Shortly after the Groote Island mail plane landed on the mainland, Sullaway was taken into custody by Australia’s Central Investigative Bureau. Having a number of large cash deposits (some nearly $4,000) at irregular intervals, her bank account had been flagged for unusual activity. Suspected of drug smuggling (again), Sullaway was detained and questioned for hours.

Her defense was weak. Although the payments were from fishing, she didn’t have a work permit. Either way - illegal immigrant or drug dealer - she was guilty. Placed under house arrest, she suffered kidney failure from severe dehydration and was rushed to the hospital, thus missing her deportation flight.

Two weeks later Sullaway passed a large kidney stone and was released from the hospital to board a flight to Brisbane. Upon further interrogation there, she was able to convince an immigration official that she needed to finish working on a bicycling guidebook (which existed only in her imagination), and he extended her visa for another six months.

She traveled around other parts of the country, and ended up in a yacht club in Sydney talking sailing again. Within a year, she became the Australian Women’s Sailboarding Champion. She lived and worked legally in Australia for the next four years defending the title and flying around the world several times to compete and report on sailing events.

It was a charmed life, but home beckoned. When Sullaway packed up and headed back to the States, her life had changed forever. She now lives in Southern California with her husband, who shares her love of the sea, and two children.

The author and crew of Patience were among the last yachties to see the reclusive Tom Neale alive. He died of stomach cancer in Rarotonga in 1977. Though he deleted all mention of it in his book, he had married once and had two children. The remaining crew of Patience disbanded in New Zealand in 1977. “William” settled in New Zealand with his wife and children. “Clari” married a farmer from rural Australia and they had one child. “Edward” took on another crew that same year and set up a modest trade route between Tahiti and Penrhyn. During one run to Penrhyn, the yacht sustained irreparable damage while passing through the narrow coral entrance, and sank. Edward lived in Australia for fourteen years in the 1980s and early 1990s, saving enough money for another boat. He set sail for the South Pacific with his new wife against Tom Neale’s strong advice to “Never Get Married!” While attempting the dangerous passage on a return visit to Tom’s island, the small yacht foundered on the reef and was lost. After four months shipwrecked on the island, the couple was taken aboard a motor yacht, owned by the nephew of King Faud of Saudi Arabia, to Rarotonga. Eventually, they returned to England.

When allegations of sexual abuse by clergy in the Catholic Church became widespread, other victims from Sullaway’s home town of 25,000 came forward. As detailed in an article from the town’s newspaper in 2002, eighty-five residents had come forth implicating three local priests in sexual abuse accusations over three decades. Investigations into the allegations continue...