Unpublished John D. MacDonald Manuscript Recovered
Fans of John D. MacDonald are ecstatic over news that an unpublished manuscript was found when a marine salvage operation raised the long lost wreck The Busted Flush in South Florida.
MacDonald, who died in 1986, grew up in upstate New York, but Florida became his adopted home. In all, he wrote more than 40 books including 21 in the Travis McGee mystery series. He also wrote The Executioners, which was twice made into a major motion picture under the title Cape Fear. His Travis McGee books were inspiration for many top writers ranging from Kurt Vonnegut to Stephen King to Carl Hiaasen.
MacDonald set the Travis McGee series in Fort Lauderdale where McGee lived aboard a houseboat named The Busted Flush that tied-up at Slip B-18 in the Bahia Mar Marina. The story holds that McGee took ownership of the boat and coined its name when he called the bluff of a man who held four of the five needed cards. What most people didn't know is that there really was a boat by that name and it appears that it involves its own mystery.
Here's an excerpt from Ocean Lines, which was the first to break the story:
A visiting tourist from New Jersey, Hazel Moran, heard an account about The Busted Flush from a local Floridian who knew MacDonald and spent time with him during the 1960's. Moran soon thereafter wrote an account in a local weekly that, as seen in the below excerpt brought the man's story to light.
"Life down here was more quiet back then. I did some diving and movie stunt work and when John learned about my diving he invited me to some parties he held. Nothing fancy, just some folks having a few drinks over by his dock at the end of the day. He asked me a lot about diving back then, maybe some of it ended up going into his books, I don't know. But he was a good guy to be around. A real nice fellow.
"What most folks don't know is that there really was a Busted Flush. It was an old Trumpy, one built up in Annapolis, Maryland. John lived over on the west coast but he'd come over here and stay on the Busted Flush. I never knew if it was John's boat or his friend's. It didn't really matter much, we were just having a good time. They called it a houseboat back then, but it was more like a small yacht. Nice brightwork and fine white hull. Didn't leave the dock much, though, it was more like a floating home over there in Bahia Mar.
"I thought it got sold when John moved from Sarasota to Siesta Key, but I later learned it was stolen. Some years after, I ended up finding out what happened and how it ended up being scuttled by the thieves. Wasn't much to do about it by then. I didn't really think anyone cared until I happened to mention this to someone a few months ago."
After reading Moran's account in a local paper, three amateur sleuths contacted her for more details. Aided by modern day sonar scanners, they found the hull sitting on the bottom about twenty miles north of Lauderdale. It was half-buried in sand stirred up by Hurricane David, a factor that made the recovery more difficult, but the sand was a saving grace because it preserved much of the wooden hull, allowing them to raise the yacht pretty much intact. And now they have not only the boat but also a lost manuscript that appears to be a yet unpublished Travis McGee novel, something that may be worth far more than the boat itself.
Again, quoting from Ocean Lines story:
Seychelle Sullivan, of Sullivan Towing and Salvage, organized the recovery. "It was all kind of a fluke," she said. "Wes Darling, who works as a private investigator from the Keys, heard about Hazel Moran's story one day when he was up in Fort Lauderdale. He knew about John D. so he saw the significance. Before he went any further, he found a college professor named Steve Decatur who helped him authenticate the find. When Wes and Decatur contacted me about going in on the salvage I immediately said yes. We laughed when we found out that each of us had read the Travis McGee books. Heck, we would have done this regardless of the money."
It turns out that the money part is, in fact, significant although it will have to be worked out in the courts. Maritime law and an insurance company will resolve ownership of the boat, but it's the manuscript that's generating the most interest. MacDonald's publisher is not commenting publicly on the manuscript's value, but it will likely earn a seven-figure contract.
"I'm just glad we found the boat and the book," Sullivan said. "They had a plaque over at Bahia Mar for a while, but this is a lot more than a plaque. Now we can really commemorate John MacDonald. We're talking about a never before published manuscript, plus The Busted Flush. I'd like to think Travis and John D. would be smiling right now, knowing what we've done. And the fact that the novel was stored in a waterproof box in the old Trumpy's wheelhouse won't be lost on fans. MacDonald was known to worry about hurricanes along the Florida coast, a subject that he took up in one of his later books, Condominium."
The book, which is expected to first appear in hardcover, will retain the original working title: An Azure April Fool.
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