This ship is actually the center of a ghost story that most historians would tell you is complete bunk. Unlike all other ghost stories, of course. And yet, here we are.
According to legend, the Octavius was captained by Hendrick van der Heul, who once served as quartermaster for Captain William Kidd. In 1761, the ship left England, on its way to Asia. The captain and crew made the dangerous passage around Cape Horn, and a year later, the ship was completely stocked and ready to return to Europe.
No one knows why van der Huel decided to return home through the Northwest Passage. At the time no one had ever even found a sea route through the North - making this decision akin to suicide. Unsurprisingly, the ship disappeared en route - presumably sunk, or locked in the ice.
That's when things get really interesting. Sometime in the 1770s, the crew of a whaling ship found the Octavius floating off the coast of Greenland. The crew inside had all frozen to death - including the captain, who was frozen in the process of writing a log entry - dates to 1762. That means the crew of the Octavius died, and sometime in the intervening years the ship made the Northwest Passage - by itself.
Yup. Definitely ghosts.