THE GHOST LIFEBOAT OFF ALASKA

Guests aboard Emerald Princess got an unexpected mystery on their Alaska cruise Friday night, a lone lifeboat spotted floating 13 miles off Port Alexander with no one aboard and no ship in sight. The captain changed course to investigate, as required under international maritime law anytime a vessel might be in distress, and the ship circled the boat for nearly an hour while in contact with the Coast Guard. Guests started calling it the "ghost lifeboat" almost immediately, watching from the decks as crew tried to figure out where it came from. The answer turned out to be more than a year old, the boat belonged to Morning Midas, a cargo ship carrying thousands of vehicles that caught fire and sank off Alaska back in June 2025. All 22 crew members made it off safely at the time, but the lifeboat itself had apparently been drifting ever since. Once the Coast Guard cleared the ship, Emerald Princess continued on to Ketchikan right on schedule. No ghosts involved, just a strange reminder of how much debris the ocean quietly holds onto. Ever seen something unexplained from a cruise ship deck that turned into a real story once you found out what it was? #cruisenews #princesscruises #alaskacruise #cruisemystery #cruisesafety