That’s tough. Might have had a boss that said get out there however, a Captain is 100% responsible for his vessel.
Bit of an embarrassment doing all the work to become a Captain and then end up driving a duck boat around a lake.
That adds up to 170 years. That should do the trick.
At the first sign of the storm he should have instructed all his passengers to don life jackets and turned back. He did neither.
Why am I reading this in an English newspaper instead of an American one?
GOOD!, Maybe this will require this industry to make public SAFETY their FIRST priority.
The main problem was with the boat(s) itself. A real captain would never pilot such a dangerous craft in ANY conditions. (can you say “death trap”?)
Not to mention during a storm watch. Just looking at photos of these craft, you can tell they are not seaworthy or “pond” worthy.
Very little freeboard. Inadequate pumps for the likelihood of taking on water. Passengers TRAPPED under canopy.
” Hersman notes that the duck boat in yesterday’s incident also had a hard canopy roof as well as clear, plastic windows to protect passengers from wind and rain when it went down, which may have made it more difficult for those on board to escape. In addition, she says, investigators have flagged problems with the buoyancy of duck boats.”
“ROBERT MONGELUZZI: Duck boats are death traps.”
A REAL boat would not have sunk even in that weather. REAL boats, even pleasure craft, have to be seaworthy. Manufacturers EXPECT that you may encounter bad weather, DUH!
The CARELESS, CRIMINAL, operation of these boats is a disgrace.
Make “Duckboats” the Corvair of the boating industry.
“Unsafe in ANY weather”