On 18 September 1860, the Sloop of War USS Levant sailed from Hawaii for Panama. She was never seen again. She was commissioned in 1838 and was a participant in the Mexican-American War. Levant subsequently served in the East India and Pacific Squadrons before she was lost. Note: In June 1861 a mast and a part of a lower yardarm believed to be from Levant were found near Hilo. Spikes had been driven into the mast as if used to build a raft. Some rumors had her running aground on an uncharted reef off California; others had her defecting to the Confederacy. Whatever her real fate, this ghostly heroine of colorful episodes in American Naval history still sails the seas of imagination and legend.
Read more about USS Levant:
http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/l5/levant.htm --