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Here’s what you’ll learn when you read this story:

In 1968, El Fausto disappeared near the Canary Islands, only to be found and lost yet again.

The strange behavior of the crew when the ship was first discovered resulted in the tragic deaths of all four men.

No single theory adequately explains the bizarre behavior that led to the disappearance of El Fausto .

On July 20, 1968, a family crew—Ramón and Eliberto Hernandez, and their cousin Miguel Acosta—planned a routine trip from El Hierro to La Palma, intending to deliver explosives earmarked for land clearing. They also took on a mechanic , Julio García Pino, who was desperately searching for a boat heading to La Palma after receiving news that his one-month-old daughter needed urgent medical attention. The crew set sail on El Fausto , a 46-foot-long fishing vessel that frequently ferried goods and people between locations in the Canary Islands.

The roughly 60-mile trip should have landed El Fausto in La Palma the following morning at 10 a.m., but it failed to show up. The delay didn’t immediately cause alarm—there was a light mist overnight that would have reduced visibility, but nothing concerning for an experienced sailor —and the ship’s owner, Rafael Acosta, figured some sort of mechanical problem was at fault. An official search wasn’t launched until the next day, July 22, but when nothing was found for three days, hope began to wane.

Then, four days later, the incredible news came in. The Duchess —a British ship traveling from South America to the Netherlands—spotted El Fausto roughly 108 miles from La Palma, alerted by a flashlight from the crew. Out of food (the crew had taken only a small amount of fruit with them from El Hierro) and fuel, El Fausto was adrift in the Atlantic, but the crew (according to those aboard the Duchess ) was reported well.

Then, things took a turn for the bizarre.

The crew of the Duchess offered to tow El Fausto home, even though there was no apparent mechanical issue with the fishing boat. But El Fausto ’s crew—all of whom appeared irritated, but not in any mental distress—refused. Hamstrung by the refusal, the British sailors gave the four men food , water, cigarettes, and enough fuel for them to make the 18-hour trip back home, and left El Fausto on its own.

Though a welcoming party waited back in El Hierro, those 18 hours came and went, and El Fausto never showed. A second, Spanish-led search kicked off, this time with planes scouring the coastal regions of the Canary Islands, Spain , and Portugal. But they found nothing. The ship was officially declared lost on Aug. 7.

Two months later, and still there was no sign of El Fausto .

On October 9, the Italian ship Anna Di Maio stumbled across a ship adrift in the Atlantic while sailing to Venezuela, 1,800 miles from the Canary Islands. The vessel was clearly El Fausto , with the ship’s name and TE-2-12-68 identifier both easily visible. The Italian crew boarded the fishing vessel and found no obvious signs of violence or damage—but no signs of life, either.

When the searchers dropped below deck to the engine room, however, they found the somewhat-mummified remains of one naked man.

“In the engine room was the body of a young man in an advanced state of decomposition,” the Anna Di Maio captain reported, according to Explorers Web . The discovery was originally reported via telegram , which reported that the man was discovered near a radio, that the corpse was naked, and that no logbooks were discovered.

There was, however, one document found: a notebook, located near the body, with 28 pages ripped out and writing on the final page. That writing included instructions for the man’s wife on how to cash in on his life insurance , and concluded with: “Don’t ever tell Julin all that has happened to me. You know that God wanted this fate for me. Love you.” Julin was the name of mechanic Julio García Pino’s son, and Pino’s wife eventually confirmed her husband’s handwriting.

The Anna Di Maio attempted to bring both the boat and the body back to land, but shortly after beginning the tow, El Fausto sank, taking García Pino’s body and any additional evidence on board with it.

The Peculiar, Unexplained Refusal

Experts speculate that those torn 28 pages included a full account of what El Fausto ’s crew endured. The final lines implied that García Pino’s wife could know all that really did happen to him if she had read what preceded. Why those pages were destroyed remains a mystery , but an even more pressing mystery also remains unresolved: Why did the crew of El Fausto act so strangely when the Duchess found them and offered to tow them to safety?

The inexplicable nature of the men’s actions has prompted a wide range of theories , including that they were planning to start a new life in Venezuela, or that they were caught up in an illicit business. But by all accounts, El Fausto’ s crew were all upstanding, family-oriented men with every reason to be happy in life. García Pino certainly had a strong desire to return home.

Another theory suggested that the terrorist organization Movement for the Self-Determination and Independence of the Canary Archipelago had enlisted El Fausto ’s crew to orchestrate violence in the islands. The boat was carrying explosives , after all. But the violence kicked off by the organization didn’t start for years after El Fausto ’s disappearance, and there was no indication the men had any connections to the group.

One theory that gained traction was that the boat was being held hostage when the Duchess found it, and that’s why the crew refused the help. Was a pirate on board, threatening harm if they accepted the tow?

The most basic of theories, though, may be the only one with legs. Some claim that in their hunger and thirst, the crew had become somewhat delirious, and they refused help from the British sailors due to their addled states, believing they could make it back on their own.

But if that is the case, why were three of the bodies not on board when the ship was eventually found? What did those missing 28 pages contain? And who tore them out?

Tim Newcomb is a journalist based in the Pacific Northwest. He covers stadiums, sneakers, gear, infrastructure, and more for a variety of publications, including Popular Mechanics. His favorite interviews have included sit-downs with Roger Federer in Switzerland, Kobe Bryant in Los Angeles, and Tinker Hatfield in Portland.

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