WEBVTT - Season 09 Episode 06: Full Fathom Five 0:00:00.080 --> 0:00:03.520 Hello, It's Richard mclinsmith here with a huge favor to ask. 0:00:03.720 --> 0:00:06.720 With Unexplained approaching its ten year anniversary, I want to 0:00:06.760 --> 0:00:08.920 hear from as many of you as possible about what 0:00:08.960 --> 0:00:11.160 you like about the show and what you don't like. 0:00:11.600 --> 0:00:13.920 More importantly, I want to know what I can do 0:00:13.960 --> 0:00:16.360 to make it better. So I've put a survey together 0:00:16.520 --> 0:00:18.239 and would dearly like you to fill it in for 0:00:18.320 --> 0:00:20.800 me if you have the time. Anyone taking part will 0:00:20.840 --> 0:00:22.919 be entered into a prize drawer for a chance to 0:00:22.960 --> 0:00:25.960 win one of ten signed copies of the Unexplained book. 0:00:26.160 --> 0:00:28.920 You can find the survey on our website at Unexplained 0:00:28.920 --> 0:00:34.320 podcast dot com, forward slash survey. That's Unexplained podcast dot com. 0:00:34.360 --> 0:00:37.639 Forward slash survey. Thank you so much again for all 0:00:37.640 --> 0:00:39.920 your support and for taking the time to listen to 0:00:40.000 --> 0:00:56.480 the show. The dark tropical sky was tinged with lemon as. 0:00:56.520 --> 0:01:01.400 Palm trees swayed lazily in the warm early morning from 0:01:01.440 --> 0:01:04.640 somewhere out in the harbor of Apia, the capital of 0:01:04.680 --> 0:01:09.039 Samoa in the South Pacific Ocean. Muffled metallic clangs and 0:01:09.120 --> 0:01:13.120 hammering sounds had been ringing out all night, but now 0:01:13.319 --> 0:01:17.640 as dawn broke, they finally went quiet. They were coming 0:01:17.680 --> 0:01:20.720 from a small merchant vessel whose crew had been working 0:01:20.800 --> 0:01:24.400 tirelessly to try and fix a faulty engine to no avail. 0:01:25.360 --> 0:01:29.959 The ship's captain, a British seafarer named Thomas Dusty Miller, 0:01:30.360 --> 0:01:34.440 looked harassed and frustrated in the gathering light. He told 0:01:34.440 --> 0:01:37.520 his crew that they'd be setting out that morning, regardless 0:01:38.160 --> 0:01:41.400 their departure had already been delayed enough as it was. 0:01:42.600 --> 0:01:45.760 Captain Miller had been charted by the Samoan government to 0:01:45.840 --> 0:01:49.320 take cargo and passengers to Tokalau, one of a remote 0:01:49.400 --> 0:01:54.200 group of Polynesian adols. His boat, the Hoyeta, should have 0:01:54.280 --> 0:01:58.960 left port at noon the previous day, halfway between Hawaii 0:01:59.000 --> 0:02:02.760 and New Zealand in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago 0:02:02.840 --> 0:02:06.680 of Tokalau was around two hundred and seventeen nautical miles 0:02:06.720 --> 0:02:10.359 to the north of the Samoan capitol. One of the 0:02:10.400 --> 0:02:13.120 passengers due to travel on the boat was a doctor 0:02:13.240 --> 0:02:16.440 who'd been tasked with performing an amputation on a patient 0:02:16.480 --> 0:02:21.200 out there. Another, a pharmacist with urgently needed medical supplies 0:02:21.240 --> 0:02:25.320 for the island. Along with several other passengers, four tons 0:02:25.360 --> 0:02:29.320 of cargo were also on board. Captain Miller was no 0:02:29.400 --> 0:02:33.560 doubt mindful of the urgent medical situation on Tokalau, and 0:02:33.680 --> 0:02:37.160 with the engine at least functioning, perhaps he reasoned the 0:02:37.200 --> 0:02:42.160 Hoyta's cork lined hull would keep them afloat regardless come 0:02:42.200 --> 0:02:53.520 what may. Having arrived on Samoa seven months earlier, Captain 0:02:53.560 --> 0:02:57.519 Miller was known for fine seamanship, but he'd also developed 0:02:57.520 --> 0:03:02.080 a reputation for recklessness and head drinking. He was said 0:03:02.080 --> 0:03:06.280 to be in some considerable debt to Recently, however, he'd 0:03:06.320 --> 0:03:10.720 secured a contract to carry copra between Samoa and the Tokelaus. 0:03:11.480 --> 0:03:15.080 Copra is the dried white flesh of coconut from which 0:03:15.120 --> 0:03:19.160 coconut oil is extracted and used to make soaps and cosmetics. 0:03:19.919 --> 0:03:24.000 The transportation of this lucrative commercial product, along with the 0:03:24.040 --> 0:03:28.120 carriage of passengers and medical supplies to Tokelau, had given 0:03:28.160 --> 0:03:32.240 the captain a viable business opportunity which he desperately needed 0:03:32.400 --> 0:03:37.440 to ease his financial troubles. At daybreak on Monday third 0:03:37.440 --> 0:03:42.160 of October nineteen fifty five, the Hoyita's sixteen strong crew, 0:03:42.400 --> 0:03:46.120 which included two men from Samoa and nine from Tokelau 0:03:46.440 --> 0:03:50.840 began welcoming the passengers on board. They included a government 0:03:50.880 --> 0:03:54.040 official as well as the doctor, a veteran of the 0:03:54.080 --> 0:03:57.240 Second World War, a copper buyer by the name of 0:03:57.320 --> 0:04:02.080 mister Williams, the pharmacist, and two children, the youngest of 0:04:02.120 --> 0:04:06.280 whom was only three years old. There was nothing immediately 0:04:06.320 --> 0:04:10.080 remarkable about any of them, except for mister Williams, that is, 0:04:10.400 --> 0:04:13.440 who was apparently carrying somewhere in the region of one 0:04:13.520 --> 0:04:17.960 hundred thousand US dollars in cash to buy copper, well 0:04:18.000 --> 0:04:21.880 over a million in to day's money. As the ship 0:04:22.040 --> 0:04:25.360 steamed out of port, it was an ordinary enough day, 0:04:26.080 --> 0:04:29.800 hot and clammy, but not yet the rainy season, the 0:04:29.880 --> 0:04:34.279 ocean waves undulating gently, but there was a deep sense 0:04:34.279 --> 0:04:38.200 of unease among some who saw the ship off. The 0:04:38.200 --> 0:04:41.760 wife of mister Williams, the coppera trader, later said that 0:04:41.839 --> 0:04:45.560 as she waived her husband goodbye, she was suddenly reminded 0:04:45.640 --> 0:04:49.000 of a dream she'd had the previous night, or rather 0:04:49.040 --> 0:04:54.280 a nightmare filled with visions of disaster. While on board, 0:04:54.680 --> 0:04:58.960 some of the Samoans traded nervous glances, concerned that Captain 0:04:59.000 --> 0:05:02.120 Miller seemed to be a little worse for wear from drinking, 0:05:03.360 --> 0:05:06.640 and with that the engines fluttered into life, and the 0:05:06.680 --> 0:05:10.719 anchor was pulled from the water. Of the captain's orders, 0:05:11.000 --> 0:05:15.200 the boat eased out toward the open seas as mister 0:05:15.240 --> 0:05:19.560 Williams's wife waved it off. The Hoyita eased steadily out 0:05:19.560 --> 0:05:23.159 at the harbor. Before long it was completely out of 0:05:23.200 --> 0:05:27.719 sight and beyond all radio contact. It would not be 0:05:27.839 --> 0:05:30.680 the last sighting of the ship, but it would prove 0:05:30.760 --> 0:05:33.119 to be the last time that any of the crew 0:05:33.279 --> 0:05:38.480 or passengers were ever seen again. You're listening to Unexplained, 0:05:39.000 --> 0:05:50.679 and I'm Richard McLean Smith. The Hoyita had not always 0:05:50.760 --> 0:05:54.480 been a merchant vessel. It was originally commissioned and built 0:05:54.480 --> 0:05:57.720 in Los Angeles in nineteen thirty one for the American 0:05:57.800 --> 0:06:02.080 film director Rowland West, a doyen of early fil noir 0:06:02.360 --> 0:06:05.720 in the silent movie era of the nineteen twenties and thirties. 0:06:06.800 --> 0:06:10.640 The sixty nine foot twin engine pleasure cruiser was considered 0:06:10.640 --> 0:06:14.760 the height of luxury for its time, boasting advanced features 0:06:14.800 --> 0:06:19.359 such as autopilot and large fuel tanks for maximum usage time, 0:06:20.120 --> 0:06:25.039 but the ship's construction did not go smoothly. One Portuguese 0:06:25.120 --> 0:06:28.400 worker had a fatal fall from scaffolding while helping to 0:06:28.440 --> 0:06:33.520 build it. Some say in response, the man's widow placed 0:06:33.520 --> 0:06:37.640 a curse on the ship. Perhaps this didn't bother West, 0:06:38.080 --> 0:06:41.160 or maybe he never even heard about it. Either way, 0:06:41.480 --> 0:06:44.960 he went through with the purchase. After all, it was 0:06:45.040 --> 0:06:49.000 a beautifully crafted vessel made from two inch thick cedar 0:06:49.040 --> 0:06:53.760 planks over an oak timber frame. He named it Hoyita 0:06:54.400 --> 0:06:58.560 Mexican for Little Jewel, after his wife, the silent screen 0:06:58.600 --> 0:07:03.920 actor Jewel Carmen. At first, the gleaming vessel was everything 0:07:04.040 --> 0:07:07.040 West had hoped, and he eagerly took it out whenever 0:07:07.080 --> 0:07:11.240 he got the chance, usually on trips across to California's 0:07:11.280 --> 0:07:16.360 Catalina Islands. The voyages would be lavish affairs, with West 0:07:16.480 --> 0:07:20.000 always keen to share the experience with his many glamorous 0:07:20.040 --> 0:07:24.280 friends from Hollywood. But West and his contemporaries were living 0:07:24.360 --> 0:07:28.320 through the dying days of the silent screen era. Despite 0:07:28.400 --> 0:07:32.040 being a leading light of his time, West's nineteen thirty 0:07:32.080 --> 0:07:37.000 one film Corseir was his last as a director. Perhaps 0:07:37.000 --> 0:07:40.960 looking to mitigate the choppy waters ahead, West and his wife, 0:07:41.120 --> 0:07:45.320 Jewel Carmen, opened a restaurant together with fellow silent film 0:07:45.320 --> 0:07:50.000 star Thelma Todd. Around the same time, West and Tod 0:07:50.040 --> 0:07:54.160 began an affair. In truth, West and his wife jul 0:07:54.320 --> 0:07:57.720 had been estranged for some time, but had remained married 0:07:57.760 --> 0:08:01.720 to avoid the messy publicity that would inevitably come with divorce. 0:08:02.560 --> 0:08:05.320 The three of them lived together in the same complex 0:08:05.640 --> 0:08:10.800 alongside the restaurant, with West and Todd sharing apartments situated 0:08:10.920 --> 0:08:15.200 directly above the restaurant, which were separated by a sliding door. 0:08:16.200 --> 0:08:19.560 West and Todd's relationship was said to be a volatile one, 0:08:19.920 --> 0:08:23.520 with West in particular known to be aggressive and controlling 0:08:23.720 --> 0:08:28.720 over Todd. Perhaps it was just coincidence that West's tendency 0:08:28.800 --> 0:08:32.800 to anger appeared to worsen almost the moment he brought 0:08:32.800 --> 0:08:37.480 to the Hoyta. After all, the purchase did coincide with 0:08:37.559 --> 0:08:41.199 a stressful downturn in his professional fortunes and in his 0:08:41.280 --> 0:08:45.400 relationship with his wife. But thinking back to the apparent 0:08:45.600 --> 0:08:49.960 curse placed on the vessel, perhaps it wasn't a coincidence 0:08:50.080 --> 0:08:54.800 at all. It was one mid December day in nineteen 0:08:54.920 --> 0:08:58.520 thirty five that dule Carmen's maid went down to the 0:08:58.559 --> 0:09:01.800 garage to retrieve a car for her mistress and found 0:09:01.920 --> 0:09:06.640 Thelma Todd dead behind the wheel of her Lincoln Phaeton convertible. 0:09:07.640 --> 0:09:10.840 Though the cause of death was eventually ruled as suicide 0:09:10.960 --> 0:09:15.800 by carbon monoxide poisoning, some believed that Roland West had 0:09:15.880 --> 0:09:19.400 murdered her, and some also say he had in fact 0:09:19.559 --> 0:09:23.520 killed her first on the Hoyita before transporting her body 0:09:23.800 --> 0:09:36.600 to the garage. In the wake of Thelma Todd's death, 0:09:36.960 --> 0:09:40.880 Roland West and Duel Carmen finally filed for divorce in 0:09:40.960 --> 0:09:44.360 nineteen thirty eight. One of the first assets sold to 0:09:44.400 --> 0:09:49.199 finance it was West's much loved Hoyita. Over the next 0:09:49.240 --> 0:09:52.560 fourteen years, the ship changed hands a number of times 0:09:52.840 --> 0:09:55.560 and was even used as a patrol boat by the U. S. 0:09:55.679 --> 0:09:59.800 Navy in the Second World War. Then, in nineteen fifty two, 0:10:00.160 --> 0:10:03.160 now known as the m V Hoyita, the ship was 0:10:03.200 --> 0:10:08.719 acquired by a doctor, Katherine Luamala, an American anthropologist from Hawaii, 0:10:08.920 --> 0:10:11.720 who made the semi permanent loan of the boat to 0:10:11.800 --> 0:10:17.280 her then boyfriend, Captain Thomas Dusty Miller. Miller intended to 0:10:17.320 --> 0:10:20.199 start a fishing business in Samoa, but the m V 0:10:20.360 --> 0:10:25.520 Hoyita was no fishing boat and Miller was no fisherman. Thankfully, 0:10:25.720 --> 0:10:28.880 after a listless seven months living on board the boat, 0:10:29.240 --> 0:10:32.200 he managed to secure the contract to take cargo and 0:10:32.280 --> 0:10:36.520 passengers between the capital Apia and the atolls of Tokelau. 0:10:37.520 --> 0:10:40.520 That trip that he and his twenty four passengers and 0:10:40.600 --> 0:10:44.720 crew set out for on that fateful journey of October third, 0:10:45.000 --> 0:10:48.640 nineteen fifty five, should have taken no more than forty 0:10:48.679 --> 0:10:52.840 eight hours, having been expected to arrive by mid morning 0:10:53.000 --> 0:10:56.360 on Wednesday the fifth, when the sun sunk toward the 0:10:56.400 --> 0:10:59.679 horizon later that evening, there was still no sign of 0:10:59.720 --> 0:11:04.120 Mislaer or the Hoyita. The weather on route had been 0:11:04.160 --> 0:11:08.520 relatively calm, and no passing ships or coastal stations in 0:11:08.559 --> 0:11:12.240 the region had received a distress call, suggesting the vessel 0:11:12.400 --> 0:11:15.360 was likely fine but had just been held up somehow. 0:11:16.400 --> 0:11:19.679 On Thursday sixth, however, with still no sign or word 0:11:19.760 --> 0:11:23.960 from the boat, officials based in Fakara Foe, another atoll 0:11:24.040 --> 0:11:27.200 in tokal Out, reluctantly sent out a message to the 0:11:27.200 --> 0:11:32.720 wider world that the Hoita was overdue. An immediate search 0:11:32.760 --> 0:11:35.560 and rescue effort was launched by the Royal New Zealand 0:11:35.640 --> 0:11:38.560 Air Force, searching an area of more than one hundred 0:11:38.559 --> 0:11:43.679 thousand square miles, but they found nothing. The Envy Hoyita 0:11:44.040 --> 0:11:49.280 had vanished off the face of the ocean. Tapula Tavita 0:11:49.320 --> 0:11:53.480 lived in Arpia and was editor of Samoa's only weekly newspaper, 0:11:53.840 --> 0:11:58.520 the Samoa Bulletin. Several months earlier, he'd enjoyed a day's 0:11:58.520 --> 0:12:01.640 fishing trip on the Hoyita and had subsequently got to 0:12:01.679 --> 0:12:06.000 know Captain Miller quite well. Tavita was also acquainted with 0:12:06.080 --> 0:12:09.360 some of the passengers, including the doctor whom he'd played 0:12:09.360 --> 0:12:12.400 golf with and who had even delivered one of his children. 0:12:13.360 --> 0:12:16.800 In the days after the Hoyita was reported missing, Tavita 0:12:16.880 --> 0:12:21.120 spent long hours with a friend at the Arpia radio station. Together, 0:12:21.320 --> 0:12:25.280 the two men sat anxiously maintaining a constant radio watch 0:12:25.520 --> 0:12:28.560 with the dial tuned to twenty one eighty two killer hertz, 0:12:28.840 --> 0:12:33.880 the international distress frequency, but no distress calls ever came. 0:12:41.120 --> 0:12:44.160 During those early days of the search and rescue operation, 0:12:44.559 --> 0:12:48.320 no one was especially worried. Most shared the view that 0:12:48.440 --> 0:12:53.439 with the Hoyita's wooden construction, cork insulated holds, and cargo, 0:12:53.760 --> 0:12:57.920 including many empty but sealed oil drums, the vessel had 0:12:57.960 --> 0:13:01.320 more than enough buoyancy to keep it aflowt There were 0:13:01.320 --> 0:13:04.360 also plenty of supplies on board for the passengers and 0:13:04.400 --> 0:13:08.480 crew should they have ended up adrift somewhere. Aside from that, 0:13:08.880 --> 0:13:11.880 it was just a case of waiting. But as the 0:13:11.960 --> 0:13:16.720 days passed, the rainy season well and truly arrived. People 0:13:16.800 --> 0:13:20.640 on both Apia and Tokalau, along with the authorities, became 0:13:20.720 --> 0:13:25.400 frantically worried for their friends and loved ones safety. Days 0:13:25.480 --> 0:13:30.040 turned to weeks, and then a month. After thirty six days, 0:13:30.400 --> 0:13:34.880 the search was called off. It was just after dawn 0:13:35.000 --> 0:13:38.600 on the tenth of November when Captain Gerald Douglas of 0:13:38.640 --> 0:13:43.160 the merchant ship Tuvalu, en route from Fiji to Tuvalu Island, 0:13:43.480 --> 0:13:47.840 spotted a dark shape bobbing listlessly in the distance. The 0:13:47.920 --> 0:13:51.320 idea that it could possibly be the missing Hoyita couldn't 0:13:51.320 --> 0:13:54.600 have been further from the captain's mind at the time. 0:13:54.960 --> 0:13:58.520 His ship was near Udo Point, on the easternmost tip 0:13:58.559 --> 0:14:03.120 of Fiji, one thousand meters off the course the Hoyita 0:14:03.160 --> 0:14:07.640 would have taken to Tokalau. As Douglas guided his vessel 0:14:07.760 --> 0:14:11.720 toward the strange object, he brought his binoculars to his eyes. 0:14:12.520 --> 0:14:15.040 He saw then that the shape was in fact a 0:14:15.080 --> 0:14:19.400 small boat, and something was clearly very wrong with it. 0:14:20.560 --> 0:14:23.920 The vessel appeared to be derelict and was listing heavily, 0:14:24.280 --> 0:14:27.760 with its port side railings bobbing just below the waves. 0:14:28.560 --> 0:14:32.120 There was no sign of anyone on board. Then the 0:14:32.200 --> 0:14:38.520 name on the hull came into focus, m V Hoyita. Anxiously, 0:14:38.840 --> 0:14:42.600 Douglas maneuvered his ship alongside it, and a small party 0:14:42.840 --> 0:14:47.120 hastily jumped out and boarded the vessel. What they found 0:14:47.320 --> 0:14:52.120 was a ghost ship. Everyone on board was gone. The 0:14:52.160 --> 0:14:56.520 boats dinghy and three lifeboats were also missing. But why 0:14:56.560 --> 0:15:04.240 exactly this was the case was a deep and trouble mystery. 0:15:08.120 --> 0:15:11.920 Captain Douglas's crew spread out across the eerily quiet vessel 0:15:12.360 --> 0:15:17.280 and began to investigate. Most alarmingly, there was significant damage 0:15:17.280 --> 0:15:21.320 to the main structure, the flying bridge, a raised open 0:15:21.360 --> 0:15:25.080 air deck had been ripped away. The windows on the 0:15:25.080 --> 0:15:29.360 main wheelhouse had also been broken, while a makeshift canvas 0:15:29.400 --> 0:15:33.880 awning had been rigged up behind it. They also discovered 0:15:33.880 --> 0:15:37.560 barnacles on the port side, high above the normal waterline, 0:15:37.760 --> 0:15:41.480 suggesting the Hoyita had been listing heavily for some time 0:15:41.560 --> 0:15:46.680 before they found it moving. Inside the vessel, they found that, strangely, 0:15:46.880 --> 0:15:50.760 the starboard engine had been covered by mattresses, while the 0:15:50.800 --> 0:15:54.600 port engine was still in the partially disassembled state from 0:15:54.600 --> 0:15:58.760 the day it had left Arpia. An auxiliary pump was 0:15:58.800 --> 0:16:02.760 also found nearby, suggesting the crew and passengers were still 0:16:02.800 --> 0:16:06.480 on board when the boat started taking on water, though 0:16:06.560 --> 0:16:09.720 any effort to bail it out had clearly been in vain, 0:16:10.640 --> 0:16:14.240 and yet when Captain Douglas later ordered a diver to 0:16:14.320 --> 0:16:17.840 inspect the hull, they found no sign of damage or 0:16:17.920 --> 0:16:20.800 anything else to explain how the boat had been so 0:16:21.000 --> 0:16:26.520 severely flooded, and the discoveries just got grimmer. The ship's 0:16:26.600 --> 0:16:29.960 radio was tuned to twenty one eighty two killer hertz, 0:16:30.320 --> 0:16:35.360 the international distress frequency, but on closer inspection a break 0:16:35.560 --> 0:16:38.360 was found in the cable between the set and the aerial, 0:16:38.760 --> 0:16:42.160 which seemed to have been painted over to obscure the damage, 0:16:42.800 --> 0:16:46.160 had someone sabotaged it to prevent a distress call from 0:16:46.200 --> 0:16:52.600 being made. Then Captain Douglas noticed something else unsettling. All 0:16:52.600 --> 0:16:55.520 the clocks on board that were wired into the vessel's 0:16:55.560 --> 0:17:00.160 generator had stopped at ten twenty five, with the switch 0:17:00.280 --> 0:17:03.440 for the cabin lighting and navigation lights all found to 0:17:03.480 --> 0:17:06.560 be in the on position. It seemed that the generators 0:17:06.800 --> 0:17:09.639 and all light had shut off in the middle of 0:17:09.680 --> 0:17:15.080 the night. The ship's log book and navigational equipment, as 0:17:15.119 --> 0:17:18.240 well as the firearms the Hoyta's captain was known to 0:17:18.320 --> 0:17:22.639 keep on board, were all missing. The starter motor for 0:17:22.720 --> 0:17:27.280 one of the engines was also missing. One of Douglas's 0:17:27.320 --> 0:17:29.800 crew called out for the captain to come and look 0:17:29.840 --> 0:17:33.720 at something. The man had found a leather bag on deck, 0:17:34.000 --> 0:17:38.280 inside which was a stethoscope, a scalpel, and a whole 0:17:38.320 --> 0:17:43.360 heap of bloodied bandageses. Captain Douglas took it all in, 0:17:43.920 --> 0:17:47.720 then looked about at the stricken vessel. None of it 0:17:47.800 --> 0:17:59.000 made any sense. Having seen enough, Captain Douglas ordered his 0:17:59.119 --> 0:18:02.600 crew to pump the vessel out in preparation for taking 0:18:02.640 --> 0:18:06.080 it back to land. Once the water had been removed, 0:18:06.240 --> 0:18:09.840 it slowly righted itself and proceeded to float stably on 0:18:09.920 --> 0:18:13.920 an even keel. It was a relatively easy task to 0:18:13.920 --> 0:18:18.000 tow it into the nearest harbour on Fiji. Once there, 0:18:18.200 --> 0:18:21.880 a more thorough inspection revealed that a pipe forming part 0:18:21.960 --> 0:18:25.479 of the boat's cooling system had become so corroded it 0:18:25.520 --> 0:18:29.879 had breached, flooding the boat from the inside. It seemed 0:18:30.000 --> 0:18:33.480 very likely that the Hoyita's crew would not have realized 0:18:33.520 --> 0:18:36.840 the boat was taking on water until it began rising 0:18:36.960 --> 0:18:40.240 above the engine room floor, at which point it would 0:18:40.280 --> 0:18:44.600 have been almost impossible to locate the source. Also, the 0:18:44.640 --> 0:18:47.679 bilge pumps that had not been fitted with strainers to 0:18:47.800 --> 0:18:50.919 keep out debris were found to be completely clogged and 0:18:51.000 --> 0:18:55.879 barely functioning. Judging by the Hoyita's fuel levels, the vessel 0:18:56.040 --> 0:18:59.240 had likely gone around two hundred and forty miles before 0:18:59.240 --> 0:19:03.360 it was abandoned. Tragically, this was probably no more than 0:19:03.440 --> 0:19:09.040 fifty miles from her intended destination. Hopes of finding survivors 0:19:09.200 --> 0:19:12.439 persisted for weeks, with loved ones clinging on to the 0:19:12.480 --> 0:19:16.040 slim possibility that maybe all or at least some of 0:19:16.080 --> 0:19:18.760 them had made it to a remote island where they 0:19:18.840 --> 0:19:22.760 might still be waiting to be rescued. However, if all 0:19:22.840 --> 0:19:26.600 twenty five people had abandoned ship, each of the available 0:19:26.640 --> 0:19:30.560 lifeboats would have been crowded to capacity, and the Hoyita 0:19:30.840 --> 0:19:33.800 had not been equipped with enough life jackets for everyone 0:19:33.840 --> 0:19:40.240 on board. In any case, a prolonged search found no one. 0:19:40.280 --> 0:19:44.280 The international media ran the story under headlines that referred 0:19:44.280 --> 0:19:47.679 to the Hoyita as the Marry Celeste of the South Pacific. 0:19:48.440 --> 0:19:53.040 As explored in Unexplained, Season four episode six, The Silence 0:19:53.080 --> 0:19:56.520 of the Sea, the Marry Celeste was a merchant ship 0:19:56.680 --> 0:20:00.439 discovered adrift and deserted in the Atlantic Ocean close to 0:20:00.480 --> 0:20:04.520 the assaults in December eighteen seventy two. It had been 0:20:04.560 --> 0:20:07.920 sailing from New York to Genoa, and, like the Hoyita, 0:20:08.320 --> 0:20:11.800 was found in a disheveled but seaworthy condition, with its 0:20:11.840 --> 0:20:17.199 lifeboats missing. Unlike the Hoyeta, however, the Marry Celeste was 0:20:17.240 --> 0:20:21.840 still amply provisioned when found, cargo intact and the captains 0:20:21.840 --> 0:20:26.240 and crew's personal belongings undisturbed. It was as if everyone 0:20:26.440 --> 0:20:29.840 had simply got up and left for no apparent reason. 0:20:30.720 --> 0:20:33.639 But just like the Hoyita, none of those who had 0:20:33.680 --> 0:20:47.679 been on board were ever seen again. As with the 0:20:47.760 --> 0:20:51.520 Marry Celeste, the question on everyone's lips was why had 0:20:51.560 --> 0:20:56.000 the Hoytas passengers and crew left the ship. Captain Miller 0:20:56.080 --> 0:21:00.639 knew that, even partly flooded, his vessel was effectively unsinkable. 0:21:01.480 --> 0:21:04.359 Why would he have taken the dangerous decision to get 0:21:04.400 --> 0:21:08.720 into crowded lifeboats and risk everyone's lives on the open ocean. 0:21:09.480 --> 0:21:13.120 One suggestion was that of freak water spout, which develops 0:21:13.160 --> 0:21:17.040 when cool air passes over warm water, sucking up water 0:21:17.200 --> 0:21:21.520 to produce a spout effect like an ocean tornado. Fair 0:21:21.560 --> 0:21:25.080 weather water spouts typically last only a few minutes before 0:21:25.119 --> 0:21:29.080 petering out, but winds inside them can be incredibly strong, 0:21:29.800 --> 0:21:33.520 over sixty miles per hour, rotating rapidly, and have been 0:21:33.520 --> 0:21:36.800 known to tear rigging and even masts off sailing ships 0:21:37.280 --> 0:21:42.120 even capsize them. In August twenty twenty four, the luxury 0:21:42.200 --> 0:21:46.600 super yacht the Baysian, belonging to billionaires Mike Lynch and 0:21:46.720 --> 0:21:50.359 his wife Angelo Bacariz, was anchored off the scenic fishing 0:21:50.440 --> 0:21:54.760 village of Porticello in Sicily. The yacht was fitted with 0:21:54.840 --> 0:21:58.040 a two hundred and forty six foot mast, the world's 0:21:58.119 --> 0:22:02.040 second tallest at the time. Mike and Angela were asleep 0:22:02.080 --> 0:22:04.800 on board the boat, along with their daughter and a 0:22:04.880 --> 0:22:07.959 number of friends, when the yacht was hit by a sudden, 0:22:08.040 --> 0:22:12.919 violent storm, which generated water spouts. It's thought the force 0:22:12.960 --> 0:22:15.480 of the strong wind was enough to push the yacht 0:22:15.560 --> 0:22:19.960 over sideways and force the mast below the water line. 0:22:20.240 --> 0:22:23.560 It took just sixteen minutes for the souper yacht to sink. 0:22:25.119 --> 0:22:29.160 Seven of the twenty two people on board died, including 0:22:29.280 --> 0:22:33.840 Mike Lynch and his eighteen year old daughter Hannah. Perhaps 0:22:33.840 --> 0:22:37.639 the Hoyita suffered something equally terrifying that was enough to 0:22:37.680 --> 0:22:42.120 scare the passengers and crew into abandoning the boat. Either way, 0:22:42.359 --> 0:22:45.920 a formal inquiry confirmed only why the vessel had become 0:22:45.960 --> 0:22:49.800 flooded and how the single engine that wasn't faulty would 0:22:49.840 --> 0:22:52.719 not have been able to generate enough power to steer it. 0:22:52.840 --> 0:22:56.800 As a result, much of the responsibility for this chain 0:22:56.840 --> 0:22:59.879 of events was placed on Captain Miller, who'd wrecked the 0:23:00.080 --> 0:23:04.360 set out with only one working engine and numerous other faults. 0:23:05.240 --> 0:23:08.600 It was also discovered that the Hoyita's license to carry 0:23:08.680 --> 0:23:12.600 fair paying passengers had expired some time before the trip. 0:23:13.560 --> 0:23:16.200 In the end, the fate of the passengers and crew 0:23:16.320 --> 0:23:20.159 of the Hoyta was determined to be inexplicable on the 0:23:20.200 --> 0:23:24.560 evidence submitted. No mention was made of the bloody bandages 0:23:24.640 --> 0:23:28.400 found on board, or why the Hoyta was abandoned while 0:23:28.480 --> 0:23:39.640 still afloat, or where all its cargo had gone. Numerous 0:23:39.680 --> 0:23:43.000 theories have been put forward to explain the Hoyita mystery. 0:23:43.720 --> 0:23:47.600 One is that Captain Miller had died or become incapacitated 0:23:47.640 --> 0:23:50.879 on board for some reason, and that without his experience, 0:23:51.119 --> 0:23:55.639 the remaining crew panicked and took to the lifeboats. Author 0:23:55.760 --> 0:23:59.800 David Wright, who researched the mystery extensively, spoke with two 0:24:00.080 --> 0:24:03.720 of Miller's former crew. They described him as a negligent 0:24:03.800 --> 0:24:08.520 and reckless man who behaved uncaringly and dismissively toward his crew. 0:24:09.640 --> 0:24:13.960 Did simmering hostility among the Hoyita's crew boil over in 0:24:14.040 --> 0:24:19.760 the rapidly deteriorating conditions. Others spoke of tension between Miller 0:24:19.920 --> 0:24:24.399 and his American first mate, Chuck Simpson. Did Miller and 0:24:24.440 --> 0:24:27.760 Simpson come to blows resulting in one or both of 0:24:27.760 --> 0:24:31.920 them becoming seriously injured? Perhaps that would explain the bloody 0:24:31.960 --> 0:24:37.200 bandages at The remaining crew and passengers then abandoned the Hoyita, 0:24:37.480 --> 0:24:40.080 whose cargo was then raided by the crew of a 0:24:40.160 --> 0:24:45.200 later passing ship. Another theory comes heavily laced with anti 0:24:45.280 --> 0:24:48.600 Japanese sentiment, which was still strong in parts of the 0:24:48.640 --> 0:24:52.280 Pacific at the time of the incident, especially in Fiji, 0:24:52.320 --> 0:24:55.639 where locals were resentful of the Japanese for being allowed 0:24:55.680 --> 0:24:59.639 to operate fishing fleets in their waters. The Fiji Times 0:24:59.680 --> 0:25:04.440 and asserted that an allegedly impeccable source had informed them 0:25:04.520 --> 0:25:07.840 that the Hoyita had passed through a fleet of Japanese 0:25:07.920 --> 0:25:11.520 fishing boats during its trip, and those on board had 0:25:11.560 --> 0:25:15.200 seen something the Japanese crews did not want them to see, 0:25:15.640 --> 0:25:19.240 although it was never specified what that might have been exactly. 0:25:20.200 --> 0:25:24.800 Without much evidence, the British newspaper The Daily Telegraph chimed 0:25:24.840 --> 0:25:29.080 in by suggesting that some Japanese forces were still active 0:25:29.119 --> 0:25:32.120 from World War II and might have attacked the Hoyita 0:25:32.280 --> 0:25:36.239 from a secret island base, perhaps drawing on tales of 0:25:36.320 --> 0:25:39.760 isolated combatants who had yet to learn the war was over. 0:25:40.840 --> 0:25:45.119 Men clearing the salvaged Hoyita reportedly found knives on board 0:25:45.400 --> 0:25:49.160 stamped with made in Japan. However, the knives turned out 0:25:49.200 --> 0:25:52.760 to be old and broken, quite possibly just relics from 0:25:52.800 --> 0:25:55.840 when the Hoyita was used briefly as a fishing boat. 0:25:56.880 --> 0:25:59.719 Another theory was that the Hoyita might actually have been 0:25:59.720 --> 0:26:03.359 at hacked by pirates, who, having killed the passengers and crew, 0:26:03.640 --> 0:26:07.360 simply cast their bodies into the ocean before making off 0:26:07.400 --> 0:26:10.280 with the missing four tons of cargo and the one 0:26:10.359 --> 0:26:14.840 hundred thousand dollars in cash. In the summer of nineteen 0:26:14.920 --> 0:26:18.639 fifty six, the salvaged Hoyita was auctioned off to a 0:26:18.680 --> 0:26:22.320 Fijian islander who refitted the vessel and once more put 0:26:22.320 --> 0:26:25.800 it out to sea, but the ship assisted in living 0:26:25.880 --> 0:26:30.359 up to its cursed existence. After running aground twice in 0:26:30.480 --> 0:26:34.000 nineteen fifty nine, it was eventually stripped of all useful 0:26:34.040 --> 0:26:44.679 equipment and put up for sale once again. One british 0:26:44.760 --> 0:26:48.960 Man author, Robert morm became so obsessed with finding out 0:26:48.960 --> 0:26:52.040 the truth about what had happened to the Hoyita and 0:26:52.119 --> 0:26:55.680 all those on board back during that ill fated voyage 0:26:55.720 --> 0:26:59.000 of nineteen fifty five, he decided to buy the vessel. 0:27:00.080 --> 0:27:04.440 After several years investigating the incident, he published his findings 0:27:04.560 --> 0:27:08.800 in his nineteen sixty two book The Hoyita Mystery. He 0:27:08.880 --> 0:27:12.760 concurred with the official conclusion that events started with the 0:27:12.800 --> 0:27:16.080 flooding from the broken cooling pipe and the failed effort 0:27:16.160 --> 0:27:19.840 to pump out the water. He theorized that the mattresses 0:27:20.080 --> 0:27:23.520 found covering the starboard engine were either an attempt to 0:27:23.520 --> 0:27:27.040 stem the leak or to protect the electrical switchboard from 0:27:27.119 --> 0:27:30.439 spray being kicked up by the engine's flywheel as the 0:27:30.440 --> 0:27:35.600 water level rose. Marm went on to speculate that once 0:27:35.640 --> 0:27:40.200 the ship became impossible to steer, Captain Miller argued violently 0:27:40.280 --> 0:27:43.480 with his first mate and possibly some of the other crew, 0:27:43.640 --> 0:27:47.800 who demanded that he turned back. When Miller refused, the 0:27:47.880 --> 0:27:52.160 crew mutinied, and Miller was incapacitated in a subsequent fight. 0:27:53.040 --> 0:27:56.480 Morm then argued that in the worsening weather and with 0:27:56.560 --> 0:27:59.640 the engine room flooded, it would have been Simpson who 0:27:59.640 --> 0:28:03.960 warded everyone to abandon the ship, taking the navigational equipment, 0:28:04.320 --> 0:28:07.480 log book and supplies, as well as the injured Miller 0:28:07.560 --> 0:28:11.480 with them. He suggested that perhaps the crew had seen 0:28:11.480 --> 0:28:14.520 a nearby island or reef which they thought they could 0:28:14.560 --> 0:28:18.399 reach in lifeboats. Perhaps that turned out to merely be 0:28:18.480 --> 0:28:22.359