And The Sea Will Tell

And the Sea Will Tell

by Vincent Bugliosi

In 1974 Vincent Bugliosi wrote one of the most fascinating true crime stories ever when he wrote Helter Skelter, the True Story of the Manson Murders.

In 1991, he created another masterpiece, And The Sea Will Tell - the recounting of the events in 1974 on the Palmyra Atoll in the south seas.

Wesley Walker (aka Buck) an ex-con and his hippy girlfriend Jennifer had sailed there from Hawaii on their sailing vessel the Iola, a deteriorating wooden sloop that lacked a reliable auxiliary engine. Hoping to find the island deserted, they were disappointed to find it already inhabited by two male scientists. They were happy to find that the scientists wouold be leaving in a few days. But before they left, another couple, Mac and Muff Graham, landed on the island and they intended to stay. The Grahams' ketch, the Sea Wind, was beautifully finished and impeccably outfitted with an onboard machine shop equipped with a lathe and acetylene welding torch. The Grahams also had plenty of food while Buck and Jennifer' store had already run out.

Buck and Jennifer were getting ready to sail south for more food when the Grahams disappeared, their dinghy overturned in the lagoon. The mystery was how could a couple disappear from an island that held only four people. Complicating the story was the fact that Buck and Jennifer returned to Hawaii in Mac and Muff's Sea Wind.

Bugliosi recounts the events from the ships' logs and interviews with Jennifer and others' relatives in the first half of the book. But the way he does it makes one feel as they are in the ship with Jennifer and Buck as they sail from Hawaii. Once on the island, one can almost feel the hunger and then the boredom of eating yet another coconut. Then there is the beautiful Sea Wind only yards away, full of food.

The second half of the book describes the trials of Buck and then Jennifer. By the end, we know the story, we know who went to prison and who didn't, but do we really know who did the killing?

Bugliosi lives up to his Helter Skelter fame with this book - every bit as interesting and exciting.