That was a 180' ship, not a small boat, and 16 people aboard sounds like a bare-minimum crew even for a modern automated ship.

And large ships do not seek port in a hurricane's path. They'll just be beaten to pieces against the dock and then deposited inland. Even scuttling it in port ahead of time planning on salvage later seems wishful thinking, although I think it's done as a last resort sometimes.

The ship left port last Thursday to void the storm. I haven't seen mention of when the critical equipment failure (steering?) occurred. SOS was Sunday evening. Not clear when ship was abandoned.