Idiots (God must love them since he made so many) will blame it on the
Devil's Triangle. It looks like bad-assed Bahamians to me. Hope he
turns up alive but it doesn't look good.


On 9 Feb 2006 14:35:05 -0800, wrote:

This message is primarily for those based in or around Freeport or West
End in the Bahamas, although it will be of interest to anyone who
passes through those waters. On the morning of January 12, 2006, James
Trindade, 54, of Atlantis, Florida, left Spanish Cay, Bahamas enroute
for West Palm Beach, Florida. He was skippering a 38' Donzi fishing
boat, accompanied by two other boats. All three boat belong to Roger
Gamblin of West Palm Beach, Florida. The other boats were manned by
Mr. Gamblin's son, Chris, and a family friend. The boats stopped at
Grand Cay and refueled.

Around 2:15 pm, the boats reached Memory Rock, the westernmost point on
the Bahama Bank on their route. At this point, the smallest of the
three boats experienced an engine malfunction. Chris Gamblin returned
to help the disabled boat while Trindade throttled back to wait. At
this point, Trindade was out of sight of the other boats. The disabled
boat was promptly repaired. Arounbd the time repairs were completed,
the two boats heard a faint transmission hailing the U.S. Cast Guard.
The crew of the two smaller boats attempted to contact Trindade by
radio without success. The smaller boats proceeded to search the area,
also without success. They spotted a boat in the distance headed in a
southeasterly direction at a high speed. Thinking it was the missing
boat, they gave chase but could not keep up with it. They contacted
the Coast Guard and continued to search until, concerned with fuel,
they continued to West Palm Beach. There they contacted the Coast
Guard again. At 10:15 pm. The Coast Guard began a search, locating the
lost boat about 38 miles east of Port St. Lucie around midnight. No
one was aboard. The Coast Guard and a commercial towing vessel boarded
the abandoned boat around 3:45 am. Two out the three engines were
running at the slowest idle speed. The Coast Guard and friends of the
family searched for Mr. Trindade for the next several days. No trace
was found.

When the boat was released to the owner, he discovered that several
items of personal property were missing. Two coolers that had full of
frozen tenderloins and prime rib were missing. Of two cooler remaining
on the boat, one appeared to have been partially repacked and steaks
and prime rib was scattered over the floor of the boat. In addition, a
bag of expensive cigars and a handheld radio were missing from a
storage locker. The owner was able to confirm from the Coast Guard's
photographs and other records that the boat was recovered in this
condition. In addition, all tracking data from the GPS units had been
erased. And 160 gallons more fuel had been consumed than would have
been consumed if the boat had remained at idle and simply continued
motoring west. Clearly, the boat was boarded prior to the Coast
Guard's discovery. Given fuel consumption calculations, it had been
used at high speed for several hours.

If you saw this boat on that date or saw anyone with large quantities
of expensive meat around that date, please post a message to this site.