Mysterious Island:Vanished

(Editor’s note:  Jim Watson is the author of “Mysterious Island: Catalina,” available at Amazon, Kindle and in stores in Avalon.)

I don’t know about you, but one of the more disturbing activities one can partake in on the internet involves surfing the various websites out there dedicated to finding missing persons.  From time to time in my writing and filmmaking ventures I have the need to peruse these sites and they never fail to depress me.

(Editor’s note:  Jim Watson is the author of “Mysterious Island: Catalina,” available at Amazon, Kindle and in stores in Avalon.)

I don’t know about you, but one of the more disturbing activities one can partake in on the internet involves surfing the various websites out there dedicated to finding missing persons.  From time to time in my writing and filmmaking ventures I have the need to peruse these sites and they never fail to depress me.

According to the FBI’s National Crime Information Center, upwards of 700,000 people go missing in the United States every year.  Many of those people are eventually found safe and sound, but many aren’t so lucky.

Like any place near a major metropolitan area, Catalina has had its share of individuals over the years who have—to use that most moronic of oxymorons—“turned up missing.”

Being an ocean-oriented resort, many of Catalina’s missing persons cases involve boating accidents or other such mishaps.  But other cases aren’t so easily explained as you will see.

Some of these cases have a happy ending, such as the curious case of Zebulon Tryon and Chris Reuter.  

On the afternoon of June 9, 2009, the inexperienced pair of 20-somethings left Avalon Harbor in their aging 27-foot Coronado sailboat built in 1973.

Their plan was to sail to Santa Cruz.  Not Santa Cruz Island, but the city of Santa Cruz, a decidedly more formidable feat.  

When they didn’t show up at the appointed time (evidently they had no radio) Tryon’s mother Tish dutifully alerted the Coast Guard which went looking for the wayward duo.  

Early the following week, the Coast Guard found them safe and sound somewhere off Pismo Beach. Then there are the cases that have not-so-happy endings such as the disappearance in 2010 of Newport Beach resident Frank Cipriano.  

Cipriano had been hired to help pilot the 46-foot vessel “Indecent Proposal” to the Isthmus.  

On the evening of Saturday, Aug. 8, he told the family who had hired him he was taking the boat’s dinghy from their current location of Cherry Cove into Two Harbors for supplies.

Cipriano never returned and at 10:45 the following morning the family alerted authorities.  

Nearly a week later, Cipriano’s body was found near Lion’s Head not far from where he had vanished.

Similar to the Cipriano case was that of Andre Krasowskis, a 21-year-old worker at Camp Fox near Long Point on Catalina’s leeward shore.  

On March 5, 1989, Krasowskis set out in a dinghy towards a ski boat that was anchored about 100 yards offshore.

The wind had picked up considerably in a short period of time and it was Krasowskis’ intention to secure a canvas covering on the boat which was threatening to blow away.  Tragically, Krasowskis was somehow caught up in the lines of his own dinghy and swept out to sea.

Unfortunately, no one at the camp was aware of what was happening until it was too late.  

It wasn’t until about an hour later that his absence was noticed and a search initiated.

Two days later, Krasowskis’ dinghy was found.  

His body was found suspended underneath, hopelessly tangled in the boat’s lines.

Our most famous such case, which I have covered in previous columns and in my book, was that of the death of Natalie Wood in November 1981 and whose body was found early the following morning.

Finally, there are the cases where people completely vanish for no apparent reason:  the weather is fine, there’s no foul play suspected, there were no commotions being made prior to the disappearance, etc.  

The missing person-to-be simply drops off the face of the earth.

At least three such cases stand out in Catalina’s history, including:

EARL ATKINSON

On Wednesday, July 29, 1970, a 50-year-old man by the name of Earl Atkinson was seen tying his small boat up to the Green Pier in Avalon Bay.  

The boat was scheduled to have some repairs done, but neither Atkinson nor the boat could be found the following day when the work was to begin.   

A short time later, the boat was found adrift about 1 ½ miles north of Avalon Bay, but Atkinson himself was never found.

JOHN BROCKBANK

Twenty-five-year-old John Brockbank was a casino dealer for Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines.  On March 23, 1991, the cruise ship he was working on, the “Azure,” departed from its brief stopover at Catalina and headed towards its next destination.  

Brockbank, who had been described as “depressed” prior to his disappearance, failed to show up for work in the ship’s casino at 4 p.m. when he was scheduled to begin his shift.  

Despite a thorough search of the ship, Avalon and the waters of the San Pedro Channel, Brockbank was never seen again.

SCOTT EDWARD HALL

One of the more perplexing Catalina-related disappearances also happens to be one of the most recent.  On Aug. 1, 2006, Scott Edward Hall placed a call to his family from aboard his sail boat which was moored at Isthmus Cove.  

Despite the fact that his cell phone, identification and other personal effects were still on the boat, the 42-year-old was never seen again.