| For the myth in GTA San Andreas, see Ghost Ships (GTA San Andreas). |
The Ghost Ships are a popular myth in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. They are a proven phenomenon, and they can be witnessed at any time in the game.
Description
If the player looks closely out to the sea, the silhouette of ships can be seen in the far distance. They will appear for around the time-span 5-10 seconds, and then fade out of view and disappear with no explanation. The ships usually appear very far out to sea, near the horizon line. What is very strange is that the ships do not look like any of the boats that regularly spawn in the waters of Vice City. They look like little navy ships.
It is possible that game developers implemented these ships to add more detail or realism to the game. Nevertheless, it is impossible to reach the ships by sea or by air, because the ghost ships are beyond the boundaries of the game. Shooting at these ships will trigger no response. At rare occasions, the game malfunctions and the ships tend to travel above the sea level, giving the impression of flying and give the player a creepy feeling, but this just a glitch, although, this glitch is hard to come across.
Classification
These 2D Ghost Ships can be classified from the internal files of the games. They are named as Boats_1 to Boats_8. According to the official data in the game files, there are four ships and 8 files, 4 other being the same but horizontally opposite. Two of them being yachts, the other two are a sail boat and a cruise ship. Technically speaking, the ships are not solid; They are simply 2-dimensional gray textures that appear against the backdrop of the sky. They may spawn moving very slowly, and then they will fade out of view.
Shipwrecks
Players have connected the Ghost Ships myth with the Chartered Libertine Lines Shipwrecks that can be found at the bottom of the ocean in various places around Vice City. Players have also said that the Ghost Ships could be manifestations of the ghosts on the shipwrecks, but after the whole things became classified, it is considered to be yet another hoax.
Video Investigation
Gallery
