Twentytwo13 shares excerpts from Stories of the Seas, written by former MISC (formerly Malaysia International Shipping Corporation) officers and engineers. This week, Datuk Dr Captain Ahmad Sufian Abdul Rashid recounts ghostly encounters while serving aboard the Bunga Orkid.
On Oct 27, 1973, I signed on to the Bunga Orkid as Chief Officer. Along with Bunga Tanjung, Orkid was a blood-debt ship from the Japanese Government, given to the Malaysian Government. We were informed that one death had occurred during the ship’s construction in Japan.
We went to Singapore to load cargo, where a stevedoring company was engaged for the operation.
The deep tanks were located far down in the cargo holds. Anyone involved in cleaning work had to climb down the cargo ladders, some 70 to 80 feet from the main deck.
Everything was going well until the officer on watch saw a woman climbing up rapidly at Hatch #2. He thought she needed to use the toilet, but she was clearly distressed, crying and screaming in a Chinese dialect.
We thought there had been an accident in the cargo hold, but she claimed to have seen a ghost.
There was no denying she was in a terrible state, and we were convinced she had seen something inexplicable. Her supervisor took her off the ship and replaced her with another worker.
Things went smoothly after that. My bosun, Md Nor Hamid, was very good, and he kept the crew in line.
But after we left Penang and sailed across the Indian Ocean towards Cape Town, I noticed the crew were starting work later and later each morning.
After the third or fourth day, I called the bosun and told him to shake them up a bit.
When it continued for several more days, I called him to the bridge again.
The bosun shuffled his feet and let out a long sigh. Finally, he said: “Tak tahu lah Chief. Diaorang cakap ada sesuatu yang usik diaorang waktu malam.”
I was bewildered and stared at him.
“What do you mean, something is disturbing them at night?”
“There is a staircase and an area near the crew’s showers and toilets. Some of them saw a Japanese woman carrying a baby on her back around that corridor, walking to and from the toilets. Others saw her walking up and down the staircase,” he said.
I could not believe what he was telling me.
It took me a few days to gather more information. At the time, I was with my second officer, an Indonesian named Ridwan Yassin.
Ahmad Sufian (left) when he was Chief Officer on board the M.V. Bunga Orkid in 1974. Next to him is Ridwan.
The bosun told us there was a cabin on the port side of the ship occupied by two crew members, and every single night there would be a knock on the door. Whenever they opened it, there was nobody outside.
I brushed it aside, saying their colleagues were probably playing tricks on them.
But he insisted he had never seen a crew like this before.
“They don’t sleep, they’re troubled, they get scared at night.”
I turned to Ridwan and said: “We have to find out what’s going on there.”
Ridwan agreed, and we found out which cabin it was.
One night, after his watch, Ridwan and I went into the cabin about 12.15am. We sat there and waited.
About 12.25am, there was a knock on the door. By the time we opened it, there was nobody outside.
We were sure someone was playing a prank, so we decided to stand near the door and wait.
I wanted to catch whoever it was. I was convinced someone was playing tricks on the crew.
A few minutes later, there was another knock.
This time, Ridwan grabbed the handle and flung the door open immediately.
There was nobody there.
We looked down both sides of the long corridor. Nothing.
There was no way anyone could have run away that quickly.
We did not need any more proof.
There was definitely something unexplainable happening on the ship.
This is an excerpt from Ghost Stories by Datuk Dr Captain Ahmad Sufian Abdul Rashid. It is part of a collection of short stories by former MISC (formerly Malaysia International Shipping Corporation) officers and engineers from SOS (Stories of the Seas). It can be bought here.
