Bounty Captain Reckless?

[ifmdalvey]

Below is a report on the sinking of the Bounty, found reckless but i would have thought a poor decision maker would have been more appropriate >

http://www.cnn.com/2014/02/10/us/bounty-shipwreck-ntsb-cause/

 

[Maine Sail]

Umm he sailed directly into a hurricane, on a movie prop that was 50+ years old, with inexperienced crew on a vessel held together with DAP from Home Depot...

I think "reckless" fits pretty well.

 

[Chris Patterson]

Yepper, I'll stick with my original contention. The man loved the boat, and knew its demise was iminent. So he sailed it into the storm on purpose to scuttle the boat, and ride it down.
I don't say that in a mean way, not at all. I actually think I understand.
316 million opinions though.
Two know. They ain't tellin'..

 

[Joe]

Yeah, well he's dead.... so he can't defend himself. I guess you could write "reckless" on his tombstone if you could find his body.

What's really a tragedy is that we pay these "investigators" a lot of money to state the obvious.

 

[ifmdalvey]

Chris, if what you said was true, did he intend taking the crew down with him, i think not!
Not one of the crew critiqued his decision to sail or his ability, maybe if they had had more experience they might not have left port that day, its easy in hindsight to be critical of poor decisions.

 

[MrBill_FLL]

Foolish would be my term for said capt.

 

[Jackdaw]

Yepper, I'll stick with my original contention. The man loved the boat, and knew its demise was iminent. So he sailed it into the storm on purpose to scuttle the boat, and ride it down.

That, Sir, is the most ridiculous thing I have read on a long time.

Please actually read the official USCG report and narrative. It tells the story of a hubris -filled man, who lost the ability to come to terms with the situation his vessel was in.

To casually claim that he would risk the lives of his crew just to scuttle his boat is irresponsible.

 

[Chris Patterson]

Tear into me if you like folks. What's your thought?
Mine is more noble than the obvious.

 

[Jackdaw]

Tear into me if you like folks. What's your thought?
Mine is more noble than the obvious.

OK, I'll bite.

So to risk the lives of this entire crew, as well as the SAR folks that came out and tried to save them all, you BELIEVE he "... loved the boat, and knew its demise was iminent. So he sailed it into the storm on purpose to scuttle the boat, and ride it down."

Its NOT what happened. But to your 'point', what is noble about that?

 

[weinie]

Yepper, I'll stick with my original contention. The man loved the boat, and knew its demise was iminent. So he sailed it into the storm on purpose to scuttle the boat, and ride it down.
I don't say that in a mean way, not at all. I actually think I understand.
316 million opinions though.
Two know. They ain't tellin'..

Read 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea much?

 

[Chris Patterson]

I give up. Of 360 known points, and with the accepted wisdom of, 'No captain in his right mind would subject himself to a hurricane at sea'.
That is not exact, but very close to a recount of a weatherman that took a storm at sea in a boat.
So when did he start doing this?
Is he a surfer mentality?
Certainly not much of a competent skipper.
Of course opinions are hindsight. Am I the only one with one?

It's insanity baby. NOBODY in their right mind would sail a rotting piece of junk into a storm. Outside of Hatteras. This place didn't start getting stupid last week, it's called 'The Graveyard of the Atlantic'! Duuhh.

The testimony from the crew? Oh Lerd.. A bunch of addled teenagers that thought this sounded better than the Peace Corps, too afraid to join the Legion, way too out of style to run away and join the circus, and cults are starting to get a bad name.
That also rode a dying ship into a hurricane.
Yep, that boat was eat up with smarts.
Maybe even an opinion.
And to me, nothing short of an aneurysm makes any sense.

(And possibly, not many of you know dark personalities. I promise you I do).

 

[Chris Patterson]

Read 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea much?

I've actually never read it. Modern fiction. Rubbish. Why?

 

[weinie]

I've actually never read it. Modern fiction. Rubbish. Why?

facepalm.gif

 

[Pilgrimtex]

If you were to ask me; I would ponder he tried to stay on the weak side of the storm by putting himself between the eye and land and just ran out of running room because he misjudged the immensity of it. Riding through such a storm may have bred some renewed interest in her and perhaps a much needed overhaul. Just my thoughts on it.
real shame to see any old type sailing ship whether original or movie replica enter Davey Jones Locker.

 

[Gary_H]

I'm reading a book on it now based on interviews from the survivors and others familiar with the ship. Haven't gotten to the actual sinking yet but from what I have read so far, the Ship had discovered rot in some beams while in the yard. A few were replaced but replacing the rest was postponed until the next haul out. There also were issue with the generators and they were using the wrong fuel filters requiring frequent replacement. The bilge pumps could hardly keep up with the normal seepage because they would not hold their prime. The engineer was new to the ship and to tall ships in general. The crew for the most part were new to the ship and had concerns about the storm but had confidence in the Captain. original plan was to sail well east around the storm But the Captain disagreed with NOAA and it's projected track of the hurricane. He according to the book believed it would turn sharply to the East along the Gulf stream and he would sail around it West side taking advantage of its counter clockwise rotating winds to give him following seas and winds. Apparently NOAA was right and he was wrong.

 

[Jackdaw]

I give up. Of 360 known points, and with the accepted wisdom of, 'No captain in his right mind would subject himself to a hurricane at sea'.
That is not exact, but very close to a recount of a weatherman that took a storm at sea in a boat.
So when did he start doing this?
Is he a surfer mentality?
Certainly not much of a competent skipper.
Of course opinions are hindsight. Am I the only one with one?

It's insanity baby. NOBODY in their right mind would sail a rotting piece of junk into a storm. Outside of Hatteras. This place didn't start getting stupid last week, it's called 'The Graveyard of the Atlantic'! Duuhh.

The testimony from the crew? Oh Lerd.. A bunch of addled teenagers that thought this sounded better than the Peace Corps, too afraid to join the Legion, way too out of style to run away and join the circus, and cults are starting to get a bad name.
That also rode a dying ship into a hurricane.
Yep, that boat was eat up with smarts.
Maybe even an opinion.
And to me, nothing short of an aneurysm makes any sense.

(And possibly, not many of you know dark personalities. I promise you I do).

All of this might be true. Clearly mistakes were made. Some in foresight, certainly a lot in hindsight. But nothing here (or in the full report) points to your original claim that he set out to with the intent to scuttle the ship. In fact most of the evident is totally to the contrary; he cared deeply about the crew's safety, and wanted no harm to come to the boat.


So for the third time, I'm asking you to back that opinion up.

 

[MSter]

Jackdaw,
Sounds like he has provided his opinion of which he is entitled, it may be based on his gut feeling more than fact. As well his feelings on this and other subjects may be coloured by his previous life and activities of which we can only guess at.
Just me .02 worth.
Surely most reasonable sailors with the advantage of hindsight can see that it was foolish at least and likely reckless as well to temp fate and mother nature as they did.
Mster

 

[Lake Superior Sailor]

If he would have pulled it off he would have been famous; vs infamous!....Dale

 

[wufibugs]

Jack, I don't think Chris was putting out a carefully researched theory but just offering a romantic option for what might otherwise go down in history as a monumental series of hubris laden miscalculations. Whether true or not, it adds a little panache to the captain's legacy [save for the part about endangering his crew].

 

[Jackdaw]

Jack, I don't think Chris was putting out a carefully researched theory but just offering a romantic option for what might otherwise go down in history as a monumental series of hubris laden miscalculations. Whether true or not, it adds a little panache to the captain's legacy [save for the part about endangering his crew].

People died here. There is nothing romantic about it at all. If you are going to claim that it was done on purpose, I simply suggest to anyone that you put some thought into what you write. And be able to defend what you do write. I would have.