Given the magnitude of the carnage left in the wake of hurricane “Sandy”. The loss of the “Bounty” will likely not get much ink. For those of us who go to sea, we are left shaking our heads in disbelief. The facts are not all in and so far the story is that the skipper left New London, Ct in route toSt. Petersburg, Florida intending to make enough easting to get around “Sandy” . He would have had to leave the Azores to starboard to leave enough room in a boat like the “Bounty.” we can only wonder what was he thinking.
I cannot say with certainty, but I would guess this boat leaked at the dock and that was fine as long as the pumps were running, which in turn depended on the engine running. She was built as a prop for one movie in 1962. She was never built for a long life. I know that Fall River, Ma heritage festival committee who owned her after Ted Turner finally could no longer keep up with the repairs and sold her.
Seamanship translates roughly into common sense. We all have an idea of what it is. Perhaps that’s the problem. What we know is always framed by what we know, not what we don’t know.
A boat like this probably worked all the time, by that I mean any loading, from the rig or simply rolling in a seaway would cause the boat to twist and the planking to move.
As I said “What was he thinking?”
Well if not Horta to stbd., he would, by observation of the wx chart, had to get to the east of Halifax. If in fact (which may never be known) the ship was taking on water AND could not run the machines intended to operate the pumps, that in itself is a pretty good argument for manual pumps. The ships built at the time of the original Bounty did of course have only manual pumps. Why not this one?
On the 12 meter Australia, we had a bilge pump hooked up to a Grinder and so could pump all the way up wind in a sea way which we did regularly given a 12 meter crew’s propensity to drill holes in the deck to run lines and porous hatches with covers not worthy of the name.
They are fortunate they only appear to have lost two, including the master. A Canadian paper also reports that the deceased crew, is a descendant of Fletcher Christian…..
Sad turn of events. What a shame. I think you hit it Stephen. What was he thinking? As I often say of my students – probably nothing. Bill
If only it was a replica of the “Beagle”, the Captain would be the ultimate Darwin award candidate…unfortunately instead he appears to have been the answer to a clue in this Sunday’s Time crossword….CaptainBlithe…just unconsionable to put your crew in harm’s way like.