HI HI - Hauula, 'Barnacle Bill' UP6909, 19-25, SCUBA suit bought In Tacoma, Nov'82

[MOTORUNNER]

Desolate ocean
A sweet, lonely sadness drifts
whilst watching the Bill

A HAIKU.... for my man BB

 

[Laughing]

Desolate ocean
A sweet, lonely sadness drifts
whilst watching the Bill

A HAIKU.... for my man BB

Hey, thanks, this is great!

I wrote a haiku for our Bill a while back. May he be reunited with his identity before we fill more pages....

 

[MOTORUNNER]

I just went back to read it, I love it! Poor Bill, I hope somewhere, somehow, he can feel there's someone looking out for him.

 

[Laughing]

Poets, sailors, dot-connectors, please read the sea-going saga of Barnacle Bill....

 

[LucyOso]

I saw this case awhile back and it reminded me of this one. Obviously, the dates are way different. Lacking lower arm. Is it is possible the arms are injured and become disarticulated? It just seems these could be traceable. Unless, is there any way, they are drug snuggling or doing something illegal thus they wouldn't be missing? Obviously, totally different oceans and currents...

http://missingpersons.police.uk/en/case/06-025962/gTwN44F


Also...my thought is maybe he freelanced cleaning barnacles off of boats. If it was a vessel lost at sea, most families would accept that the ocean is a final resting place.

 

[MOTORUNNER]

Very interesting, I wish I knew more about the ocean, boats, etc etc. I live nowhere near the ocean and have never even been snorkeling so I have no education or knowledge in these things. You'd think someone in a full wet suit (obviously had some knowledge of diving, the ocean) would be more likely to be identified and missing. From what I gather wet suits and exposure suits are not cheap, meaning these guys probably weren't just homeless drifters... hanging out in the ocean.

 

[LucyOso]

Very interesting, I wish I knew more about the ocean, boats, etc etc. I live nowhere near the ocean and have never even been snorkeling so I have no education or knowledge in these things. You'd think someone in a full wet suit (obviously had some knowledge of diving, the ocean) would be more likely to be identified and missing. From what I gather wet suits and exposure suits are not cheap, meaning these guys probably weren't just homeless drifters... hanging out in the ocean.

Not homeless drifters. But, there is a boat and ocean lifestyle. Boats like anything need to be moved from ocean to ocean. Many people freelanced at moving boats from say the Mediterranean to the South Pacific if they were sold or the client was wealthy enough. There are many freelance sailors who make a living on the ocean this way. It's a lifestyle, like ski bums, surf bums, etc. It is possible he was hired to relocate a sail boat or any boat, it disappeared, and that was that. He wouldn't be connected to a vessel by ownership, insurance payout, or anything. It would be a small and semi-randomly assorted crew that disappeared. Just didn't arrive at the destination.


This isn't related, but things like this did happen https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MV_Joyita

 

[Laughing]

Barnacle Bill, whoever you are, I hope you enjoyed that final sail....

 

[MelmothTheLost]

The question is, was the arm of the suit damaged? If it was intact and the arm/hand bones weren't inside, that would strongly indicate he lost it some time before he put the suit on.

It's been said that these exposure-type suits are quite awkward to get into, so could a man with one arm have managed it without considerable help?

 

[LucyOso]

It's been said that these exposure-type suits are quite awkward to get into, so could a man with one arm have managed it without considerable help?

I think it disarticulated in the water. That other diver had the same thing. Even a slight bruise or hematoma can cause more rapid disintegration and predatory feeding. If he was a one armed diver he would have had a modification to his suit to prevent water coming in. Kind of defeats the purpose of any suit to have an open sleeve letting water in or flopping around. Truly. It would be very risky. It’s really possible with both of those they were involved in the drug trade and thus weren’t reported missing. I think the arm injury could be explained by someone who dives, is there a self rescue technique or something that would cause bruising or a hematoma if someone was struggling underwater?

 

[MelmothTheLost]

I think it disarticulated in the water. That other diver had the same thing. Even a slight bruise or hematoma can cause more rapid disintegration and predatory feeding. If he was a one armed diver he would have had a modification to his suit to prevent water coming in. Kind of defeats the purpose of any suit to have an open sleeve letting water in or flopping around. Truly. It would be very risky. It’s really possible with both of those they were involved in the drug trade and thus weren’t reported missing. I think the arm injury could be explained by someone who dives, is there a self rescue technique or something that would cause bruising or a hematoma if someone was struggling underwater?

Yes - precisely. That was really a rhetorical question on my part.

A number of people have speculated that his arm might have been missing before death and on a purely practical level I think that's unlikely. Not only because I'd question how useful a one-armed crew member would be on most boats, but also because in an emergency on board, he'd be relying on someone else to help him out in a situation where other crew members would probably be too busy trying to save the boat or themselves.

 

[carbuff]

(This doesn't have anything to do with whether he had one arm.)

I asked a friend who does a lot of on-the-water stuff around New England what she thought about this guy and his suit. She said that ocean kayakers often wear exposure-type wetsuits in cold water or cold weather. They put them on before they start. Since you're mostly just sitting in the boat (even though your arms are busy) and possibly getting wet, you can get awfully cold. Sometimes people will pull them over their legs and up their body, but not cover their shoulders and arms.

She says she and her husband will wear a similar suit when they work on their sailboat because it's pretty easy to fall in leaning overboard to paint, and the water is damn cold in New England in the spring. (that's a quote ) They do carry the suits with them when they're sailing, though she's not sure they would have time to get them on in a real emergency.

 

[LucyOso]

(This doesn't have anything to do with whether he had one arm.)

I asked a friend who does a lot of on-the-water stuff around New England what she thought about this guy and his suit. She said that ocean kayakers often wear exposure-type wetsuits in cold water or cold weather. They put them on before they start. Since you're mostly just sitting in the boat (even though your arms are busy) and possibly getting wet, you can get awfully cold. Sometimes people will pull them over their legs and up their body, but not cover their shoulders and arms.

She says she and her husband will wear a similar suit when they work on their sailboat because it's pretty easy to fall in leaning overboard to paint, and the water is damn cold in New England in the spring. (that's a quote ) They do carry the suits with them when they're sailing, though she's not sure they would have time to get them on in a real emergency.

That makes really good sense. Thank you

 

[mrtnira]

I've been a diver for 37 years. This man was not diving when he died. That is an exposure suit, not a diving suit. Here is a picture of a Bayley 7-01-00. They likely were not familiar with cold weather gear in Hawaii and mistook it for a diving suit.
My money says he was a sailor or fisherman who fell overboard nowhere near Hawaii. Figure out about how long he has been in the water based on marine growth,then look at the ocean currents to see where he could have come from. And if they are right about his amputation being antemortem (probably based on new bone growth) there could not be too many missing like that.

If someone fell, or was pushed, overboard on a fishing boat in a storm and was not recovered in waters off of Alaska or Canada, it makes perfect sense a body protected in an exposure suit could end up Hawaii. From the general discussion, it does sound like the body would, as described, be eaten up but the skeletal remains could be held together in the suit.

What a fascinating missing persons case. And, since the suit was misidentified as a diver suit, the initial investigation decades ago would most likely have only come to a dead end, by asking the wrong questions.

 

[LucyOso]

There was a hurricane at the time...Hurricane Iwa. I wonder how that would impact currents and boats. I’ve been looking at old news articles for missing yachts, schooners, catamarans, and sailboats. Sailors lost at sea. I do think he was on a recreational vehicle or trip. Drug running or not. Lost at sea. Presumed dead and not searched for.

There are many stories like this out there too. Many that maybe didn’t hit the news...

http://www.willitsnews.com/article/zz/20100609/NEWS/100607291

 

[LucyOso]

http://labyrinth13.com/eBook-COPI.pdf this is a oped about that. It’s a good read; mainly to understand potential boating culture overtaken by people. Page 49 is interesting.

 

[HELLOJealousy]

Bumping for BILL ❤

 

[Magnum P.E.]

http://alaskashipwreck.com/alaska-fisheries-losses-1972-2009/#comment-76351
This popped up on the Alaska Shipwreck site today. So posting on there has resulted in a lead or two!

 

[MOTORUNNER]

http://alaskashipwreck.com/alaska-fisheries-losses-1972-2009/#comment-76351
This popped up on the Alaska Shipwreck site today. So posting on there has resulted in a lead or two!

This makes me so happy!!! I so want to know what happened to poor Bill. I hope something comes of these.

 

[apearn]

I ran across this today and it made me wonder if this explains the shorts he had on.

Transpac is a boat race from LA to Honolulu. In 1979 it had a record for the "Largest Fleet" of
80 yachts. There was also a race in 1981. I don't see a race listed for 1980, or, a complete list of any lost boats.

He could have spent time in the waters closer to Hawaii if he was tangled in a sunken boat for a bit before surfacing and drifting.


http://2017.transpacyc.com/history/facts/transpacs-historic-highlights


This has a list of participants and DNF (Did Not Finish?) and FAD (I don't know what that means) names. This is for the single handed races, meaning single person on the boat I think not one handed persons physically.

http://sfbaysss.org/archive-shtp-websites/SHTPCombinedResultsThru2012.htm

This has a list of boats for the 1979 race. They appear to all have multiple crew members so I'd assume someone who fell overboard would be noticed missing fairly soon and looked for. It's good info though.Lots of boats from lots of places participate.
https://socalsailingnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/1979_Transpac_Program.compressed.pdf