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Rescued Girl Tells of Mass Killings on Yacht

Nov. 20, 1961 - An 11-year-old girl (pictured), the only survivor of the sailboat Bluebelle, has indicated that the other passengers were murdered by the captain. Terry Jo Duperrault, who was rescued from a raft after three and a half days under a blazing sun, told investigators that Capt. Julian Harvey had abandoned her on the deck of the sinking ship. The girl said that she had seen the bodies of her mother and brother on the floor of the main cabin and “blood all over” the deck. They, her father and sister, and the captain’s wife are listed as dead. Harvey, a 45-year-old adventurer, killed himself by slashing his veins with a razor blade when he learned that Terry Jo had survived. Terry Jo’s account disputed every detail of Harvey’s story. He had said that the mainmast broke and tore a hole in the ship’s bottom and left her “a hulk wallowing in the sea.” He also said fire had broken out quickly and he could not get to the passengers through the flames. The mast did not break, Terry Jo said, and she neither saw nor smelled fire. Capt. R.F. Barber, Coast Guard officer in charge of marine investigations, related her story of mass murder at a news conference today.



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