Manfred Fritz Bajorat, 59, was found by two fishermen at the weekend off the coast of the Philippines
The mummified body of a German adventurer has been discovered on his abandoned yacht - which silently drifted around the world for years.
Manfred Fritz Bajorat, 59, was found by two fishermen at the weekend off the coast of the Philippines.
His body was discovered near the radio telephone on the 40ft yacht called Sayo, as if he was trying one last desperate mayday call.
The tragic sailor has also penned a haunting final message to his wife Claudia, who died from cancer in 2010.
The note read: "Thirty years we're been together on the same path. Then the power of the demons was stronger than the will to live.
"You're gone. May your soul find its peace. Your Manfred."
It is not clear how long he had been dead and for how many years his yacht had been drifting, but no reported sightings of him have been mentioned since 2009.
Inside the cabin were found photo albums, clothes and tins of food strewn all over the interior.
He was floating nearly 40 miles from the coast of the Philippines in the Pacific Ocean when the fishermen spotted the drifting vessel and boarded it.
The mast was broken and much of the cabin was underwater, but what killed the skipper is unclear.
Dry ocean winds, hot temperatures and the salty air helped preserve his body. He was identified by paperwork found on the vessel.
It is unclear how long he has been dead. Police are trying to retrace his last voyages and find the last people to speak with him.
He broke up with his wife in 2008, who had been on his travels with him, and she later died from cancer.
In 2009 in Mallorca he met another world sailer called Dieter who told Germany's BILD newspaper: "He was a very experienced sailor. I don't believe he would have sailed into a storm.
"I believe the mast broke after Manfred was already dead."
His body was taken for an autopsy in Butuan City, the yacht was towed for a police inspection into the port of Barobo.
Police spokeswoman Goldie Lou Siega in the Philippines said; "We have no evidence of a second person aboard and no weapon was found on the yacht."
Dr Mark Benecke, a forensic criminologist in the city of Cologne, told BILD: "The way he is sitting seems to indicate that death was unexpected, perhaps from a heart attack."
The German embassy in Manila is working with local officials to trace his family in Germany.
It is believed he has a daughter called Nina who works as the captain of a freight vessel.
via mirror.co.uk
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