Alright - I'll concede that I didn't know it actually had it's own engines and had been modernized. I'm in no way a sailor, and wouldn't ever claim to be an expert on any of this stuff.

My deepest sympathies for the families and friends of the two who did not make it. At the time of my post, it sounded fairly promising they were close to getting all the crew to safety.

I think it was a case of poor risk assessment. I understand it's fairly common practice to take ship out of port when a strong storm is coming.

As I see it, there were two scenario's here...

#1 - Leave the boat tied up.. Risk - it might get damaged but I would think that at worst sink in shallow water. No lives put at risk.

#2 - Take her out, ride out the storm and hope everything goes well and come back with a heck of a story. Risk - The boat going down in deep water, forcing a SAR mission, risking the crew and the SAR team's lives as they try to pluck you from the waters.

It's too bad it turned out the way it did, the crew looked VERY shaken up.