The Patanela 

VET in SACE Student Jessica George shares the very personal story of the inspiration behind her latest series

A mystery that will never be forgotten

“Those who dig deep into the unknown, who seek to uncover the covered and grapple with the mysteries of this life end with more questions rather than answers” - Jessica George

Australia has some of the greatest sea mysteries yet to be solved and my family happens to play a part in one of those mysteries. 

You know the saying “There is always calm before the storm?” Well this chilling true story, happens to illustrate just that…

The sailing conditions in the early hours of Tuesday the 8th of November 1988 couldn’t have been better for the luxurious schooner, “The Patanela”. Powering through the water at 15-20 knots nothing but excitement was in the air.

Ken Jones, my Grandmas cousin, his wife Noreen and two young crewman, Michael Calvin and John Blissett were on an adventure of a lifetime, right? Well so they thought. The crew planned to sail the schooner from Fremantle Western Australia to Airlie Beach in Queensland, as a charter vessel, the estimated date of arrival being the 18th of November.  Nothing but green flags seemed to pave the journey to be undertaken, that is until that fateful last radio call made by Ken Jones at 2am…

‘Sydney this is Patanela , Patanela, Victor Mike Papa Tango, do you read?’

‘Patanela , Sydney, Roger, getting loud and clear, over.’

‘Um, have you any idea what the wind is going to do tonight, do you have a forecast at all?’

‘Oh, Roger, can we go to 67, over.’

‘Sorry, say again.’

‘We change over to Channel 67, over’

‘Sydney, Patanela, 67.’(conversation can be heard in the background but what is said is inaudible) ‘We’ve had 25-30 knots here and it just seems to be lightening off now, and we don’t want to get caught too far out with no wind out here … and what do they anticipate the wind doing … how far south is Moruya … 

Only static can be heard as Sydney radio becomes inaudible. 

‘We’re unfamiliar with that position … How far south in miles approximately?’

‘Three hundred kilometres south is it… south… 

Little did Sydney Radio know at the time, but those words were the last words ever spoken by Ken Jones. 

It was a full 10 days before a full alert was sounded, by then the Patanela could have been within a 200,000 km radius, practically impossible to find. Although the police walked away from the mystery with no hope, deeming it a cold case, the immediate family left behind still grasped hope until the day they died. 

What happened on that fateful November morning? Was it an act of piracy? Or we're the crew members guilty of smuggling drugs? The questions are endless and the answers can only be assumed. 

Before my time on earth is up, and the sun has set, I would love to get to the bottom of what actually happened that mysterious morning. 

By Jessica George VET in SACE Student