On the 10th of November, 1955, Captain Gerald Douglas of the merchant ship Tuvalu was en route from Suva (the capital of Fiji) to Funafuti (the capital of Tuvalu) in the South Pacific when he spotted something odd. He saw a ship drifting out in the sea, tipped so heavily to one side that the port-side deck rails were dipping in and out of the water.
via Wiki Commons
A recovery party was soon dispatched, and the ship was determined to be the MV Joyita, a cargo and fishing charter vessel that regularly made rounds around Samoa. It had left from Apia in Samoa on October 3rd and was expected to arrive in Tokelau, an island territory of New Zealand, about 48 hours later, but never arrived. A search and rescue team was out for six days, between the 6th and 12th, and although they searched some 100,000 square miles of Pacific, they could find nothing. And now here it was, 600 miles off course — and completely empty. What remained is a maritime mystery that has puzzled people for decades, inspired a book that offers a theoretical solution, and has been called the “Mary Celeste of the South Pacific.”
The MV Joyita started out life in 1931 as a pleasure yacht, built in Los Angeles for film director Roland West and named for his wife, actress Jewel Carmen – its name meaning “little jewel” in Spanish. In 1936, it was bought by Milton E. Beacon and made numerous trips to Mexico and up to the Golden Gate International Exposition in 1939 and 1940. The ship was 69 feet long (yes, we know) and weighed 47 tons. In 1941, it was purchased by the US Navy and became Yard Patrol boat YP-108, patrolling the waters around Hawaii’s Big Island.
via Wiki Commons
In 1943, it ran aground and sustained serious damage, but as the Navy was desperate for boats in the middle of WWII, it was repaired and returned to service. By the war’s end, it was in surplus, so the Navy equipment was removed and the Joyita was once again sold to a private owner. In 1948, it got two new engines, and the hull was outfitted with a cork lining for extra buoyancy. In 1952, the ship passed to its final owner, Captain Thomas Henry “Dusty” Miller, born in England and living in Samoa.
Captain Miller used the boat for chartered trade, shipping, and fishing expeditions, making money off carrying people and goods around the islands. When the Joyita left from Apia, Samoa, on October 3, 1955, it was carrying four tons of cargo, including timber, medical supplies, food, and 80 empty oil drums. There were also 16 crewmen and nine passengers. Among the passengers were a doctor named Alfred Denis “Andy” Parsons, a government official, a copra buyer, and a couple with two children, ages 11 and 3. There was no sign of any of them on or around the ship, and the search and rescue team hadn’t seen any trace of them either.
As the recovery team boarded the boat, things only got more sinister. The radio was tuned to 2182 kilohertz, the international marine distress channel, indicating that they had required help. The port engine clutch and the auxiliary pump were both disassembled and unconnected, meaning the ship had only been running on one engine. The clocks were stopped at 10:25 pm, and the lights were on. The logbook, sextant, and other navigational equipment were gone, along with all three lifeboats. Finally, there were some eerie signs of possible violence. The ship’s bridge had been smashed by something and covered with a canvas awning, moreover, the deckhouse’s windows were broken. On deck, a doctor’s bag was found open containing a scalpel, stethoscope, and lengths of bloody bandages.
When the Joyita was towed back to Suva, the maritime inquiry found that there was a clogged drain in the bilges, meaning that they and the lower decks were flooded. There was still fuel in the tanks, and a rough estimate supposed it had completed about 243 miles of its journey and was only about 50 miles from Tokelau when whatever happened happened. It was also found that although the radio was working, there was an unseen break in the cables, which would have limited the radio’s range to only about two miles.
The High-Sea’s Mystery Of A Found Ship … With No Crew Or Passengers
Source: Pinoy Daily News
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