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Mysterious Vanishings on the High Sea

The oceans of the world are mysterious, hungry places, ofttimes more akin to some misunderstood prehistoric animal than a geographic feature. They are unpredictable, powerful beasts that seem to be as ravenous and insatiable as they are untamed. As long as we have gone out amongst their waves we have also gone out to disappear into the unknown vastness of it all. Considering the far spanning expanses of the seas and their myriad mysteries, perhaps it is no surprise that some of the most curious strange vanishings have occurred upon their dark waters, many of which have never been solved and indeed most likely never will. For we are only visitors to their realm, and have no guarantee of being allowed back.
One such disappearance involving a rather famous person at the time was the vanishing of the American passenger schooner Patriot in 1812, along with Theodosia Burr Alston, who was the daughter of the third vice president of the United States Aaron Burr. Born and raised in wealthy splendor and a life of privilege, Theodosia nevertheless had some hard times in her life. After the birth of her beloved son, Aaron Burr Alston, she experienced a sharp decline in mental and physical health, which only got worse when the boy passed away of a severe fever in June of 1812. Theodosia had deeply loved her son, and his death left her in a state of profound mental collapse, her mind a now a void which could not recover from the shock. Looking to try and find a change of scenery to help her overcome her grief and escalating health problems, Theodora decided to embark on a sea voyage to visit her father in New York.
On New Year’s Eve, 1812, ate the age of 29, Theodosia boarded the Patriot in South Carolina for the journey northward along the coast to New York. However, the ship never did arrive at its destination. Considering Theodosia’s social standing and connections, an extensive search of the region was launched but it found not a single trace of Theodosia, the Patriot, or any of its crew or passengers. They had seemed to have simply sailed off the face of the earth, and it is a mysterious disappearance at sea that captivates to this day, spawning numerous theories as to what might have become of the ill-fated vessel, ranging from the mundane to the decidedly weird.

Perhaps the most likely explanation is that the ship was simply the collateral victim of some sort of military action due to the War of 1812, which was raging in the Atlantic between the United States and the British at the time, or that the vessel was lost in a severe storm. It also seems somewhat likely that they could have fallen prey to the many pirates that were known to operate in the region at the time, not only at sea, but also from land, from where so-called “land pirates” would attack and plunder ships that ventured too close to shore, often after being intentionally lured in. In cases of pirate attacks, it typically did not bode well for anyone aboard the targeted vessel, with most passengers and crew being taken captive or killed.
Some strange clues have turned up concerning the fate of Theodosia. There was a man who in 1910 claimed that he had found the body of a woman washed ashore on the coast of South Carolina on the first day of 1813 who matched her description. There is also the claim of a 19th century doctor who reported that he had been called to treat an elderly lady who paid him not with money, but rather with an oil portrait of Theodosia. Could the elderly woman have been her and she had somehow survived? Who knows? A Native American chief of the Karankawa tribe, who inhabited the Gulf Coast of Texas, once claimed to have in his possession a locket with the word “Theodosia” etched upon it, which he said he had received from a woman he had found dying by the seaside in exchange for his trying to help her. These are all interesting stories, but the fact is that they are unverified, and we will probably never know exactly what happened to the Patriot and Theodosia.
Another American vessel that vanished without a trace in the 1800s was the USS Porpoise, which was a 224-ton Dolphin class brigantine launched in 1836. The USS Porpoise had a long and illustrious career that spanned a wide range of missions, including hunting pirates up and down the East Coast, conducting coastal surveying operations, engaging in charting vast portions of the South Pacific, tracking down slavers on the west coast of Africa, participating in Naval operations during the war with Mexico, and taking part in various exploratory expeditions all over the world, one of which saw it circumnavigate the globe. The ship is perhaps most famous for its role in the voyage with the United States Exploring Expedition Squadron that would confirm the existence of Antarctica in 1838.