Coast Guard starts hearings on Bounty sinking

Posted on 12 February 2013

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The Coast Guard begins formal hearings today into the sinking of the Bounty at the Renaissance Portsmouth Hotel and Waterfront Conference Center in Portsmouth, Va.

The hearings, scheduled from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on weekdays, will run through Feb. 21.

The investigation will examine the facts and circumstances of the sinking and offer conclusions and recommendations to improve the safety and operations of other tall ships.

The National Transportation Safety Board also is involved and will recommend issues to explore, identify and examine witnesses and submit or request evidence.

The tentative schedule is:

• Today: HMS Bounty Organization LLC

• Wednesday: Coast Guard, Tall Ships America, Boothbay Harbor Shipyard

• Thursday: Surveyor for Bounty, Coast Guard Sector Northern New England

• Friday: Bounty crewmembers

• Monday: Bounty crewmembers

• Feb. 19: Bounty crewmembers (telephone interviews)

• Feb. 20: Bounty crewmembers, Tall Ship Picton Castle, Tall Ship Pride of Baltimore II (telephone interviews)

• Feb. 21: Coast Guard Marine Safety Center, Coast Guard Sector North Carolina

The 180-foot wooden ship went down 90 miles southeast of Hatteras, N.C., on Oct. 29 during Hurricane Sandy with the loss of two lives — her captain, Robin Walbridge, 63, and Claudene Christian, 42, great-great-great-great-great-granddaughter of Fletcher Christian, the mate who seized command in the 1789 munity on the original Bounty.

Engine and generator problems left the ship adrift though the night without enough power to pump out the seawater that was leaking into her bilge.

— Jim Flannery

Comments

3 Wednesday, 13 February 2013 12:56

By Bob Scott

Fuel contamination was my thought but I was told by someone who knows that the tanks (plural) were cleaned while at BBSY.

2 Wednesday, 13 February 2013 00:18

By Herb Baty

Actually it sounds like either the fuel became contaminated or the mechanic didn't know what he or she was doing!

1 Tuesday, 12 February 2013 21:35

By Roy Crittenden

Considering one of safe boat topics, "Situational Awareness", one would wonder if the Bounty should have ever left port with a storm like Sandy in the forecast.

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