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| Bounty awash |
The question I asked in that post, "... why did the Captain of the Bounty put her off of the "Graveyard of the Atlantic" in a hurricane?" still remains. But now it is at least partially answered. Of course, since Captain Walbridge went down with the ship, we will never know the entire story.
I recently ran across this account of the Coast Guard inquiry into the sinking. It reveals that the decision to go to sea in the face of the hurricane was not only a bad decision, but one of many bad decisions that led to the sinking. Amazingly, it was not even the final bad decision.
I have a friend who is involved in the Tall Ship scene on the East Coast. When the Bounty sank, I commiserated with him. His surprising response was that she was a movie prop that was to be burned and sunk after the filming was over. He said that the one time he saw her, she was being kept afloat with her bilge pumps, and she had two of three of them running continuously. Given the testimony at the inquest, I'd have to say that the loss may not have been a surprise to those in the know.
Read the account. It is sobering.
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1 comment:
Heck, I called the Coast Guard (cell phone rather than Pan-Pan, but I was planning to use Pan-Pan if the cell did not conect)for a minor medical issue while off-shore with no inlet within 50 miles. I thought it would be good for them to know our situation--the weathe rwas changable--and they confirmed that indeed, they like Pan-Pan calls that lead to safe resolution.
Pan-Pan is just clear comunication, not some dark admission of failure.
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