# Chronology of the "Ourang Medan" story in print, with emphasis on the English-language chain

Legend: [V] = text verified from a copy in this folder; [P] = cited from Theo Paijmans, "Death Ship: The Final Voyage of the Ourang Medan", Fortean Times 402 (Feb 2021), pp. 32-37, notes 1-31 (OCR in paijmans_FT402_2021-02_death_ship_ocr.txt); [W] = Wikipedia citation only; [B] = Roy Bainton.

| Date | Publication | What it says / attribution | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| 16 Oct 1940 | Il Piccolo delle Ore Diciotto (Trieste), p. 3/4, "Il mistero dell'Ourang-Medan", by Silvio Scherl-Scherli | first printing; rescuer = "American torpedo boat W716" | [P] n. 29 |
| 20 Oct 1940 | (Neuigkeits) Welt Blatt, Vienna, "Drama im Stillen Ozean"; Illustrierte Kronen Zeitung, Vienna, "SOS vom Meutererschiff" | Austrian reprints; one cites "Piccolo di Trieste" | [P] n. 28 |
| 29 Oct 1940 | (Österreichische) Volks-Zeitung, Vienna, "Das Geheimnis des Totenschiffes" | | [P] n. 28 |
| Thu 21 Nov 1940 | Yorkshire Evening Post (Leeds), p. 5, "Mystery SOS From Death Ship / Unwounded Bodies Found on Deck / Explosions Defeated Boarding Party" | Associated Press; dateline "TRIESTE, Thursday"; unnamed "merchant marine officer" eyewitness; incident "last November" [1939], 200 miles SW of the Solomon Islands. EARLIEST ENGLISH PRINTING FOUND | [V] |
| Fri 22 Nov 1940 | Daily Mirror (London), p. 11, "Crew Dies In SOS Mystery" | Associated Press; "said an officer of the rescue party yesterday"; "A ship of the British Merchant Marine was first to arrive" | [V] |
| 29 Nov 1940 | Hampshire Telegraph (Portsmouth), "Story of Weird Sea Tragedy" | | [P] n. 27 |
| 8 Dec 1940 | L'Illustrazione Italiana, p. 846, "Il mistero dell'Ourang-Medan", Silvio Scherl-Scherli | (archive.org items ILL-ITA_1940 / RAV0070589_1940_00049 contain the OCR) | [P] n. 26 |
| 29 Dec 1940 | 7 Jours (Vichy France) no. 13, p. 6 | with the photo of the dead officer | [P] n. 24 |
| 27 Feb 1941 | The China Mail (Hong Kong), p. 9, "Crew Dies in S.O.S. Mystery" | verbatim reprint of the Daily Mirror/AP text | [V] |
| 7 Sep 1941 | 7 Jours no. 45, p. 9, "Après vingt mois, le mystère de l'Ourang-Medan est éclairci" | ship found 13 Nov 1939 near Fiji by an American destroyer | [P] n. 25 |
| 17 Jan 1948 | Elseviers Weekblad (Amsterdam), p. 16, "Raadselachtige ondergang van de Ourang Medan" | mid-June 1947, 400 nm SE of Marshall Is.; 22 dead; dog; "I am dying"; hatch 4 | [P] n. 1 |
| 24 Jan 1948 | Leekster Courant | crediting an Elsevier's reporter | see sources/notes_dutch_sources.md |
| 3 Feb, 28 Feb, 13 Mar 1948 | De Locomotief (Semarang) | three instalments, source Silvio Scherli, Trieste; missionary/survivor added | [P] n. 5 |
| 14 Feb, 28 Feb 1948 | Elseviers Weekblad, p. 4 and p. 19 | instalments 2-3: Scherli named; Franciscan missionary on Taongi; cargo of sulphuric acid & nitroglycerine | [P] nn. 3-4 |
| Feb 1948 | "the London press" | per American Weekly, "a month later it appeared again in the London press" — NOT LOCATED (BNA inaccessible) | American Weekly |
| 16 Apr 1948 | De West (Suriname), "Schip vergaan" | | [P] n. 6 |
| 24 Jul 1948 | Obersteirische Volkszeitung (Leoben), "Der Untergang der Ourang Medan" | | [P] n. 7 |
| 3 Oct 1948 | The American Weekly, p. 31 (teaser) — also Atlanta Constitution copy | "The ship was named Ourang Medan, meaning 'Man of Medan'..." | [V] |
| 10 Oct 1948 | The American Weekly (Hearst Sunday supplement), pp. 24-25, "Secrets of the Sea" by Win Brooks | Chicago Herald-American, Albany Times-Union (fultonhistory), Baltimore American, Portland Oregonian; credits Elsevier's Weekly + London follow-up; first "Strait of Malacca" (as route); June 1947 South Pacific; unnamed Italian officer | [V] |
| 31 Oct 1948 | L'Illustrazione del Popolo, p. 5, Ennio Garieri | | [P] n. 8 |
| 27 May 1950 | Revista da Semana (Rio de Janeiro), "Navio fantasma", text by Wolf Kneip, "narração de Silvio Scherli" | Portuguese translation of the Elsevier version | [V] |
| May 1952 | Proceedings of the Merchant Marine Council (USCG), vol. 9 no. 5, p. 107, "We Sail Together" (unsigned) | first "February 1948" and "Straits of Malacca" as scene; "we float"; "I die"; 50 miles off; dog; No. 4 hold; "frozen faces upturned to the sun ... horrible caricatures"; rescuer unnamed; no source | [V] |
| 17 Jan 1953 | Leicester Chronicle, p. 18, "Mystery ships" | "No explanation has been attempted regarding the secret of this ship..." | [P] n. 12 |
| Jun 1953 | Fate, vol. 6 no. 6, pp. 73-74, "Death at Sea" by Robert V. Hulse | cites the Proceedings as its source; Dutch and British listening posts; "faithful sparks"; small terrier | [P] n. 15; [B]; quoted by Jessup |
| 1954 | Otto Mielke, "Das Totenschiff in der Südsee. Dampfer 'Ourang Medan'", Anker-Hefte: Seefahrt in aller Welt Nr. 1 (Arthur Moewig Verlag, Munich), 32 pp.; reprinted 1979 as "Vom Schicksal verdammt. Tankmotorschiff 'Esso Bolivar' — Dampfer 'Ourang Medan'" | FIRST appearance of the "Silver Star" (Grace Line) and "City of Baltimore"; 27-28 June 1947; South Sea/Marshalls; cyanide + nitroglycerine; survivor on Taongi | [P] n. 13; [B] |
| 7 Feb 1954 | Silvio Scherli's letter to Paul Hahn (American Tobacco Co.) on his Trieste letterhead | freelance journalist "for leading European newspapers and magazines" | [P] n. 31 |
| 7 Jan 1955 | Amigoe di Curaçao, "Panorama" | pesticide context | [P] n. 14 |
| 1955 | M. K. Jessup, The Case for the UFO (Citadel), pp. 88-89 | "as reported in Fate Magazine, June 1954" [sic] | [V] |
| 30 Aug 1955 | Liverpool Echo, p. 4, "Kidnapped into Space? This could explain the Mary Celeste", M. K. Jessup | | [P] n. 18; [W] |
| 1956 | Frank Edwards, Strangest of All (Citadel), pp. 70-72 | "the report filed with the Proceedings of the Merchant Marine Council"; rescue craft from Sumatra and Malaya | [V] |
| 5 Dec 1959 | C. H. Marck Jr. to A. Austin Bricker Jr., CIA (CIA-RDP80R01731R000300010043-5; C02103509) | copies the Fate/Jessup text | [V] |
| 1964 | Panorama (UFO newsletter, Adelaide) vol. 3 no. 4 | copies Jessup | [V] |
| 27 Jun 1964 | Winnipeg Free Press, Frank Edwards column "The Ship of Death" | | [P] n. 16 |
| 1965 | Vincent Gaddis, Invisible Horizons (Chilton; Ace pb pp. 125-126) | "a report in the Proceedings of the Merchant Marine Council"; bound for Jakarta; boilers exploded; CO theory; NO Silver Star | [V] via Sanderson 1970 |
| 1967 / 1970 | Ivan T. Sanderson, Uninvited Guests; Invisible Residents pp. 141-142 | quotes Gaddis "in full" | [V] |
| c. 1970s | Brad Steiger & Joan Whritenour, "Unidentified Underwater Saucers", SAGA, pp. 34-37, 54-56 | | [P] n. 15 |
| 1977 | Persinger & Lafrenière, Space-Time Transients | | [P] n. 17 |
| 24 Nov 1978 | Sparks Journal Quarterly (Society of Wireless Pioneers) vol. 2 no. 2, "S.O.S. of the Ourang Medan" | Gaddis-derived | [V] |
| Aug/Sep 1999 | Roy Bainton, "A Cargo of Death", Fortean Times 125, pp. 28-31 (also Journal of Borderland Research v. 55 q2 1999) | introduces Silver Star + City of Baltimore into English from Mielke via Theodor Siersdorfer (Essen); cannot trace the Proceedings; cites Hulse 1953, Jessup 1955, Gaddis 1965, Damon Wilson 1998 | [V] |
| 29 Dec 2015 | Skittish Library blog (Estelle) | rediscovers the Nov 1940 British clippings | [V] |
| Feb 2021 | Theo Paijmans, "Death Ship", Fortean Times 402, pp. 32-37 | traces the story back to Scherli, Il Piccolo 16 Oct 1940; identifies all the above | [V] |