Far From Leisurely

Sea of Cortez: A Leisurely Journal of Travel and Research was written by John Steinbeck in 1941. The nonfiction narrative and travelogue documented the author’s travels along the area separating the Baja California Peninsula from the Mexican mainland. Unlike other Steinbeck books, such as Of Mice and Men, East of Eden, and The Grapes of Wrath, The Sea of Cortez was a commercial failure.

Half-a-century later, on April 19, 1991, four friends from southern California set sail in the Sea of Cortez for a leisurely day of fun and fishing. Their journey, however, was anything but leisurely, instead resulting in tragedy and mystery. The remnants of their boat along with the bodies of two occupants were found floating in the sea the following day. The other two sailors were presumed lost at sea.

Several sightings, however, of one of the missing boaters, thirty-four-year-old Gordon Collins, were soon reported on the mainland. The erratic behavior of the man believed to be Gordon suggested the fierce storms of the Baja may not have taken his life, but his memory.

Gordon, his girlfriend, Anastasia Seals, and another couple, forty-two-year-old Wayne Swartz and his twenty-eight-year-old fiance Arlean Burlington were vacationing on Swartz’ twenty-two-foot Blackman powerboat near Santa Rosalia, Mexico, a popular deep sea fishing resort midway down the Baja Peninsula, six-hundred-twenty-five miles south of the American border in the Sea of Cortez, AKA the Gulf Of California. Wayne and Arlean had fished along the Baja many times and knew the area well.

The group had set sail from the port of Punto Chivato, thirty-five miles south of Santa Rosalia. As they were leaving port, another fisherman returning from the sea warned them that a storm was brewing and urged them not to go out. His pleas were ignored.

Several hours later, as the fisherman predicted, a storm hit the area. When it had abated, the group had still not returned.

A hotel employee was dispatched by boat to search for the group the following day. Floating on the water one-and-a-half miles from the island of San Marcos, and twenty-eight miles from where the group had last been seen, the searcher came upon the bodies of Wayne Swartz and Anastasia Seals, along with the capsized craft. Paraphernalia from the boat was found within another square mile.

The Waters Prove Treacherous

The bodies of Gordon Collins and Arlean Burlington, however, were not recovered. The United States Coast Guard conducted a three day, two-hundred-fifty-mile search along of the Sea of the Baja shoreline, but also found no trace of the missing boaters. They were presumed lost at sea.

Shortly thereafter, however, several Santa Rosalia residents reported seeing a man resembling Gordon wandering through town. All said he appeared disoriented, was acting oddly, and was clad only in shorts.

There were no reported sightings of Arlean.

Gordon And Arlean Are Not Found

Gordon’s parents, John and Mary Lou Collins, traveled to Santa Rosalia where they posted flyers of their missing son.

Two area residents told the Collinses they saw a man they believed to be Gordon emerging from the ocean. Shirtless and covered with cuts, the man attempted to board a bus, but the fishermen were not sure if he was allowed entry.

John And Mary Lou Collins

Gordon’s Parents

Over the following three months, the man believed to be Gordon Collins was seen over fifty times in the area of La Paz, along the eastern shore of the Baja Peninsula and Cabo San Lucas, along the peninsula’s southern shore.

John says while he and Mary Lou were speaking to a La Paz resident, the man reported having seen Gordon five minutes earlier. A search of the area, however, failed to locate him.

Reported Sightings Of Gordon

In Cabo, four-hundred-thirty miles south of Santa Rosalia, a man wearing only shorts and appearing disoriented approached area resident Jose Paralta on the beach asking if he could have his blanket.

The man said he was going to sleep on the beach that evening while he waited for friends who had gone fishing. Jose took pity on the disoriented man and let him have his blanket.

Another Sighting In Santa Rosalia

The number of sightings, along with the sporadic locations, led Mexican authorities to believe Gordon Collins had survived the boat wreck but had chosen not to return home.

John and Mary Lou also believed their son had survived the storm but that it had left him disoriented and perhaps unaware of his identity. They hired Private Investigator Bill Garcia to try to find him.

Bill Garcia

Private Investigator

After Gordon’s picture ran in several Baja newspapers, Garcia received several calls from the village of Colonia Vicente Guerrero, in northern Mexico, three-hundred miles south of Tijuana.

Several residents said a man believed to be Gordon had lived there for several months. He did not speak Spanish and had never worked in Colonia Vicente Guerrero. He was living on handouts and had recently been arrested for stealing food.

A Mexican Newspaper Article About Gordon

The jailed vagrant told James Hatfield, an American living in the village, that his name was Gordy. After seeing the missing person flyer, James is certain the jailed man he spoke to was Gordon Collins.

James Hatfield

Colonia Vicente Guerrero Resident

By the time Bill Garcia arrived in Colonia Vicente Guerrero, the vagrant had been released from jail and the investigator could not pick up his trail.

More sporadic sightings of Gordon were reported over the following year throughout the Baja. The last was near the village of Rosarito, in northern Mexico, twenty-five miles south of Tijuana.

Was The Vagrant Gordon?

John and Mary Lou Collins do not believe Gordon would have abandoned his ten-year-old son Christopher. They believe their son suffered some kind of head trauma, possibly amnesia, resulting from the boating accident.

Gordon And Christopher

The United States Consulate initially presumed Gordon Collins was dead, having been lost at sea; following the reported sightings of him throughout the Baja area of Mexico, the Consulate reversed its position and ruled him as a missing person. I have not, however, found anything suggesting sightings of Gordon were reported in Mexico after 1992, and I do not know if the Consulate still holds this position.

Even after finding obituary notices, I was unable to find pictures of Wayne Swartz and Anastasia Seals, the two people who were found deceased in the Sea of Cortez, nor could I find a source stating Anastasia’s age when she died.

I could not find a picture of Arlean Burlington, whose body was not found. I also could not find her name in any of the missing person databases. She is likely presumed deceased, having been lost at sea.

Scant Information

Gordon Joseph Collins has been missing since April 19, 1991. When last seen, he stood six-feet-two-inches tall and weighed two-hundred pounds. He had dirty blond hair, blue eyes and two noticeable scars: a two-inch horizontal scar from a power saw on his outer left shoulder and a circular scar from a fall on bicycle handlebars on his chest above his heart.

Gordon Collins would today be sixty-seven-years-old. Nothing has been found during the investigation into his disappearance to suggest foul play.

Left: Gordon Collins

Right: Altered Image

It is unclear which agency is handing the investigation into Gordon’s disappearance.

If you have any information relating to his case, I suggest contracting the United States Consulate or the Facebook page “Help Find Gordon Collins.”

https://www.facebook.com/LetsFindGordonCollins/

This photo has been circulating across missing persons groups on Facebook and other social media sites for several years. The man is said, at least in the versions I have seen, to be an unidentified homeless man living on the streets in Mexico.

Some people believe the man resembles Gordon Collins, but the administrator of the Facebook page “Help Find Gordon Collins” says John Collins has examined the photo and is certain the man is not his son.

A Resemblance To Gordon Collins

SOURCES:

• Los Angeles Times
• San Diego Union-Tribune
• Unsolved Mysteries