The old curmudgeon and the sea
‘Crusty’ Canadian sailor goes missing, dog found clinging to life on boat
Dingo lay curled, close to death, on a sailboat bobbing in Bahamas’ turquoise waters. A deep gash on his hind leg. Protruding ribs. Bulging eyes. The severely dehydrated 60pound dog had somehow survived alone on the boat for nearly three weeks without his best friend.
Nathan Moody thought the dog was dead when he boarded the Joy B on Jan. 19. Anchored in the shallow waters near Memory Rock, about a day’s sail east from Florida’s southern tip, the 10-metre boat was a mess. Rotten oranges hung from the pilot house ceiling, the furniture tossed, clothes strewn. But nothing was missing, except for its owner, John William Batchelor.
The dinghy was still in its davits, strapped to the back of the boat, sails furled, side door open and ladder down. A rope, frayed at one end, dangled from the side.
Four months earlier, the 72-yearold Batchelor had sailed the Joy B from Pickering’s Frenchman’s Bay south on his annual pilgrimage. Now, he was missing.
Moody, a search and rescue volunteer, carried the dog, now too weak to walk, onto his boat and sped back to an animal hospital on Grand Bahama.
Friends describe Batchelor as polarizing, both personable and caustic. He looked like an old Ernest Hemingway with thick hair, a full beard and sun-soaked skin. He even had an unpublished manuscript on board — “The Drunken Monkey” — that he wrote.
“He was a crusty old curmudgeon and I will miss him,” said his friend Don Quackenbush. “He was a sailor.”
Little is known about Batchelor prior to his sailing days. He was born in England in 1940, and has lived in Nigeria and Australia, where his ex-wife lives. His brother, Henry, lives in England, but Batchelor is estranged from both.
He didn’t own a house because that tied him to the land, and land tied him to the rules — in 2002, he listed an Oshawa harbour dock as his home. He loved the freedom and peace of the sea. He taught social studies and French at a Barrie high school, but “didn’t really get along with other teachers.”
On Sept. 19, he set off from Pickering for the 4,000-kilometre voyage. By December, Batchelor arrived in Lake Worth, north of Miami, where sailors cross the open ocean to the Bahamas. He prepared for the next leg of his trip and was testing out his new motor, which he built from a lawnmower engine.
“He was very clever with his hands,” said Ruth Allen, a sailing friend. At one time, he worked for PDQ Yachts, building boats. He also built and flew two airplanes. He crashed both and suffered bad burns to his hands. So, 18 years ago, he traded in his wings for sails. He cruised alone and planned to leave for the Bahamas on Dec. 23. Two days before that, Batchelor was again fiddling with his motor on his home-made dinghy. But he flipped the boat and plunged, with Dingo, into the harbour’s calm waters. Batchelor, struggling, couldn’t get back in the boat and needed to be towed to safety. “I think I am getting too old for this,” Batchelor later told Quackenbush. “This may have to be my last year of cruising.” A weakened Batchelor needed time to recover so he didn’t cross with Quackenbush, who radioed him frequently but lost contact a few days later. Lou and Jean Wayne cruised past the Joy B, at the spot where the boat would eventually be found, around 2 p.m. on Dec. 30. They waved to Batchelor, who waved back. It was Batchelor’s last reported sighting. After Moody rescued Dingo three weeks later, Gary Simmons, a salvage specialist, came out the following day to tow the boat back. He found a Kevlar rope hanging from the boat when he arrived.
Divers set these up to anchor to the seabed, but they float freely when not in use. Friends believe Batchelor ran over the rope, which slowed his progress significantly. They speculate he anchored and dove into the water. Then he cut the rope, tossed it on the boat, but couldn’t, for whatever reason, get back on board. The current was strong and the area is also known for sharks.
Dingo is doing well after being hooked to an IV drip for five days, but his survival has confounded his veterinarian. He somehow lasted at least a week without water and even longer without food. Batchelor’s Canadian friends want to adopt the dog and are raising funds to help repay Moody for the vet bills.
Dingo remains with Moody, near the sea but without his best friend.