A 39-year-old man named Virgil Price was reported missing last Sunday after failing to resurface from a free diving expedition near a World War II-era shipwreck. The Coast Guard along with the St. Lucie County Sheriff's Office quickly mobilized a search operation around the Halsey shipwreck, located approximately 13 miles southeast of Fort Pierce Inlet in Florida, about 130 miles north of Miami.

Virgil Price, a resident of West Palm Beach, was affiliated with Florida Freedivers, an organization dedicated to freediving and spearfishing instruction. The group shared their grief through a Facebook post on Monday, emphasizing that Price was not only part of their team but also considered a family member and a close friend to many within the community.

Details provided by the St. Lucie County Sheriff's Office describe Price as last seen wearing a distinctive green wetsuit with an orange stripe on the hood, yellow weights on his weight belt, and black carbon fiber fins. This incident brings to light once again the inherent dangers of diving, a sentiment previously expressed by Coast Guard Capt. Jason Ingram after a similar case occurred near Key West.

The site of Price's disappearance, the Halsey, is steeped in history. Built in 1920 for the American Petroleum Transport Corp., the ship was transporting 80,000 barrels of various fuel oils from Corpus Christi, Texas, to New York when it was hit by a torpedo. The attack caused the ship to split in half and catch fire, forcing its 32 crew members to escape in two lifeboats, which were later rescued by a fishing boat. Now, the Halsey lies in three segments on the ocean floor at a depth of 65 feet, with its bow and stern upright and its midsection flipped.

This recent disappearance underscores the ongoing allure and peril of diving into historic wreck sites, highlighting both the excitement of exploration and the sobering risks associated with such ventures. The community continues to search for Price, holding on to hope amidst the uncertainties tied to the depths of the sea and its historical treasures.