The below timelines are an overview of Scott’s life, divided into multiple tracks based on the kind of information being displayed. The plugin that produces the pretty timelines requires an exact date for every entry. I don’t have exact dates for a lot of these, so I’ve just estimated them. If you have a more accurate date, or more information, for any entry, feel free to pass it along.
The color of the tab for each story generally indicates the source. Green ones are based on my memory, blue ones are based on something Scott wrote, so based on his memory, which was very good for some things.
The Travel timeline was mostly taken from entry and exit stamps in four passports. Unfortunately a lot of stamps were placed on top of other stamps, making both unreadable. Most of Scott’s travel was for survey work. He would provide hardware and software for a survey, then go along to operate it, or oversee the operation and train other people. And he would continue to refine the software in the perfect environment for realistic testing.
If you were doing survey work, and see a date and location that matches one of your jobs, pass along some memories.
To switch between timelines click a filter button at the top and then scroll down.
Personal
Born
Scott was born in Dallas County Texas on April 25th, 1957 to Hugh Aleck Lafferty and Elva Lafferty. Here are a couple of pictures of Scott when he was young. The first was taken when he was one day old, and ready to take on the world. The second was..Continue Reading...
Scott moved to Seattle
Sometime in 1962 (I am unsure of the date) Scott’s dad Aleck went to work for Boeing Airplane Company and moved the family to Seattle, which was his home town.
Started working as a deckhand
At the age of 16 and 17, Worked as deckhand on charter passenger fishing boats between schooling and 7 days a week in the summers.
Scott failed a computer programming course
In his senior year at Shorecrest High School Scott took a course in computer programming, and failed it. Twelve years later when newspapers and magazines were raving about what an amazing programmer he was, he seemed to take some pleasure in pointing out this failure. I don’t know why he..Continue Reading...
Got his six-pack license
Scott wasn’t old enough to buy a six-pack of beer, but at 18 he could take the exam to become a boat captain and take up to six people out fishing. He took the exam the morning of his 18th birthday and passed. I’m sure other people did the same..Continue Reading...
Graduated from Shorecrest High School
Scott graduated from Shorecrest High School. This was in Seattle at that time, but is now in the city of Shoreline. Here is what Scott looked like at the time. Scott told me that one of his teachers convinced the school to ‘graduate’ him a few months early, stating that..Continue Reading...
Passed exam for Ocean Passenger captain license
At age 19, Studied for the much grander and harder to get Ocean Passenger captain’s license, able to operate ferry boats and small ships. Passed examinations for United States Coast Guard Ocean Passenger captain licence. Again, was the youngest licensed captain of that class in America at the time. Operated..Continue Reading...
Bought Moonlighter
At age 19, Bought my own 32 foot US Coast Guard certified charter boat with my own money and the bank. Now I have a bank loan to pay back but I can operate my own boat.
Started a new business
At age 20, I founded “Fresh & Wild Seafood Company” to sell seafood to my charter customers and the public in the off season. I would buy freshly caught seafood from the commercial fishermen at Westport and drive the loads to Seattle and sell at a prearranged list of locations.
Bought my first micro-computer
At age 20, Bought my first micro-computer. Computers at that time had very little in the way of useful software programs. So I started to learn how to program software and write my own customer tracking, fishing spot location tracking and boat navigation systems. Many books and many long nights..Continue Reading...
Scott bought his first computer
For years Scott recorded a lot of information about each fishing charter he took out. This included weather, tide, location, fish caught, bait used, and so on. When taking out a new charter he tried to find information about earlier successful charters that closely matched current conditions. This became more..Continue Reading...
Bought first house
Scott bought a house on two lots in Westport. The address at that time was 319 Broadway Street. He paid $35k for it…with a mortgage. The current address of that lot seems to be 319 N Broadway. The legal description is WESTPORT BEACH LOTS 11 & 12 BLK 29 ...Continue Reading...
Fishing review
The Sportsman by John Chamberlin Edwards Press, Inc. May 3, 1983 Three- to six-pound black rockfish (or sea bass, as some Westporters call them) were flipping all over the deck, and besides that, the boat’s big fish box was about half full! The action was furious, even though just 20..Continue Reading...
Scott got more deeply involved in computers
Scott started working with a TRS-80 Model I in 1977. In 1983 he got more heavily involved in computers, buying a TRS-80 Model 100 and a TRS-80 Model 4 computer. He had been logging fishing notes for years, and used those to help figure out the best place to fish..Continue Reading...
Magazine fishing review
Charter Trips and Tips Bottom Fishing on the Moonlighter By John Chamberlin WSF March 1984 “You’d better put that camera down and grab a fishing pole, or these guys will have your limit and you won’t be able to fish!” Skipper Scott Lafferty, of The Moonlighter, was addressing me, and..Continue Reading...
Newspaper article about Scott
Westport offers excellent fishing Dan Masters Yakima Herald Republic June 8, 1985 During a recent bottom fishing trip to Westport, the first day was spent with Ocean Charters pursuing sea bass in shallow water. The opportunity to cast to these husky fighters on the surface using bass gear is a..Continue Reading...
I had my first contact with Scott
I was living aboard Katie Dawn, my 38′ sailboat, in Yarrow Bay Marina, on the east side of Lake Washngton. Scott had been given my phone number by a mutual acquaintance, and called me from his home in Westport around 6pm. We chatted until about 8 about ideas he had..Continue Reading...
Scott and I shared a pizza
Scott came over from Westport to spend Xmas with his family, and we met for pizza the night he got there. We hit it off from the start. His ideas for developing real-time sonar display were revolutionary. They were way beyond anything that was currently being done. But I loved..Continue Reading...
Started coding sonar mapping system
In the winter started to program my first sonar survey mapping system. It was the first system of its kind in the world for underwater mapping and survey industries.
First dot on screen using Verticom card
It took about a month for me to gather the gear. We started with an IBM PC clone, a massive (by current standards) Verticom color display, a 30 MB hard drive (again, massive by current standards, several WORM (Write-Once-Read Many) optical drives, and a lot of WORM cartridges. This gear..Continue Reading...
First code demonstration
While we were assembling the hardware and software, Scott’s dad, Aleck, had tracked down a source of SeaMark side-scan sonar data (the University of Washington Marine Survey Group) and had obtained three minutes of data on about fifty 5 1/2″ floppies. Scott had copied this analog data to a WORM..Continue Reading...
First RTDDA demo to a potential client
After Scott demoed his new software to me, he called Mike Williamson to set up an appointment to demo the system, but Mike kept putting him off…they were too busy to see him. It took almost two weeks of calling to wear Mike down to the point that he agreed..Continue Reading...
First sea trial of the RTDDA system
With input from Mike Williamson as to features that would be useful during a survey, Scott continued to rapidly refine his program. To test it in acquisition mode we borrowed a small E&G sidescan sonar, loaded our gear on my sailboat, and towed the fish down the west side of..Continue Reading...
Demonstrated RTDDA system to Shell Oil in New Orleans
On May 23rd, 1986, Scott and I packed up our prototype RTDDA system, which was basically a clone of an IBM-PC desktop computer with some extra circuit boards in it, and flew to New Orleans to demonstrate it to Shell Oil. They were interested in using it to survey potential..Continue Reading...
Got contract to work on the SS Central America project
This project resulting in locating the paddlewheel steamer SS Central America, which went down in a big storm off the east coast in 1857. This became known as the ship of gold.
Incorporated Info Express, Inc
On July 29, 1986 Steve, Joyce, and Salley formed Info Express Inc. The original focus of the company was on writing and publishing our own line of computer tutorial books (the Quick Course series), writing books for other publishers, and providing editorial and publishing assistance to those other clients. Salley..Continue Reading...
Searching for Central America
First customer for my sonar mapping system was a treasure hunter looking for the SS Central America which sunk off of Carolina USA, in 1857. The system worked first time. After 44 day of continuous at sea operations, the ship was found, resulting in one of the richest sub-sea treasure..Continue Reading...
Built my first circuit board
Built a direct connect computer board for the EG&G 260 sonar. First of its kind in the industry
Initial Report on SS Central America Search
Scott Lafferty, Vice President of Software Development at Info Express Inc., has been “away from the office” a lot lately. The owner of a charter boat and long-time sport-fishing enthusiast Lafferty has recently been on a fishing expedition with a difference: This time the quarry was sunken treasure ships. Equipped..Continue Reading...
We moved to a new office
After Scott came aboard and we hired a few employees and contractors we rapidly outgrew our little office in Kenmore and on October 1st 1986 moved to a much larger space at 14320 NE 21st St, Bellevue. This had a fairly large office space on what was the main floor..Continue Reading...
Amoco Oil Company used our system
Amoco Oil Company used Info Express systems in the Gulf of Mexico USA for an oil platform and pipeline risk assessment and hazard survey. First 100% digitally produced reporting system
Scott started designing printed circuit boards
This is another story with a nebulous date. I am pretty sure it happened in early 1987, but not sure when. The sonar imaging application that Scott wrote was amazing…it was way ahead of anything else that was available. But there are some processes that can suck up a lot..Continue Reading...
Journal America article about Scott
Treasure hunting – high-tech style Sportsman’s quest for fish turns up quite a different catch By M. Sharon Murphy, Journal-American Staff Writer, Tuesday, August 4, 1987 All Scott Lafferty wanted to do was chart the ocean floor so he could find rock formations where bottom fish linger. His goal: to..Continue Reading...
LA Times article about the SS Central America
Shipwreck With $450 Million in Gold Believed Found Los Angeles Times, Sunday July 19, 1987. From the Washington Post WASHINGTON – A partnership of low-profile treasure hunters has laid claim to what they believe is one of America’s most historic shipwrecks. a paddle-wheel steamer sunk in 1857 with about $450..Continue Reading...
Shell Oil Company ordered their first system from us.
Shell Oil Company, USA, ordered from Info Express, an analogue to digital logging, display and processing system. Which was the first of its kind. This system was delivered, and installed by Info Express, and the ship’s personnel were trained for there first operation only. The system operated continuously for five..Continue Reading...
We started negotiating to be involved in a project for the Royal Australian Navy
Scott flew to Sydney, Australia to participate in meetings about adapting our RTDDA system to satisfy the needs of the RAN Mine Countermeasures Group. At this point we were coming in as a sub-contractor to a larger company that would include our system in their proposal.
We split Info Express into two companies
Info Express was really two companies from the start. Joyce, Salley, and I wrote and produced books for several publishers, and Scott and I worked at producing and marketing the real time data display system. Unfortunately Scott and Salley didn’t get along from the start…and both of them ended up..Continue Reading...
Scott modified MS-DOS to make it multi-tasking
Although the first version of Microsoft Windows had been released in 1985, Scott compiled his code to run in DOS, as it was faster for the kind of stuff he was doing…but it still wasn’t real fast. Part of the problem was that DOS was single-tasking and single-threaded (this is..Continue Reading...
Scott took an early interest in day trading
Some dates in this timeline are more vague than others…this one is at the wild guess end of the spectrum. Scott’s dad, Aleck, was interested in day trading…this is a type of stock market trading where you get in and out in a single day. Scott, who worshiped his dad,..Continue Reading...
Info Express was awarded a military contract
Info Express was awarded a major military contract from Royal Australian Navy, of which 27 international companies competed for. Most of which were billion dollar companies, but the smallest and newest company won, Info Express, Inc. As a result it became necessary for Info Express to hire its first employee’s..Continue Reading...
Marine Electronics article about the prototype system for the RAN
Info Express Delivers Sonar Imaging System Marine Electronics September 1988 Sea Technology Magazine The sonar imaging and data acquisition system delivered last month to the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) sets a new standard for user-friendly sidescan sonar search and survey operations. For experienced geophysicists or the naval reservist in training,..Continue Reading...
Our first million Dollar Order
Royal Australian Navy issued an import certificate for $1.75 million Australian dollars worth of equipment.
Scott imported hardware to Australia for the RAN Mine Countermeasures project
The SIDA system was going to be much more powerful than the old RTDDA system. I think it consisted of six computers and six monitors and lots of ISI WORM drives. The import paperwork valued the shipment at AU$1.75M. I think that at this point Scott was still working under..Continue Reading...
Seattle Times article about the Stunning Haul from SS Central America
Stunning haul: a look at the richest shipwreck in U.S. history by Ken Ringle Washington Post Published in The Seattle Times Thursday, September 14, 1989 ABOARD THE ARCTIC EXPLORER — A team of high-tech treasure hunters, which two years ago said it had found the richest shipwreck in U.S. history,..Continue Reading...
Seattle PI article about recovery of gold from the SS Central America
Booty worth up to $1 billion being gathered off South Carolina Coast Seattle Post Intelligencer, Friday, September 15 1989 From The Associated Press CHARLESTON, S.C. — Salvagers working off South Carolina have begun recovering a golden booty of bars and coins valued at up to $1 billion from a steamship..Continue Reading...
USA Today article about SS Central America
‘Bunch of buddies’ harvest richest ship treasure By Judy Keen and Debbie Howlett, USA TODAY, Friday September 15, 1989 A pioneer spirit and a hint of technological genius led the crew of the Arctic Explorer to the floor of the Atlantic and the USA’s richest shipwreck. “We became a bunch..Continue Reading...
Popular Mechanics article about SS Central America project
The January 1990 Popular Mechanics contained an article titled Deep Quest that was about the SS Central America project. You can read that issue online here: Popular Mechanics Online.
Working full time on RAN projects
Now, 100% of the time was being spent on the Navy contracts. As this was a multi-year endeavor. And as it turned out, the Navy awarded Info Express many more contracts. One of which was the Mine Warfare Command Centre. Over a 6 year period, we received a total of..Continue Reading...
Got contract to work on RAN project
At some point between starting work on this project and this point the RAN brass decided they wanted to contract directly with Scott for the SIDA system. I have no idea how or why that happened. This three-year project for the Royal Australian Navy brought in around $2M and gave..Continue Reading...
Bombay High Project
India Bombay High project. The largest complex of oil platforms and pipelines in the world. Some 192 oil platforms and 250 pipelines all in one area. This was the world’s largest survey of its type at the time. Reporting was produced directly from Info Express systems to client reports. Another..Continue Reading...
Life Magazine: The Greatest Treasure Ever Found
In March of 1992 Life Magazine devoted ten pages to the story of the sinking of the SS Central America and the eventual recover of the treasure that went down with it. This article include a lot of pictures, including the SIDA image of the ship 8000 feet below the..Continue Reading...
Grace and I flew to Australia to write the documentation for the SIDA system
Shortly after Grace and I were married, as we were preparing to take off for a three-year meander around the US in an old Continental Trailways bus that we had converted to out home and rolling computer workstation, Scott called and told me that he desperately needed us to fly..Continue Reading...
Maintained RAN MCM systems
Between 1992 and 1994 Info Express maintained Royal Australian Navy MCM (Mine CounterMeasures) systems. Info Express helped train over 100 Navy personnel and refined their operational and training procedures.
MCM-ADI System
The Royal Australian Navy setup a program to re-market and export the whole MCM ADI system suite to other navy’s around the world. This shows how much faith they have in the Info Express systems. As I owned all the Intellectual Property Rights of the products, I had a lot..Continue Reading...
First Visit to the UK
First visit to the United Kingdom during which time I carried out a marketing tour of the UK and Europe to demonstrate the Info Express systems to European industrialists.
info Express Inc shut down
This is from a hand-written letter from Aleck to the Washington State Department of Labor and Industry explaining why InfoX hadn’t made the payments for the past few years. Per our telecom today I am providing the following employee information: 2nd QTR 1994 1320 HRS 3rd QTR 1994 ..Continue Reading...
Scott offers to sell rights to software and hardware
In October of 1994 Scott did something very unusual (for him). He offered to sell the his SIDA software source code, along with various hardware, to Seabeam Instruments Inc. Part of the reason fior doing this was because, despite pulling in about $4M over the past six years for several..Continue Reading...
Incorporated Info Express LTD in UK
On 11 November 1994 Info Express Ltd was incorporated in the UK. I think the process was initiated by Mike Baker, who had been managing the Info Express Inc relationship with Geodetic Singapore for the ast few years. He recently started managing the new UK office of Info Express and..Continue Reading...
Looking for Diamonds
System was used in Archangel, Russia to map gravel beds on the sea floor in search of the deposit of blue diamonds. This location was found to have the largest concentration of blue diamonds in the world. This was one of the first major surveys using western technology in Russia..Continue Reading...
Caspian Sea
Even though oil production in the Caspian Sea oil fields have been in operation for a 100+ years, this was the first field-wide seabed survey ever done.
Converting to Windows
As Info Express software could only run on our proprietary hardware platforms at that time and the overhead of building those systems was getting cost prohibitive. I rewrote and converted all systems to the Windows NT/2000 platforms.
Associating with Sage
Sage Survey Ltd in Bath was chosen to be Info Express’s world-wide sales and marketing representatives.
Philippines
What can I say, this was the largest, most detailed, highest resolution survey ever in the world, even until now. Royal Dutch Shell wanted to make this project the flagship of technology. It was the largest deployment of my oil survey packages ever. The entire inventory Info Express had, plus buying..Continue Reading...
Info Express Ltd files first annual report
The first Info Express Annual Report covered the period from November 1995 through December, 1996. 1996 Info Express Annual Report
Book “Ship of Gold” about the search for SS Central America released
The book “Ship of Gold in the Deep Blue Sea” was released by Gary Kinder.
Stock Market
Started to research into how the Stock Market and exchanges worked. With the objective of seeing if I could use my computer programming skills to track and monitor the markets.
Book “America’s Lost Treasure” about the SS Central America released
A coffee table book titled “America’s Lost Treasure” filled with pictures of the gold recovered from the SS Central America was released.
Belgium Rivers
Belgium had a special requirement to underwater map all their canals, rivers, waterways, ports, harbours and major lakes. They also had a requirement to database every object in those waters, like junk thrown into the canals and rivers, car bodies…mostly of stolen cars…and many other objects. In addition, this required 10..Continue Reading...
Scott met Harlan
21 March 2006 by Steve Lambert I have another good friend named Harlan, who is as good at recognizing good business opportunities as Scott is at recognizing good coding opportunities. Harlan provided the following picture and details. This picture was taken in London. I had the brilliant idea of mapping..Continue Reading...
Scott buys a Tuff Shed
When Scott shut down Info Express Inc in 1994 he moved most of the stuff that was in his shop and office into three or four storage units not to far from where the office had been. And it sat there, accruing monthly charges, until 2007. Scott flew to the..Continue Reading...
Scott flew to Capetown to participate in an offshore survey
He arrived on 24 October 2007 and stayed for 91 days. This was for an offshore survey with the last 18 days on holiday. This was shortly after starting to negotiate the purchase of the Clegyr Boia property in St Davids, and during the trip he exchanged several emails with..Continue Reading...
Email regarding purchase of Clegyr Boia
Hi Arwel, How are you? Is everyone getting ready for Xmas? I saw that someone had put a Santa’s face and star on the wall in the mess (food hall), this will most likely be our grand Xmas showing. They have been keeping me very busy onboard this ship. I..Continue Reading...
Email to Penny
Hi Penny, It was good chatting with you again. I’m glad to see you got a good grip on things. It’s been hectic for me getting things going from such a remote location like a ship at sea. First of all, I do give you the authority to use the..Continue Reading...
Scott returned to the UK on 23 January 2008
This was after the completion of the survey off the coast of Cape Town, South Africa, and a couple weeks of time off down there. A week or two later he was living in a rental unit in St Davids, and had bought the property at Clegyr Boia.
Purchased sheds at Clegyr Boia.
Scott purchassed four sheds outside St Davids, in Wales, to use as a boat building facility.
Rented a flat in St Davids
Scott lived in a rental unit at 23 Bryn Road in St Davids from February 2008 through October 2010.
Letter to Jen
Hi Jen, Wow, I was happy and surprised to get your email. I thought I had the wrong email address for you. I was worried we might not see each other again. And here you are. Sorry for responding late, as I wanted to find some quality quiet time to..Continue Reading...
Scott passed Life in the UK Test
On 28 May 2008 Scott took and passed the Life in the UK Test, which is one step in the process of obtaining indefinate leave to remain under the immigration rules for naturalization as a British citizen. The expression “leave to remain” seems so British. If you would like more information..Continue Reading...
Hit on head
My trip to Sinagal, party night, outside waiting to go home, hit on head (crack sound,shock, numbness), trip back to vessel, suddenly asked to leave vessel, trip to airport and the food stop (feeling very strange, empty, numbness), containue to airport, got home. some time later noticed balence and dizzy..Continue Reading...
Scott bought the Chieftain
On 18 August 2009 Scott (through Info Express Ltd) bought The Chieftain, a 38′ certified small commercial vessel. This was a Venom 38 that he purchased from Richard Tibbs for £80k (plus £12k VAT). He used this boat for pleasure fishing and shallow-water survey work, close to shore and in rivers..Continue Reading...
Scott was involved in a minor traffic event
On 20 August 2009 Scott was involved in a minor traffic accident that was a bit strange. According to him there was no damage done to either car when someone backed slowly into him. But on 15 October his insurance company sent him a letter stating that the other party..Continue Reading...
Scott’s house in Bath flooded
You wouldn’t think that a three-story house located on a hillside about 100 feet of elevation above the Avon River could suffer flood damage to all three floors…but that is what happened to Scott’s house at 21 Calton Walk in Bath. Around Christmas of 2009 there was a cold snap..Continue Reading...
Scott’s father died
H. Aleck LAFFERTY Aleck Lafferty passed away May 10th, 2010. He was born December 26, 1925 in Seattle, Washington, where he lived most of his life. After graduating from the University of Idaho he worked for Boeing until retiring in 1999. He was a devoted husband and father who was..Continue Reading...
Scott flew to the US
He attended the funeral of his father on the 21st of May, then went to Westport where he and Steve went out on the boat belonging to one of his old deckhands and scattered some of Aleck’s ashes over one of their favorite fishing spots.
Scott started working on SkyRanger
When Scott’s dad, Aleck, died in 2010 Scott flew to the US for the funeral. After the service Scott and I took some of Aleck’s ashes out to sea from Westport and scattered them over one of his favorite fishing spots. He then spent a few days with us in..Continue Reading...
Scott moved in with his girlfriend Rose
Rose managed the Harbour Inn in Solva. She and Scott lived above the pub from November 2010 through May 2014, after which they moved to her house in St Davids.
Diary entries from May and June 2011
Scott had hundreds of notebooks and annual diaries scattered among the places he lived. Most looked new and were blank, but some had a few entries in them. I just found one such annual diary for 2011 containing scrawled entries for parts of May and June. I will list the..Continue Reading...
Scott agreed to buy Maureen
On 13 July 2011 Scott put £10,000 as a deposit on the purchase of Maureen, an 18 meter wooden boat that was originally designed and constructed for environmental research work, and named Forth Ranger. When she ‘retired’ she was purchased by a civilian and converted to a live-aboard cruiser. He..Continue Reading...
Scott’s application for leave to remain in the UK approved
On 18 August 2011 the UK Border Agency approved Scott’s application to remain in the UK under the Highly Skilled Migrant Program. That makes it sound like he filled out a form, submitted it, and some minor official said “Sure…what the heck…welcom to the UK.” But that isn’t at all..Continue Reading...
Moved Scott’s stuff from the Tuff Shed to Sequim
After Scott’s dad died in 2010 and his mom declined in health to the point she couldn’t live on her own, she and Kelly, Scott’s sister, decided to put the family home on the market. When it sold the stuff in the shed obviously had to be moved. Scott called..Continue Reading...
Scott and I attended the 2012 Oceanology Conference in London
I flew into Heathrow a week or so early and took a bus to Swindon, where Scott picked me up. We drove to Devizes and spent a couple days meeting with people at GEMS, then drove to Solva where Scott and his girlfriend Rose were living in a small apartment..Continue Reading...
Invoices
(Steve: This was just a text note I found on one of Scotts computers…if gives a good example of the work flow.) 4125 system sent to Turkmenistan; Date shipped from warehouse 8 Feb 2012 Date shipped from Baku 14 Mar 2012 Date of arrival into Teesside 12 April 2012 KJ..Continue Reading...
House Loss
As per my previous email, I was hoping to meet-up with you at the 21 Calton Walk house. If you still might need to do that, I can be avaible. Here is my responce to the claim. I think the offer of £20000 is a resonable offer for the remaining..Continue Reading...
Leasing the Vessel Norlantean
Hi Jason, I look forward to working with you and your family business. I am interested in leasing the vessel Norlantean now. With the option to working out a plan for the leasing of the Green Isles also. I am also very interested in your services in providing man-power on..Continue Reading...
Email exchanges with SES
Hi Scott Johnstone, The R2Sonic system on GEMS ship, Kommander Jack, has gone down. I need to replace it. Could you please send, on Monday for Tuesday delivery, my R2Sonic system that you have to GEMS in Devizes. They will have a person hand deliver from Devizes to vessel from..Continue Reading...
History with SES
When I bought, in March, the spares and pinger for MG3, it was agreed with Scott Johnson, that I could repay in a few months, when he contacted me for money a few months later, I payed him the total amount, with in a couple of weeks. The deal I..Continue Reading...
GEMS in Administration
After several years of rapid growth and expansion GEMS suddenly went into administration and then liquidation. If you are interested you can read a lot of the legal mumbo jumbo here. My memory of the process based on time spent with Scott back then was that GEMS was expanding so..Continue Reading...
Scott opens a new Info Express Office
After GEMS closed Scott hired Bernie Luckhoo, who had been a GEMS employee, and opened an office where he could work on Info Express business. The address was: Butts Business Centre Butts Rd, Chiseldon Swindon SN4 OPP Bernie was probably one of the best things that happened to Scott, business-wise...Continue Reading...
Scott got his UK driving license
Scott passed his written driving test on 22 March 2011 and received a certificate entitling him to take the practical driving test, which he had to do within two years. He apparently passed that test in February of 2013 and received his UK Driving License, which was good through February..Continue Reading...
Gold and Diamonds
The following is an email exchange I had with Scott. On Wed, Mar 20, 2013 at 12:49 AM, Steve Lambert <steve.lambert@op2s.com> wrote: Hi, I was chatting with Harlan today. You know he is into the gold and silver (and various other) business now. He is buying quite a bit of..Continue Reading...
Coastlines Surveys Limited files for insolvency
Scott had done business with Coastline Surveys over the past few years, and they seemed to be doing quite well. According to news accounts they were growing rapidly and taking on new projects. Then in January 2014 they filed to be wound up voluntarily…which is the UK expression for going..Continue Reading...
Moved to Rose’s house in St Davids
An assistant manager wanted to move into the small unit above the pub, so Scott and Rose moved to a house she owned in St Davids.
Scott got his UK Residence Card
21 August 2014 Scott finished the complex process of attaining his UK residence permit. He had been planning to get this and then full citizenship since coming the UK in the 90s, but the amount of time he spent out of the UK on surveys every year prevented that…he was..Continue Reading...
Scott had a medical emergency
Scott had a toothache for about a year, but kept putting off doing anything about it. As I recall it was a tooth on his lower left jaw, but I will confirm that and other details when I have access to his medical records. Early in 2017 it started getting..Continue Reading...
Scott fled St Davids
Scott became convinced that a group of people in St Davids wanted to kill him. He packed his computers, a few changes of clothes, and four dogs into his 2017 Ford KUGA Vignale and fled. The above is kind of a dramatic statement, and it was a very dramatic event..Continue Reading...
Scott called me asking for help.
Scott was afraid to use his computers or cellphone, as he was sure people could track him if he did. He bought new ones and got a new phone number, then called me. He explained what he thought was going on and asked if I could come over to the..Continue Reading...
I landed at Heathrow
I flew Virgin Atlantic from Seattle-Tacoma airport to Heathrow, outside London. I’m not a big fan of airports and commercial airlines, but Virgin Atlantic has an upgraded coach class that takes a lot of the misery out of a long trip. My nine-hour flight landed around 7am local time. I..Continue Reading...
Scott fled from me
The first part of this story is from my journal notes for this day Scott said he slept a little better and was in a pretty good mood this morning. So I tried to discuss options and goals to encourage him to make some decisions. He got nervous and unable..Continue Reading...
Scott acquires a Minder
After Scott escaped from me on 7 August he needed a new traveling companion…a combination body guard and dog walker. I think Andrew Hill introduced Scott to Solace Global (https://www.solaceglobal.com), a high-end security company operating out of Poole. On 11 August Scott picked up Michael, who traveled with him and..Continue Reading...
Scott self-admitted to a mental care facility
On August 29th Scott voluntarily admitted himself to the North Devon District Hospital, in Barnstable. He is recorded as having been assessed in Devon as paranoid, thinking people were ‘after ‘ him and that he. was ‘unsafe’. He was ‘scared ‘ and had hired himself body guard to protect himself...Continue Reading...
Scott released from St Caradog
Scott was free to leave the St Caradog facility at any time, and did so on October 4th. Receipts that I found indicated that he went shopping on September 25 in Havorfordewest. That appears to be the only time he left the facility during his stay. Before leaving he was..Continue Reading...
Scott starts shutting down
When I was cleaning up stuff at Scott’s house in Bath I backed up the four laptops he had used most recently and also transferred the files on his own small backup drives and thumb drives to my larger drives. Later I wrote a program to pull a directory listing..Continue Reading...
Scott sold his Chalet in Bideford Bay
Scott decided to sell this sometime after he left St Davids, and asked his accountant, Andrew Hill, to manage that. It sold on February 20th, 2018, for £4000. He always referred to this as his Chalet, which I thought was a bit of a fancy name for a little cottage..Continue Reading...
Scott researches health issues
Scott spent most of the month of March, 2018, researching physical and mental issues that the thought he had. I’m not implying that he didn’t have these issue; but I do think that as he researched some he came across related ones and ‘discovered’ he had those too. He may..Continue Reading...
Nigel visits Scott for the last time
The last time Nigel saw Scott was on the 5th of April, before he went on vacation. Nigel visited him in the Bath house, and in the middle of their conversation Scott started sobbing and saying something to the effect that they (we think he meant the doctors) didn’t believe..Continue Reading...
Scott records message to his doctors
On April 6th and 7th Scott recorded almost eight hours of audio addressed to ‘his doctors.’ He doesn’t identify the doctors, but does state that he had given up on his GP, so I assume he was not one of them. Scott had spent the past few months doing several..Continue Reading...
Scott died
As near as the police would later estimate, Scott died in his house in Bath, England, on or about May 1st, 2018.
Body discovered
When his accountant hadn’t had a response to emails and texts for two weeks, he called the police. They broke into his house on May 14th and found his body on his bedroom floor. He had died of a stab wound to the heart. His two dogs were in the..Continue Reading...
Getting through the investigation
The police discovered Scott’s body on May 14th, 2018, following a report by Scott’s accountant Andrew Hill that he hadn’t had a response to emails or texts for over two weeks. The body was turned over to the coroner on May 15th, so although the police estimated that he died..Continue Reading...
Scott’s doctor made an appointment for him to have an MRI
On June 11, 2018 The Royal United Hospitals of Bath NHS sent Scott a letter informing him that his doctor had set up an appointment to have an MRI of his head and pituitary on July 11th 2018. I think this was a real good idea, and it is unfortunate..Continue Reading...
I returned to the UK
After Scott’s body was found the police secured the house until the investigation was complete. During this time Scott’s sister, Kelly, asked if, when appropriate, I would go to the UK and arrange for Scott’s cremation and return the ashes to the US. I agreed to do that. Toward the..Continue Reading...
I become a hacker
One of the things I have been doing is looking at digital files…stuff on hard drives or other media. I found about 20 backup hard drives around the house, and dozens, of thumb drives. It takes a long time to install and browse that much digital information. Since most of..Continue Reading...
I drive to St Davids for Scott’s wake
I wanted to go to St Davids and check out what is in the storage sheds at Scott’s Clegyr Boia property. And, of course, visit Rose and the dogs. When she knew the day I would get there she arranged a wake at The Farmer’s Arms pub, which is about..Continue Reading...
Meeting with Scott’s accountant and a solicitor
According to Google Maps, the trip to Andrew’s office in Poole is only 58 miles but will take an hour and a half to two hours depending on the route. The meeting was scheduled for noon, but I planned to leave at nine so I could have a leisurely trip..Continue Reading...
Scott cremated
Before going to the UK I looked into local cremation services and selected Pure Cremations in Bristol to perform that service. My selection was based on the fact that the Coroner’s office was in Bristol, and of the several cremation services Pure Cremations had the best and most informative response...Continue Reading...
Coroner’s Inquest Held
The coroner’s inquest marks the end of the investigation into the death of Scott. This is a public hearing at which various reports gathered by the coroner are read out loud to anyone interested in hearing them. For the most part these are not pretty reports. Especially the ones that..Continue Reading...
Ship of Gold pays off for some
Seattle group helped find 15 tons of gold lost on sunken ship. It took 30 years to get their shares. April 4, 2019 at 6:00 am Updated April 5, 2019 at 11:24 am By Erik Lacitis Seattle Times staff reporter When we contracted to provide Scott’s advanced side-scan sonar gear, and..Continue Reading...
A current overview of the SS Central America treasure
The following story appeared in lovemoney.com. You can read the full story at this URL: https://www.lovemoney.com/gallerylist/71432/the-ss-central-america-shipwreck-and-the-hunt-for-its-treasure The greatest lost treasure in US history and the incredible story behind it Spencer Platt/Getty Images In February 2018 a spectacular array of gold ingots, coins, and more went on display – and for..Continue Reading...