Hi friend!

This is a personal note. It should not exceed more than a 3 lines. Now I am going to add some lorem ipsum to fill in the space. This is where most likely I would have affiliate links.

Now to the actual story…

On February 11, 1979, five friends set out from Hana, Maui, for a day of fishing. The weather looked calm, "like a lake," one family member recalled.

By afternoon, an unexpected storm swept in. The men never returned.

Nine years later, their boat appeared on a desolate atoll 2,200 miles away. Beside it lay a grave marked with a driftwood cross, and burial objects that deepened the mystery beyond explanation.

The Sarah Joe was a modest vessel: a 17-foot Boston Whaler with an 85-horsepower engine, owned by Robert Malaiakini and named after his parents. On that February morning, his brother Ralph borrowed the boat for a fishing trip with four friends.

The five men were all construction workers with decades of combined sea experience: Scott Moorman, 27, from California; Benjamin "Benny" Kalama, 38, married with children; Ralph Malaiakini, 27; Patrick Woessner, 26; and Peter Hanchett, 31.

They departed Hana Bay around 10:00 a.m., heading into the Alenuihaha Channel, one of the roughest stretches of water in the world, running 17,000 feet deep with powerful currents that sweep southwest.

In 1979, Hana had no television stations. Radio weather forecasts focused on western Maui. The men relied on visual observation, and the morning had looked perfect.

By early afternoon, a low-pressure system that had formed that morning intensified rapidly. Peter Hanchett's father tried to spot the boat from shore. He saw only churning sea.

The U.S. Coast Guard launched an extensive search. Robert Malaiakini searched by boat near the Big Island. Community members combed land, air, and sea. After five days, the official search was called off.

No trace of the Sarah Joe or her crew was found.

A memorial service was held in 1980. Families tried to move forward. Years passed.

Then, on September 10, 1988, marine researcher John Naughton, who had participated in the original search, was conducting a wildlife survey on Taongi Atoll, a desolate speck in the northern Marshall Islands. The uninhabited atoll lies 2,200 miles southwest of Hawaii, with no fresh water and conditions hostile to life.

Naughton spotted an abandoned fiberglass boat on the shoreline. Partial registration numbers traced it to Hawaii. It was the Sarah Joe.

About 100 yards inland, he found something that defied explanation: a makeshift grave marked with a driftwood cross. Beneath stones and coral lay a partial human skeleton with dental fillings...clearly modern remains. The bones were relatively unbleached, suggesting recent burial rather than something from 1979.

Most puzzling were the burial objects. Alongside the body lay a small stack of papers alternating with slips of tin foil. Investigators later identified them as "Joss Paper" or "Hell Money", items used in Chinese burial rituals to provide fortune for the deceased in the next life.

Dental records confirmed the remains belonged to Scott Moorman. His family buried him at Forest Lawn Cemetery two months later.

The other four men were never found.

The discovery raised more questions than it answered. How did a 17-foot boat survive 2,200 miles of open ocean? Who buried Scott Moorman...and why with Chinese ritual objects?

The Official Conclusion:

The crew likely succumbed to the storm or exposure shortly after disappearing. The boat drifted for months or years before reaching Taongi. No official determination was made regarding who created the grave.

The Timeline Problem:

A U.S. Government survey of Taongi in 1984-1985 reported nothing unusual, no boat, no grave. Storm surge evidence suggested the burial was recent, likely within a year or two of the 1988 discovery. Scott Moorman appeared to have been buried approximately nine years after he disappeared.

The Chinese Fishermen Theory:

Private investigator Steve Goodenow, hired by the families, theorized that illegal Chinese fishing vessels operating in the area found Scott's body, perhaps preserved in the boat, and performed a respectful burial. The Joss Paper would be consistent with this. The fishermen wouldn't have reported the discovery because they were fishing illegally.

What Remains Unexplained:

The boat's engines were later found wedged in coral near the grave, suggesting someone navigated through the atoll's treacherous reef channel. The odds of an unmanned boat drifting into that narrow passage are astronomical.

Did Scott survive longer than the others? Did someone guide the boat to shore?

The Sarah Joe was eventually returned to Robert Malaiakini. It sits today at the entrance to his driveway in Hana, its name and numbers faded beyond recognition, a daily reminder that the men are still, in some way, present.

Annual memorial services continue. The Sarah Joe Memorial Regatta is held every May. Plaques mark both the departure point at Hana Bay and the discovery site at Taongi Atoll.

For the families, the partial recovery of Scott Moorman brought grief without closure. The other four men, Benny, Ralph, Patrick, and Peter, remain lost to the Pacific.

"So many layers and so many lives involved," Patricia Malaiakini told reporters on the 40th anniversary. The questions persist: Who buried Scott? How did the boat survive? What happened to the others?

Sleep well... and may you always find your way home.
- The Editor (aka Liz)

Ps. Tell me what you think! Do you have any theories, or do you have a similar story you would like to read about? Reply to this email! I’ll be sure to answer you back, my friend.

A painter walks into the snowy woods and never returns. His tracks simply stop, no signs of struggle, no signs of turning back, just silence.

Honolulu Star-Advertiser - 40th Anniversary Coverage (February 2019)

Maui News - Original 1979 search coverage and 1988 discovery reports

National Marine Fisheries Service - John Naughton expedition logs (1988)

Stuff You Should Know Podcast - "The Mysterious Disappearance of the Sarah Joe" (2024)

U.S. Coast Guard - Search and rescue records, Pacific Region (1979)

Unsolved Mysteries - Season 2, Episode 6 (October 11, 1989)

Wikipedia - "Sarah Joe (boat)" (for timeline verification and cross-referencing)