Russian ship's voyage into ocean of conspiracies

(CNN) -- Whether or not it had anything more dangerous than a cargo of timber on board, cargo ship Arctic Sea, which was found Monday after vanishing for two weeks, certainly carries the answers to an intriguing maritime mystery.

The ship's owners, Solchart Management, confirmed to CNN Monday that the vessel and its crew were safe, following Russian media reports that it had been found near the Cape Verde islands off the west African coast.

Since it disappeared off the charts, rumors and conspiracy theories have stirred in the Russian-crewed vessel's wake, with a fog of conflicting sightings and reports doing little to help separate fact from fiction.

Conjuring plots worthy of "Hunt for Red October" author Tom Clancy, online chatter threw up numerous possibilities about the fate of the Arctic Sea, casting the ship variously as a covert weapons transporter, a drug courier or the booty in a mutinous crime venture.

Then there were the predictable supernatural explanations, invoking Bermuda Triangle legends or drawing comparisons to the Mary Celeste "ghost ship," a twin-masted merchant vessel that was found under full sail -- minus its crew -- in the Atlantic in 1872.

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