MEXICO – North Jay scuba diver Dayl Kaulback updated about 20 members of the Mexico Historical Society on Tuesday about his team’s progress this year to find the Don and solve the mystery of the cabin cruiser’s disappearance in 1941.

Thirty-two passengers, mostly from Rumford and Mexico, the captain and a deckhand from Auburn all perished in Casco Bay in what was then called the biggest maritime disaster off Maine. Only 14 bodies were recovered from the retrofitted rumrunner, a photograph of which was on the front of Kaulback’s gray T-shirt. The backside read, “The DON Search Team.”

On May 22, Kaulback’s team located and retrieved what they believe is the boat’s anchor northwest of Round Rock, a milelong ledge about 4 miles east of West Harpswell. They presented it to the Mexico Historical Society, which is creating a large display of the Don Disaster.

The society is also raising money for a large plaque bearing the names of the dead which they intend to place on a native stone at Mexico’s Memorial Green beside Route 2.

Kaulback shared his team’s newest theory about where they believe the boat sank – off a place called Saddleback Ridge near Round Rock- and what they expect to find, like portholes or a steel stove. The next item retrieved goes to the Rumford Historical Society, to whom Kaulback also spoke with earlier this year in a similar presentation.

“The only thing we’re going to find is the engine, and I think I can bring that up,” he said, answering a question. Finding that, he added, may solve the mystery.

“I hope he’s right,” past President Calvin Lyons said of the new theory. “It’s quite a project. It’s a scary one, too. You get down in the water that deep and you can’t see. You’d better have someone up above you that you can depend on.”

Don Disaster display builder Irene Hutchinson said Kaulback’s diving team’s efforts have brought renewed attention to the mystery and plenty of comments.

People are also buying raffle tickets for a polished tourmaline gem lined with Swift River gold, money from which goes toward the memorial plaque.