Search For Australian Ghost Ship Crew Scaled Back

Australian rescuers on Saturday scaled back the search for crewmen missing off a yacht found floating off the coast with its engine running.

Australian rescuers on Saturday scaled back the search for crewmen missing off a yacht found floating off the coast with its engine running, food on its table ready to eat and a laptop computer turned on.

Police were still trying to solve the "Mary Celeste" style mystery but told local radio it was the three men may have fallen off in rough weather six days earlier.

The 12-metre (36 feet) catamaran was found 80 nautical miles off Townsville on the northeast coast on Wesdnesday, but there was no sign of the three crewmen who had set sail from Queensland state bound for Australia's west coast on Sunday.

A helicopter search for the three men was called off Saturday but two volunteer marine rescue vessels were continuing the search, police said.

Superintendent Roy Wall told Australian Broadcasting Corp radio it was likely the men were thrown overboard. He said recovered navigational equipment suggested something threw the boat off course on Sunday.

Local media named the three men as 56-year-old skipper Derek Batten, 69-year-old Peter Tunstead and his 63-year-old brother James.

The yacht's sails were still up when it was discovered but one was badly shredded. Police said the engine was running, there was food on the table, a laptop was turned on, and the radio and global positioning satellite (GPS) were working.

Three life jackets and survival equipment, including an emergency beacon, were found on board, but no life rafts.

The Mary Celeste was an abandoned "ghost ship" found off the coast of Portugal in 1872. None of the Mary Celeste's crew or passengers were ever found.