The SS Ourang Medan was a reported ghost ship and proposed urban legend of the 1940s. The vessel was supposedly discovered adrift after briefly broadcasting an SOS. The ships that responded to the SOS were reported to have discovered all the crew dead under suspicious circumstances. As they subsequently prepared to tow the Ourang Medan to port, a fire reportedly broke out in the hold resulting in its eventual sinking.
The most prominent version of the story places the vessel in the Dutch East Indies (modern Indonesia) in the Straits of Malacca waters, while other versions of the tale place the vessel around the Marshall Islands or Solomon Islands.[1][2][3] The story was initially reported in Italy in 1940 and the UK in 1940, before similar stories were repeated in 1948 and later again in 1952.[4][2] The inability of researchers to identify the vessel in any official records, along with the inconsistent reporting of the location, and other details that change from version to version, has led to speculative coverage in mystery publications such as the Fortean Times.[3][2][5]