Thomas Lynch Jnr was a man who embodied the phrase ‘and it was all going so well’. Born in South Carolina in 1749, life started out rather nicely for the young Lynch. He studied law at Britain’s renowned Middle Temple, married his childhood sweetheart and returned to South Carolina in 1772 to begin an illustrious career in politics. It’s safe to say, things were peachy.
Events took a turn for the worse, however, in 1775, when Lynch was commissioned as a commander in the 1st South Carolina regiment and contracted malaria. Unable to fulfil his duties, he returned home to find his father had suffered a stroke. Aged 27, he took his father’s seat in Congress but, nursing a malingering fever, he eventually decided to step down and seek out therapeutic help in France. In 1779, he set sail for Europe via the West Indies.
Unfortunately, this was the last anyone ever saw of Lynch; he and his wife, together with the entire crew, became the first recorded victims of the Bermuda Triangle.
