Could make a good horror novel.

frimble3

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What if the rats (centuries of maritime experience in their furry little heads) have turned off the signaling device, rendering them 'invisible', and have gone rogue, or 'piRAT'?
A boat with a working engines comes into view, rats lure them closer, and board her?
Rats, leaping through the air, swinging on ropes, etc. Kill and eat the crew, if the second boat will hold all the rats, take it over, if not, use it to tow their ship near to isolated, fertile land.
Bold adventurers, brave little heroes, and born survivors.

It's really only a horror story for the humans involved, and the weaker rats.
 
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ironmikezero

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Aha, the genesis of the legend of the scourge of the seas, the Dread Rat Roberts . . ?
 

frimble3

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Aha, the genesis of the legend of the scourge of the seas, the Dread Rat Roberts . . ?

That's why rats hang around seaports, when the pickings are better in the suburbs. They're scoping out likely targets.
This would account for the the large number of rats on an abandoned ship laid up for
scrap.

It might also explain things like the 'Mary Celeste'. After contact with a ship full of rats, the rest of the crew scrambled into the ship's boat, intending escape. Unfortunately the rats could swim.

Although, the OP is a good setting for a horror story. Either the crew discovers the initial colony of rats, or the story of the brave team tasked with setting up the poisons that will kill off the rats, rendering the ship safe for towing and scrapping. (Who have no real idea of how many rats there are, or how intelligent the rats have become.)
 

Azdaphel

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I can't seem to find this a base for a horror story. Perhaps because I played Warhammer and find the Skavens cute and funny. :)
 

ShaunHorton

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Hmm. I could see that. A cruise ship or something overrun, like a ghost ship, found adrift by scavengers, who get lured in search of riches. The rats eat the scavengers for food. That's how the rats survive on the cruise ship, (that and cannibalism, eating all the sicker, smaller, and weaker rats). And thus, the ghost ship continues to drift, never really found, but never really lost.