That sounds awfully consistent with the initial reports, which were more about how the ship tipped and sank, and less about visible weather.
I think it’s terrible that guests and crew perished in this tragedy. Having a harder time getting worked up over a dead billionaire, though. Seems like Old Scratch came to collect on his contract.
It’s a horrible tragedy and unpreventable. A storm this large will capsize any boat. There was nothing the Captain or crew could do. Except leave the area before the storm approached. That would be the owners decision.
I haven’t read a lot. But the inquiry sounds like they want to scapegoat the Captain and surving crew. What can anyone do in a hurricane except run for the lifeboats?
I read the report that the storm was expected. I’m not convinced any measures like locking doors works on a powerful harricane.
Most boats haul ass to a safe harbor. I’ve seen boats on Deadliest Catch do that several times. The huge waves in the Bering Sea would be comparable to what the Superyacht faced.
The Captain may be in fault for not leaving. But what if the owner said No? The owner is the boss.
The so-called “lifting keel” was an interesting aspect of this boat. It’s generally in the form of a hinged keel that can be extended to form a full-length fin keel, or raised to reduce draught in shallow waters.
If the keel was raised when a strong storm was expected, this was probably not good practice, but I don’t really buy the Post’s assertion that it “could have led directly to the … sinking”. It may have contributed to a small reduction in stability, but probably not enough to be a significant contributor to the boat capsizing. Lift keels are generally attached to a very heavy grounding plate in the hull that typically weighs more than the keel itself, the plate plus the raised keel providing a righting moment in essentially the same way as a heavy but short shoal keel. The proximate cause of the sinking was almost certainly something else, perhaps the sudden intrusion of large amounts of water through improperly secured hatches.
He hired Clifford Chance US LLP, but he really needed Daniel Webster.
Objection. Assumes facts not in evidence.
It’s going to be a difficult inquiry with Mike Lynch dead. Seems logical that he or someone representing him hired and paid the crew.
The Captain could have said screw you and taken the boat to a safe harbor. Then quit.
I hope there’s witnesses that heard any conversations with Mike Lynch. Maybe he wanted to leave and was reassured the boat was safe?
Nowhere but here, in your post, have I seen claims that there was simply no way to survive this. It’s not just a matter of who was empowered to order the ship to go somewhere else. It’s a very open question as to whether, for example, securing hatches and other openings (basically, shutting all the doors and windows) or keeping engines running for added control, might have been sufficient to avoid catastrophe. Basic precautions when warned of the possibility of severe weather.
I completely agree that it’s necessary to lock all the windows and hatches. Anyplace where water can get in has to be secured. Get out the lifejackets and be ready to use the lifeboats.
The passengers shouldn’t have been in the lower decks. They needed quick escape access. But remember you can lead a horse to water but can’t make them drink. These passengers were very rich and privileged people with minds of their own.
I wasn’t there and didn’t experience the storm. But experts say it was very bad. A large ship has the weight to ride it out. Apparently a Superyacht couldn’t.
I have personaly experienced tornadoes. I ran to my grandparents shelter many times. Seen large trees uprooted and roofs blown off.
It’s not even the consensus that this was a waterspout, as I noted just a few posts up.
I also have the impression, based on a number of sources and other discussions in this thread already, that although bad weather was expected, a freak storm was not. And, again, it’s not even clear if this was a freak storm. It is possible that only basic precautions were warranted, that no extraordinary measures (such as mustering people to prepare to abandon ship) were warranted, and that merely taking basic precautions would have been enough.
There are so many unknowns that, even as someone who spent 14 years in the Navy and served on small boats and ships ranging in size from patrol vessels to aircraft carriers, I would be loathe to arrive at any firm conclusions at this point.
I would like to know how it us that you do seem to be so confident as to what caused this incident or what could or could not have prevented it.
I’m not confident at all. My initial impression is based on the reports. This seems like a severe storm where the smaller boats would make a run to a safe harbor. The large ships batten down the hatches and ride it out.
I could be completely wrong. It’s just an early impression. I may have a different opinion after the witnesses and experts testify.
This isn’t worth arguing over now. Lets wait for the information.
@asl_v2.0 I respect your experience.
Shouldn’t boats like this be able to survive and resurface from being completely submerged to some small depth?
I’ve seen that happen on Deadliest Catch. The boat disappeared and then came through the water. The waves are huge. It’s always interesting to hear the Captain decide if he’ll risk riding it out.
But ASL has first hand experience. He’s been on ships in storms.
At least they didn’t have to bust ice off the deck in Italy.
35 ft waves will tighten anyones sphincter.
1 min 30 sec
Link https://youtu.be/sor5KTqNdxk?si=ydiEqccnSMNsMFWO
It’s interesting how the sea can be choppy and it lulls people into thinking the storm isn’t too bad. Then bam!
I’ve seen that episode. That hit cracked the bow. Sig had to go into harbor for repairs.
Obviously his boat is much smaller than a Superyacht.
I think we simply don’t know, yet. There was a nearby boat of about the same size that survived, and participated in the rescue of survivors. So it’s not true that it was impossible for the boat to stay afloat. But the crew might not have had the information they needed to do that. Or there may have been a very localized gust that did them in. There’s a reason there’s an investigation, and they’ve neither charged the captain nor exonerated him.
James Cutfield, a 51-year-old New Zealand national, is under investigation for possible manslaughter and culpable shipwreck charges and was questioned for the third time by the Termini Imerese prosecutors Tuesday.
It was a 184’ boat; that’s more than 60 yards long.
I’m not sure what the offiical minimum length is for large ship but this sure as 'ell ain’t no small boat.
WAG The yacht is very large. Freaking Huge compared to my bass boat. I believe the crews rarely encountered big storms. This was a pleasure cruise with pampered guests. They don’t want to lean over the rails vomiting their caviar, Kobe beef steak, and Dom Pérignon. I’d expect the captain to steer towards the calmest waters when possible.
Commercial vessels are there to work. Sometimes that means taking risks to meet a fishing quota or delivering cargo on time. Their crews see rough weather frequently.
Decades ago, I was living in Davis CA when there was a storm with a downburst. It took out two trees and part of a roof. The rest of the neighborhood was untouched. If your house was in the storm, it was fine. If your house was hit by the downburst: damage.
The news went on and on for days about it being a downburst and not a tornado.
Now they call it a microburst.
Yup. Science moves on. Two trees and part of a roof is not large.
I don’t believe there is such a bright line, but FWIW I was half-tempted to correct a user who referred to the activities on it as “boating.” I didn’t precisely because there is no bright line rule that I know of, and it’s a minor point regardless, but I suspect that when the US Coast Guard talks about safe “boating” practices, this ain’t the sort of thing they are talking about. They’re talking day trips on a speed boat or similar small vessels operating just off shore or in coastal waters for a mater of hours at a time. This, by contrast, was an ocean-going vessel with accommodations for multi-day trips at least. Call it a boat, call it a ship, but what you do with it ain’t “boating” to my mind.
I just want to emphasize that while I do have more experience in nautical matters than I suspect the vast majority of posters here, I highlight that experience not to backup affirmative conclusions, but to emphasize just how uncertain this all is. Because while I do have a fair amount of experience, I know next to nothing about the characteristics of this particular vessel. While I have served in vessels of comparable size, they were of very different construction and, notably, did not have a giant mast rising high up out of the water and a retractable keel. I have no idea, for example, what sort of reserve buoyancy, metacentric height, or righting arm this vessel had or what sort of sea state it could handle.
Maybe it was just poorly designed. Maybe this was a freak storm that had localized gusts far more severe than could have been reasonable anticipated. Maybe the crew failed to take basic precautions that could have kept the ship afloat or at least delayed sinking for long enough for more people to escape. Maybe the crew didn’t receive weather reports. Maybe it didn’t heed them. Etc, etc.
So many unknowns at this stage, other than that something bordering on a very large boat or a small ship—but an ocean-going vessel nonetheless—capsized with loss of life when at least one smaller nearby vessel managed to stay afloat without suffering any damage.
My experience is not nearly enough to lead me to a firm conclusion. But it is enough to know that I don’t know what I don’t know. And if I can’t be confident what happened at this stage, I don’t know how anyone else with less experience can be confident either.
But I think least probable of all (plausible) explanations will be one involving some kind of hubris on the part of the owner. Much as I’d like to blame a billionaire (or his spouse) for the billionaire’s own death (because I hate billionaires and all that).