THREE weeks after it vanished on the high seas, the cargo ship Arctic Sea was found off the Cape Verde islands on Monday with its Russian crew alive, well and “answering questions”.

All 15 sailors were put aboard a Russian anti-submarine warship, bringing to a conclusion one of the most intriguing maritime mysteries of modern times.

But, even as the Russian authorities announced the development, the few details to emerge left more questions than answers at the end of a saga which has inspired frenzied rumours of piracy, ransom demands, secret cargos and arms smuggling — all worthy of a Cold War thriller.

Russia's defence minister, Anatoly Serdyukov, informed the Russian president, Dmitry Medvedev, that the crew, when found, were not under armed control, and were now helping “clarify” the circumstances of this most unusual incident.

Tass news agency quoted Serdyukov saying “The Arctic Sea was discovered 300 miles off the Cape Verde islands. The crew have been moved to our anti-submarine warfare ship. They are answering questions ... to clarify all circumstances of the incident.”

Viktor Matveyev, director of the Finnish-owned vessel's operating company, Solchart, told the Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper “We are extremely pleased, we've been told that everyone is alive and nobody was hurt ... I can't say any more. I'm rushing to a meeting to organise getting the crew home, checking their health and providing any help. We still don't know what condition the ship is in”.

The disappearance of the Arctic Sea, carrying a £1.1m cargo of timber, baffled experts as it eluded all radar and satellite detection by vanishing after passing through the English Channel on July 28. Just how a 4,000 tonne ship could drop off the charts in these days of space-age technology prompted allusions to the Bermuda triangle and the “ghost ship” Marie Celeste.

Further intrigue came with reports that the Malta Maritime Authority had received information that the vessel had been boarded by up to a dozen armed men in masks as it sailed through the Baltic Sea, sparking concerns of piracy — almost unheard of in European waters.

The “raiders” reportedly bound, blindfold and beat the crew before departing the vessel in an inflatable boat 12 hours later, it was said, leaving the ship's communications equipment damaged. The Arctic Sea left Finland, bound for the Algerian port of Bejaia on July 23. It was known to have made contact with Dover coastguards on July 28, but, at that point there had been no alert over the “attack” so there was no hunt for the ship. Two days later it was spotted in the Bay of Biscay. Its automatic tracking system recorded its position in that same area at 1.30am on the same day. From then on, however, there was no further contact.

The tracking system appeared either to have been switched off or to have stopped working from that day. It was due to make port in Algeria on Aug 4. It now appears it changed direction heading out towards the western Atlantic.

The Kremlin had ordered warships and submarines to scour the Atlantic amid fears it could have been the target of a second pirate attack. Meanwhile, Nato was monitoring the situation due to the unusual nature and location of the attacks, but was not directly involved.

Puzzling over speculation that it had fallen victim to pirates, European Union Commission spokesman Martin Selmayr said on Friday “From information currently available it would seem that these acts, such as they have been reported, have nothing in common with 'traditional' acts of piracy or armed robbery at sea.”

The plot took a further twist at the weekend with unsubstantiated reports that its Finnish owners, who have denied its cargo is anything other than timber, had received a ransom note for a “large sum”, reported to be almost £1m. But there was never confirmation whether this was genuine.

— The Guardian, London