A Burntisland pensioner who went missing from a cruise ship five years ago has been laid to rest in an unmarked grave in Portugal.
In 2006 The Courier followed the story of widower Jimmy Ewan, who mysteriously vanished after boarding a trans-Atlantic cruise.
After he had been missing for two months hopes of him being found alive had faded and a memorial service was held in the town so family and friends could celebrate his life.
The 73-year-old was later deemed “lost at sea” after a police investigation.
It has now been revealed Mr Ewan’s body was washed up on a beach in Portugal in 2008 and buried in a pauper’s grave in Faro, the country’s southernmost city.
He was interred in a section of the Cemitero de Faro allocated for unclaimed bodies because his remains were never collected.
Friend John Cooper, who was named executor of his will, intends to make sure his final resting place is marked by a gravestone.
“We know where he’s buried and know what plot he’s in, so we know where he is,” Mr Cooper said.
“They planted him before I had the chance to say I wanted him cremated and his ashes sent home so they could be scattered here in Burntisland but we don’t want to get him uplifted and go through all that trouble.
“Whenever we go over to Portugal we will put a stone on it and leave him where he is. He liked to travel the world and he will be alright where he is.”‘Alarm bells’Mr Ewan’s wife Betty had died two decades earlier and the couple had no children.
Mr Cooper said his friend had once joked that he wanted to “blitz his credit cards to the absolute limit and then jump off a boat.”
Mr Ewan had also talked about not wanting to burden anyone in his old age and had tidied up his affairs before his death.
Having boarded the Miami-bound Celebrity Century cruise ship at the start of November 2006 in Barcelona, Mr Ewan was reported missing two days later.
A crew member raised the alarm after noticing his cabin had not been used.
It later emerged that his belongings had been laid neatly on his cabin bed along with Mr Cooper’s phone number a move the friend said “rang alarm bells.”
He had scrapped his prized Granada car prior to the trip, which friends believe was out of character.
The ship had docked at Madeira but the cruise operator’s stringent passenger system indicated that Mr Ewan had not disembarked there.
On being informed of Mr Ewan’s disappearance the ship’s captain immediately reversed course and retraced the vessel’s path to look for him.
A sea search was launched and announcements were made on board alerting passengers.’Uncanny’ coincidenceCelebrity Cruises reviewed surveillance tapes and notified the British Embassy, Portuguese maritime police, Bahamian maritime authorities and the FBI.
Despite the fact that Mr Ewan’s body has been found, a death certificate has yet to be issued.
Mr Cooper said his lawyers have contacted the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and Portuguese Consulate to no avail and without the document he is unable to execute Mr Ewan’s will.
“My solicitor is on the case and written to everybody and his grandma but I still can’t get any joy,” Mr Cooper said.
“The irony of it all is that Jimmy thought it would be the simplest way out, yet it’s caused all this trouble and consternation.”
Mr Cooper said he found himself on the Celebrity Century last year having had no idea he had booked on to the boat that his friend had chosen for his final journey.
He said, “It was exactly the same ship and I was on the same level, three doors up from where he had been.
“It was so uncanny, it gave me shivers.”
Affectionately known as Jammy, Mr Ewan had started his working life as a shipyard worker and gone on to be an electrician in the RAF and a salesman for various companies.
Mr Ewan’s 67-year-old cousin Neil said he had not heard anything about his relative since police asked for help in identifying the body some years back. He said he was unaware of the grave in Portugal and had hoped for a happier ending.
He said, “Whatever I think, the book should be closed.”