An expert in tall ships said he won't ever know what was going on in the mind of the Bounty's captain, Robin Walbridge. But he would not have made that same fateful choice.
Bert Rogers of Tall Ships America said of about 50 similar ships in Atlantic ports, none but the Bounty set sail with Sandy looming in the Atlantic.
Also today, testimony showed the Bounty captain who headed south toward Sandy was asking for hurricane forecast tracks from an office manager. Tracy Simonin said she'd never done that before, and started hunting the Internet for information.
The Bounty ended up cutting right in front of the massive storm, baffling many sailors who said it had no business at sea in weather like this. Simonin testified that the official Bounty Facebook posts, including some shouting down critics of the risky voyage, were posted from Illinois, by a crewman's father.
And the online bravado, that a ship was safer at sea, turned out to be wrong. The Bounty was broken by the storm. It sank, taking the captain and crew member Claudene Christian. The rest of the crew was rescued.
Related:
Coast Guard hearings underway to investigate sinking of HMS Bounty
Coast Guard hearing on the sinking of the HMS Bounty begins this week
Coast Guard to hold formal hearing on HMS Bounty sinking
Reports: Decision to take HMS Bounty out during storm may have been motivated by money
Coast Guard to conduct investigation of HMS Bounty
HMS Bounty’s last days chronicled on Facebook
Coast Guard continues to search for missing captain of HMS Bounty
Oklahoma woman one of the missing crew from the HMS Bounty
UPDATE: Coast Guard recovers body of missing HMS Bounty sailor, captain still missing
