As with any salty sea story, the tale of the Hilma Hooker is no doubt embellished each time it is told. With the Hooker only going down in 1984 there is probably still some small element of truth in the story, but who cares about the rest; after all, it is an entertaining story.
The Hilma Hooker was en route from Panama to Venezuela when for some unknown reason it anchored up behind Klein Bonaire, a small uninhabited island off the west coast of Bonaire. The reason reported to the authorities at the time was engine trouble, and maybe it was, or maybe it was just an excuse to loiter in this uninhabited area.
Perhaps it could have been the ships name that made the authorities suspicious, or perhaps that the captain of the Hilma Hooker was not actively seeking assistance for the ship's engine problems, or maybe that it was close to some prime dive sites that had to be protected. There are even rumours of a tip-off. Whatever the reason, the Hilma Hooker was towed to the town pier and searched by customs officers.
Customs officers have a good nose for smelling out dodgy substances and it was not long before 12 tons of marijuana were found hidden away behind a false bulkhead in one of the ships holds. The crew was arrested and both the ship and marijuana were impounded as evidence.
Local dive operators immediately called a meeting and started planning for the Hilma Hooker to be sunk as an artificial reef. Something they had been after for a long time. Bonaire divers were crying out for a wreck to complement all the superb coral reefs surrounding the island.
The authorities were petitioned but refused the request. The ship was needed as evidence in an impending drugs case. Furthermore, should the owner (who had yet to come forward) be found "not guilty", the ship would have to be returned to him.
The Hilma Hooker sat slowly rotting, rusting and leaking alongside the pier. The ship's pumps just about keeping up with the ingress of water. The search for the ship's owner was not getting anywhere and the Hilma Hooker was still officially impounded evidence.
Keeping the Hilma Hooker impounded was costing public money. It was also getting in the way of other ships coming in to the pier. The harbourmaster was starting to worry about the risk of it sinking at its moorings and causing a much more expensive obstruction of the harbour. Normally a ship's owner would be billed for the expense of maintaining a ship in the harbour, but, not surprisingly, the Hilma Hooker's owner had yet to come forward and offer to pay the harbour bills.
It is here that the tale comes to a solution that is only possible to local government that has a slightly tongue in cheek approach to rules and bureaucracy, and a solution that would be utterly impossible in the UK.
The Bonaire authotities decided to anchor the Hilma Hooker offshore without any crew and leave it to its own devices. After all, it was up to the owner to make arrangements to keep it ship-shape and afloat. Naturally the local dive operators and the Bonaire Marine Park were consulted as to suitable anchorage locations, and off course, the fuel tanks were emptied and some other preliminary cleaning up made.
However, because the Hilma Hooker was still officially evidence in a drugs case nothing else on the ship was touched. Beds, cabinets, carpets and curtains remained in the crew's quarters. Tools remained in the engine room. Electrical cabling remained installed. All items that would have been cleaned out of a more typical artificial reef project.
And so it came to pass that on 7 September 1984 the Hilma Hooker was towed south from the town pier and anchored on the sand gully between the double reef that forms towards the south of the island. A slight list to starboard soon became noticeable. Only 5 days later on 12 September, just after 9 am, the list increased to the point that water gushed across the deck and into the Hilma Hooker's holds and it sank to the seabed.
Bonaire's many visiting divers could hardly have asked for a more convenient wreck site. Apparently the first divers were exploring the wreck later that morning and it has been a popular site ever since.
This salty tale has not yet ended. The other part of the impounded evidence was 12 tons of marijuana. Enough to keep the whole island stoned for a year. Finally it was decided to incinerate it at the un-inhabited north tip of the island. Ever on for a combined business and party opportunity, the story has it that just about every boat on the island ran trips to admire the view from downwind of the bonfire.