LONDON — The derelict cargo vessel was last spotted drifting into the sunset, somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean. There were no signs of life onboard: It was a ghost ship on the lonely ocean, adrift and abandoned.

This week, after more than a year being ravaged by strong seas and powerful storms, the ship’s voyage came to an end when it crashed onto the rocky shores of Ballycotton, a tiny fishing village on the south coast of Ireland.

The rusty ship, identified as the Alta, had somehow managed to survive a journey thousands of miles from southeast of Bermuda, where it was first disabled and its crew rescued.