The so-called Ohio River ghost ship does not seem to be really haunted, except perhaps by a long and illustrious past. A vessel of many names, she has been known as Celt, Sachem, USS Phenakite, Sightseer, and Circle Line V. Built in 1902 as a rich man’s yacht, she served as a Navy anti-submarine patrol craft in both world wars, as a laboratory for Thomas Edison, as a luxury fishing boat, and New York City tour boat. She is said to have been visited by two presidents, appeared in several movies and served as a set for a Madonna music video. She is estimated to have carried around 3 million passengers in her long working life.

Rumor had it that she was scrapped in 1984, but she turned up again in a creek off the Ohio River, in Petersburg, Kentucky, about 25 miles downstream from Cincinnati. She has apparently been abandoned there since around 1987. Dubbed the “ghost ship,” she is a popular destination for kayakers.

She began her life in 1902 as the 186-foot-long yacht Celt by Pusey and Jones, Wilmington, Delaware, for J. Rogers Maxwell, a railroad executive. A change of owners resulted in a name change and she became Sachem. Not long after the US entered World War I, she was acquired by the US Navy as a Coastal Patrol Craft becoming USS Sachem.  For a period of time, she was turned over to Thomas Edison for use as a floating laboratory to develop anti-submarine warfare technology. 

Between the world wars, the vessel went through several owners and ended up as a fishing boat. In 1945, the Navy acquired her again for use in the anti-submarine patrol. Renamed USS Phenakite, she patrolled the Florida Keys and was later used as a platform for testing sonar systems. 

After the war, the ship was purchased by the Circle Line of New York City and renamed first Sightseer and then Circle Line V. She served as an around Manahattan tour boat until 1983. After that the story gets fuzzy. She was said to be sold to a Cinncinati local named Robert Miller for $7,500. And somehow she ended up abandoned in a creek off the Ohio River. 

To learn more about the history of this fascinating vessel go to the Sachem Project.

Kayaking to the Abandoned Ghost Ship