I'l crosspost to /r/AskHistorians but I figured I could try to cast a wider net here.

I had dinner with a family friend several years ago. He is a WWII veteran who recently had a stroke. His memory isn't ironclad. He flew as a B-17 crewmember and was reassigned to Bahamas near the end of WWII. During his time there, he volunteered to patrol the Caribbeans (near Bahamas) with the Navy in high-speed PT boats to search for U-boats.

One day, his PT boat's crew came across a freighter. They pulled up alongside it. The first thing they noticed was that the engines were just idling with no forward movement. One crewmember fired his Garand into the water three times to get someone's attention. No one from the ship came over to respond. That crew member climbed up a rope ladder that was already over the side. He looked around and reported that there was no one on the bridge.

The rest of the PT boat crew searched the ship and found no soul onboard. My family friend recalled that the captain's table was set with plates and silverware. The last journal entry was four hours before the freighter was discovered.

So I would like to ask is where can I find more information on this? I would like to find the name of the ship and any more information. My family friend did say that the incident was covered in a newspaper that his mother read about.

Google isn't too much help since results are inundated with shipwreck references and the Bermuda triangle.