Investigators have a mystery on their hands after finding a boat that belonged to an American man on a remote beach in Australia. The vessel had seemingly been abandoned.
There were no signs of the American man Hartwell Champagne in sight. Champagne had been on a solo trip traveling from Vanuatu to Australia. However, it appears something went wrong. According to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, authorities located his Ocean Rambler on Cape Bedford Beach on September 13.
The last time the American man wrote in his logbook was on September 10.
"Police are appealing for information after a sailing boat was located beached near Cape Bedford on Sunday, 14 September," Queensland Police wrote in a statement. "The 14-meter sailing vessel, "Ocean Rambler" was observed, having run aground, around 11.30pm on Saturday."
American Man Missing
"Police conducted a search of the area around 8am on Sunday however no one was located," officials also continued. "Investigations indicate, the boat was sailing from Vanuatu to Australia. And the sole occupant, a 62-year-old American man, has last made records on 10 September."
"There was an indication that he was to arrive in Cairns," Searle also continued. "However, we are just taking that as it comes through the investigation."
At this point, investigators are working on theories on what happened to the American man. Apparently, Champagne was an experienced sailor and the weather had been normal.
"Any of the theories people could come up with at this point would be almost quite reasonable, so I wouldn't be willing to suggest [there was] bad weather or [he was] near the shore," Inspector Searle told ABC.
It's all a bit of a mystery on what happened.
"We don't really know what's happened between the 10th of September and the 13th of September," Searle continued. "Our main priority at this point in time is appealing to anybody who may have been on the ocean or seen the vessel."
