Alone: Orphaned on the Ocean by Fassbender Tere Duperrault; Logan PhD Richard D

Author:Fassbender, Tere Duperrault; Logan PhD, Richard D.
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: Titletown Publishing, LLC
Published: 2010-05-01T22:00:00+00:00

Sailors aboard the Greek freighter Captain Theo gather around Terry Jo’s blanketed form shortly after her rescue from the waters of the Northwest Providence Channel.

CHAPTER NINE

Recovering

Terry Jo’s hospital room was closely guarded against the frenzy surrounding the fate of the Bluebelle and against the uncertainty created by the suicide of the captain. Here, she played – seemingly happily – with dolls, stuffed dogs, games, and many other presents sent to her by a sympathetic public. Her story had stirred wonder, sympathy, and admiration around the world.

By Thanksgiving Day, November 23, she was able to order a turkey dinner with all the fixings. She had only her aunt and uncle from Green Bay with her on a day when close-knit families traditionally gathered, but she seemed cheerful and was smiling and she ate heartily. Terry Jo still had given no indication that she was aware of her family’s fate. She had not cried and she had asked no questions. People read the lack of tears as a sign of bravery, and they were partly right. In fact, for the next several years she would hear herself referred to as “brave little Terry Jo.” There was little doubt that she knew her family was gone although it would be years before she would come to accept that her father, whom she never saw that terrible night and whose body was never found, had died with everyone else.

Her sunburned skin was peeling but her physical recovery now was complete. Dr. Verdon examined her and said she would soon be ready for release from the hospital. She had snapped back with amazing vitality from her agonizing ordeal on the raft.

Four days later, on November 27, eager to close any gaps in Terry Jo’s story of the Bluebelle disaster, Coast Guard investigators called on her again.

Captain Barber showed her a sketch of the Bluebelle deck. “This,” he said, “is what the vessel might have looked like that night if things happened as people said they happened. Now, Mr. Harvey told us that a large part of the main mast broke off and fell down through the deck and bottom of the boat. Now, if this happened the way he said, the cable, the rigging, the sails, the mizzenmast would have been lying all over the deck, a terrific bundle of wires and sail, a real mess. Now, can you remember if you saw any such mess as that all over the deck?”

She shook her head firmly. “There wasn’t any mess at all,” she said.

Barber: “You told us that when you went up on deck that first time, that there was light on the deck, from the light up near the sails or on the mast. Do you remember saying that?”

Terry Jo: “Yes.”

Barber: “And you have a clear recollection of this light, and the masts were standing up?”

Terry Jo: “Yes.”

Barber: “This point is quite important because Mr. Harvey’s story is all based on the fact that these masts came falling down. You told us the last time that one of the masts was tipping over, slanted over a little bit.

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