# Was sailing the HMS Bounty through this storm as stupid as it seems to a layman? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 29, 2012, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-sailing-the-hms-bounty-through-this-storm-as-stupid-as-it-seems-to-a-layman/639260 "2012-10-29T20:56:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2012, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-sailing-the-hms-bounty-through-this-storm-as-stupid-as-it-seems-to-a-layman/639260/21 "2012-10-30T03:44:38Z")
> [@billfish678](#): > > Read a bunch of accident reports. Be they rock climbing, scuba diving, hiking, mountain climbing, aviation related, engineering diasters blah blah blah. Such a pattern is quite often there. I agree, in part; it is usually a chain of events that leads to such things. But tall ship crews don’t discount things for being a pain in the ass. Hard work is expected. They aren’t the sort to look for shortcuts in getting things done. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2012, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-sailing-the-hms-bounty-through-this-storm-as-stupid-as-it-seems-to-a-layman/639260/22 "2012-10-30T04:51:16Z")
Isn’t 50 years pretty old for a wood hull ship? In Capt. Bligh’s day, the “Bounty” would have gone to the knackers at 30 or so. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2012, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-sailing-the-hms-bounty-through-this-storm-as-stupid-as-it-seems-to-a-layman/639260/23 "2012-10-30T05:12:30Z")
Strawberries take a terrible toll on a ships hull. ---
**Author:** ![chacoguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/50afbb/32.png) [@chacoguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chacoguy)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2012, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-sailing-the-hms-bounty-through-this-storm-as-stupid-as-it-seems-to-a-layman/639260/24 "2012-10-30T05:20:02Z")
[Shit, one of them is confirmed dead; the Captain is still missing.](http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/10/29/14775512-14-rescued-1-dead-and-1-missing-after-hms-bounty-sinks-off-nc-coast?lite) ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2012, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-sailing-the-hms-bounty-through-this-storm-as-stupid-as-it-seems-to-a-layman/639260/25 "2012-10-30T05:22:17Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > Isn’t 50 years pretty old for a wood hull ship? In Capt. Bligh’s day, the “Bounty” would have gone to the knackers at 30 or so. Flipping through the ships Bligh commanded on wikipedia, a decent number of them seemed to have been kept sailing for fifty years or more. And I suspect the modern Bounty lived a much easier life then tall-masted ships back in Blighs day. And a lot of restoration work was done on it a decade or so ago. So fifty years hardly seems unreasonable. ---
**Author:** ![SandyHook](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dec6dc/32.png) [@SandyHook](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SandyHook)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2012, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-sailing-the-hms-bounty-through-this-storm-as-stupid-as-it-seems-to-a-layman/639260/26 "2012-10-30T05:50:17Z")
Is this the same Bounty that they used in the last “Mutiny on the Bounty” movie? If it is then Ms Hook and myself took a ride on it in Sydney harbour a few years back. It was a real hoot. I’m sorry to hear it’s gone. ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2012, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-sailing-the-hms-bounty-through-this-storm-as-stupid-as-it-seems-to-a-layman/639260/27 "2012-10-30T06:12:40Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > Eh? Bummer! > > …This is the first I’d heard of this! Waah! The ship visited San Diego some years ago, and I took the tour. They had an actor playing Captain Bligh; he gave little lectures on Navigation, Sail Handling, etc. (Yes, including Lifeboat Survival!) Lifeboat survival, I understand, was Bligh’s specialty. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2012, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-sailing-the-hms-bounty-through-this-storm-as-stupid-as-it-seems-to-a-layman/639260/28 "2012-10-30T13:47:29Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > My understanding is that engine trouble was the primary culprit; no engine to drive her nor power for the bilge pumps. Well, engine failure wasn’t necessarily a problem in and of itself- after all, it was a square-rigged sailing ship. If the engines drove the pumps, then yeah, that might have been the nail in the coffin. Basically, with a big sailing ship like that, if you’re far enough from land and can keep your pumps going, the real trick is to keep from getting thrown on your beam ends or losing your masts or rudder or some other vital part of the ship. Of course, with a 16 person crew, it wasn’t probably as easy (not that it ever was) as it might have been with the original HMS Bounty carrying a much larger crew. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2012, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-sailing-the-hms-bounty-through-this-storm-as-stupid-as-it-seems-to-a-layman/639260/29 "2012-10-30T13:56:07Z")
> [@SandyHook](#): > > Is this the same Bounty that they used in the last “Mutiny on the Bounty” movie? Yes. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2012, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-sailing-the-hms-bounty-through-this-storm-as-stupid-as-it-seems-to-a-layman/639260/30 "2012-10-30T14:20:12Z")
Yes, but only because the 1984 Mel Gibson film was titled “The Bounty”. The ship that just sank was built for the 1962 Marlon Brando film. The newer ship is still around, now based in Hong Kong. > [@UncleRojelio](#): > > I’m a little pissed that they sunk that ship. I know it’s a replica and all but there just aren’t that many tall ships around for them go about sinking them willynilly. Who is this “they” who sank her? The captain and crew? I’m pretty sure they were doing their utmost \*not \*to sink her. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2012, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-sailing-the-hms-bounty-through-this-storm-as-stupid-as-it-seems-to-a-layman/639260/31 "2012-10-30T14:30:36Z")
How bizarre, I’d just clicked on [www.tallshipbounty.org/](http://www.tallshipbounty.org/) to get her history and it loaded normally. One of the side links was “Follow our blog as we sail up the East Coast, 2012.” A second later that and the main link suddenly became “temporarily unavailable.” ---
**Author:** ![Donnerwetter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Donnerwetter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Donnerwetter)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2012, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-sailing-the-hms-bounty-through-this-storm-as-stupid-as-it-seems-to-a-layman/639260/32 "2012-10-30T14:39:26Z")
I wonder if those who are responsible will receive the cat o’ nine tails. ---
**Author:** ![Toucanna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3bc359/32.png) [@Toucanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toucanna)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2012, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-sailing-the-hms-bounty-through-this-storm-as-stupid-as-it-seems-to-a-layman/639260/33 "2012-10-30T15:02:02Z")
Bear in mind that the area in which the _HMS Bounty_ (replica) sank is known as [The Graveyard of the Atlantic](http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graveyard_of_the_Atlantic#_). ---
**Author:** ![Jim\_s\_Son](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19adc/32.png) [@Jim\_s\_Son](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_s_Son)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2012, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-sailing-the-hms-bounty-through-this-storm-as-stupid-as-it-seems-to-a-layman/639260/34 "2012-10-30T15:56:50Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > Isn’t 50 years pretty old for a wood hull ship? In Capt. Bligh’s day, the “Bounty” would have gone to the knackers at 30 or so. If they are maintained properly, no, not really. In U.S. Coast Guard history, the most famous ship was “Bear”, a 198 foot three masted wood barquentine, It was built in 1874 and 70 years later was used in World War II in the Northeast Atlantic Greenland patrols (it was originally built as a sealer and saw extensive use in the polar regions, as well as bringing aid to victims of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. It also captured the first vessel by US forces in World War II, the German ship Busko. If you maintain these things properly, the can last a long time (like the USS Constitution and HMS Victory). But that means plenty of work in chipping, painting, cleaning barnacles and other marine life off the hull, etc. > **[USS Bear](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Bear_(1874))** > > USS Bear was a dual steam-powered and sailing ship built with six-inch (15.2 cm)-thick sides which had a long life in various cold-water and ice-filled environments. She was a forerunner of modern icebreakers and had a diverse service life. According to the United States Coast Guard official website, Bear is described as "probably the most famous ship in the history of the Coast Guard." > Built in Scotland in 1874 as a steamer for sealing, she was owned and operated from Newfoundland for ten yea... ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2012, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-sailing-the-hms-bounty-through-this-storm-as-stupid-as-it-seems-to-a-layman/639260/35 "2012-10-30T16:14:56Z")
> [@Jim\_s\_Son](#): > > [USS Bear - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Bear_(1874)) Fixed [link](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Bear_(1874)). ---
**Author:** ![leftfield6](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leftfield6/32/18780_2.png) [@leftfield6](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leftfield6)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2012, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-sailing-the-hms-bounty-through-this-storm-as-stupid-as-it-seems-to-a-layman/639260/36 "2012-10-30T22:53:07Z")
She got caught in the storm when there was a combination of bad things that happened, not through, as far as we can tell now, any negligence. [ul] [li]she was a sea before the storm was formed into a threat[/li][li]she was in a part of the Atlantic known for unpredictable storms[/li][li]failure of the engine, which in turn meant no electrical water pumps to pump out the storm water[/li][/ul] The fact that she was at sea is, oddly enough, actually not such a bad thing. When a hurricane approaches port, ship captains must make hard decisions about speed and direction of approaching storms. The worst place for a ship to find itself is in the eye of a major hurricane, but the second worst place is the harbor. “The term Safe Harbor doesn’t pertain to storms the size of Hurricane Sandy,” says Captain John Konrad, who has experienced hurricanes first hand. “The safest place for a ship is out to sea and as far away from the storm as possible.” From this [story.](http://www.forbes.com/sites/gcaptain/2012/10/29/how-do-large-ships-deal-with-massive-hurricanes/) Given that the article is referring specifically to steel hulled ships, but the same rules apply to tall ships. Oddly enough, if the Bounty replica had the completely manual style of water pumps that the original Bounty had, she would probably be afloat today. ---
**Author:** ![sqweels](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f19dbf/32.png) [@sqweels](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sqweels)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2012, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-sailing-the-hms-bounty-through-this-storm-as-stupid-as-it-seems-to-a-layman/639260/37 "2012-10-30T23:17:50Z")
Not exactly “The Quicker Picker-Upper”. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2012, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-sailing-the-hms-bounty-through-this-storm-as-stupid-as-it-seems-to-a-layman/639260/38 "2012-10-30T23:21:38Z")
At another forum a guy did a back of the envelope calculation and estimated 10 gallons per second was gushing in. That a buttload of water to manually pump out. ---
**Author:** ![Bam\_Boo\_Gut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8c91f0/32.png) [@Bam\_Boo\_Gut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bam_Boo_Gut)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2012, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-sailing-the-hms-bounty-through-this-storm-as-stupid-as-it-seems-to-a-layman/639260/39 "2012-10-31T00:19:33Z")
[http://dallasmorningviewsblog.dallasnews.com/2012/10/should-the-bounty-have-headed-out-to-sea-yes-absolutely.html/](http://dallasmorningviewsblog.dallasnews.com/2012/10/should-the-bounty-have-headed-out-to-sea-yes-absolutely.html/) ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2013, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-sailing-the-hms-bounty-through-this-storm-as-stupid-as-it-seems-to-a-layman/639260/40 "2013-03-30T15:49:12Z")
[CNN.com](http://CNN.com)’s detailed story on what happened, and the aftermath: [Life and Death on the Bounty](http://www.cnn.com/interactive/2013/03/us/bounty/?hpt=hp_c1) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-sailing-the-hms-bounty-through-this-storm-as-stupid-as-it-seems-to-a-layman/639260.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-sailing-the-hms-bounty-through-this-storm-as-stupid-as-it-seems-to-a-layman/639260.md?page=3)