documentary. Our goal is not to sensationalize this tragedy, but to better understand what transpired in that single long and unforgiving night.
Based on the time stamps taken from the equipment remaining on the Atargatis , less than an hour elapsed between the first appearance of a so-called “mermaid” on the ship and the first of the mass attacks. The women of the Blue Seas professional mermaid troupe never stood a chance against an enemy that attacked from the depths with an inhuman ferocity.
There were some who would say that their mistake was entering the water. What, then, would those people say was the mistake of everyone else aboard the Atargatis ? They remained on the ship they thought would save them until the very end. An end which came all too quickly.
—from Modern Ghost Ships: The Atargatis , originally aired on the Imagine Network, December 2017.
Part V
Safe on the Shore
Bringing a ship the size of the Atargatis back to full thrust was no small feat. Captain Seghers stared unbelieving at the scientists and crewmen now clogging her control room. Mr. Curran from Imagine stood next to her, the two of them transformed by circumstance into uneasy allies.
“I don’t understand,” said Captain Seghers. “You want me to turn this ship around? Do you have any notion of what that would mean for our fuel reserves? We won’t be able to come back here—we’ll have to head for shore. Not to mention that we’d be sailing after dark. The sun is almost down.”
“You sailed dark to get us here,” snapped Alexandra.
“Yes, with preparation and charts and a good idea of what the weather was going to be,” said Captain Seghers. “You’re telling me that one of your colleagues was eaten by a killer mermaid . I hope you can understand that this isn’t something I can just believe. I have to verify the situation before I can do anything else. I’ve sent someone to examine the scene where this supposedly occurred.”
“You’re wasting time that we don’t have,” interrupted Alexandra. “We need to leave now .”
Jovanie frowned. She didn’t care for being ordered around on her own ship. While she tried to be sympathetic, she had her limits. “This all sounds like so much bullshit to me. There’s no such thing as mermaids. If they existed, we’d all know about it by now, and this expedition would never have been approved!”
“Then how do you explain what happened to Anton? Or to Jessica?” Alexandra shook her head. “We saw it take him. We all saw it. There’s video! Call any of the cameramen who were there, they can show you!”
“You mean cameramen working for a network that makes monster movies can show me footage of a monster? Well, there’s a surprise.” Jovanie shook her head. “I’m not turning this ship around without more than that. I have a contract with Imagine, and it says we stay where we are.”
“And the Imagine Network is not about to abandon one of the most expensive fact-finding expeditions we have ever funded just because you have bad feelings about something that showed up on your monitors,” said Mr. Curran.
Alexandra stared at him. “It wasn’t on the monitors,” she said. “It came out of the water . It was on the ship . It ate Anton’s face right off of his head! How can you be so calm about this?”
“I’ve seen no proof of your claims and, as Captain Seghers says, we have a contract.” Mr. Curran smiled smugly. “If you’d like to be released from your contract, I would be happy to discuss reimbursement of your travel and housing expenses, all to be paid to the network before we return to land. For legal purposes, you understand.”
“Why you—” Alexandra began.
A commotion behind her cut her off before she could say anything more. David shoved his way through the group, waving his hands for the Captain’s attention. She looked at him, and he signed, ‘We have a big problem. Monsters in the water. They killed the mermaid women.
Based on the time stamps taken from the equipment remaining on the Atargatis , less than an hour elapsed between the first appearance of a so-called “mermaid” on the ship and the first of the mass attacks. The women of the Blue Seas professional mermaid troupe never stood a chance against an enemy that attacked from the depths with an inhuman ferocity.
There were some who would say that their mistake was entering the water. What, then, would those people say was the mistake of everyone else aboard the Atargatis ? They remained on the ship they thought would save them until the very end. An end which came all too quickly.
—from Modern Ghost Ships: The Atargatis , originally aired on the Imagine Network, December 2017.
Part V
Safe on the Shore
Bringing a ship the size of the Atargatis back to full thrust was no small feat. Captain Seghers stared unbelieving at the scientists and crewmen now clogging her control room. Mr. Curran from Imagine stood next to her, the two of them transformed by circumstance into uneasy allies.
“I don’t understand,” said Captain Seghers. “You want me to turn this ship around? Do you have any notion of what that would mean for our fuel reserves? We won’t be able to come back here—we’ll have to head for shore. Not to mention that we’d be sailing after dark. The sun is almost down.”
“You sailed dark to get us here,” snapped Alexandra.
“Yes, with preparation and charts and a good idea of what the weather was going to be,” said Captain Seghers. “You’re telling me that one of your colleagues was eaten by a killer mermaid . I hope you can understand that this isn’t something I can just believe. I have to verify the situation before I can do anything else. I’ve sent someone to examine the scene where this supposedly occurred.”
“You’re wasting time that we don’t have,” interrupted Alexandra. “We need to leave now .”
Jovanie frowned. She didn’t care for being ordered around on her own ship. While she tried to be sympathetic, she had her limits. “This all sounds like so much bullshit to me. There’s no such thing as mermaids. If they existed, we’d all know about it by now, and this expedition would never have been approved!”
“Then how do you explain what happened to Anton? Or to Jessica?” Alexandra shook her head. “We saw it take him. We all saw it. There’s video! Call any of the cameramen who were there, they can show you!”
“You mean cameramen working for a network that makes monster movies can show me footage of a monster? Well, there’s a surprise.” Jovanie shook her head. “I’m not turning this ship around without more than that. I have a contract with Imagine, and it says we stay where we are.”
“And the Imagine Network is not about to abandon one of the most expensive fact-finding expeditions we have ever funded just because you have bad feelings about something that showed up on your monitors,” said Mr. Curran.
Alexandra stared at him. “It wasn’t on the monitors,” she said. “It came out of the water . It was on the ship . It ate Anton’s face right off of his head! How can you be so calm about this?”
“I’ve seen no proof of your claims and, as Captain Seghers says, we have a contract.” Mr. Curran smiled smugly. “If you’d like to be released from your contract, I would be happy to discuss reimbursement of your travel and housing expenses, all to be paid to the network before we return to land. For legal purposes, you understand.”
“Why you—” Alexandra began.
A commotion behind her cut her off before she could say anything more. David shoved his way through the group, waving his hands for the Captain’s attention. She looked at him, and he signed, ‘We have a big problem. Monsters in the water. They killed the mermaid women.
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