I just wanted to share this touching story of survival and what will power can do.
If you feel you have lost everything in life and you can't go on anymore, this story would change your perception of life, and give you a reason to keep fighting.
Its not over as long as you have life.

At first glance, this image seems harmless enough. A little girl sitting on a lifeboat. But the story behind it is tragic. The little girl in the photo escaped death twice in the space of a week.

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Eleven year old Terry Jo Duperrault was left to die on a ship after her whole family was murdered.

On November 12, 1961, Terry Jo, her parents, and two siblings traveled back from The Bahamas where they spent the week snorkeling and collecting shells on the beach.

The Duperrault family
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The ship they traveled on was named Bluebelle, and it was captained by Julian Harvey, a former Air Force fighter pilot and an experienced sailor.

Harvey was accompanied by his sixth wife, whom he had married in July earlier that year.

That night, Harvey drowned his wife. He was caught in the act by Mr Duperrault (Terry Jo's father). Since Harvey couldn't just let Mr D. go since Mr. D was a witness to a murder, Harvey killed him. Harvey also killed Mrs. Duperrault and both of Terry Jo's siblings, her brother Brian (who was 14), and sister Renee (7).

It is believed Harvey planned to kill his wife to collect on her $20,000 double indemnity insurance policy but was observed by Dr. Duperrault, and then had to kill him, his wife, and two of his children, who may have witnessed his murder.

It was later found that Harvey had survived a car accident that claimed another of his six wives and her mother, and that his yacht Torbatross and his powerboat Valiant had sunk under suspicious circumstances, yielding large insurance settlements.

Before the horrific murders began, Terry Jo was sleeping below deck while her family stayed in the cockpit. She was startled awake when she heard her brother yelling, "Help, Daddy! Help!"

She also heard brief running and stamping noises, followed by a deathly silence.

She laid in her bed, scared out of her wits, too scared to go up to see what was happening.

Later, she slowly left her room to see what had happened. She saw her mother and brother lying crumpled in a pool of blood in the main cabin. She instantly knew they were dead.

She climbed up the stairs and stuck her head out of the hatch. Harvey suddenly lunged at her, and shoved her down the stairs.

"Get back down there!" he growled.

Terry Jo didn't have time to deal with what she had just found out, that her whole family was probably dead and the murderer was still on the ship.

Because around that same time, the ship started sinking. Harvey orchestrated this so he could abandon the bodies of his victims at sea. That was why he told Terry Jo to stay down in the cabin, because he wanted her to go down with the ship.

He underestimated the eleven year old girl's will to survive.

Terry Jo watched from her cabin in the sinking ship as Harvey sailed away in a small dinghy.

When Harvey was gone, Terry Jo quickly took a cork life boat and launched herself on it. The ship carrying her dead family sank.

Terry Jo went on to spend four days at sea on that flimsy plastic raft, without food, change of clothes, or water. Her throat burned from thirst, and her stomach ached from hunger, she had no cover from the sun's merciless heat; it's a wonder the girl survived at all.

On the fourth day since the ship sank, Terry Jo was rescued by a passing ship.


This haunting picture was taken just before she was rescued.
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Terry getting rescued
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Harvey thought he had it all figured out. He went to the authorities and reported that he was the only survivor in a tragic sinking, and that he barely escaped with his life.

Things took a very different turn when it was revealed the ship had another survivor.

The following day, Harvey was found dead in his hotel room, in an apparent suicide.

He knew he would be convicted of those murders, and didn't see the point in living anymore. His ashes were scattered at sea, per his request in his suicide note.

As for Terry Jo, her family's gruesome murders and her days drifting alone at sea affected her deeply, but she is a survivor. She went on to live a full life; she fell got married, had children and grandchildren, and found work as a Water Management Specialist.

Maybe it's ironic, but she made it her life's mission to protect bodies of water.

She wrote a book about her ordeal, which she title Alone: Orphaned on the Ocean.



She told CBS News, “I always believed I was saved for a reason. If one person heals from a life tragedy [after reading my story], my journey will have been worth it.”

Terry at the hospital after being rescued
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Terry in 2018

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Compiled by Jai Carter.

Wow.

Wow. What a story.

Wow

Wow!
There you have it, four "wows".

Providence smiled upon her bountifully ...

Fifth woooooow!

still i rise

I wonder why a man who murdered so many people still had the nerve to leave behind a suicide note stating that his ashes should be spread at sea, and then this wish was still granted... I don't get it.

People like that don't deserve to have peace in the afterlife regardless of what their last wish is.

You dismember their bodies, tie ropes coated with mercury around the dismembered hands and legs, then bury each piece of the body in different locations - this is what the Creole witches of historical New Orleans would do to people like him.
His soul and spirit should not be resting.

This is touching.

Well, some folks out here need photographers for their events or portraits and don't know how to get one that will fit their bill...try me on 08029781612 let's discuss.

Miraculous

tragic