From the article, a message from the crew....
“...Bounty’s current voyage is a calculated decision ... NOT AT ALL ... irresponsible or with a lack of foresight as some have suggested. The fact of the matter is ... A SHIP IS SAFER AT SEA THAN IN PORT!”
I’ve always heard that as well. But I have to admit it seems like it would apply more to the ship than to the crew.
The article states that Bounty left a Connecticut port last Thursday. I wish it would have also included where the rescue occured. What route did the Captain choose? and how did the storm alter his planned escape route?
A ship may or may not be safer at sea, but the crew is definitely safer in the hotel bar . . .
an aircraft carrier or destroyer or heavy cargo ship is safer at sea, but this was a top heavy mockup of a square rigger wooden sailing ship, many of whose bones litter the graveyards of the Atlantic along our coast
“Pride of Baltimore” lost some years ago, though not from a forecast hurricane
Tragic miscalculation by the Captain, RIP
Not knowing the captain’s history or CG certificate, it is patently false to say a ship is better at sea. With the projected sea conditions and clear NWS and NOAA mariner’s warnings, the decision to go to sea may have been “calculated” based on something other than nautical facts and weather data. It will be interesting to learn where they were headed, because if it wasn’t South, hugging the coast..well.
In any case it is not true that a ship is safer at sea than in port (that phrase may have originated with ship’s captains trying to keep their sailors out of trouble in port).
To wit, from Navy Times— most of the major elements of the Naval Station Norfolk put to sea Friday 26 Oct.:
http://www.navytimes.com/news/2012/10/navy-norfolk-ships-to-sea-hurricane-sandy-102612
“A SHIP IS SAFER AT SEA THAN IN PORT!”
I am going to call BS on that one. The Elissa, Galveston’s tall ship, successfully rode out Hurricane Ike while moored at her berth in Galveston. There was an 18-foot storm surge — about 50% higher than reported in NYC. Further, Ike was a more violent storm than Sandy. It was Cat 2, borderline Cat 3.
Also, if you are going to ride out a storm at sea, best policy is to avoid the storm. That means sailing out well to the east — not through water shallow enough that the masts stick up above the water. They also could have gone north to Boston or even Halifax and waited Sandy out.
Sounds kind of like they were more concerned about meeting a schedule (Bounty was supposed to tie up in Galveston in November and stay over the winter) than anything else.