One afternoon I stopped by an expedition styled motorsailer in my dinghy to find out the
story of this interesting looking boat. Standing on the transom steps stood Robert. In his early 50’s,
hair dyed to its original black, fit, with an ex-military feel, he was friendly
and invited me aboard. Sitting on the
back deck he told me a wild story of mystery and foul play surrounding the
boats original Canadian owner and “Heir to the Seagram’s fortune”, how he acquired
her in Monaco in 1982 and his expeditions since. You don’t have to know every line
in the God Father to know that anyone who is given something because someone
owned them money, it wasn’t a good thing. The inside of the boat was dark and
creepy. Strange tribal masks and odds from around the world hung with no
pattern on the walls. With authority he talked more about his experiences, his
trials at sea, diving for treasure, fighting pirates….. and……and …..his eyes
blinking rapidly as if trying to remember where he was, who I was….. his mind
started to skip…..his stories…. started,started,started getting stranger.
Clearly he was only playing with half a deck, but when he told me he knew where
Cortez’s lost fleet was, his master plan to secretly excavate its treasure and
smuggle it out of South America, I knew he was only a quarter there. My guess is that somewhere in his life he probably
knew Pablo Escobar and broke the cardinal rule of trafficking; sampling his
cargo along the way.
Starting up the dinghy he untied my lines and said “you
should come back later and have a drink”.
"No, I dont think so. I already have my story", I thought. But apparently "Sean Penn" has already bought the movie rights.
USCG photo take while rescuing Robert off Cape Hatteras.
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