On October 17, 1917, the three-masted schooner Zebrina was found run aground at Rozel Point, near Cherbourg, on the coast of northern France.
The ship had left Falmouth, England only two days earlier, carrying a cargo of coal bound for Saint-Brieuc under the command of Captain J. Archibald Martin.
When French coastguards boarded her, they found the vessel undamaged, the galley fire still burning, and the table laid for a meal.
There was no sign of her five-man crew. None of them were ever found, and no wreckage, distress signal, or struggle was ever recorded.
The schooner sails from Falmouth, Cornwall, with a cargo of coal for Saint-Brieuc, France, under Captain Martin and a crew of five.
The Zebrina makes what should be a routine two-day crossing of the English Channel, a route she had sailed many times before.
French coastguards discover the schooner run aground near Cherbourg, her sails still set and her rigging only slightly disarranged.
No crew members are found aboard. The galley fire is still burning and the table has been laid for a meal. The ship's sole lifeboat remains in its davits.
Captain Martin and his four crewmen are formally listed as lost. Their fate is never established.
Five men were aboard the Zebrina when she departed Falmouth.
Master of the Zebrina, aged 33, an experienced coastal trader in wartime waters.
Four additional crewmen sailed with Captain Martin, including at least one able seaman as young as 17. None were ever found.
The Zebrina was undamaged when found, her flat bottom having spared her hull despite running aground.
A meal had been laid out in the galley, and the fire beneath it was still burning when the ship was boarded.
The ship's only lifeboat was still aboard in its davits, ruling out a routine evacuation.
The captain's log contained no entry past the day of departure, offering no record of distress.
Germany's unrestricted submarine campaign was active in the Channel that October, leading many to suspect the crew was removed by a U-boat before the vessel could be sunk.
A sudden squall during the crossing may have washed the crew overboard in quick succession, leaving the ship to drift on and run aground alone.
Some accounts suggest the crew may have panicked and taken to an unrecorded second boat, though no supporting evidence has surfaced.