The ocean is a dangerous place, and many a ship has succumbed to its unforgiving waves, including El Fausto, a 46-foot-long fishing boat based on the Canary Island of La Palma. On July 20, 1968, the boat was on its way back to port after picking up a father who was trying to visit his sick child. They never arrived. A British ship ran into the boat four days later and hundreds of miles away from the islands. Its crew looked dehydrated but only asked for gas to get back home. The British crew insisted on accompanying them back home, but they refused and said everything was fine. The crew’s families heard they had been located and expected them home soon after, but El Fausto never arrived. Two months later, out in the middle of the Atlantic, an Italian boat found El Fausto drifting at sea, with no one onboard. A quick examination of the boat found that it was in good running condition. Then the Italian crew made a startling discovery — the partially mummified corpse of crew member Julio García Pino, who was later identified by a scar on his body. Next to his body was a journal with several of its pages ripped out. The last page read, “Don't tell anyone what happened on this boat. God forgive us.” The Italian crew attempted to tow El Fausto to South America, but in the middle of the night it began to sink, snapping the tow line. It is believed that the only thing strong enough to snap the tow line would be a submarine or a large marine creature. The mystery of what happened aboard the El Fausto remains today.
