The Heartbreaking Story Behind 'Tragedy By The Sea'

John and Lillian McDonald lived in a house with their son, Michael, near Hermosa Beach in 1954. On April 2, Michael was in their fenced front yard, where his mother checked on him at regular intervals. After Lillian saw that Michael was gone, she called the police. Alongside Lillian and others, the police and lifeguards began looking for Michael. When John McDonald arrived: He ran up and down the beach. He peered at every clump of seaweed, or rock, or driftwood in the churning surf. He got his feet wet. His wife tried to soothe him and at times forcibly restrained him from dashing into the surf. John L. Gaunt Jr. also lived near the beach and heard one of his neighbors yell, "There was some excitement on the beach, something's happened on the beach!” Gaunt headed toward the shoreline, camera in hand, and saw John and Lillian as they realized what could have happened to their son.

Beverly Murdock, a 22-year-old who was near the beach that morning, ran to the closest police station around the same time Lillian McDonald placed her call. Murdock said “she had seen a baby's body in the sea amid a clump of seaweed just beyond the beach.” Murdock described the clothing the child had been wearing and the size of the boy, all of which matched Michael. While all of this unfolded, John L. Gaunt Jr. watched on. The World War II veteran and photographer for the Los Angeles Times had a young child of his own and while he was not friends with the McDonalds, they had mutual acquaintances.

John L. Gaunt Jr. took four photos as he looked on at the McDonalds standing near the water at Hermosa Beach. He later said, “As I made my last exposure… they turned and walked away.” The McDonalds did not leave the beach that day, but at nightfall, the search was suspended until morning. The search for Michael went on until at least April 5, but at that point, the boy's body had not been located. Gaunt submitted the photo to The Los Angeles Times, and it was published with a story about Michael McDonald's disappearance on April 3, 1954. A photo of Michael was also included, as was a line that he was “believed to be a victim of the surf.”

As the search for Michael McDonald continued, there was speculation that the body might not be recovered. The 19-month-old boy's body was located in Manhattan Beach, California, ten days after the disappearance. The woman who spotted Michael's body, identified as Mrs. George Slater, “rushed out and brought it into the beach” when she saw him. The location where Michael was found was over a mile north of where the boy had gone missing. At that point, the newspapers were reporting that Michael had left his yard and crawled to the shore, only to be swept away by the waves.

Called Tragedy in the Surf and Tragedy by the Sea in different locations, John L. Gaunt Jr.'s photo of Lillian and John McDonald was submitted for a Pulitzer Prize in 1955. Described as capturing “a young couple standing at the edge of waves which a few minutes earlier swept their year-old son to his death at sea,” the photo was initially ranked fourth on the list of five finalists. The jury awarded Gaunt the Pulitzer Prize for Photography, describing the image as “poignant and profoundly moving.” Gaunt also won an Associated Press Managing Editor's Award and was honored by the California-Nevada Associated Press. The gravity of the image was not lost on Gaunt. According to John Gaunt's daughter, Jane, “the image was hard for him to bear at first.”