Mystery of the Marie

The shipwreck made national news. On Tuesday June 7, 1960 the private vessel Marie left Santa Barbara Harbor at 7 a.m. in route to waters off Santa Cruz Island, but never returned. When the Marie vanished, her crew was conducting a covert underwater communications experiment for a Raytheon-related project.

Among the Marie’s seven crew, the author’s father and an eminent physicist who had worked on the Manhattan Project. Four bodies were recovered; however, three including the author’s father and the scientist were never found. Afterwards, a two year old Teresa and the other children left fatherless grew up and the full details of the shipwreck were buried.

In Mystery of the Marie, join Teresa Newton-Terres as a dusty scrapbook leads her to ask what she believed was a simple question. What happened?

Yet, she failed to realize the Goliath she stood before–giant issues that threatened to overwhelm her many times. By taking on this Goliath, Teresa found peace where she had frustrations, she gained courage serving things that matter most, and she became grateful where she once had a chip on her shoulder.

Through an abundance of relationships, collective memories, and a crumbling wall of secrecy, part of the story surfaced. And a host of people gathered in Santa Barbara for a 50th anniversary commemoration as they remember and honor seven men lost at sea expanding the frontiers of  “communicating over a beam of light” June 7, 1960.