Abandoned at Sea

In 1961, the Duperrault family planned an incredible trip to the Bahamas, by way of yacht. After planning and enjoying their time, a tragic incident left an 11 year old girl adrift in the Atlantic ocean. The 11 year old, Terry Jo shares pieces of her story and survival while on the open ocean. 

Come along as Tori and MyKenna talk through the horrific but brave events of Terry Jo’s experiences, what their own yacht names would be, and what precautions can be made in the 21st century. 

Disclaimer: Andy (MyKenna's cat) was throwing a fit, so he makes a few appearances, along with the technical difficulties that go with virtually recording. 

References:

“Orphaned on the Ocean: The Unbelievable Story of Terry Jo Duperrault,” Reader’s Digest (2023).

“Man who killed my family left me to drown at sea but I had other ideas,” Mirror (2025).

“The Sea: The Bluebelle’s Last Voyage,” TIME (1961).

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

The Duperalt family had dreams of sailing in warm waters, a huge contrast to their cold weather in Wisconsin. In 1961, Mr. Duperalt made their dreams a reality and charted a course through the Bahamas for his wife and three children. While out there on the ocean, a tragedy occurred, leaving everyone with one question. What happened to the Duperalt family? The captain of the boat, the Bluebell, seemed to be the only one with the story until an unlikely witness was found. Listen with Tori and McKenna for the story of a vessel named Bluebell traveling across the Atlantic Ocean with a family and the captain that was left knowing the truth, or so we all thought.

SPEAKER_02 1:08

Hi, welcome.

SPEAKER_00 1:10

We are Monday digitally or virtually. Remotely. Last week was spring break, and McKenna had a terrible case of vertigo. Um, and so we had to just take a we had to take a beat, but we're back. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:28

Yeah. That was McKenna, by the way, referring to herself in third person.

SPEAKER_00 1:32

Yeah, why not? So today's icebreaker is if you owned a boat or a yacht, what would you name it?

SPEAKER_02 1:46

I would name it either Ollie Dunk or Olikin. Oh, that's cute. Yeah. That's really cute. My cat's names.

SPEAKER_00 2:00

What about you? Um, mine's pretty stupid, but you know, we'll we'll go with it. Um, I was gonna say if it's a yacht, like a big, big boat, it would probably be best guy warship. Stop. Because they don't have any, they don't have any warships, or you could just do tern. It could be tern.

SPEAKER_01 2:25

Turn and ock.

SPEAKER_02 2:27

Turnan ock. The tern and ock.

SPEAKER_01 2:29

That yo, that kind of goes hard.

SPEAKER_02 2:32

Yeah. For those who don't know, this is a fourth wing reference. If you haven't read the series, ten out of ten, highly recommend. Oh my god is obsessed.

SPEAKER_00 2:43

What reads are you on now? Um, well, so I've been reading Throne of Glass, so I've had no time to do any reading of Fourth Wing, but I do think that when I stopped, it was probably the fifth time. That's crazy.

SPEAKER_02 2:59

I love it. I know. I just can't when I do rereads, I have a very hard time getting through them because I'm not anticipating what's to come.

SPEAKER_00 3:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 3:10

Like I have to not know in order to motivate myself. Right. So there are very few books that I have reread.

SPEAKER_00 3:18

Well, so this is not uh this is not a paid ad, but I love Audible for that reason. Just because I can re-listen and re-listen and re-listen and just pick up wherever I left off. Um, so like I have a long drive to school, and if I'm not in the middle of reading something, then I can just put on fourth wing and go back into that that world. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 3:43

Yeah, I get that. Yeah. When I was reading it, I would listen to it on the way to and from school. Because wherever I stopped, I would find that chapter.

SPEAKER_00 3:55

It just gets you in a chokehold.

SPEAKER_02 3:58

Yeah. Me personally. I but then you get to school and you're like, oh, I gotta get out of the car now. The number of times I have gotten to school at the same time as McKenna and walked up to her car to hear Fourth Wing blasting. Everyone at school has read Fourth Wing at this point.

SPEAKER_00 4:19

They have, and they thoroughly enjoy it. Uh-huh. I have to be very careful which chapters I listen to pulling into school. You do. Very careful.

SPEAKER_01 4:32

Yeah. That's okay though. But it's great. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 4:51

So we are going to jump right in with our boat yacht theme. So in 1961, Arthur Duperalt officially made plans for his family to travel across the sea to the Bahamas. Now, Arthur was an optometrist from Green Bay, Wisconsin, and he previously served in World War II, which is what piqued his interest to want to sail on warmer waters, which was that vast difference from the cold waters of Lake Michigan. The Dubralt family was made up of Arthur, his wife Jean, and their three children. So they had a son, Brian, who was 14 years old, and they had two daughters, Terry Joe, who was 11, and Renee, who was seven. Arthur planned for a week on the waters and extend and wanted to extend the trip if everything went well, like with the kids and the wife adjusting well to the water. Because that sometimes can be a big shift. Oh yeah. I don't think that I'm not sure. I'm not even thinking about like sickness. Right. Well, that's what I'm thinking is like it takes a long time for your body to adjust to like living on the water. And so they were only going to do it for a week, so seven days. And if it went super well, then they were going to extend it. Makes sense. On November 8th, 1961, the DuProt family arrived in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, where they rented a two-mast chartered yacht named the Bluebell. And the owner of the Bluebell was a man named Julian Harvey. Julian Harvey was a 44-year-old man. The people in Florida ports knew him very well as a captain and as a seaman for chartered yachts. And he previously was an Air Force fighter pilot during World War II. So he flew in North Africa, Europe, and in the South Pacific. And most importantly, he was known for being an experienced sailor. Okay. And what year was this? This was 1961. Okay. Currently 1961, them getting ready to go out on the boat. So the family was ready to board the Bluebell, and the following people were awaiting the voyage to the Bahamas. The Duperalt family, so all five of them, Captain Julian Harvey and Harvey's wife, Mary Mary Dean. So his wife was also going with them. So you've got about seven people on the ship or on the yacht. The sails were opened and Bluebell began sailing into the Gulf Stream, taking them to sea between Florida and the Bahamas. The family was excited, right? The family was super excited.

SPEAKER_02 7:32

But I I can imagine it goes awry if we're telling it here.

SPEAKER_00 7:38

It sure does. And in the saddest way, like this story really, the story is heartbreaking, and there is like a little shimmer of hope at the end, but we do we do go through it a little bit before we get to that shimmer of hope.

SPEAKER_02 7:54

Okay, I'll hold on tight.

SPEAKER_00 7:56

So the family was excited for their adventure and to see their dream coming true. And remember, this was like the dad, this was author's dream. He really wanted them to be able to sail and get into those warmer waters. Over the next few days, Captain Harvey piloted the Bluebell east toward the island chain of Bimini and out past Sandy Point and the great Abaco Island. The Duperalt family spent their time snorkeling, spending time together, and collecting cheese shells from the beautiful beaches. On Sunday, Mr. Duperalt and Captain Harvey docked in Sandy Point to meet with the village commissioner, Roderick W. Pinder. And this is when they're starting to go back towards the United States. They're leaving the Bahamas and they had to go see the village commissioner, Mr. Pender, so that they could document their departure from the Bahamas and return to the United States. While speaking with Mr. Pender, Arthur Duperalt stated, This has been a one-in-a-lifetime vacation. We'll be back before Christmas. So like they loved it, apparently. Yeah. That same evening, Mary Dean, Captain Harvey's wife, was preparing the passengers' food. The chicken, and I'm really gonna mess this up. Um cacao. Not quite sure. Uh, I think it's a special kind of chicken preparation and then salad. However, it would be the last meal served on the bluebell. Oh. So that dinner, which is why it's stated, is the last dinner to ever be served on the bluebell.

SPEAKER_02 9:41

That's why it's important. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 9:45

So continuing on that Sunday night around 9 p.m., 11-year-old Terry Joe went below deck to go to bed. Her family remained above in the cockpit. So they were still hanging out. Only a few hours later, Terry Jo was awoken by her brother yelling, help daddy, help. Along with yelling, she heard running and then nothing. I have goosebumps right now.

SPEAKER_02 10:11

Imagine waking up to that. That's so disorienting.

SPEAKER_00 10:15

As an 11-year-old, too. Yeah. In the middle of an ocean. Like literally every safe thing that she could have, like her own bed, her own bedroom, in her own house, has been taken away from her in this moment. Like she's in a completely not comfortable place. Yeah. Wow. So Terry Jo laid in her bed, utterly terrified and confused as to what was happening above. Eventually, Terry Jo snuck out of her bed to find her mother and her brother murdered in the main cabin, which would have been the kitchenslash dining room during the day that had been converted into a bedroom at night. Now remember, Terry Joe was 11. Yeah. Terry Joe continued to be brave and climbed the stairs to check the debt. Unfortunately, she found more blood. While looking at all the horrific events, Captain Harvey lunged at her and shoved her back down the stairs and yelled at her to get back down there. Absolutely mortified, Terry Joe ran back to her bed and tried to ignore everything else happening around her until she heard sloshing. Sloshing? Sloshing.

SPEAKER_02 11:40

Of the boat.

SPEAKER_00 11:42

Terry Joe then realized that the boat was filling with water as it covered her floor. It was an oily smelling water, and Terry Joe was too afraid to move at this point.

SPEAKER_02 11:55

11 years old. 11 years old. And she has only seen her mom and her brother at this point. Yes. And doesn't know where the rest of her family is. In that situation, I don't even know that I would have gotten out of bed to go investigate.

SPEAKER_00 12:14

Right. Well, and so I think it didn't ever state that she saw her dad or her sister. Um, but whenever she found more blood on the deck, the above deck, I think that she saw the blood and just assumed that if mommy and brother were gone, yeah, more than likely dad and sister are too.

SPEAKER_02 12:39

Right. But I just can't I can't imagine. Yeah. That poor child.

SPEAKER_00 12:45

11. That's what I can't get by. Like having to deal with all of it by herself.

SPEAKER_02 12:53

Yeah. And you really just don't know what's going on at this point. And then they're sloshing.

SPEAKER_00 13:01

And the sloshing, and it's smelling like oil.

SPEAKER_02 13:06

And they're on their way back to the United States.

SPEAKER_00 13:09

Yeah. On the way back to Florida. So Terry Jo, after being in her room, on the bed, mortified, hearing the water, smelling the oil, she sees Captain Harvey's silhouette in her cabin's doorway. Although she could hear the water rising and his heavy breathing, the captain eventually moved back up to the top deck. And Jerry Lowe, Jerry, Terry Joe, I apologize. Terry Joe was left with the decision. Either stay here and drown in the cabin that was filling up with water or try to escape.

SPEAKER_02 13:53

I have no idea what I would do.

SPEAKER_00 13:56

This is one of those situations where I would not even be able to make, like, I can't even comment on what I would do because I have no idea. I would like to think that I was brave enough to escape, but I also know that my fight or flight is to freeze. Yeah, literally. Minus freeze.

SPEAKER_02 14:17

And I it's one of those situations that you really don't know what you would do until you're in it. Exactly. Like you have no idea. I would spend the whole time contemplating what to do, that it would be too late to escape anyway. Honestly, I think.

SPEAKER_00 14:34

Like going through all the different decisions. Like if I but also our ripe age of 26, like I would be able to count through all those different decisions.

SPEAKER_01 14:49

Yeah. Okay. I'll take it. We're 26. Okay. I'll pretend I'm 26.

SPEAKER_00 14:56

But it us being older, we we are able to logically try to think this out. Her at 11 years old, she's gonna go with whatever's gonna keep her alive. Yeah, yeah. Which is kind of what I feel is like what her she she knew either if I stay down here, I'm probably gonna drown. So I've got to at least try. Yeah. So yeah, that's a valid um way of thinking about it. Terry Joe knew that she had to leave the cabin and waded through the right white rising water to the stairs, which would bring her to the upper deck. Once on the upper decks, she could see a dinghy and rubber lift rafter floating beside the boat. Terry Joe, being brave, asked if the ship was sinking. To which Harvey, the captain, responded, yes. Harvey just yes. Just yes. Yep. Harvey came up behind her and pushed the line connected to the dinghy into her hands. But Terry was in such shock that she accidentally let the line slip through her fingers. But honestly, Captain Harvey is Loki a trash human for thinking that an 11-year-old who's literally seen that her whole family is gone is not going through shock right now. Well and why make that her responsibility?

SPEAKER_02 16:35

My question is if he killed her whole family, why is he leaving her as a witness?

SPEAKER_00 16:48

We'll get towards that. There's speculation. So there's some things that are gonna happen that don't give us a clear answer, but the police end up speculating the potential motive. Okay. So since Terry Joe accidentally let the line for the dinghy slip through her fingers, Captain Harvey jumped ship after the drifting dinghy and left Terry Joe watching from the sinking ship. Did you say his wife was on the boat too? She was. Mary Dean was on the on the ship. Okay. And we will kind of get to that. The police have speculation about what happened. Okay. Yeah. Okay. So you know, Harvey jumped off the ship after the drifting dinghy, and Terry Joe was just standing there on the deck of the sinking sinking ship. Probably no idea what to do. No, because I mean eleven. Terry Joe began to think of what she could do to survive. And she remembered that a cork life float was kept on the main on the side of the main cabin. Despite the rising water in that area, Terry Joe quickly reached the float and untied it. While getting the float, the boat began to sink even faster. Terry Joe was able to push the float into the open water, though one rope was connected to the sinking ship, which pulled Terry Joe and the float down with it. Thankfully, the rope popped free, allowing Terry Joe and her float to come back to the surface as the bluebell went down. So literally by the grace of God.

SPEAKER_02 18:50

And her remembering that that was there. Right. Because in a situation like that, I don't know that my brain would remember that.

SPEAKER_00 19:00

I don't think mine would have the fighters.

SPEAKER_02 19:03

Because you're just in yeah, and you're in a panic. Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_00 19:08

So Terry Joe huddled down onto the float, worried that the captain was waiting for her. Because you gotta remember she she realized that something had to have happened with her brother and a mother, and that there was blood all over the deck, and that the ship was the ship was sinking, but the ship's sinking wouldn't have made them bleed like that. Yeah. He being the captain was not waiting for Terry, but Terry Joe's worries were not stopped there. She had no food, no water, and was wearing thin pajamas, which didn't do much against the chill of the night. She could not see the stars and the moon due to the clouds, and the waves kept attacking her float. She said the salt water stunk her eyes and lips, and a short rain drenched her, leaving the 11-year-old Terry Joe uncontrollably shivering. Oh my gosh. And she doesn't even know really where she is. Nope. Literally just in the middle of the ocean. Wow. So Terry Joe floats in the ocean waiting for relief for four days. Four days? Four days. With no food and no water, and she's cold. On day one, Monday, she awoke to the sun blistering her skin and realized the float was beginning to disintegrate. She also realized that her tongue was dry, but she did not have an appetite or any thirst. On day two, she saw a small plane overhead. She waved frantically at it, hoping they would save her. It was so close that she could see the details on the underside of the plane. However, the angle made it impossible for her to be seen. So, like how they were flying made it almost impossible for them to even realize that it was her. And along with how the plane was flying, Terry Jo may not have been recognized because she had blonde hair, was wearing a white nightshirt, and floating on a white float. It's believed that she would have just blended in with the white caps of the ocean, causing the rescuers to not even recognize her among the ocean. Yeah, to just to not even see her. Yeah, thinking that she was just another wave. So early that afternoon on day two, Terry Joe saw some shapes in the water that were floating just below her. As they came closer, she was thankful that God sent her some porpoises her way. She said that they stayed with her for a while before they moved on.

SPEAKER_02 22:06

Wait. Sent sent what?

SPEAKER_01 22:10

Porpoises. Dolphins. Oh.

SPEAKER_02 22:14

Okay. What did you think I said? I don't know what I thought you said.

SPEAKER_00 22:22

But okay. Some dolphins came and hung out with her for a little bit that afternoon. I actually really love that. Right? Like her only form of connection. Yeah. In days, and she's scared. Now we're gonna move on to day three. It was bright and clear, which means the heat was stifling. Scorching. The sun caused her eyes severe pain from the dryness. Her muscles ached and her skin burned. Terry Joe's lips were swollen from exposure to the sea and sun. Eventually, Terry Jo fell unconscious after some hallucinations. Now, during one of her hallucinations, she it wasn't a hallucination, it was a dream. It was that evening or that night. Um, she dreamed about her dad, and it was essentially just her hearing her dad, like seeing her dad in a normal way, drinking a glass of wine, and him being like, We're ready for you to come. Like, and like she, it was it was really heart, heart-wrenching for her to deal with.

SPEAKER_02 23:39

And she just has these three days to like think about everything that's happened.

SPEAKER_00 23:45

Correct. Think about what happened to her family, think about what happened to the ship. Is anybody ever going to find me? Absolutely insane.

SPEAKER_02 23:55

Terrible.

SPEAKER_00 23:57

Now, day four comes, and Terry Joe wakes herself up from her unconscious spell. She found herself floating against a solid black wall. Instead, it was not a solid black wall, it was a ship where tons of heads and waving arms were shouting and trying to get her attention. Once she was safely being hauled onto the ship, Terry Joe fell into a deep sleep one more time.

SPEAKER_02 24:29

Oh wow.

SPEAKER_00 24:32

Now, you remember Captain Harvey, right?

SPEAKER_02 24:35

Yeah, I couldn't really forget him.

SPEAKER_00 24:38

So while Terry Joe, you know, was like fighting for her life on the ocean, Captain Harvey was picked up on his first day by a tanker, like a tanker ship. Harvey told the Coast Guard in Miami that he was the only survivor from the perilous accident where a sudden squall or storm damaged the boat. Harvey stated that his wife and the DuProt family had been injured during the collapsing of masts and riggings. Andy doesn't agree.

SPEAKER_02 25:10

I don't agree.

SPEAKER_00 25:14

While those damages were made, the gas lines had erupted and left the ship on fire as it slowly sank to the ocean floor. I don't recall anything about a fire. No, no fire. Not a corner of Terry Jones.

SPEAKER_02 25:31

They find the ship. They're gonna see that it's not working.

SPEAKER_00 25:38

Harvey also told the Coast Guard that he only managed to get the raft and dive overboard while the others had been caught up in the riggings. Which is just selfish.

SPEAKER_02 25:53

I mean, there's no one to really challenge him since he thinks he's the only survivor.

SPEAKER_00 25:59

But what happened to going down with your ship? Like, what happened to captains going down with their ship? He's not a true captain. However, after he's told the Coast Guard all this, and a few days later, once Terry Joe had been found alive, Harvey, Captain Harvey, committed suicide in the Sandman Hotel. After he found out that she was alive. After they found Terry Joe.

SPEAKER_02 26:25

Yep. I mean, he knew that he was in trouble.

SPEAKER_00 26:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 26:35

Yup. Wow.

SPEAKER_00 26:38

So after Terry Joe had been found, Harvey had passed. Um, police started to kind of look into things. And it was suspected that Harvey committed these grave acts to collect his wife's life insurance, and that one of the dupe rots had caught him, leading to their deaths as well.

SPEAKER_02 27:03

Oh.

SPEAKER_00 27:08

That's what they were speculating. Was that he was trying to get his wife's life insurance, and then somebody saw something or heard something, and they came to check, which does kind of explain why he didn't end up killing Terry Joe, is because she didn't witness anything, she just saw the aftermath. So even if even if Harvey had stayed around to testify against what Terry Joe was saying, like she wouldn't know the difference of whether or not, you know.

SPEAKER_02 27:46

Yeah, that makes sense. But to go to those lengths to this, that's crazy. He's a piece of work.

SPEAKER_00 28:02

He was a piece of work. He really was. Now, Terry Jo, Terry Jo did wake up from her deep sleep, um, and she lived with her cousins and father's sister once she returned to the Green Bay area. She shared nearly 50 years later in 2010 that I always believed I was saved for a reason. Now she happily lived in Wisconsin, married, and had children of her own.

SPEAKER_02 28:38

I hope she went to therapy after all of that, though. I do too. That's so traumatic. Very. Very poor family. They just wanted literally, we're living out history. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 28:55

Did they ever find the boat or the bodies? They never it never stated in any of the records that I looked at. I don't know if they ever went to go look for it.

SPEAKER_02 29:13

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 29:17

I think they probably thought that him offering himself was enough admittance.

SPEAKER_02 29:25

Yeah. No, that makes sense. I was just curious. We can go look for it. What?

SPEAKER_00 29:35

We can go look for it.

SPEAKER_02 29:38

Um, no, that's okay. I don't know that after that I want to go on a boat for a while.

SPEAKER_00 29:47

Well, so that kind of leads us into uh you should now be able to be wary of who you blindly trust. Um, and I know that Captain Harvey was well known in the ports and known to be a great sailor, a great seaman, great captain. Um, but they didn't really know him. That wasn't like he was a friend, it was just they heard great things about him and he fought in the war, and Arthur felt like, oh, this is a good person. But they like hired him, didn't they? Yes. Okay. But still. Yeah. And then now in this age where we get to post reviews and check reviews, please check your reviews thoroughly. Yeah. Please check reviews thoroughly before you start. Yes.

SPEAKER_02 30:52

Check reviews before anything.

SPEAKER_00 30:55

So my exit ticket is what destination would you like to travel to? Would you drive, fly, or sell there?

SPEAKER_02 31:12

I want to go to Herks and Caicos.

unknown 31:20

Oh.

SPEAKER_02 31:21

But I definitely wouldn't sail there now. So probably fly because you can't drive there.

SPEAKER_00 31:29

Okay. What about you? Um, I would like to go to Alaska.

SPEAKER_02 31:38

We have very different ideas. I know.

SPEAKER_00 31:43

But I would want to do the sailing trip there. Like the cruise. I would like to do the cruise there.

SPEAKER_02 31:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 31:56

Yeah. That would be fun. Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_02 32:02

We do have very different ideas.

SPEAKER_01 32:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 32:07

Especially after that story. I know, I'm so sorry. And listen, the next one, my next case is also about a boat. Okay. So I'm definitely flying, I guess, to Turks and Caicos.

SPEAKER_01 32:25

I mean, you could definitely you could definitely boat. Just maybe not. Thank you. Maybe maybe you boat in a dinghy. I'll take a ferry.

SPEAKER_00 32:40

Yeah, that's about right.

SPEAKER_01 32:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 32:47

But yeah, that's what that's what we got this week. I do Terry Joe was so, so brave. So brave. Braver than I could have ever been.

SPEAKER_02 32:58

I know. Me too. I couldn't imagine. I mean, it really is one of those things that you don't know what you would do until unless you're in the situation. But I just feel like I would spend too much time pondering what to do because I'm not great at decisions. Right. So it would just end up being too late anyway.

SPEAKER_00 33:22

Well, Terry Jo did what most adults can't do and figured out how to survive. And I do think that part of her part of her survival was based on her mental, like the fact that she wasn't willing to give up. Like she realized that she had made it that far and that she wasn't ready to to give up. Definitely. Wow.

SPEAKER_02 33:50

Yeah. What a brave eleven-year-old. Thanks for listening to True Crime Teacher Time.

SPEAKER_00 33:55

We'll see you bright and early next Monday morning.