In 1998, Tom and Eileen Lonergan were unintentionally abandoned during a scuba diving excursion in the shark-infested waters of Australia’s Great Barrier Reef – a real-life mystery that later inspired the movie Open Water and sparked rumors of a faked disappearance.
Their remains were never discovered, but the personal journals they left behind contained disturbing entries, including Eileen’s anxiety about being “caught in” her husband’s “death wish that could lead him to what he desires.”
On January 25, 1998, Tom, 33, and Eileen, 28 – who had just finished a two-year service with the U.S. Peace Corps in Fiji – were on an extended journey through the South Pacific.
The couple from Louisiana – skilled scuba divers – had made a stop in Queensland, Australia, joining 24 other passengers on the MV Outer Edge, a charter dive boat that took them to St. Crispin’s Reef, a breathtaking part of Australia’s Great Barrier Reef known for its lively marine life.
‘Shark City’
After finishing two 40-minute dives, they got ready for a third dive at a location aptly named Fish City – a place bustling with underwater activity.
Local fisherman Mick Bird, who happened to be nearby that day, later disclosed that there was a lot of shark activity in the area. “Every time we cast a line, we’d catch a shark,” he mentioned. “They ought to rename that spot Shark City,” Bird remarked, according to the Daily Mail.
Last time seen alive
At the same time, Bryan Brogdan, a British charter guest who dove with the Lonergans during their last dive, remembered being impressed by a huge clam stuck in the reef with the couple, illuminated by sunlight streaming through the water.
Brogdan eventually made his way back to the boat, but Tom and Eileen stayed underwater – lingering longer than the dive crew had suggested.
He was the last known person to see them alive.
Inaccurate count
Around 3:00 p.m., when all divers were supposed to be back on board, former skipper Geoffrey “Jack” Nairn asked crew member George Pyrohiw to do a headcount. This was a standard but essential safety procedure – one that needed to be completely accurate.
According to Pyrohiw, there should have been 26 people on the boat. However, during the count, two passengers jumped back into the water to snap some last photos, which caused some confusion. Pyrohiw stated he only counted 24, but when he reported this, he said Nairn replied: “And two in the water makes 26.”
That assumption, which Nairn later challenged, turned out to be a disastrous error – those last-minute swimmers were counted twice by mistake.
What happened next was a series of mistakes that made the situation even worse.
Divers went missing without anyone noticing.
When the Outer Edge arrived at Port Douglas later that day and passengers started getting off, two dive bags were still left on the boat – untouched. Instead of sounding the alarm, the crew just set them aside, thinking the owners would reach out once they realized their bags were gone.
A routine check also showed that two air tanks and two weight belts were missing, but once again, no one seemed to care.
At the same time, Norm Stigant, the driver who was supposed to take passengers back to their hotels, noticed that Tom and Eileen didn’t show up for their shuttle. He reported it, but was told not to worry and eventually left without them.
As night came, the Lonergans were still lost somewhere in the huge Coral Sea.
Bags finally opened.
Over the next couple of days, the MV Outer Edge took two more dive trips to St. Crispin’s Reef with a new group of tourists who had no idea that two people were missing.
Finally, after seeing that the two unclaimed dive bags were still on his deck, the skipper decided to check them out.
Inside one of the bags, he found a wallet, identification papers, and the same shirt Tom had worn on the day of the dive.
Realizing that something was seriously wrong, Nairn called for help.
No trace of the couple
Within just a few hours, a large-scale air and sea rescue operation was launched.
For the following three days, Navy planes, helicopters, police, and private boats searched the wide stretch of the Coral Sea, urgently looking for the Lonergans.
However, despite the extensive efforts, there was no trace of the missing divers – just empty ocean and an increasing feeling of fear.
Items found in the water
Ten days after the couple disappeared, the first disturbing evidence started to appear. Tom’s buoyancy compensator, which had his name clearly marked on the pocket, was found floating in the sea – 50 miles north of St. Crispin’s Reef.
Shortly after, a green and grey wetsuit, thought to belong to Eileen, came ashore. The area around the buttocks had rough tears, which officials believed might have been caused by a shark bite. Her buoyancy vest, dive hood, fins, and air tank were also eventually found, scattered along the Queensland coast.
Yet, their bodies were still missing.
‘Prepared to die’
As investigators looked further into the disappearance of Tom and Eileen, they found something that added a chilling new twist to the case. Hidden in the couple’s hostel room in Cairns, Queensland, were their personal journals – containing entries that stunned the authorities.
In a journal entry written six months prior to the trip, Tom expressed a haunting thought: “I feel like my life is complete and I’m ready to die. From what I can see, my life can only decline from here. It has reached its peak, and it’s all downhill until my funeral.”
Just 16 days before they went missing, Eileen shared her increasing worry about Tom’s mental health: “Tom wishes for a quick and relatively painless death, and he hopes it comes soon. He’s not suicidal, but he has a death wish that might lead him to what he wants, and I could end up getting caught in that.”
Afterward, various theories started to emerge – some even suggested that the couple had faked their disappearance to begin anew. However, those ideas quickly lost their credibility. Their bank accounts remained untouched, and no claims were ever filed on their life insurance policies.
Even with all the speculation, there was no financial evidence, no sightings, and no proof to back up the notion that they had intentionally vanished. All indications continued to suggest a tragic accident in Open Water.
