Witchcraft

www.Bermuda-Triangle.Org




	A cabin cruiser like Witchcraft, sleek day yachts for short trips in better than average comfort

It was a beautiful evening the night of December 22, 1967, when hotelier, Dan Burack, in company of Father Patrick Horgan left Miami’s yacht marina in Burack’s 23-foot cabin cruiser Witchcraft. Burack, an inveterate yachtsman, had invited Father Horgan to go out into the bay to enjoy the stunning view of Miami’s Christmas time lights. They were only going to cruise out a short way and then stop and, in the silence of a dark sea, take in the panorama of Miami’s lit skyline.
Apparently Burack went to the area of Buoy # 7 in Miami’s Harbor, less than a mile from the shore. It was from here that Burack sent a message to RCC Miami at exactly 9 p.m. that night. His was a casual, steady voice. He said he had hit something below. There was no emergency. However, he would need a tow back into the marina. Since Burack felt there was no emergency, it is logical to assume whatever he hit (if he knew) had damaged his propeller or rudder but not his hull. The vibrations after starting his motor would have been a dead giveaway.

. The Coast Guard responded immediately. At 9:19 p.m. —only nineteen minutes after Burack signaled them— their searchlight beams were streaming the ocean in that vicinity. However, there was no sign of the Witchcraft, of debris, life jackets, bodies or any flotsam. In that interim and short 19 minutes Burack had never sent another message to Miami’s RCC to indicate the situation had become critical, nor had he fired flares. The most unusual part, however, is the total lack of the cabin cruiser. This is the most impressive, for the Witchcraft had built in floatation and was thus “unsinkable.”


		Although this term does not imply buoyancy, “unsinkable” means that some part of the hull should remain above water. It is like “corking” a vessel, so that the vessel’s gravity weight, even when fully flooded, is not enough to send it to the bottom.

	Despite the Coast Guard expanding the search by 1,200 square miles that night, including requesting all private vessels as far as Bimini to be on the look out (50 miles distant), no trace was found. Again they expanded it to the Gulf Stream northward in case, by some remote chance, the cabin cruiser had been




		Probably a more accurate portrayal of the actual Witchcraft. A cabin cruiser design popular in the ‘60s and ‘70s.

pulled out by a brief squall that had hit that night (although it did not hit in Miami Harbor, of course). Finally on December 28, the search was halted after covering 24,500 square miles without a single clue having been found.

Burack was big on safety. He had plenty of life saving gear aboard (all very floatable, like seat cushions, jackets, etc), and had even spent extra, naturally, to have floatation built in. Some lumbering sunken form of the Witchcraft should have remained as a navigational hazard. The Coast Guard regularly destroys boats that have foundered or been swamped but, because of built in floatation, remain a creepy hazard to other boaters.
No explanation could nor ever has been given for Burack and Father Horgan’s sudden disappearance. And that is the keyword— disappearance— since it was never adduced how they could have perished. Recalling that Burack did not say it was an emergency, he did have flares ready. In fact, he told the Coast Guard he would fire one off to direct them to his exact position. We must assume then that Witchcraft was lost so unexpectedly as to even preclude Burack from firing the flare gun, for none was seen, and so completely as to eradicate any sign. Had that light squall drawn him suddenly to sea, he could still fire the flares and radio RCC Miami. There seems just no explanation.
Nothing indicates that the Witchcraft sank. Yet on the other hand, it certainly did not remain. This puzzling paradox may have resulted in the conclusion “They are presumed missing, but not lost at sea”– a nebulous conclusion however striking. This very well could only be a paraphrase of the Coast Guard’s conclusions, or even an outright ad-lib on the part of those old salts who followed the Bermuda Triangle’s growing mythos. In either case, it fits the unbelievable scenario perfectly. Those who searched for Burack have never contradicted it, perhaps because they could still recall the bell of Buoy #7 clanging idly in an all too empty sea.


	[Home] [Theories] [500 Leagues . . .] [Lost Aircraft] [Lost Ships] [Introduction] [Biography]