The SS Minnow was a 1964 Wheeler M/Y with a LOA of 38’6” and powered by a single 230hp Detroit Diesel with a dry weight of 20,600 LBS. With a displacement style hull she had a cruising speed of 9 knots, which means they only could have traveled 27 nautical miles outbound from "Honolulu" during the duration of their 3 hour tour (excluding return trip & no wake zones ). Figuring in a 3 knot storm drift USCG search grids would only have been about 150 square miles and fairly easy to rescue
When I was a kid there were still pygmies and Oogah Boogah’s in Africa that fought bush wars and feuds with spears. There were head hunter tribes in South America and negroes with bones stuck through their noses and lips! At least, that’s what the TV said. The anthropologists shat bricks of rage (and they were square) because remote primitive tribes were disappearing everywhere. By the time I as finished elementary school it was all over. The modern world had encroached on all that was left of the old.
Now it seems the savages and barbarians are over taking us.
The professor had developed a carburetor replacement that would make the typical 1960's V8 automobile get 100 mpg, it was advertised in the back on many magazines of that era. It would have bankrupted Big Oil. They weren't "lost", they were deliberately shipwrecked and then abandoned. No search party. The island was close to shipping lanes as they had lots of celebrity visitors stop by. At one point I think the Harlem Globetrotters stopped by to visit.
ReplyDeleteThat's my theory and I'm sticking to it.
I always thought there was something odd about that 3hr tour metric!
ReplyDeleteChutes Magoo
"... pygmies and Oogah Boogah’s ..."
ReplyDeleteYep, when I was a kid I saw pictures of them in National Geographic magazine.
HAHAHA
ReplyDeleteThe "three hour tour" was the time scheduled for the tour. It was the EXPECTATION. If they suffered mechanical issues (bad fuel, for instance) the wind might have blown them for three DAYS before they were marooned. So it could easily be a case of where the REALITY did not match the EXPECTATION.
ReplyDeleteAnd, for what it is worth, give me a low-maintenance Mary Ann any day of the week over glam-girl Ginger.
Mary-Ann is mine! Get yur filthy lusting eyes offen her!
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