Bas Jan Ader: In Search of the Miraculous
Discovery File 143/76
Edited by Koos Dalstra, Marion van Wijk. Text by Koos Dalstra, Marion van Wijk. When Bas Jan Ader's boat, "Ocean Wave," was found unmanned and partially submerged 150 miles off the coast of Ireland by a Spanish fishing vessel in 1976, it was taken to La Coruņa for investigation. Days later, the boat was stolen and the cult of Ader, whose body was never recovered, and who was thought by many to have staged this incident, was truly cemented. In this volume, Marion van Wijk and Koos Dalstra, who spent 10 years investigating this unsolved mystery, reproduce the entire police report in facsimile. They also include many pages of eerie written documentation and transcriptions of interviews they conducted during their decade of intensive sleuthing: "The report has 74 pages. It begins on April 27, 1976 and ends on February 1, 1977. It relates the history of the "Ocean Wave" from the moment Don Alferan speaks about his discovery to the authorities until nine months later, when the case is closed. The reason: the authorities cannot find the stolen boat that disappeared from San Diego harbor in Coruņa between May 18 and June 7, 1976." |
