Swanton H. Wyman, Jr. was 47 years old when he was last known to be in Phippsburg, Maine, on October 5, 1981. He was a White/Caucasian man with brown hair and hazel eyes, standing approximately 5 feet 8 inches to 5 feet 9 inches tall and weighing about 185 to 195 pounds. A noted identifying feature was a scar on the right side of the back of his head.
On the day he disappeared, he was reportedly wearing a green hooded sweatshirt, orange rain pants, and black knee-high boots, practical clothing for the cold, wet work of the Maine coast. His case is listed in NamUs as MP55347 and is associated with the Maine Marine Patrol - Augusta Headquarters.
That day, Swanton went out alone to go lobstering and did not return. The available case information describes the outing as work on the water rather than a planned absence: he had gone to haul or tend lobster traps off Phippsburg, a coastal community in Sagadahoc County. Later that evening, his boat was found with some traps still aboard, approximately 2.5 miles offshore, straight out from Phippsburg. Based on the circumstances described in the case record, authorities believe he may have fallen overboard while hauling traps, leaving behind a vessel that showed the interrupted routine of a working lobsterman.
Swanton’s disappearance also left behind a family story marked by love and loss. Public obituary information for Roberta Estelle Wyman states that she married Swanton Wyman Jr. on December 4, 1976, after moving to Phippsburg, and that they welcomed a daughter, Sara, in 1977. That same public account describes Swanton as having been lost at sea on October 5, 1981. Those details give the case a human shape beyond the sparse facts of a missing person report: he was not only a man last seen on the water, but a husband and father whose absence became part of his family’s history.
The investigation remains recorded through official missing-person channels, with the Maine Marine Patrol listed as the investigating agency and the case number reported as 81-1005. The date reported is the same date as his last contact, October 5, 1981. Decades later, the public record still preserves the essentials of what is known: Swanton H. Wyman, Jr. went out alone from Phippsburg to go lobstering, his boat was found that evening offshore with traps aboard, and the prevailing belief is that he fell overboard while working. In overview, this is the case of a 47-year-old Maine lobsterman whose ordinary day at sea became a lasting disappearance, remembered through the details of his vessel, his work clothes, his family ties, and the enduring hope that every available fact may continue to honor his life and clarify what happened to him.Last Seen: Oct 5, 1981
