The "Black Pearl" to Davy Jones' Locker
October 30th, 2012
October 30th, 2012
Panama City
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| Photo USCG |
A tragedy at sea. Yesterday, October 29th, 2012, the famous tallship HMS BOUNTY was lost while sailing south of Cape Hatteras. Of the sixteen crew members on board, fourteen were rescued. Crew member Claudene Christian’s body was recovered. Captain Robin Walbridge is still missing, 30 hours after the event.
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| The HMS BOUNTY (Photo UPI) |
The ship was made famous in the 1960 movie “Mutiny on the Bounty” with Marlon Brando. Who can forget cruel Captain Bligh and the mutinous Fletcher Christian? Go to Pitcairn these days and see how many Christians populate the island. Ironically, Claudene Christian, who lost her life in this tragedy, claimed to be a distant descendant of the original mutineer, Fletcher Christian himself.
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| The "BLACK PEARL" (see NOTE below) |
To the younger audience, the HMS BOUNTY is also known as “THE BLACK PEARL” from the movie series “Pirates of the Caribbean.”
The big question on everyone’s lips today is “Why did an experienced captain decide to go to sea in a monster hurricane?”
Dan Moreland, the captain of another tall ship, the Picton Castle, doesn’t get it either. His ship was scheduled to appear at the same event as the HMS Bounty in St. Petersburg. Warnings of this monstrous system that was Sandy, dubbed “Frankenstorm,” came early. For Capt. Moreland, there was no question that no ship should be out to sea in this weather. No way could Sandy be skirted around or avoided. Capt. Moreland stayed put in Halifax.
Yet the HMS Bounty’s owner claims that the problem was not the storm, but that something went wrong on board.
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| Hurricane SANDY yesterday morning, 10/29/2012 |
"The ship's course out of Connecticut took it due east to try to avoid the oncoming hurricane Sandy. Early on Sunday, the crew felt it had skirted the danger: A Facebook post showed the ship's position on a map well to the east of the storm's fiercest winds.
They were mistaken. The ship was close to the tail end of the hurricane as it whipped up the Atlantic coast."
Reports of generator failure followed, and the ship started to take on water. Pounding seas have a way to mess up the machinery!
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| From the Bounty's Facebook Blog on 10/28 Bounty Update 10/28...So far so good ! Bounty's move to the east avoided all the storms up the Atlantic Coast. Bounty has now positioned herself to pass on the west side of Hurricane Sandy. Again the "Blue" outline is Sandy proposed track. Last reported postion : N 34 degrees 38' W 073 degrees 21' Speed 8 knots |
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| Hurricane Sandy, yesterday morning, 10/29/2012 |
But Sandy was so big that it was impossible to run away from it, at least, not by going South. Perhaps Northeast… all the way to Europe! To seek shelter, many of our cruiser friends hunkered down in various hurricane holes in the Chesapeake: Onancock, Fishing Bay (by Deltaville), Mill Creek in Annapolis, or Norfolk. All rode the storm at anchor, some with 3 anchors, experienced winds up to 60kts, 6’ surge and lots of rain, but all are safe. They were better at anchor than at sea or docked at marinas.
Was the Captain of the HMS Bounty in a hurry to get to St. Petersburg for the Nov 10-11th event? Did he get over-confident in the capabilities of his ship? Did he really underestimate the strength and geographical scope of the storm? Eighteen-foot waves are nothing to sneer at. A nine hundred miles area of hurricane-force winds is a daunting picture. Will we ever know what happened?
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| Photo USCG |
One last comment. Kudos to the U.S. Coast Guard rescue swimmers and rescue crew. They are true heroes and once more put their own lives at risk to save lives of others. I couldn’t be any prouder of our own nephew, Andre Pinault, a Coastie in his own rights, now five years in the Corps. Good choice.
U.S.C.G.
DEDICATION – DEVOTION - SERVICE
What would you do have done in Capt. Walbridge’s place? Gone South? Holed up somewhere? Gone Northeast? I sincerely hope that the poor Captain will be plucked out of the sea, but even in a survival suit, chances are minimal. It’s a sad day for all yachties, racers and cruisers alike.
The Black Pearlwent down to Davy Jones’ Locker… a tragic irony.
NOTE - The HMS BOUNTY made only short appearances in the Pirates of the Caribbean movie series. The BLACK PEARL was a floating set on a barge and looks quite different from the HMS BOUNTY. A 12-year old British boy noted the difference while touring the BOUNTY in 2007.
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| The Black Pearl movie set |
Until next time
dominomarie
