I have seen no evidence it sailed into or towards the hurricane.

It was heading south to a port in Florida out of the way of wherever the storm might go. At some point there was a major failure (steering casualty?) and the ship could not proceed.

At that point the questions were (1) could the failure(s) be repaired, (2) would the storm skirt close enough to threaten the ship? If No and Yes then the Captain would have to abandon ship once it was clear #1 would not happen before #2. I've seen no information as to how long they spent trying to effect repairs but they were apparently in communication at this time.

It's worth remembering that the forecast track of the storm changed substantially over the weekend. The planned course may have been well east of the forecast storm track when the ship departed. Having a storm change track into your stranded location is not the same as sailing towards a location the storm is known to be approaching.


One other thing to consider is that staying in port may not have been an option. The Harbor Master may have ordered larger ships out to sea. Wildman probably knows the rules here much better than the rest of us.