The cutlery was set for a meal, laptop computer screens flickered inside the cabin and mobile phones and sunglasses were placed on the table in front of the empty chairs - but there was no sign of the crew.
Australian rescue officials admitted they were baffled today as they searched more than 1,000 square miles of shark-infested waters off the coast of Queensland for three men who disappeared from a catamaran that was found drifting near the Great Barrier Reef.
"It’s almost like they have just stepped off the boat," said the rescue helicopter pilot, Trevor Wilson, who lowered a swimmer onto the white-hulled Kaz 11 yesterday. Entering alone, the rescuer came across a chart table set for a meal, mobile phones and three wallets. The lights, radio and two laptop computers were on.
Reports named the crew as Derek Batten, 56, and his neighbours, Peter and James Tunstead, who are brothers, aged 69 and 63, from Yunderup, near Perth.
Coastguard and police were today trying to piece together the last movements of the boat to help them narrow their search area.
Keryn Grey, James Tunstead's daughter, said the three men had been on the voyage of a lifetime, sailing back from Queensland to western Australia and planned to anchor every night near the coast. She said the families hoped the men were in a dinghy and had been unable to stop the boat drifting away.
"That’s what we are hoping, that they forgot to anchor it and it’s drifted off. The three idiots," she told Seven Network television.
The Kaz 11, a 40ft (12m) catamaran, was spotted by a coast patrol aircraft on Wednesday but the coastguard only boarded the boat yesterday, 80 nautical miles (148km) east of Townsville, where they found lifejackets and no sign of damage apart from the ripped sail. A dinghy was lashed in place and the engine was ticking over in neutral.
"It looked like the boat had been recently abandoned," said Jon Hall, a spokesman for Queensland state’s Emergency Management office.
"They got on board and said the engine was running, the computers were running, there was a laptop set up on the table which was running, the radio was working, the GPS was working and there was food and utensils set on the table ready to eat, but no sign of the crew," he said. "It was a bit strange."
Jason Jesse, senior constable of the Townsville Water Police, said that preliminary analysis of the GPS system had enabled rescuers to narrrow down "a good possibility" that the crew have been missing since Monday or Tuesday. There were no life rafts found on the boat and Mr Jesse said investigators believed the men had set sail without them.
"I'm not a medical expert... but if you've been in the water for four days without any flotation device, it doesn't matter where you are, you would normally be in trouble," he said. "The sea is an unforgiving place."
Mr Jesse, who was also on board the helicopter when the eery find was made, said the Kaz 11 had been spotted for the first time on Wednesday afternoon and that a coastal patrol aircraft had tried to make contact with the vessel after seeing the damaged sail.
A flypast on Thursday spotted the boat drifting and again failed to raise the crew. "Then the alert was well and truly raised," said Mr Jesse, who described the find as extremely unusual.
"It's definitely unique in the sense that all the people who were onboard are no longer on board," he said.
The Kaz 11, which started its voyage in Shute Harbour, around 186 miles (300km) south of Townsville, is presently being towed into shore, where Mr Jesse said it would be examined as a crime scene, although there was no evidence of foul play at this stage.
He said the police were in touch with the families of the missing men and that at least one of them, later named as Mr Batten, had some sailing experience.
Greg Connor, a forecaster with Australia's Bureau of Meteorology, said the sailors would have faced moderate southeasterly winds of about 35 kph (22 mph) on their voyage, typical for this time of year. "It would have been excellent sailing conditions," he said. "There’s no reason to believe this is a weather-related incident."
In Shute Harbour, five miles (8km) south of Arlie Beach, a popular setting-off point for sailors and backpackers visiting the Whitsunday islands and the Great Barrier Reef, local sailors said the Kaz 11 was bought recently in a private sale.
Barry Haldan, who runs the Harbour Side Boat Hire, Bait & Tackle on the jetty, said there was "nothing untoward" about the three middle-aged men who set sail on Sunday. He estimated that the Kaz 11 was five years old and "more than capable" of making the voyage to Townsville, its intended port of call.
Mr Haldan said that the recent weather had been mild, with moderate winds and 1m (3ft) seas and that there was no obvious explanation for the mystery.
"The food on the table is the strangest thing," he said. "It's as if you've got up from dinner and just buggered off, taken off, gone."
He said one theory going around the harbour was that one of the men had gone overboard and the rest had tried to rescue him.
"Someone's gone over, then someone's gone after him and then the other one's gone over, and the next thing you know everyone's in the water and the boat's just motored off."
He said that sharks posed a greater danger to the men than sea temperatures in the Whitsundays, some of Australia's most popular sailing waters.
"You could survive in the water for quite a while but there are a lot of sharks out there though, a lot of tiger sharks. In fact the odds aren't great as far as sharks are concerned."
Frank Nachtigal, the Commodore of the Abel Point Yacht Club in Airlie Beach, said the waters the men were sailing in were manageable for even the most inexperienced sailors.
"They're some of the best sailing waters in the world," he said. "It's a mystery. Where they were, it's just sensational."
Mr Nachtigal said the damage to the sail could easily have happened once it was left unattended for a day or two and added that he had never heard of a similar accident.
"We've heard of boats drifting off anchor when people have come in to shore for a picnic but it seems like this was a different case. Apparently the motor was still running."
Two planes and two rescue helicopters are currently being used in the search, which is being co-ordinated by Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) and could widen to an area of more than 4,300 square miles tomorrow. Four ships are also being used and a military helicopter may join the search..
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