal, headed towards the unidentified ship. The messages came from the Dutch cargo ship SS Ourang Medan.

The cargo ship Silver Star was the first to approach the Ourang Medan. The Ourang Medan looked strangely silent. However, when the crew of the Silver Star entered the Ourang Medan, what they saw was shocking. The deck in the Ourang Medan was like something you see in a ghost movie. Every corpse was found sprawled on its back, faces upturned with mouths wide open and eyes staring blankly towards the sky, as if they were terrified of something.

Each body lay as if the crew had tried to escape from something. The dog on board also died. The captain of the Ourang Medan was found dead on the ship's bridge. Officers were found dead in the chartroom and wheelhouse. The radio operator, who is believed to have sent the distress messages, was also found dead in a similar manner.

Some strange facts that the crew of the Silver Star allegedly discovered on the Ourang Medan

• A mysterious cold and chill seemed to hang over the scenes of death on the Ourang Medan

• There were no wounds on the bodies of any of the dead. It was also noticed that the bodies that had been frozen were decomposing faster than normal

• No apparent damage was found on the Ourang Medan. Therefore, the captain of the Silver Star decided to bring the Ourang Medan to shore

• Smoke rose from the cargo hold number four of the Ourang Medan the moment it was connected to the Silver Star. Soon, a strong explosion occurred on the ship. Water rushed up through the resulting hole, and the Ourang Medan sank into the sea.

Is it all a myth?

There are no records of the Ourang Medan's existence. It is not known exactly when the Ourang Medan was wrecked. Each record dates it to different years. The first witness statement related to the incident was recorded in May 1952. The statement of some who are believed to have been on the Silver Star ship was recorded by the U.S. Coast Guard. It is even alleged that the Ourang Medan never existed and is a fictional creation of the crew of the Silver Star.

It is also said that the cargo of the Ourang Medan contained potassium cyanide and nitroglycerin. These chemicals are very dangerous, and sailors were not willing to carry them at sea. Some believe that the Ourang Medan was carrying some kind of biological weapon developed by Japanese scientists. It is said that Japanese researchers at that time were conducting many dangerous experiments, including on prisoners of war, and were developing deadly chemical and biological weapons to use against the enemy. There is speculation that the chemical/biological weapons may have been secretly smuggled from Japan on the Ourang Medan, and that it may have leaked during the voyage, killing everyone, and that the explosion may have been the result. There is no clear answer to whether the story of the Ourang Medan is true.