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Poring through historical records was an essential first step, but properly researching an anchorage required a boat with a depthsounder. CocoKite, the 28-footer I had hired, lacked a sounder, so I brought a nifty portable model, which transformed the tourist boat into a proper research vessel to probe the coastal waters of the Dominican Republic.
Before becoming a marine journalist, I had toiled for 20 years as a newspaper reporter and editor, a profession wired for a perverse combination of public service and personal poverty. I am also a history buff and a lifelong sailor, specializing in the Bahamas and Greater Antilles. My investigation into a forgotten seaport had the potential to help cruisers move down island more comfortably and safely—maybe even save someone’s life.
This professional trinity—journalist, history buff, sailor—was knocking along in tandem, as CocoKite thundered westward, parallel to the North Coast of the Samana Peninsula. At the key moment, native guide Francisco Paulino, a fisherman from a local fishing family centered our 28-footer between reefs breaking about 300 feet apart. Paulino pulled back the throttles and slipped the old outboards into neutral.
As we drifted and exhaust fumes rolled over the boat, I dipped the end of a pole into the water, enabling the attached transducer to transmit data to the handheld sonar display, which read 27. Twenty-seven feet was deep enough for a Navy frigate to pass through! Paulino throttled up and into Port Jackson we went.
As he nosed the center console across the placid harbor, the seabed deepened to 40 feet before it became shallow again. We approached to within a couple hundred feet of post-card pretty Jackson Beach, which was shaded by coconut palms. The sounder read 20 feet, a good spot to drop the hook.
A view from inside the anchorage, facing east toward Point Jackson.
Like Leonard Nimoy narrating a low-brow TV documentary, I declared our ragtag expedition a success. The CocoKite crew had rediscovered what I half jokingly had dubbed “the lost harbor of Christopher Columbus.”
I wondered how many passagemakers might have taken refuge in Port Jackson’s protected basin were its existence better known? Though Jackson is a familiar destination for tour operators ferrying vacationing foreigners to its secluded beach, thousands of cruisers sailed by over the decades, never knowing that shelter was nearby.
A friend of mine had investigated these waters decades ago. Bruce Van Sant is the quirky gringo author who wrote “A Gentleman’s Guide to Passages South: The Thorny Path to Windward,” in the 1980s, a decade after the stalwart cruisers of the 1970s began transiting Dominican waters en route from Florida to Puerto Rico and the Lesser Antilles. Van Sant’s book discussed the gnarly nature of Dominican waters in great detail.
The North Coast of the Domincan Republic has one of the world’s great hurricane holes at Luperon Bay, which is 88 nautical miles west of Port Jackson. The next decent refuge is 60 nautical miles east of Jackson and up into Samaná Bay. Various anchorages between Luperon and Samaná Bay are open to the north, exposed to thousands of miles of fetch over the North Atlantic Ocean.
When storms from as far away as the Azores send rollers into these semi-protected places, they become death traps for small craft. Those lonesome waters east of Luperon comprise the thorniest leg of the “thorny path” Van Sant wrote about. Bereft of good shelter, eastbound boats face relentlessly contrary trade winds, with waves and current also on the nose.
Christopher Columbus experienced danger in this region, having lost his flagship Santa Maria on a reef off the northern coast of Hispaniola. And yet he must have been feeling that his luck was changing when his remaining ships, Niña and Pinta, made way eastward from Luperon, benefitting from a favorable—and extremely rare—westerly breeze. The year was 1493, and the first Columbus expedition was just a few days from heading back to Spain.
Lookouts atop the rigging spied an island between two headlands against a rising mountain range. The low island capped a mass of coral reefs indicated by breaking waves. What caught the attention of these experienced seamen was the inky blue basin between the island and the beach, and the fact that a wide avenue of dark water indicated a five-fathom entrance.
A late 19th century map showed Cayo Yaqueson or Jackson, while retaining Columbus’ name for the place: Puerto Sacro.
It was deep and wide enough for a squadron of Spain’s biggest ships. Columbus named the harbor Puerto Santo, the Sacred Port, but he did not take his ships inside. Disinclined to squander his westerly breeze, Columbus piloted his little fleet right past the harbor, cracking along at eight knots.
Two centuries later, French pirates were thick as thieves around Hispaniola. They used the Samaná Peninsula as a place of rendezvous. Mostly they used the great bay on the south side of the peninsula as their base, but they would have been aware of the sheltered anchorage on the north side.
The participant in an 1840s social experiment involving transplanted former American slaves, a man named Jackson called the Columbus island after himself. The port became Port Jackson; the headland on its east side, Point Jackson, and the high hills behind, Jackson Mountain. Eventually, this port was used for commerce, shipping out coconuts and copra. Port Jackson was also an ideal place for ships to take on drinking water, from a gin-clear, spring-fed pool on the beach, which could be seen from the deck of CocoKite.
Now, about that island: While Cayo Jackson is referenced in historical records, it’s no longer present in Port Jackson.
Like mythological Atlantis, it sunk beneath the waves. That event occurred on August 4, 1946, when an earthquake measuring 8.1 on the Richter scale hit Samaná, spawning a 12- to 16-foot tsunami that inundated lowlands. More than 2,500 people were killed.
Fifty-two acres of rock and scrubby foliage became a shallow reef sunk three to five feet under. No one told the cartographers, however. Cayo Jackson can still be found on tourist maps, government charts and derivative products from C-Map, Navionics and NV Charts, 80 years after its disappearance.
A visiting tourist stands on ground that was once three feet above the waterline, that underwater mass shown in the middle of the top photo.
Van Sant told me about the time he went looking for Port Jackson. Charts and U.S. Navy Sailing Directions placed it behind a protective island, but Van Sant didn’t find the anchorage nor could anyone else because they were all looking for the island first. Another impediment was the fact that waters in the vicinity were poorly charted. With reefs all around, exploration without local knowledge was risky.
So, because of a longstanding charting error, modern science managed to misplace one of the first harbors in the New World documented by Europeans.
The loss is unfortunate because even with the island gone, Port Jackson still makes a pretty good anchorage, although my East Coast friends may be skeptical. They wonder how you can have all-around protection without being surrounded by land. The truth is, Port Jackson was never as good as Luperon Bay, which is surrounded not just by land but high ground.
Cayo a No-No
Even before the sinking of Cayo Jackson, the island was so low-lying that it never offered protection from north winds, only from ocean swells. But today, those swells break over a 52-acre reef that sits behind two miles of shallows ranging from just a few feet to 20 feet deep before the drop-off. Unlike their East Coast brethren, voyagers from the South Pacific appreciate this kind of shelter, many having anchored within the coral-ringed atolls of the South Seas.
Reef anchorages are better-than-nothing options for cruisers. To bolster that assertion, I ran it by weather router Chris Parker of Marine Weather Center in Lakeland, Florida. Parker said that as the water gets shallow, there is friction with the bottom, so waves get steep and then break. That dissipates a lot of the wave energy, so the waves are not as steep in the anchorage.
Patrick Florens, owner of CocoKite Tours, is a Frenchman who went native long ago. He was aboard his party barge the day we steered a course to Port Jackson. I asked Florens to begin our approach from Las Ballenas (Whale Rocks in English), which stand prominently about five miles to the east of the entrance. U.S. government sailing directions from 1918 and 1954 recommend using this prominent feature as a starting approach.
I told Florens that I wanted to test the accuracy of these directions. I learned they are not so useful anymore. As already mentioned, the principal point of reference is an island that is not there anymore. Old U.S. Government sailing directions also suggest taking bearings to a white patch on a cliffside. That wasn’t going to work either, because the white patch was gone. probably overgrown with foliage.
We decided to forgo the Navy way. Instead, Paulino took us his way instead. We then documented the approach from the east by taking soundings and recording GPS coordinates. That worked fine for the eastern approach.
The charts, as flawed as they are, suggest a second approach to the anchorage from the west with a controlling depth of 10 feet. But Paulino knew a different way and took CocoKite into deep water beyond the reefs. His route was indirect and difficult to explain. I asked if we could try to find the pass suggested by the charts, but by then it was too late. A hex nut had worked its way off the steering linkage, and the bolt fell into the water. The emergency repair was a bit sketchy, and we lost our appetite for exploration. Maybe next time, we all agreed.
This river empties out into the anchorage, which would have made Port Jackson an ideal place for ships to take on water.
As unlikely as it may seem, my quest to find Port Jackson began because the Dominican government opened a new highway along the Atlantic side of the Samaná Peninsula back in 2009. Driving on the Mountain Road a few years ago, I indulged my curiosity about the Dominican island with the Scots-Irish name.
I pulled the car over roughly abeam the GPS coordinates for Cayo Jackson, took a short hike, and there it was—not!
Instead, a greenish shape shimmered just below the surface. And so my mission began.
Columbus gets a bad rap nowadays, but I cannot help but appreciate him as the first European to take note of Porto Santo. His “discovery” happened on January 12, 1493, 462 years before I was born, on that same date. I like to think of the story of Port Jackson as a birthday gift paid forward by the Great Navigator himself.
LOOSE CANNON covers hard news, technical issues and nautical history. Sometimes he tries to be funny. Subscribe for free to support the work. If you’ve been reading for a while—and you like it—consider upgrading to paid.
Cruisers Net publishes Loose Cannon articles with Captain Swanson’s permission in hopes that mariners with saltwater in their veins will subscribe. $7 per month or $56 for the year; you may cancel at any time.
The True North 39 hull and deck could fetch $30,000, for what finished would be worth $1 million, according to Ken Fickett, builder of Great Harbour trawlers.
The Catalina 22 has been in continuous production for decades with as many as 18,000 sold. Next month, possibly the final three ever made will sell to the highest bidder. Plus, a third that could be assembled from separate hull and deck parts that will be for sale during the same auction.
The 22 was the first boat produced by Catalina Yachts when the company was founded in 1970 by Frank Butler, quickly followed by the Catalina 27. Catalina of Largo, Florida, was shut down in October when the man who had purchased the company from the Butler estate could no longer make payroll.
Beginning at 10 a.m. on June 9, the bones of Catalina Yachts will be offered piecemeal to the highest bidders. That includes nine boats in various stages of completion, one of them nearly finished. Three more that could be assembled by joining hull and deck parts and another three are hull-only.
The auction will include molds and other tooling for the entire Catalina line. Even so, don’t expect the auction to be a huge money-maker for the seller, according to someone who intends to be there, Florida boatbuilder Ken Fickett, inveterate auction-goer and collector of boat molds.
Ficket, president of Mirage Manufacturing in Gainesville, predicted that the entire auction might net $250,000, but could go higher depending on the stock of materials such as fiberglass, resin and electrical cables—the commodities of boatbuilding.
Besides the 22s—lately fetching around $40,000 new—there is a 316, two 356s and a 426 with bonded hulls and decks. A 386 and 426 could be assembled from existing hull and deck parts. There are three additional sailboats hull-only.
Of the substantially assembled boats, two are True North powercraft, 34- and 39-foot models. There is also a True North 39 hull-only.
Bay Area Auction Services is conducting the four-day auction, which also includes all of Catalina’s tools, equipment and materials left in stock. The auction benefits the owner of the factory property, which was retained by Butler family entities, even as the business itself was sold in May 2025 to a North Carolina boatbuilder.
At the moment the auction house website is displaying 336 photos of Catalina items, but owner Greg Farner said that as the auction date nears he expects that total to grow to a “couple thousand.”
“We’ll be out there next week to get the actual live Internet bidding catalog up,” Farner said. “So we’ll have multiple pictures of each of these models. It should be up by the end of next week.”
Farner pointed out that the sailboats all lack masts, rigging and sails, and none of the vessels have engines. “And that’s another, 100 to 150 grand depending on the size of the boat,” he said.
Farner also said that all the upfront legal work has been done to ensure that auction buyers are undisputed owners of property they buy—the process has taken into account any previous customer payments made for the boats in question.
Gallery
A selection of what may eventually total nearly 2,000 photographs.
A 22 Revival?
Eulogies for the Catalina 22 might be premature, Boatbuilder Fickett said, noting that some enterprising builder might snap up everything it takes to resume production. “You could get all the rights to the 22, all the molds to set yourself up in the Catalina 22 business, and if you spent $50,000, you might be overspending,” he said.
In general, the partially built fleet is worth just “pennies on the dollar,” Fickett said. Which could be a trap for the amateur builder who sees the auction as an opportunity.
“Here’s the problem: If the boats don’t have 100 percent of their fiberglass pieces, now you’ve got to construct those pieces on a one-time basis, and that’s a huge pain in the ass,” he said. “It wouldn’t be much for me to figure that out, but Joe Blow might struggle with it.”
One strategy might be to buy one of the unfinished boats and the corresponding molds, Fickett said, suggesting that a quarter-million-dollars worth of tooling could be had for, say, $30,000.
Sad Goodbye
For some of the longtime Catalina workers, the auction will seem like a funeral, dashing any hopes of a corporate comeback. “It’s a shame that they are letting the company go. We loved working there, even though our pay wasn’t that good,” Lisa Cayce said. “We were all family.”
LOOSE CANNON covers hard news, technical issues and nautical history. Sometimes he tries to be funny. Subscribe for free to support the work. If you’ve been reading for a while—and you like it—consider upgrading to paid.
Attention all concerned boaters! There will be intermittent closures at the St Lucie Lock & Dam on June 1-2, 2026 to conduct diving operations for maintenance on the manatee protection sensors and screens. Thank you in advance for your patience.
Cruisers Net publishes Loose Cannon articles with Captain Swanson’s permission in hopes that mariners with saltwater in their veins will subscribe. $7 per month or $56 for the year; you may cancel at any time.
This photo combo from CBS News shows the FLIR sensor mounted on Soulmate’s mast.
The latest news in the case of missing cruiser Lynette Hooker is the biggest red herring yet. This is what happens when news sources who don’t know anything about boats and boating are providing information to reporters that are equally ignorant.
Lynette Hooker went missing on April 4 after her husband, Brian Hooker, said she fell from a dinghy in the Abacos during rough waters. Brian Hooker told police he searched for her but was hampered by the fact that the dinghy engine was disabled because the kill switch went overboard when she did.
Derived from military technology, FLIR marine thermal imaging cameras allow boaters to navigate in the dark, detect unseen obstacles and locate individuals in the water by detecting heat instead of light.
Let’s assume for the sake of argument that Brian Hooker did not murder his wife. I know this may be difficult for some readers.
Hooker’s story is that his wife fell out of the dinghy maybe a half mile to a mile from their anchored sailboat Soulmate. As shown in the CBS photos above, the FLIR camera is mounted on the mast. Using it in the search for Lynette Hooker would have required a fairly time consuming process.
Again, assuming Brian Hooker is not a wife-killer, it probably wouldn’t have occurred to him to paddle his dinghy back to the mothership in blustery conditions, start the engine, raise the anchor and navigate back to the scene of the accident—all the while monitoring the FLIR display for a hot spot.
Plus, the guy may well have been intoxicated after an afternoon of cocktails.
Rather than expend precious time trying to employ a distant thermal camera, the conservative play would have been to stay and try to find Lynette Hooker in the vicinity of where she fell in.
Nor is failure to disclose the existence of the camera necessarily evidence of “cognizance of guilt” on Brian Hooker’s part. Maybe it just didn’t occur to him. Now, if the man had a handheld FLIR camera and did not use it—or disclose it—that might justify those sorts of headlines.
LOOSE CANNON covers hard news, technical issues and nautical history. Every so often he tries to be funny. Subscribe for free to support the work. If you’ve been reading for a while—and you like it—consider upgrading to paid.
Elizabeth City sits at the southern terminus of the Dismal Swamp Canal and has the well-earned reputation of being a transient-friendly town with free dockage for 72 hours.
Your Weekend Plans Just Got Better
School’s Out, Boats Are In, & Summer Begins
Kick Off Summer in Elizabeth City
School’s out, the days are getting longer, and summer fun is officially arriving in Elizabeth City. From waterfront walks and local shopping to delicious dining and relaxing harbor views, June is the perfect time to plan a getaway to the Harbor of Hospitality.
Harbor Happenings
Betsy is coming! – Step back in time and experience the legendary story of Betsy Dowdy during the upcoming Betsy Dowdy Ride Event on May 30. This unique regional reenactment honors the brave 16-year-old who rode nearly 50 miles through the night in 1775 to warn local militia troops of advancing British forces.
Live Music: Downtown is bringing the music this week with several live performances to enjoy along the waterfront. Catch PBNJ at River City Biergarten on Thursday May 28, Derek Smith & Jasper Smith at Seven Sounds Brewing Company on Friday May 29, and Jazz Night with James & Connected at 2 Souls Wine Bar on Saturday May 30. It’s the perfect excuse to grab dinner, relax with friends, and enjoy a fun weekend downtown.
BassMaster Elite Hooked on the Harbor fishing tournament: Excitement is building in Elizabeth City as this nationally known fishing tournament is quickly approaching on June 11–14 at Waterfront Park. Visitors can look forward to daily weigh-ins, professional anglers, local vendors, family-friendly activities, and a lively Harbor Festival atmosphere throughout downtown. We are currently confirming volunteers, if you’d like to be part of the excitement, sign up today! Bassmaster Volunteer Sign Up
River City Skippers baseball: Summer fun is officially underway in Elizabeth City as the River City Skippers kick off their 4th season in the Old North State League at Knobbs Creek Park. The Skippers bring exciting summer collegiate baseball to the waterfront community all season long.
First Friday Art Walk: Be sure to mark your calendar for the June First Friday ArtWalk , where downtown comes alive with local artists, shopping, music, and community fun. Whether you’re planning a weekend getaway or just looking for a reason to explore the harbor, June is packed with reasons to visit Elizabeth City.
Cruise into waterfront fun aboard the Albemarle Queen, one of Elizabeth City’s most unique experiences on the water. Offering scenic cruises along the Pasquotank River and Albemarle Sound, the paddlewheel boat provides a relaxing way to enjoy the Harbor of Hospitality from a different perspective.
Whether you’re planning a weekend getaway, date night, or family outing, the Albemarle Queen offers memorable cruises and specialty events throughout the season. With beautiful waterfront views and a welcoming atmosphere, it continues to be a favorite for both visitors and locals alike.
Follow us on social for the latest updates and what’s happening around the county.
Copyright (C) 2026 Elizabeth City – Pasquotank County TDA. All rights reserved.
Attention all concerned boaters! There will be intermittent closures at the Port Mayaca Lock & Dam on May 29, 2026 to conduct diving operations for maintenance on the manatee protection sensors and screens. Thank you in advance for your patience.
Cruisers Net publishes Loose Cannon articles with Captain Swanson’s permission in hopes that mariners with saltwater in their veins will subscribe. $7 per month or $56 for the year; you may cancel at any time.
This is the unnamed “stranded sailor” whose flares are believed to have started the fire on Santa Rosa island off California. He scrapped out the SOS signal in the charred grass behidn him. (Photo courtesy of U.S. Coast Guard Air Station Ventura)
The author is deputy editor of Marine Industry News, a U.K. based business-to-business outlet. This story was published earlier on May 19, 2026 and is reprinted here with permission.
By ANNA CUMMINS
A wildfire believed to have been sparked by emergency flares from a stranded sailor has burned through more than 17,000 acres on Santa Rosa Island in Channel Islands National Park, putting rare wildlife habitats and historic buildings at risk on the remote island off the Southern California coast.
Still largely uncontained as of last night, the blaze has become the largest wildfire in California so far this year and the biggest recorded on Santa Rosa Island in modern times. Fire crews have faced steep terrain, rough seas and strong winds while trying to slow its spread across the island, which sits about 40 miles from Ventura.
The fire started after a 67-year-old sailor wrecked his boat along the island’s rocky shoreline. Stranded overnight, he fired emergency flares in hopes of being spotted by passing vessels.
“We do know that he launched some flares to try to get some attention,” Kenneth Wiese, a spokesperson for the U.S. Coast Guard’s Southwest District, told media in a statement. “It paid off for him. We were able to get him out of there.”
Boaters who noticed the wreck alerted authorities. Rescue crews later found the sailor standing near burned vegetation after he scratched “SOS” into the charred ground. The Coast Guard rescued him by helicopter on Saturday. Officials have confirmed the sailor was not seriously injured.
Investigators believe the flares ignited dry brush near the island’s southern coast, though the National Park Service is still examining the exact cause.
Since then, firefighters have ferried equipment, hoses, pumps and supplies onto the island by boat while helicopters evacuated nonessential park employees. Eleven National Park Service staff members were flown to the mainland on Sunday.
Smoke rises across Santa Rosa Island. (Image courtesy of U.S. Coast Guard Air Station Ventura)
More than 70 firefighters have been assigned to the incident. Crews have concentrated on protecting housing areas, the pier, historic ranch structures and the island’s rare Torrey pine groves. Wind gusts above 30 mph repeatedly disrupted aerial water drops, with one firefighter reporting gusts reaching about 50 mph.
“Every opportunity that we have to go direct and fight this fire head-on, we will take,” Mike Theune, an information officer assigned to the fire, told USA Today.
By Monday night, officials said the fire had reached the Torrey pine habitat on the island’s eastern side. Early assessments suggested the flames moved through the area at relatively low intensity and that the grove was still standing, though crews had not yet completed a full inspection.
“We are absolutely concerned,” Theune tells the New York Times. “It’s extremely rare, considered possibly the rarest pine in the world, and it only grows naturally in these two places.”
Torrey pines grow naturally only on Santa Rosa Island and in a small reserve near San Diego. Park officials and conservationists worry the fire could leave lasting damage in one of the state’s most fragile ecosystems.
The Channel Islands are frequently compared to the Galapagos because of the number of species found nowhere else. Santa Rosa Island alone is home to six endemic plant species, along with island foxes, island spotted skunks and rare seabirds.
“It’s one of our gems of the California coast,” says Michael Cohen, chairman of the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary Advisory Council. “It looks like it did 100 years ago—it’s just untouched.”
The fire has destroyed at least two historic buildings, with other historic properties under threat.
Officials said firefighting operations on the island have also been affected by new fires burning on the mainland, including the Sandy Fire near Simi Valley. Aircraft and other resources were reassigned according to immediate threats to life and property.
Former Channel Islands National Park superintendent Russell Galipeau said the fire highlighted both the ecological sensitivity of the islands and the strain on firefighting resources across Southern California.
“This is why this is not a time for the Park Service or any of the federal agencies to be downsizing science,” Galipeau told SFGate. “These are times we need to step it up and say, okay, what can we learn from this fire?”
LOOSE CANNON covers hard news, technical issues and nautical history. Every so often he tries to be funny. Subscribe for free to support the work. If you’ve been reading for a while—and you like it—consider upgrading to paid.
May 28th
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