Hurricane Sandy vs The Bounty

[John A]

A hell of a read from CNN

Life and Death on the Bounty

[mbianka]

Yes, a very good read. Still just shake my head at the Captain's decision to leave the safety of the Port of New London Connecticut and head toward Hurricane Sandy. I'm just glad there were not more lives lost because of that decision.

[Kettlewell]

Hubris will get you in the end.

[Crimea Cruiser]

I keep thinking about the fact that was not long prior to final voyage put up for sale. Perhaps just coincidence, but it does not explain Captain's decision to leave port and disregard all publicly distributed information and warnings about severity of Hurricane that was approaching. Certainly was wrong direction to head to try and evade storm.

[Sam Plan B]

What a horror.

[mbianka]

Originally Posted by Crimea Cruiser

I keep thinking about the fact that was not long prior to final voyage put up for sale. Perhaps just coincidence, but it does not explain Captain's decision to leave port and disregard all publicly distributed information and warnings about severity of Hurricane that was approaching. Certainly was wrong direction to head to try and evade storm.

Like Kettlewell said it could just have been hubris on the Captains part. He shown in videos saying he seeks out Hurricanes.Though the article also points out they had paying customers waiting in Florida and the Captain was going to see his wife and have a 63rd birthday while he was there. Maybe a combination of the above. We will never know the real reason why this decision was made but, all seem to agree it was certainly the wrong one.

[Sam Plan B]

It was noted that the bilge was afloat with wood chips and sawdust. This debris eventually clogged the pump strainers. Also, the crew could not start a gasoline powered bilge pump. Considering the working of the ship in heavy seas and the quantity of water being taken in from seams opening, I do not think the problems with the pumps directly related to the loss of the vessel. In other words, even if the the pumps were functioning properly they would not have been able to keep up with the rising water. However, that the bilge was allowed to remain unclean long after carpentry repairs had been made is evidence of inattention to the condition of the ship. Since the captain intended to test his ship against a hurricane he had a higher duty to verify that the ship was in such pristine condition so as to withstand the forces of nature to which she would be subject. If he did not know, he should not go.

[Cheechako]

Great read, thanks. Painfully stupid decision.

[pete33458]

Personally I'm not so quick to judge. Hindsight, as they say, is always 20/20. I know I've made my share of decisions that I've later regretted (and I'm only talking about sailing here!). Fortunately, none of mine resulted in loss of life, but even of they had, there would not have been this level of scrutiny. My guess is that if he had the opportunity to make this choice again, it would probably be different. Maybe not, we'll never know. But I think it's worth considering that he honestly believed that he, his crew, and his ship were up to the challenge, and would come through OK. I doubt that he set out to die, or thought that he was invincible.

Anyway, I feel that a little bit of the benefit of the doubt is due here. This was a tragic loss of someone who loved the sea. May he rest in peace.

pete

[Pyrate]

Originally Posted by pete33458

Personally I'm not so quick to judge. Hindsight, as they say, is always 20/20. I know I've made my share of decisions that I've later regretted (and I'm only talking about sailing here!). Fortunately, none of mine resulted in loss of life, but even of they had, there would not have been this level of scrutiny. My guess is that if he had the opportunity to make this choice again, it would probably be different. Maybe not, we'll never know. But I think it's worth considering that he honestly believed that he, his crew, and his ship were up to the challenge, and would come through OK. I doubt that he set out to die, or thought that he was invincible.

Anyway, I feel that a little bit of the benefit of the doubt is due here. This was a tragic loss of someone who loved the sea. May he rest in peace.

pete

Well said, and my thoughts exactly. He may have been a bit overconfident, but it's understandable considering he had weathered hurricanes before with the ship in much worse shape and a less experienced crew. Even though it was widely reported that he sailed directly into the hurricane's path, that's not accurate. A ship like that should be able to handle 20' following seas and 50 kt winds abaft the beam. Ultimately, the seams opened up and whether due to mechanical failure or some other reason, the pumps were not able to keep up with the flooding. Whatever the ultimate reason, it's sad to loose a ship like that.

[Jammer Six]

Reading the reports of the hearings, the one thing that struck me was that no one was qualified for the jobs they were doing. All the jobs were highly technical and extremely important, and were filled by people who weren't even close to qualified to do them. There were a number of life and death issues that cascaded from that across-the-board lack of skill, from the captain on down.

[sabray]

What struck me was the bilge was so full of **** the pumps clogged. We used to make sure we cleaned out all dust from butt blocks etc... so that shavings and remnants dont get into the bilge. Even now on a glass boat Im paranoid clean about vacuuming my bilges. I was not impressed with what I saw last summer while touring the bounty.

[Amapola]

I can't believe the captain chose to leave given the forecast.

[Fortytwo]

Originally Posted by sabray

We used to make sure we cleaned out all dust from butt blocks etc... so that shavings and remnants dont get into the bilge. Even now on a glass boat Im paranoid clean about vacuuming my bilges.

and that would be called "shipshape"...

[John A]

The Bounty was designed and built to be a prop for a movie wide enough to have both actors and cameras on the deck at the same time, with the original plan to chop it up on the completion of the movie. It was not a seakindly ship.

Sometime during the mid 90's while driving up the coast of Northern Calif. I seen it tied up to a quay in Eureka, Calif. and stopped to take a tour of the ship.

Two of the crew members and I began talking about things related to sailing and they confided in me that in their opinion, the ship was to wide for its waterline length and the bottom of the hull was to flat, making for such an uncomfortable ride up the coast of California that the entire crew was seasick most of the time. They had tried to enter the bay here during an ebb tide and were met with such difficulty that the CG had to take them in tow to keep the bow pointed in the right direction as they came over the bar.