It was a good mystery for a while, but now it's officially coming to an end. We're talking about the so-called Google barge off the coast of Maine, which incited all kinds of rumors and speculation last year.

The barge was first towed into the Portland Harbor last October, as a similar one was anchored in San Francisco, prompting speculation that Google was pursuing some sort of floating data centers since it has submitted a patent application for exactly that. Others wondered if the barges might become Google party boats, or home to one of the Web giant's secret projects.

Google eventually put the rumors to rest, revealing that the barges were intended to be interactive spaces where the company could showcase its latest technologies. But now, it appears Google is ditching that idea, at least in Maine.

According to a report from the Portland Press Herald, the Portland barge has been sold to an unnamed "international barging company," and the four-story structure sitting on top of it is headed for the scrap yard. Earlier this week, a tugboat towed the barge from its home for the past 10 months to a different facility in South Portland, where it's being prepared for a trip to an unknown destination.

The 250-foot barge previously carried 63 shipping containers that had been arranged into a four-story building. Those containers will now be disassembled and scrapped, the Press Herald said.

Meanwhile, the California barge left the San Francisco Bay in March and set up shop in the Port of Stockton about 80 miles away. The paper said it's still there, and Google has paid rent for at least another three months.

Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

For more, watch PCMag Live in the video below, which discusses Google's reported move to scrap its mysterious barge.