The Real Nightmare That Inspired Open Water

Imagine breaking the surface of the water after a 40-minute scuba dive in the middle of the ocean

only to find that your boat is gone. You've been left behind, and there's nothing but open water as far as you can see

The surprise hit 2003 film Open Water uses this premise to chilling effect

especially once you know it's inspired by the tragic and mysterious story of a young couple

who went missing in 1998 off Australia's Great Barrier Reef. We're going to journey into the true story behind the movie Open Water

Tom and Eileen Lonergan were American tourists who disappeared off the coast of Australia on January 25, 1998

The couple had ended up down under after several years of traveling around the world

They met and married at Louisiana State University, where Eileen had taken up scuba diving and persuaded Tom to join in her hobby

For two years, the Lonergan's worked as teachers for the Peace Corps on the Pacific Island country of Tuvalu

before spending a further year in Fiji. Originally from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Tom Lonergan was only 33 years old, Eileen only 28

Both had become avid divers and were later described by loved ones as young, idealistic, and in love

In early 1998, Tom and Eileen were on their way home from Fiji

They'd been planning to travel around the world before heading home and were determined to visit Australia's Great Barrier Reef

They made the fateful decision to stop in Queensland, Australia for the opportunity to dive the world's largest coral reef system

It should have been any diver's dream, but of course, it became quite the opposite

To get to the reef system, the Lonergan's booked a day trip on a 26-passenger dive boat out of Port Douglas

a resort town in the tropical north of Queensland, known as a base for exploring the Great Barrier Reef and the Coral Sea

The five-member crew of the Outer Edge would take them for three dives on the Ribbon Reefs

a stack of broad shoals that run along the seaward ramparts of the Barrier Reef, about 40 miles offshore

It was on their third dive, just around 3 p.m., that the two Americans headed off together

and were last seen swimming calmly 12 meters below the surface. But when they came back to the surface after less than an hour underwater, the Outer Edge was gone

It's important to understand that being left behind on a dive isn't necessarily fatal

For instance, in January 2000, Paul Lucas, an English tourist, was left behind by a dive boat in northern New South Wales

Despite having only 10 dives under his belt, he managed to survive for 40 hours in stormy seas before being rescued

The difference for the Lonergan's was that they were left behind in the unforgiving, blazing heat of the tropical coral sea

with no fresh water Anyone left floating in the ocean under that sun could dehydrate rapidly before any help could arrive And in the Lonergan case no cavalry was coming The day after the incident the Outer Edge brought another tour party to the area

One of the guest divers found six dive weights resting on the seafloor. Completely oblivious to what had happened the day before to the Lonergan's

a crew member described the find as a bonus. At this point, Tom and Eileen might still have been alive, and only just a few miles away

using the empty dive belt to bind themselves together. There is indeed evidence that the couple survived the night

because several months later, a fisherman 100 miles north of the site

found a dive slate which recorded the Lonergan's thoughts from that morning

in an unsteady scrawl, fated by months lost at sea. Tom Lonergan had written

Monday, Jan 26, 1998, 0800. To anyone who can help us, we've been abandoned on Agincourt Reef

by MV Outer Edge, 25 January 98, 3 p.m. Please help us

Come to rescue us before we die. Help. There were other, equally dire clues found later

A wetsuit of Eileen's size washed up in North Queensland in early February

When scientists measured the speed of barnacle growth on its zipper, they estimated that it was lost on January 26th

Tears in the material around the buttocks and armpit had apparently been caused by coral

There were also inflatable dive jackets marked with Tom and Eileen's names that later washed ashore north of Port Douglas along with their tanks and one of Eileen's fins

None of the gear showed any signs of damage that one would expect from a violent end, suggesting that the couple was not the victim of a shark attack, as happens in the open water film

But what did happen to the couple? It was two full days before anyone realized that the Lonergan's were missing

Outer-edge skipper Jeffrey Nairn found a bag aboard containing their personal belongings, wallets, and passports

Quickly, a massive search was organized, including both air and sea rescue teams

For three days, naval and civilian boats and aircraft looked for signs of the missing couple, but their bodies were never found

Experts at the time speculated that the two may have drifted helplessly back and forth on the tides in the boiling heat of the tropical sun

and then had been driven delirious by dehydration, and that it was this delirium that caused them to struggle out of their uncomfortable swim gear

But without the buoyancy provided by their dive jackets and wetsuits, and in their weakened condition, they were unable to tread water for very long

The publicity surrounding the Lonergan's disappearance had major repercussions for the entire Queensland dive industry, one of the major pillars of the province's economy

The barrier reef tourist trade employed nearly 50,000 people, hosted nearly 4 million day

trips every year, and brought in more than 4 billion Australian dollars to the local economy

The horrifying fate of the Lonergan was a black eye on local dive operators that threatened permanent damage to this important part of Queensland economy But perhaps that as it should be Because what

happened to Tom and Eileen wasn't just some unavoidable accident, some act of God. There

were specific protocols for dive boat operators that were not followed that day, leading directly

to the couple's disappearance. For one, dive boat crews are required to count every diver into and

out of the water and then conduct a further count once the boat leaves the dive site

These simple, common-sense safety measures weren't followed properly that day, and the Lonergan's paid the price. When asked about the count, Outer Edge skipper Jack Nairn

said that he had ordered a crew member to carry out the count as per usual, but the numbers had

become confused because two passengers jumped into the water halfway through the count. But there was

still the fact that no one on board seemed to notice that two sets of diving gear were missing

as the boat made its return to Port Douglas. Instead of owning up to their own negligence

the Queensland diving industry went into damage control and began trying to counter the narrative with one of its own

Speculation began to spill out into the media that somehow it was the Lonergan's themselves

who may have been to blame for their own grisly deaths. These conspiracy theories ranged from the Lonergan's faking their deaths

to a murder-suicide or even that the American couple had some kind of suicide pact

Many of these outlandish ideas were encouraged by The Outer Edge's owner, Tom Colerain, who did have some basis for the claim

Both Lonergan's had kept personal journals which were discovered among their belongings at their hostel

Both contained content which was at odds with their family and friends' assertion that the couple was happy and looking forward to a future together traveling the world

Some of the passages were deeply melancholy and even suicidal. In one of Tom Lonergan's diary entries, dated six months before the fateful diving expedition

he wrote that he felt like a student who had just finished an exam and now believed his life was complete and that he was ready to die

He further explained that as far as he could tell, from here on, his life could only get worse

Tom wrote that his life had peaked and that it would be all downhill from here until his funeral

An entry in Eileen's diary from January 9, 1998, just weeks before the dive, was even more disturbing

She wrote that Tom hoped to die a quick death, and that he hoped it happened soon

She then wrote paradoxically that Tom wasn't suicidal, but that he did have a death wish

Finally, she admitted that Tom's death could very well lead him to what he desired

but that she feared she could get caught up in that too. Both Lonergan's also spoke of not enjoying their jobs

with Eileen saying that their lives were so entwined now that they were hardly two individuals anymore

that where they were now goes beyond dependence and beyond love. Media reports of these diary entries not only fed rumors of the couple engineering or faking their own demise

but also to supposed sightings of the Lonergan being reported from all over Australia None of these were taken very seriously however Outer Edge skipper Jack Nairn was charged and tried on manslaughter charges

During the trial, his defense attorney used the Lonergan's diaries to create doubt about how the Lonergan's had actually died

Eileen's father, John Haynes, who traveled to Queensland for the trial, disputed this suspicion and said the diary entries were taken out of context

But ultimately, skipper Nairn was found not guilty. The coroner in the case, Noel Noonan, then recommended that skipper Nairn be charged with unlawful killing

stating that a skipper should be vigilant for the safety of passengers and ensure that safety measures are carried out

The coroner said he was sure a reasonable jury would find Mr. Nairn guilty of manslaughter on criminal evidence

But while Nairn was found not guilty, the company he worked for was fined after pleading guilty to negligence and later went out of business

Tom and Eileen Lonergan's case also prompted stricter government safety regulations for diveboat operators

including headcount confirmations and new identification measures. Only six years after the Lonergan's were lost at sea

the film Open Water used Tom and Eileen's predicament as a jumping-off point for a survivalist horror film

about what their last hours alive might have been like. It was a surprise hit, winning Best Thriller at the Golden Trailer Awards

and Blanchard Ryan won Best Actress at the Saturn Awards for her performance as Eileen

The filmmakers were happy to have a hit on their hands, as well as the start of a small franchise with two sequels that were unrelated to the Lonergan case

The diving industry in Queensland, though, was far less enthused. But any negative impact from the film on tourism seemed to be well-earned

when you look at the dive industry's continued struggle to rebuild its reputation on safety issues

in the wake of the Lonergan's deaths. In a check on 59 dive shops by Queensland health and safety inspectors in 2002, a total of 76 notices were issued for failure to do proper headcounts, dive logs, or lookouts, the main issues that were highlighted three years earlier in the Lonergan inquest

Eileen's father, John Haynes, is also understandably no fan of the film and said he had no desire to ever watch open water

But perhaps surprisingly, he and Eileen's mother Kathy Haynes say they hold no grudges against the crew or passengers of the Outer Edge, the dive boat that left their children behind

In 2018, on the 20th anniversary of the Lonergan's disappearance, Eileen's mother Kathy Haynes told the Courier Mail that she held no ill will towards Australia and that the family feel nothing but sympathy for Skipper Nairn, who passed away in 2015, and believe it was the right decision that he wasn't further prosecuted over the deaths

John Haynes said he simply wished that they could have found his daughter and son-in-law's bodies

because that would give them some sort of closure. Then again, he added that he supposed that Tom and Eileen would always be a part of the Great Barrier Reef