Rudolf Diesel - Disappearance

Disappearance

In the evening of 29 September 1913, Diesel boarded the post office steamer Dresden in Antwerp on his way to a meeting of the Consolidated Diesel Manufacturing company in London. He took dinner on board the ship and then retired to his cabin at about 10 p.m., leaving word to be called the next morning at 6:15 a.m. His cabin was found empty during a roll call and he was never seen alive again. A search of his cabin revealed that Diesel's bed had not been slept in, although his nightshirt was neatly laid out and his watch had been left where he could see it from the bed. His hat and overcoat were discovered neatly folded beneath the afterdeck railing. Ten days later, the crew of the Dutch boat Coertsen came upon the corpse of a man floating in the ocean of the North Sea near Norway. The body was in such an advanced state of decomposition that it was unrecognizable and they did not bring it aboard. Instead, the crew retrieved personal items (pill case, wallet, ID card, pocket knife, eyeglass case) from the clothing of the dead man, and returned the body to the sea. On 13 October these items were identified by Rudolf's son, Eugen Diesel, as belonging to his father.

There are various theories to explain Diesel's death. His biographers, such as Grosser (1978), present a case for suicide, and clearly consider it most likely. Conspiracy theories suggest that various people's business or military interests may have provided motives for homicide, however. Evidence is limited for all explanations.

Shortly after Diesel's disappearance, his wife Martha opened a bag that her husband had given to her just before his ill-fated voyage, with directions that it should not be opened until the following week. She discovered 200,000 German marks in cash and a number of financial statements indicating that their bank accounts were virtually empty.