As the Coast Guard continues its investigation into the Oct. 29 sinking of the HMS Bounty during Hurricane Sandy, questions are still being raised about the loss, which claimed two lives.
A central question: Why did veteran Bounty Capt. Robin Walbridge decide to leave New London, Conn., rather than stay in port when what would become perhaps the largest storm ever to form in the Atlantic Basin was forecast to move up the East Coast?
“A ship is safer at sea than in port!” Bounty’s Facebook page said two days after the ship left New London.
“The whole idea of going out and jousting with a hurricane unless you’re running away from one or being overtaken by one and have no option is just plain mind-boggling,” Capt. Jan Miles, one of the captains of the 157-foot topsail schooner Pride of Baltimore, recently told Soundings.
In this edited interview — recorded this summer by Belfast (Maine) Community TV — Capt. Walbridge, who was lost in the sinking, discusses sailing in heavy weather, including hurricanes.
Click play to watch. Click here for the full 28-minute interview.
Look for a report on the loss of the HMS Bounty in the January issue of Soundings magazine.
