What Happened to Argonaut?

On August 10, John Rice’s family received the life-changing news that Rice, a 60-year-old Australian who had lived for many years in Long Beach, had been reported dead while sailing in the Flores Sea in Indonesia. His French Canadian crewmember, Guillaume Gosselin, reported to officials in Kupang that 14 days earlier, he and Rice had been off Pamana Island in rough conditions when the 59-ft steel-hulled Argonaut began filling with water through the head portlight. He said that Rice refused to abandon ship but Gosselin decided to take his chances in the water.

According to his official story, Gosselin watched Argonaut slip beneath the water. The only things that floated to the surface, Gosselin said, were the outboard fuel tank, an oar, a lifejacket and John Rice himself. He says he swam over to Rice, who was unresponsive, and checked his pulse. Finding no pulse, Gosselin tied the floating outboard tank to Rice and began swimming for a nearby buddy boat. According to Gosselin, the mile-distant Nordhavn 46 Kanaloa owned by multi-circumnavigators Heidi and Wolfgang Hass didn’t see him so he paddled toward the nearby island, also about a mile or so away. Apparently he didn’t make it to the island, as he says he was in the water for two days before a fishing boat rescued him and took him to 350-mile distant Kupang, a trip that took 12 days.

John Rice’s daughter, Chelsea Rice-Morris is confused by this account of her father’s death. "The story doesn’t make any sense," she told us. "My father was a marine engineer and he built Argonaut to be unsinkable. It was one of the best-built vessels many had ever seen and had the best equipment, so it seems impossible that the boat sank in just a couple of short hours."

According to Rice-Morris, Argonaut had been sailing in company with Kanaloa since departing Darwin, Australia, on July 14. Rice had spent 18 years perfecting the steel sloop into a stout world cruiser. A very experienced seaman, he was no stranger to rough weather, which Rice-Morris says didn’t faze Argonaut in the least. On July 25, the two boats were just a few miles apart near the small island of Pamana in the Flores Sea. In a letter provided by Rice-Morris, Heidi Hass informed the Indonesian investigators that she and Rice were in contact at least twice a day on the VHF. She says her last contact with him was around 2 p.m. "The seas were a bit choppy, with three to four feet and white caps," she wrote. "For Argonaut and Kanaloa, these were just ‘lake-like conditions’. No swell or any danger."

Hass went on to say, "Neither of us even considered that the Argonaut could sink, definitely not what I heard Guillaume said happened, which is almost impossible. I am not an expert, but no amount of water could have come through the toilet window on the starboard side to sink the Argonaut."

What further frustrates Rice’s family and friends is that, according to Rice-Morris, the Indonesian government searched the wrong area for debris and have yet to question the Hasses about that day. "I really want to know what happened during those 14 days because, as far as we know, the investigators haven’t even questioned the crew of the fishing boat. We’ve been going in circles with them," she said. "It’s been nothing but heartbreak and confusion."

Rice-Morris holds out little hope that her father is still alive, but she says what she really wants is to get the full story of what happened that day. She doesn’t know if that day will ever come, but she hopes that cruisers will keep an eye out for any boat resembling Argonaut. If you suspect you’ve seen her since July 25 — or have any pertinent information in the case — get in touch with the family through a website they’ve set up: argonautismissing.com.