NavList:

Has anyone seen a version of this story that details WHEN the first mate suggested that they abandon ship? If it was 24 hours or even 12 hours earlier, that might have made a difference (it would probably have saved two lives though the ship would still have been a total loss), but if only an hour, then no. On the other hand, the storm was moving away from the loss site by the time the actual rescue began. Conditions might have made abandoning ship much more dangerous as little as 12 hours earlier.

There is a detail in the news reporting of the testimony that strikes me as a typo or an error somewhere along the way. It says that Walbridge suggested sailing to the southeast quadrant of the storm for safety, but for a "normal" hurricane travelling north, the southwest would normally be the safe side --and that's just where they were when the ship sank --far to the southwest of the storm center.

It's very interesting that the rumors about rot have been confirmed. There are always rumors that "she was rotten" when a wooden ship sinks, but in this case they were more believable. The trouble with rot is that you can only see the surface. The damage can be deep, and unless you drive a nail into it, the depth of the rot can be misleading. A healthy wooden vessel can weather hurricane conditions. A rotten one will simply fall apart.

-FER

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