Lessons from the Sinking of the Bounty
Capt. Robin Walbridge assembled his crew of 15 sailors on the deck of the Bounty—a 180-foot tall ship built for the 1962 movie Mutiny on the Bounty starring Marlon Brando. It was Thursday, October 25, 2012, and Walbridge knew the crew was hearing reports of an approaching hurricane named Sandy. He called the crew together for two reasons: First, to tell them he still planned to set sail from New London, Connecticut, to St. Petersburg, Florida, and second, to clarify that they were under no obligation to join him.
He explained to his crew that “a ship is always safer at sea than at port,” and that he intended to sail “around the hurricane.” Not a single sailor took the captain up on his offer to leave the ship.
Four days into the voyage, Superstorm Sandy collided with the Bounty. The vessel’s failing pumps could not keep up with the incoming water. The power on the ship flickered on and off as it was beaten and rocked by hurricane-force winds that spanned an area of more than 800 miles. A few hours later, in the dark of night, the ship suddenly overturned 90 miles off the North Carolina coast, sending the crew tumbling into an ocean awash with crushing, 30-foot waves.
The sailors were both lucky and was taking on water several hours before it capsized, launched a C-130 search plane into the storm. When the C-130 arrived on scene, the crew could only communicate by short-range radio. After circling the ship, the aircraft pilot suddenly heard these words over the radio: “We are abandoning ship! We are abandoning ship!”
