The Virginian-Pilot
©
Rescuers and colleagues held out hope Wednesday that the captain of the tall ship HMS Bounty was still alive in his ocean survival suit after being washed overboard during Hurricane Sandy on Monday morning.
As the search for Robin Walbridge continued into its third day, with Coast Guard cutters and aircraft scouring the waters 145 miles southeast of Cape Hatteras, N.C., the Bounty's owner held out a second hope - that he might still save the 52-year-old seafaring vessel, too.
Robert Hansen said in a phone interview with The Virginian-Pilot that he had hired a private ocean tug to try to salvage the Bounty if the Coast Guard spots the vessel. The ship began sinking during the storm and was last seen Tuesday with its masts still poking up from the ocean's surface.
"We are pulling together a team," said Hansen. "If (the Coast Guard) can locate the ship, we will dispatch the tug immediately."
Lt. Cmdr. Jamie Frederick, a Coast Guard spokesman, said ships and aircraft searching for Walbridge had not spotted the Bounty on Wednesday, raising the possibility that the replica ship had completely sunk.
Two Coast Guard cutters searched for Walbridge overnight Tuesday, and aircraft were added to the search at daylight. The Coast Guard said that relatively warm waters and the fact that Walbridge was wearing a survival suit keeping him warm and afloat made it conceivable he could still be alive.
The Bounty set sail last Thursday from Connecticut and began taking on water off the coast of North Carolina, as Sandy made its way up the East Coast. The ship's propulsion failed Sunday evening, and overnight the generator powering the bilge pumps failed, stripping the ship of its ability to pump out water.
The crew abandoned ship before dawn Monday morning. Hours later, in harrowing winds and waves, the Coast Guard hoisted 14 crew members to safety from life rafts.
Walbridge and another crew member, Claudene Christian, 42, of Vian, Okla., were washed out to sea. Christian was recovered later that day and pronounced dead at a hospital.
Walbridge, 63, has been commander of the Bounty for 20 years.
"He's a strong guy," Hansen said. "If he's out there, we'll find him."
Hansen said the crew had been through a rough time and he was trying to connect them with their families.
"Our first priority is trying to help our crew," he said. "They have tremendous healing to do."
Dianna Cahn, 757-222-5846, dianna.cahn@pilotonline.com
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I believe the first thing . . .
The first thing the owner should ponder is that hopefully the CG will find the captain alive. The second thing the owner should ponder is why they decided to leave port on Thursday when everyone on the planet knew a devastating hurricane will be working it's way up the coast.
Redskin please read all the accounts regardoing this ship's
movement's. Everyone who has viewed the accounts know why they headed out to sea when they did. Stop second guessing, nothing more frustrating than 'monday morning quarterbacks', and yes let us all pray for a positive outcome regarding the captain. God Speed. I congratulate the owner for pondering salvage of this historic - irreplaceable Tall Ship, I hope he will.
You are wrong with your logic
The poster, HM, did a better job of making my point. The crew could be safe and sound in port. Screw what happens to a REPLICA while in port. There is nothing physically historical about this particular boat. It's a replica. And without anyone knowing my background, I will maintain it was a very poor decision, whomever's it may be, to leave port.
And check out the chart of Bounty's track
it shows Bounty had passed ahead of the storm and had made good progress on its intended route. As a Sailor, ships of all sizes, for the most part, are safer structurally at sea. Things happen but having seen a ship pierside get significant damage simply by being pushed onto the pier (little force at all) and ridden out a Super Typhoon at sea on a flat bottom ship I'd rather take my chances at sea.
Ships are safer at sea
Ships are safer at sea during a storm. That part is true. However, the ships crew is not.
The Trade of Being A Mariner Has & Will Always Be Dangerous
Everyone on that crew was a VOLUNTEER. As such, they new the dangerous of going to sea in a killer Hurricane. It is easy to be a armchair quarterback and second guess the Captain's decision. Remember the saying, "Ships of Wood and Men of Iron". All we can hope, is that the Captain is found, hopefully alive, although the odds of it are getting smaller and smaller due to the temperature of the water.
Yep
The ocean floor is littered with wooden ships and their crews that thought the same thing!! Oh, and btw, USCG licensed Capt for 23 yrs and the Captain was negligent! Steel ships 250ft+ are safer at sea, NOT wooden ships. Read one of the former crew's FB post.......he would have never gone because the pumps were always stopping up and breaking down!
les.ferguson: ...however...
...if a ship sinks in 25 feet of water alongside a dock and none of its crew is missing at sea until rescued by the superb U.S. Coast Guard, any repairs it might face are far less expensive than an at-sea salvage, or the unlikely possibility of an attempt to retrieve it from Davy Jones' locker. No matter what was expected and reported on this voyage, the fact remains the ship encountered heavy weather and foundered as a result.
you do not take kids sailing into a hurricane
this Captain was nuts. I do not care what his experience. He was the only nut out there and he got people killed. It really is as simple as that. Danger was forcasted BEFORE he left the dock. To sail into this with an old leaky wood boat is a death wish. He could maybe even at the last minunte ducked into the Deleware or Ches Bay and even gotten some help.
Are you kidding, Can you read the map corrdinates and time?
Based upon the plots of the HMS Bounty's position as of Sunday afternoon as listed on it's web site AND based upon reports from Noaa buoys in the area And based upon other NOAA radar and satellite pictures, the HMS Bounty managed to position itself in the very thick of a Hurricane.
And yes ships are generally safer at sea. However ships that go to sea or are at sea when a severe storm comes AVOID, AVOID, I repeat AVOID the storm. The US Navy, the Coast Guard and merchant ships of various sizes DO NOT RIDE OUT THE STORM. I repeat they avoid the storm and plot courses AWAY from the storm.
http://thechronicleherald.ca/novascotia/156771-picton-castle-captain-questions-bounty-being-at-sea-during-storm?utm_source=website&utm_medium=banner&utm_camp
Have at it!
The bottom of the ocean is littered with bones of people that thought exactly the same as you!
Comment deleted
Comment removed for rules violation. Reason: Personal attack, name calling
Why no EBIRP?
Why didn't he have an EBIRP? Especially heading out in Sandy?
For future use it's EPIRB
it stands for Emergency Positioning Indicating Radio Beacon.
E P I R B
Read this story to see what another tall ship captain has to say:
http://thechronicleherald.ca/novascotia/156771-picton-castle-captain-questions-bounty-being-at-sea-during-storm?utm_source=website&utm_medium=banner&utm_campaign=most_read
I imagine the captain
took his orders to sail directly from owner Robert Hansen.
If he did
For his sake I hope he has passed! That is one of the worse things a captain can do. He and he alone is responsible for the safety of his boat and crew. Every Captain must do that first and foremost. I personally said NO to my boss many times, he gets mad and I quote the CFR to him and he shuts up.
Missing Link
There's a missing link in this story. If the Coast Guard is continuing its search for the ship, I hope Hansen or somebody is going to pay for it.
there is no link.
I don't believe the article says they will be searching for the vessel, but would report to him should they happen to spot it. No one should have a problem with that, it is part of the service the CG provides.
On a side note, I still haven't heard anything as to whether this 16 man crew's survival suits included an attached distress beacon. A well spent 8 to 16 grand or so if you ask me.
Instead of funeral costs for dead crew member?
The owner will pay for salvage efforts while the family of Claudene Christian seeks donations to pay for her funeral costs.
Actions speak louder than
Actions speak louder than words, Mr. Hansen!
The owner of the Bounty has not been helping the crew! My cousin is a crew member. The Red Cross has been putting the survivors up in a hotel and bought them dry clothes.
Check the HMS Bounty's Facebook page. There are many posts by family members of other survivors and some by crew members. The owner and office have not been in contact with the families, although reporters have been. The owner and his employee have had only very limited contact with the survivors themselves.
Hansen has not helped the survivors with the cost of the hotel or meals. Nor has he reimbursed the Red Cross. I doubt he is paying for the search and rescue missions.
Astoundingly, Bounty's Facebook page is now ask
Bounty Owner Asks for Donations
The Bounty's owner is asking for donations on Facebook to take care of the survivors and the families of Capt. Walbridge and Ms. Christian.
The survivors have had to rely on the generosity of the Red Cross for food, shelter, and dry clothes.
Yet the owner has hired a salvage tug and is ready to go recover the ship. Unbelievable!
Doesn't seem the owner
can even be bothered to solicit donations. If so, there would be a prominent statement from him on the Bounty's Facebook page or Web site.
It's unconscionable to hire a salvage tug amidst an active search for the captain & multiple reports the owner is not caring for the surviving crew & the families of the dead & missing.
Even worse PR & only fuels speculation about the fate of the crew & the ship, for sale since 2010. By mid-Mon., the sentence that it is for sale was deleted on Bounty's Wikipedia page vs. simply changed from "is" to "was" like other entries.
Hansen's"I Want My Ship Back" interview rivals BP CEO's Tony Hayward's "I Want My Life Back" after the Gulf Oil Spill. Can't he even pretend to care about the lives and well-being o
SAME OLD CYA
Hansen is playing the old CYA game. He's not in contact with the survivors or the deceased's family or paying for any relief for them because he knows that anything he says or does can and will be used aginst him in the inevitable civil suits that will be filed at any moment. His pronouncements about hiring a salvage tug cost him nothing and are just window dressing so that he appear concerned about something other than when he'll receive his check from the insurance company.