In 1971, the Robertson family spent their entire life
savings on a 50-year-old schooner – the Lucette – to sail the world. There were
six of them: mom and dad (Lynn and Dougal), their 18-year-old daughter (Anne),
16-year-old son (Douglas) and a pair of nine-year-old twins (Neil and Sandy). Anne
ended her trip in the Bahamas. In Panama, they picked up a 22-year-old student on
his way to the Pacific. June 15, 1972, three orcas rammed the Lucette and it
sank, leaving six people adrift in a small dinghy and an inflatable life raft. Anne’s
sewing kit kept the crumbling life raft together 16 days until it couldn’t
anymore. Then all six were crammed into the 10’ dinghy. The castaways survived
on rain water, sea turtles, dorado and flying fish. The 38th day after the
Lucette sank, the Robertsons were rescued by a Japanese fishing trawler. Their
dinghy is on permanent display at the National Maritime Museum in Cornwall.
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