NavList:
A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
From: Don Seltzer
Date: 2012 Nov 15, 18:24 -0800
On another forum, I put together a plot of the Bounty's course combining it with the track of Sandy.
http://www.hmssurprise.org/Photos/Short/BountySandy.jpg
All times are UTC
On the 26th when the Bounty was heading south from Connecticut, the
hurricane's center was still in the Bahamas, moving slowly. I have
seen some reports that the intention was to skirt the storm to the
east, but the ship's path on the 27th was mostly south with only a
slight easting, making about 8 knots. Sometime later on the 27th, the
decision seems to have been made to change course to the SW. Sandy at
this time was off northern Florida and starting to pick up speed.
It looks like the crisis began on the afternoon of the 28th, when the
two tracks reached their closest point east of North Carolina. The
Bounty probably had strong tail winds, but may have been bucking the
Gulf Stream. Between 1800 Oct 28 UTC and 1133 Oct 29, the track
turned SE, perhaps due to lost of propulsion.
The last photos of the Bounty show it with just the lower masts, and a couple of dangling topmasts. Photos taken of the Bounty leaving New London show it sailing with fully rigged with topmasts and topgallant masts on the fore and main.
Don Seltzer
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