The hunt for answers

Based on records of a mobile phone communication between Han and his friend Hsu Lieh-chun (徐烈群) about 10pm the night the vessel disappeared, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) speculated that the place where the ship vanished was in the vicinity of Yilan County.

But a Chunghwa Telecom record showed that the last cellular base station that received a signal from another crew member, Chu Hsi-chun's (朱習勤) mobile phone, was located in the vicinity of Tamsui, indicating the carrier had likely reached the northern tip of Taiwan before it vanished.

Although nobody seems to have offered a comprehensive explanation as to the fate of the gravel-carrying vessel, such disappearances are far from uncommon in the shipping world -- perhaps the Hualien No. 1 will one day be the subject of maritime folklore, like many other vessels before it.