NavList:

Here's a link to the complete NTSB report:
http://www.ntsb.gov/doclib/reports/2014/MAB1403.pdf

Brad, you wrote:
"Pretty much what I stated back around the time of the incident, although some here took issue with that."

The story is somewhat more complex --and interesting-- than your first account, but you were certainly correct that Captain Walbridge deserved all the blame. It was his bad decision to sail. Your immediate analysis that they "knew" how big the storm was before they sailed, and that this was the only issue, was not correct.

Also, when did you yourself learn that the vessel was un-seaworthy, or barely seaworthy? Though I had heard a rumor (literally in a bar) of that on the night of the storm (and dismissed it as a rumor), the profound extent of decay was not revealed until the hearings in the Spring.

I haven't read through the complete report yet (linked above --I will later this evening). Does it indicate that this voyage of the Bounty was scheduled to be its absolute last? That it would either be condemned in New England (and probably scrapped or scuttled) or sailed to Florida that week at the latest to become a pier-side attraction? Does it mention that this would probably be Walbridge's very last opportunity to command a tall ship? He took that opportunity, that's for sure, putting his own adventure, his own joy in sailing, ahead of the safety of his crew. And we can reasonably conclude, I believe, that he committed suicide when he saw how utterly his judgement had failed him.

-FER

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