HMS Bounty/ Hurricane Sandy

Crew of the replica ship HMS Bounty forced to abandon ship due to hurricane Sandy.
What the devil were they doing out there to begin with????????????
Apparently they had left Conneticut Thursday bound for Florida. The storm track had been well forecast by then.
Steve W

details at http://www.nydailynews.com/news/nat...ms-bounty-crew-abandon-ship-article-1.1194505
and other sites

Steve said:

Crew of the replica ship HMS Bounty forced to abandon ship due to hurricane Sandy.
What the devil were they doing out there to begin with????????????
Apparently they had left Conneticut Thursday bound for Florida. The storm track had been well forecast by then.
Steve W

details at Crew of HMS Bounty forced to abandon ship as Hurricane Sandy bears down on East Coast - NY Daily News
and other sites

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This came from the AP article that Tom posted:

Claudia McCann, whose husband is the captain of the Bounty, said she hadn't slept since she received word the ship was taking on water.

She said her husband, Captain Robin Walbridge, was trying to get around Hurricane Sandy en route to Florida.
"He was just trying to avoid it, skirt it. Skirt through it, skirt around it," McCann said Monday.

And exactly why would they leave last Thur knowing full well Sandy was on its way? What were they thinking?

Troubling update:

14 crewmembers rescued from abandoned ship; 2 missing

We had just looked at her on the railway in Boothbay, ME two weeks ago. She left when we did. I can't fathom the decision to head to open water. It stinks enough that we're caught here in LI, I can't even imagine what they experienced off Hatteras. Haven't mariners learned hundreds of years ago to not mess with Hatteras!!!

Doesn't the US Navy send boats to sea for storms? This would seem to be some kind of failure that had them take on water and lose propulsion and not a seaworthiness issue. At least that is how it looks now. Captains of boats like this don't get there by accident.

GonzoF1 said:

Doesn't the US Navy send boats to sea for storms? This would seem to be some kind of failure that had them take on water and lose propulsion and not a seaworthiness issue. At least that is how it looks now. Captains of boats like this don't get there by accident.

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Naval vessels are no longer made of wood. They head for sea when the risk of being at sea is less than the risk of damage from storm surge and dock damage or damage from rafting or anchoring.

The failure that lead to the flooding and loss of propulsion will almost certainly be attributed to the vessel wracking and working in the seas while attempting to run south.

Captains of those things normally get the job because they started out as volunteers on tallships and worked their way up, not because they have superior judgement or seafaring skills. The outcome speaks for itself. The vessel left a safe port for a voyage into the face of an oncoming storm of historic proportions.

I don't want to jump to conclusions or make assumptions without all the facts so please don't take this a judgement of what happened, but Tall Ships rely on "appearance fees" as a large part of their funding. I suspect that there may have been a scheduled event that they were trying to get to (the Bounty website is down so I wasn't able to access their schedule). As with any commercial vessel, there is pressure to meet schedules, either from the home office or personal pride of the captain. I've been there have made some decisions that in retrospect may have not been the wisest. Cruisers like us sometimes have our personal schedules that may cause us to take chances that we may sometimes regret. For now, let this be a "teachable moment".

It was headed for its "winter home" which, coincidently is the home of the now former captain, where it would have spent the winter sitting at a dock doing nothing.

Draw your own conclusions.

RickB said:

Captains of those things normally get the job because they started out as volunteers on tallships and worked their way up, not because they have superior judgement or seafaring skills. The outcome speaks for itself. The vessel left a safe port for a voyage into the face of an oncoming storm of historic proportions.

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I have sailed aboard two tall ships. The captains and mates were very well qualified, usually including being academy graduates. From what I have observed they are very dedicated to their profession and as experienced and of as sound of judgement as any of the professional seafarers I have encountered anywhere. Crews are made up of some "volunteers" who sail in order to move up to "paid" (and I use that term loosely) crew. These are young men and women who love the sea and sailing tall rigs. They take their jobs seriously and do it for the love of it more than for the money. A captain may have been a volunteer at one time, but that would have been years and years ago.

I am not excusing the actions of the captain or company, but I don't want the impression presented that they are unqualified to be at sea. There are many poor Trawler "captains" out there whose only qualification is having enough money to buy a boat. Lets not judge all on the actions of a few. Many smart people make bad choices. Again, let's use this as an opportunity to learn from the mistakes of others as well as our own.

If I was to venture a guess, they may have been almost thru the storm and a mechanical failure caused the storm to overtake them or had the lose control in high seas or take on water at an uncontrollable rate. We'll see how it turn out. Two are still missing.

"GetHomeItis" - a dangerous affliction

Who knows what happened, but a tall square rigger with 16 folks on board doesn't have enough people to deal with sailing in high winds. They would be dependent on clean fuel to keep the engines going, which I gather stopped. Taking on water would be as Rick suggests, a wooden hull no longer making way under power or sail now being twisted and turned in the slop, opening seams. There will be lots to talk about and learn from this once we know the facts, but one fact is clear - any captain that sets out in late October into a known low pressure system this size is a gambler, in this case with other people's lives and someone else's property.

Maybe the crew should have reenacted Fletcher Christian's mutiny, before heading out.

Steve said:

Maybe the crew should have reenacted Fletcher Christian's mutiny, before heading out.

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As I recall, Brando played Mr. Christian as a gay fellow, so perhaps they could have put ashore on Fire Island.

Rescue Video: DVIDS - Video - Coast Guard Rescues 14, Searches for 2 from HMS Bounty

God Bless the Coasties. Also good to see they had survival suits onboard. I am always amazed at the strength and courage of the rescuers.....

This is the latest from Latitude 38. The Captain of the Bounty is one of the 2 still missing, both are in survival suits.

Last night Captain Robin Walbridge called the owners of the ship to report the ship had lost power and the crew were unable to keep up with the inflow of water. At 4:30 a.m., he ordered the crew to abandon ship to two liferafts and activated the ship's EPIRB. As Bounty was sinking in 40-knot winds and 18-ft seas, three crewmembers reportedly didn't make it into the rafts. One managed to swim to a raft, while the other two — Capt. Walbridge and newest crewmember Claudine Christian (reported to be a direct descendant of Fletcher Christian) — were swept away. Both are wearing survival suits, and the Coast Guard is continuing to search today.

Latitude 38 - 'Lectronic Latitude

I ask again....what possessed then to depart.

Bounty

Newbie68 wrote:

"I ask again....what possessed then to depart."

It is best expressed by a Greek word. Hubris. Or, "It cannot happen to me." A really good example of that can be found at the following link:

The loss of the Windjammer Schooner, Fantome

John

I'd be careful not to make too many assumptions about either vessel. The crew of the Fantome were heroes. You should read the entire book. It's a great read. The Fantome was trapped by a storm that shifted and strengthened unexpectedly. Thanks to their Captain, many were saved that would have perished.

I've read the entire book, and agree with everything that you say. Nonetheless, they should not have been where they were at that particular time.

Since we're talking about lessons learned here, the story of the Fantome is illustrative of a rule that I believe exists for all stories of fatal human interactions with nature. The rule is that the inciting incident or the point of no return often happens a long time ahead of the actual disaster. Its been a year since I read the book but as I recall Fantome made a critical course decision several days before she finally sank. From that point on it is absolutely true that she was boxed in by the hurricane but at that point her options were open and her captain made the wrong choice. Even absent the benefit of hindsight I think it is clear he made what he knew was the riskier choice. We all make those calls and fortunately most of the time we get away with our risky decisions but sometimes fate catches up with us.

I`m just hearing news,14 saved,2 missing,boat sunk,one just found ? deceased, still searching.
This did not have to happen.But worse things probably will. BruceK

And completely by the by, in 1998, when my wife and I were living (and cruising) on the sailboat, we were headed South on the AICW from Maryland to the Keys when we heard that Hurricane Mitch was headed back toward Florida! We pulled into an abandoned cement factory canal at AICW mile marker 809, near Flagler Beach, Florida, to ride it out. Well,it turned out not to be much, and it was only afterward that I found out what a killer Mitch had been.

John

This storm is 700 miles wide; He would have had to go east of Bermuda to get around it. The eye of it will be going over my house in Philadelphia in and hour and I've been looking at 45 to 80 mph winds most of the day. This thing has been forcast for the last week as being worse than the "Perfect Storm". I can't understand why anyone would go out knowing that!
John
390 Mainship

He was 100 miles SE of Hatteras yesterday morning at 4am... He was almost past it when he appeared to have a failure.

HMS Bounty

Please allow me to ask you a question. I'm glad I found all of you because you can probably answer it.

I live in Rio Vista and love the tall ships that dock at the end of Main Street.

Has this ship, HMS Bounty, ever docked here??

Thank you.

Karen

Captain only one missing now. One crew dead, others rescued. They were fine until their generator failed, and the pumps couldn't keep up with the water ingress.

Keith wrote:

"They were fine until their generator failed, and the pumps couldn't keep up with the water ingress."

Murphy's Law, First Corollary. "If it can happen, then it will. If it can't, it will anyway."