An abandoned ship called the Lyubov Orlova has been drifting around the Atlantic Ocean for a couple years, and recently, officials suspected that it was close to hitting land. But the most frightening thing about this ship wasn’t its lack of direction, it was the fact that it was believed to be home to thousands of cannibal rats, which survived by eating each other.
The ship was made in Yugoslavia, and was designed to take wealthy Russian citizens on cruises around Antarctica. But throughout the years, the ship was passed around to several different owners. It was once owned by a company called Cruise North Expeditions, but after having to cancel one of the boat’s expeditions in 2012 due to the fact that it was unsafe for travel, the ship was impounded to Newfoundland, Canada. Then, in 2012, the ship was sold to Neptune International Shipping, a company that planned to turn it into scrap metal.
The boat was then left in St. John’s harbor for two years. On January 27, 2013, the boat was set to be towed from the harbor to the Dominican Republic. It was being towed by Charlene Hunt, a tug boat owned by Hunt Marine, but a day after it left the harbor, its tow line parted. Because of poor weather conditions, the line wasn’t able to be reconnected. After being unsuccessful in getting the boat back, a new company, called Atlantic Hawk, was hired with the task of regaining control of the boat. The boat had supposedly become a risk to oil operations in the southeastern portion of the Avalon Peninsula in Canada.
On January 31, 2013, the Atlantic Hawk announced that they had regained control of the Lyubov Orlova. But soon the ship was cut loose again, and officials stated that they no longer felt it posed a threat to operations. The ship has been drifting ever since. It was spotted a few times after it was set free, but it is now believed to have sunk, since it has not sent any signals since March 12, 2013.
