An 11-year-old girl spent more than three days in the open ocean (7 photos)

Imagine: you are in the water, and all around you are waves and the scorching sun. No fresh water, no food, no shelter, nothing. And there is no salvation either.





The story of 11-year-old Terry Duperreault shocked millions of people in the early 60s of the last century. The girl was able to avoid death, and then spent three days in the open ocean, until a ship accidentally passed by and brought her on board. This happened on November 16, 1961.



Terry Duperreault

A week before the discovery of the girl, Arthur Duperreault, together with his wife, son and two daughters, boarded the sailing yacht Bluebell. Arthur dreamed of taking his family on a family cruise from south Florida to the Bahamas. The man put off this vacation for several years so that everything would turn out as close to ideal as possible.

The captain of the yacht was former US Air Force fighter pilot Julian Harvey, who had a lot of experience in sailing. Julian's wife offered her services as a cook for the Duperrault family. Not for long though...





"Bluebell"

Around nine o'clock in the evening Terry went to the cabin located at the rear of the yacht. Usually her younger sister Renee slept there, but she was sitting on the deck with her parents and brother at that moment.

At night, the girl woke up from terrible cries for help, the stomping of feet, and then something rumbled and there was a sharp silence. A frightened Terry carefully left the cabin a few minutes later. What she saw shocked her.

Not far from the cabin, she saw her dead brother and mother in bloody clothes. There was real carnage on deck. And suddenly, Captain Harvey appeared from behind, pushing Terry and ordering in a whisper: “Get back immediately!” The girl immediately returned to the cabin, climbed under the blanket and suddenly a fuel oil smell floated through the cabin, and the room itself began to flood with water.

Harvey's silhouette appeared in the doorway with a rifle in his hands. He looked at Terry silently, and then went out onto the deck. Meanwhile, the water had already risen to the level of the bunk and the teenager had to get out of the cabin and follow the strange captain. Harvey said that the yacht was sinking, then he jumped into the water and swam in a rescue boat that was moving away faster and faster.



Julian Harvey

11-year-old Terry stood alone in the middle of a sinking yacht. And then she remembered that there was a tiny rescue boat on the starboard side. On a frantic adrenaline, the child managed to untie the knot and push this mixture of boat and raft into the ocean. She had no water, no food, no dry clothes with her. The yacht went under water.

Terry was freezing, because it was night, the salt water burned her face like a whip, but she only thought about how her father and sister could escape. In the morning the scorching sun began its torture. There was no fresh water and Terry understood that the white square of the life raft on which the girl in white clothes was lying would be very difficult to see from the plane.

Hours passed and the girl got worse. Three days in the ocean without water or food practically killed her - Terry could not open her eyes, her muscles ached, her skin was red from the sun. Then she began to suffer from hallucinations and the girl began to faint.

The fourth day came and Terry simply stopped feeling anything. With her consciousness fading, she realized that a huge shadow had covered her and someone’s hands had lifted the girl, finally hiding her from the sun’s rays.



Meanwhile, on November 17, Julian Harvey told the coast guard a harrowing story about a yacht crash, where he managed to survive. They say that on November 12, "Bluebell" found itself in a terrible storm and no one could survive. In a rescue boat discovered by an oil tanker the next day, Harvey contained the body of baby Renee. Julian said he was able to pull her out of the water, but it was too late to save her.

The coast guard, having listened to the captain's story, released him to Miami so that he could talk with the police.

And during the second interrogation, it turned out that little Terry Duperreault had survived and might even testify soon. Harvey turned white as a wall, signed a police report, then went to his home and committed suicide.



The girl was sent by helicopter to a Miami hospital, where as soon as she regained consciousness a little, a conversation took place with the police. Terry's story horrified the police - they had seen a lot, but they had never encountered such cruel treatment.

The investigation was loud.

And it turned out that Harvey's main victim was his own wife. He wanted to kill her for insurance payments (in case of an accident) of 20 thousand dollars. But the murder was accidentally seen by Arthur Duperro, whom the captain also decided to finish off. The captain's fight with Arthur was seen by the rest of the Duperro family (except Terry) and the distraught Harvey finished everyone off.

He acted cruelly and cynically with Terry, simply leaving her alone on a sinking yacht.



This is a photo of the same ship that Terry saved

Everything became completely clear when investigators received an official report from meteorologists, which noted that on the day of the shipwreck there were no storms, hurricanes or storms in the indicated square.

The police arrived at Harvey's house late. He understood perfectly well what awaited him and did not want either punishment or to look Terry Duper in the eyes.

After the girl recovered, her aunt adopted her. Terry later wrote memoirs about the tragedy she experienced, got married and gave birth to three children.

In 1988, Duperrault was invited to the Oprah Winfrey Show, where she met the captain of the very ship that noticed and saved the little girl who had already lost hope.