Mysterious shipwrecks of 1938

While we're considering disasters as plot points, here's a list of all the ships who sank with all hands aboard during this year. Whatever the real cause of the losses, with no-one around to tell any tales... who can say what really happened?

• Glanrhyd (United Kingdom): The cargo ship foundered in the Irish Sea between Lundy Island and Cardigan Bay with the loss of all seventeen crew on the 17th of January.


• Lochshira (United Kingdom): The coaster foundered in the North Sea off the coast of Ayrshire with the loss of all five crew on the 17th of January.


• Richard Borchart (Germany): The collier departed from Hamburg on a voyage to Nordenham, Lower Saxony. Two lifebuoys were discovered on Heligoland, Schleswig-Holstein on 4 February.The ship was believed foundered in the North Sea with the loss of all nineteen crew.


• Rumore (United Kingdom): The coaster departed Waterford, Ireland on 27 January bound for Barry, Glamorgan. She passed Passage West, County Cork the next day but was never seen again.


• Gianicolo (Italy): The cargo ship issued a distress call in the Mediterranean Sea on the 11th February, but was never found. It was  presumed foundered with the loss of all 35 crew.


• itsu Maru No.3 (Japan): The cargo ship departed from Mizumata bound for Kobe, but never seen again. Reported on 18 February as presumed foundered.


• Admiral Karpfanger (Germany): The four-masted barque reported by radio when off Cape Horn, Chile. Wreckage was later found on Navarino Island.


• Agnar (United Kingdom): The coaster, on a voyage from Vohemar, Madagascar to Mauritius reported by radio from the Indian Ocean, but no further contact was had with the ship. It was presumed foundered with loss of all crew.


• Anglo Australian (United Kingdom): The cargo ship passed the Azores, Portugal on a voyage from Cardiff to British Columbia, Canada. There was no further contact and the ship was presumed foundered on the 14th of March.


• oca (Chile): The cargo ship capsized and sank off Chiloé Island with the loss of all nineteen crew


• Ben Seyr (United Kingdom): The cargo ship departed Ramsey, Isle of Man bound for Cardiff and was not seen again, presumed to have foundered on the 2nd of October.


• Mineral (Germany): The coaster passed Brunsbüttel, Schleswig-Holstein on 1 October bound for Antwerp, Belgium. No further trace, presumed foundered

The tug, Liberty, was run down by an unknown vessel and sank at Hog Island, Philadelphia; two crew were rescued. Being run down by an unknown vessel sounds rather suspicious; you could easily modify this so that the ship was attacked by mysterious forces and scuttled to prevent it reaching it's destination.