TAT 


% 


Approved For Release 2003/05/23 : CIA-RDP80R01731R00030001004 


December 5, 1959 


DOCUMENT NO, 


NO CHANGE IN CLASS, te 
O DECLASSIFIED : 
CLASS. CHANGED To: TS § ¢ W 


NEXT REVIEW DATE: 


AUTH: yy) 70-2 


On May 29, 1958 I sent you a letter concerning crews disappear= 
ing from ships on the high seas, or ships which have disappeared 
without trace, well, I have just read a weird story concerning the 
Dutch vessel §.S. Ourang Medan. I will be indeed grateful for your 
opinion of this story. Also, do you think “something from the unknown" 
is involved? 


In early February, 1948, an SOS came from the S.S. Ourang Medan. 
Dutch and British listening posts located thé vessél as proceeding 
through Malacca Strait, the sea was calm, the weather clear. 


SOS, SOS, again came the frenzied call. After a short silence, 
", . e all officers, including Captain dead, lying in chartroom and 
on Bridge . « « probably whole crew dead « « e" 


There followed a series of indecipherable dots and dashes and 
then came quite clearly: "I die.’ 


Rescue ships from Dutch Sumatra and British Malaya rushed to 
the indicated location of the vessel in distress. They found her 
only fifty miles from the position givens Boats were put over the 
sides to investigate. 


When boarding parties reached the Ourang Medan they found an 
eerie sight. There wasn't a living creature on the ship. The captain 
lay dead on the bridge. The bodies of the other officers sprawled 
in the wheelhouse, chartroom and wardroom. The faithful "sparks" was 
slumped in a chair in the radio shack, his hand still on the sending 
keys The bodies of the crew lay everwhere: in their rooms, in the 
passageways, on the decks. And on all the dead faces was a look of 
convulsive horror. As a report of the PROCEEDINGS OF THE MERCHANT 
MARINE COUNCIL put it: “their frozen faces were “upturned to the sun, 
the mouths were gaping open and the eyes staring . . «" Everyone 
was dead. Even the ship's dog, a small terrier, was lifeless, its 
teeth bared in anger or agonye ; 


But strangely there was no sign of wounds or injuries on any 
of the bodies. 


After a quick conference, the boarding parties decided to put 
a tow line onto the vessel and take here into port. But at that 
very “moment™ smoke and flames belched forth from No. 4 holde The 
fire was immediately so hot and so widespread that it was impossible 
to subdue. 


The boarding parties hurriedly abandoned the vessel and returned 
to safety of their own ships. Moments later there was a terrific 
"explosion" on the Ourang Medan and then the vessel sank with all 
her “dead” crewe \ 


Lowe ie the 


i 
oe via: a 
Approved For Release macusa (asennad el R0doan0016ohg-5s————~ 


STAT 


ee: a Approved For Release 2003/05/23 : CIA-RDP80R01731R000300010043-5 


I feel sure that the S.S. Ourang Medan tragedy holds the answer 
to many of these airplane accidents, and unsolved mysteries of the 
seae Also, I have often thought about the many sightings of huge fiery 
spheres rising from the “sea,” or disappearing into the "sea," by ships 
captains and crews in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. 


There ere alarming passages in old English chronicles, written 
in medieval Latin, and in Latin inéunabula, or books printed before 
the year 1500 A.D., which suggest that these "fiery spheres" cause 
destruction, and that they come from “within our planet.” For instance: 
In 216 B.C., "things like ships were seen in the sky, over Italy « + «| 
In Sardinia, a knight was making his rounds, inspecting the posts 
guarding the rampart, when a stick in his hands “burst into flames." 
The same thing happened to Roman soldiers in Sicily who saw their 
javelins flame and burn in their hands. At Arpi, "as round shield 
was seen in the sky." 

Also, in A.D. 1067 people saw a fire that flamed and burned 
fiercely in the sky. It came near the earth, and for a little time 
-prilliantly lit it upe Afterwards, “4% revolved, ascended on high, 
then descended into the sea. In several places it "purned™ woods 
and plainse 


Yes, the enchanting sea, what terrifying “secret does it hold? 
I feel sure that the S.S. Ourang Medan tragedy also holds the answer 
to this "secret." 
Sincerely yours, 


Ce He Marek, Jre 


SS18can re) © VLE 


CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY 
Washington, D. C. 


\ Approved For Release 2003/05/23 : CIA-RDP80R01731R000300010043-5