The final report won;t be out for several months, but this recap on CNN's website. Life & Death on the Bounty is revealing. It seems that the engine room and probably the bilge was cluttered with bits of wood and sawdust from recent repairs. And that the debris prevented the bilge pumps from working effectively.

There are other contributing factors, such as the captain's decision to head out to sea in the first place, why did he cut in front of the storm instead of continuing eastward to skirt it, did the ribs that were showing signs rot fail, and why were there so many inexperienced crew members?

One line really caught my attention was with regards to training,

Quote:
For Sprague, it was her first time ever inside a life raft. Deployment and inflating, the crew would later say, wasn't part of their training.


A re-occuring message that comes across in Doug;s writings and on this forum is that you must be totally familiar and practice survival skills. The first time you start a fire with a Magnesium fire starter should be in your backyard and not lost in the woods in a snow storm.

I can see where it would cost prohibitive to inflate rafts for each new recruit. Are there ways for new recruits to receive such training, like rentals at marinas?
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Willie Vannerson
McHenry, IL