POLICE are investigating what happened to the crew of a mysterious yacht believed to have capsized in the Timor Sea about 170km off Darwin.
An Australian fishing vessel stumbled across the wreckage after pulling up the boat’s mast and sail in its nets last week.
The unidentified yacht was discovered by an Australia Bay Seafoods ship in about 90m of water, according to the ABC.
The company’s co-owner, Bill Passey, said the crew of the ship realised their nets had a giant snag while trawling about 170kms from Darwin.
“They hooked up there and it took about six hours to get off and eventually when they did get off something gave way,” Mr Passey told the ABC.
“They pulled up ... and among all the tangled mess was a sail and a mast off a yacht,” he said.
A mollusc expert has told police he believed the vessel had been in the ocean for between eight and ten months and that the sail matched a type made by a boutique sailmaker from Sydney.
But the stainless steel rings on the blue mast that was recovered were made in Auckland.
A Northern Territory Police spokeswoman told news.com.au that the fate of the yacht’s crew was a mystery.
“We don’t even know if there was a crew, let alone what happened to them,” the spokeswoman said.
“It’s possible they were rescued by a passing vessel and it’s possible that they drowned. We have cross-referenced all missing people in Western Australia and Queensland and come up with nothing.”
News.com.au understands that NT Water Police are preparing to send specialist divers and a remotely-operated device to search the seabed for bodies and recover the rest of the yacht.
Police are also investigating the possibility that the yacht drifted to its current location from Indonesia.
A boat that came loose off it's moorings or a Timorese Marie Celeste? A failed people smuggling attempt?
Another mystery in a sea of many.
