The tall ship Bounty's sinking was a tragic event around which many questions swirled. Why did the captain take the Bounty into the path of Hurricane Sandy? What was the condition of the vessel? What did the USCG inquiry find out? I have been following Mario Vittone's insightful coverage of the Bounty hearings on gCaptain. This is the link to the gCaptain page covering the hearings. Start at "Rotten Frames." This is a very good, and sobering read. This is the link to Mario's website.
Thanks for the pointer; that's an excellent journal of the investigation.
ReplyDeleteMain lesson: we can't see our own incompetence until it smacks us in the face (or closes over our heads). Beware, incompetence is always there just waiting for you to cross the invisible border between skill and guesswork.
Speculation: Skipper was under extreme pressure to make his next port on schedule. It's hard to imagine any other reason for such a poor decision. That or (as a comment on gCaptain points out) possibly it was case of mistaking a long run of good luck for skill.
Mario V's writing was so compelling that I added mention of Bounty's fate to my discussion of risk evaluation and mitigation. It may be of some interest here because the increasing number of people hitting "the big red button" would suggest a lot of recreational sailors are having trouble figuring out risk at sea.
ReplyDeletehttp://alchemy2009.blogspot.ca/2013/02/more-risky-business.html
Sorry if I'm taking a liberty, but we appear to read the same things!