You are currently browsing the tag archive for the ‘Hurricane Sandy’ tag.
Rendering: Garrison Architects via Architizer
When Sandy blew through last October, familiar beach facilities like lifeguard stations and changing rooms were destroyed. Now 7 months later, area beaches are racing to replace them before the Memorial Day weekend, the traditional start of the summer season.
Rendering: Garrison Architects via Gizmodo
Manufactured in Pennsylvania, 37 modular, steel-framed stations will be placed on 15 sites in Rockaway Beach, Queens, Coney Island and Midland beaches in Brooklyn, and Wolfe’s Pond Park and Cedar Grove, Staten Island.
Rendering: Garrison Architects via Architizer
The galvanized steel modules can be configured into lifeguard stations, comfort stations and offices for operations. They will be elevated to FEMA’s storm standards, with ramps and stairs providing access to the beach and the boardwalk.
Rendering: Garrison Architects via Architizer
From Architizer: Garrison Architects and the New York City government are coming to the rescue with a series of modular beach facilities to be deployed around May 25. The pavilions, 37 in total, are being manufactured in Pennsylvania and will be delivered as single pieces to their respective sites. Conforming in size to interstate trucking limits, the pavilions will house comfort stations, lifeguard stations, and offices for Parks Enforcement Patrol and Maintainence and Operations Staff.
Built on pre-installed concrete piers, the pavilions will sit at or above FEMA’s revised Advisory Base Flood Elevations (ABFEs). This in addition to the selected material palette will ensure the pavilions’ resistence to future storms.
by Mai Armstrong for Working Harbor Committee
AP Photo via The Telegraph
Last October, we were hit hard by Super Storm Sandy, which affected many vulnerable spots all around the harbor. Working Harbor Committee ahas developed a new series of narrated Hidden Harbor Tours® that focus on climate change and protective measures from sea-level rise being discussed by government, private institutions and citizens.
Presenting Beyond Sandy, Keeping The Conversation Alive- a series of special Hidden Harbor Tours® exploring the many issues and plans arising from Super Storm Sandy, from the Working Harbor Committee. Select expert speakers from government agencies, private industry, think tanks and universities, will discuss ideas like massive sea gates, building beach dunes, wetlands restoration, modification of flood zones, re-imagining our infrastructure, updated flood mapping and much more.
Tour 1
- May 21, June 18 , July 16, August 6, September 3
Tour 1: High Seas on the Inner Harbor: From Wall Street to Snug Harbor
This tour is from the Verrazano Bridge to Hoboken, including Brooklyn, Staten Island, New Jersey, The Statue of Liberty & Ellis Island. See where giant sea gates are proposed.
Tour 2
- May 28, June 25, July 23, August 20, September 17
Tour 2 – Fire, Floods and Floating Containers: East River – Hell Gate to Governors Island
This tour traverses the East River from Queens to Governors Island, including the East Side of Manhattan, Newtown Creek & Brooklyn Navy Yard. See the site of the giant electric sub-station explosion.
Tour 3: Tuesday – 4 June
- June 4, July 2, July 30, August 27, September 24
Tour 3 – Protecting Our Ports: From Red Hook to Newark Bay
How the working harbor fared & helped. This tour traverses Kill van Kull to Newark Bay, including container terminals, oil docks, tug yards, & rail yards. Learn how close we came to a goods delivery crisis.
From PRWEB: Starting May 21, 2013 through September, every Tuesday, tri-state area residents and visitors are in for a true adventure this summer as they embark and enjoy Hidden Harbor Tours® aboard the luxury yacht Zephyr, and are taken behind the scenes to see the inner workings of the bustling New York Harbor. New for the 2013 summer season is the tour series: “Beyond Sandy, Keeping The Conversation Alive” featuring three different areas of interest each week with noted speakers and charities onboard (see website for full list). The exciting and educational tours are presented by the Working Harbor Committee (non-profit) in partnership with the New York Water Taxi/Circle Line Downtown.Tuesday sailings depart at 6:30pm from Pier 16 South Street Seaport, New York, New York (Fulton Street and South Street).
Photo: ©Mitch Waxman / NewtownPentacle.com
“Beyond Sandy” tours provide three themed sailings as follows:
- Tour 1: High Seas on the Inner Harbor: From Wall Street to Snug Harbor;
- Tour 2: Fire, Floods and Floating Containers: East River – Hell Gate to Governors Island;
- Tour 3: Protecting Our Ports: From Red Hook to Newark Bay.
Additionally, Hidden Harbor Tours will feature its popular Newark Bay Tour and North River Tour on select Tuesday sailings as well. Pricing: Adults $39, Seniors $32, Children ages 3-12 $25, Under age 3 are free. Ticket information and full tour schedule visit: https://www.circlelinedowntown.com/tours/hidden-harbors, 212-742-1969 by phone or http://www.workingharbor.org. Zephyr, a luxury yacht, features two fully enclosed decks, plus an open-air roof deck – all decks boast panoramic views. A portion of the ticket price goes to the Working Harbor Committee to support its programming.
Featured Speakers: Captain John Doswell, Working Harbor Committee; Chris Ward, Executive Vice President, Dragados USA; formerly with The Port Authority New York & New Jersey; Helena Durst, President, New York Water Taxi; Lucy Ambrosino, Outreach Manager of Port Commerce, The Port Authority New York & New Jersey; Dr. Philip Orton, legendary research scientist, Stevens Institute of Technology, New Jersey; and Jill Eisenhard, Executive Director, Red Hook Initiative. Read more here…
by Mai Armstrong for Working Harbor Committee
The Jet Star roller coaster in Seaside, adrift in the ocean. Photo: The Star-Ledger
The Jet Start roller coaster plunged into the Atlantic ocean last October when Sandy disintegrated the Seaside Heights boardwalk beneath it. Last week, the owners of Casino Pier finalized a contract with Weeks Marine to remove the rusted, storm-twisted amusement before Memorial Day.
From the Star-Ledger: “Yes, we do have a contract,” said Toby Wof, spokeswoman for the Storino family, which owns the Casino Pier where the roller coaster was located.
Weeks Marine transporting the Space Shuttle Enterprise and the shuttle-hoist crane. Photo: Jim Henderson via wikipedia
Wolf said there’s no set date yet for the start to the roller coaster’s removal. She said Weeks first needs to conduct a hydrographic survey to determine “the exact placement of everything down there and water depths.”
That process, which is dependent on good weather, could take a couple of weeks to complete, Wolf said. The actual dismantling of the coaster and the three other rides that plunged into the ocean with it should take about a week if the weather cooperates, she said.
The Jet Star roller coaster sits in the ocean off Seaside Heights. Photo: John O’Boyle/The Star-Ledger
Wolf declined to disclose the value of the contract for Weeks.
Borough officials have said they want the coaster — which has become a huge tourist attraction — out of the ocean before Memorial Day weekend and Wolf said they’re still on target for that goal. Read more here…
by Mai Armstrong for Working Harbor Committee
Cornell and Rutgers researchers have published an article reporting that Arctic sea ice melt appears to have contributed to Hurricane Sandy’s intensified strength and caused the superstorm to veer from her anticipated course and head straight for our area.
Professor Charles Greene connects Superstorm Sandy to the severe loss of summertime Arctic sea ice. Photo via Cornell Chronicle
From the Cornell Chronicle: The article, “Superstorm Sandy: A Series of Unfortunate Events?” was authored by Charles H. Greene, Cornell professor of earth and atmospheric sciences and director of Cornell’s Ocean Resources and Ecosystems program; Jennifer A. Francis of Rutgers University’s Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences; and Bruce C. Monger, Cornell senior research associate, earth and atmospheric sciences.
The researchers assert that the record-breaking sea ice loss from summer 2012, combined with the unusual atmospheric phenomena observed in late October, appear to be linked to global warming.
Atmospheric conditions during Hurricane Sandy’s transit along the eastern seaboard of the United States, including the invasion of cold Arctic air into the middle latitudes of North America and the high-pressure blocking pattern in the northwest Atlantic. Image: Cornell University Via ThinkProgress
A strong atmospheric, high-pressure blocking pattern over Greenland and the northwest Atlantic prevented Hurricane Sandy from steering northeast and out to sea like most October hurricanes and tropical storms from the Caribbean. In fact, Sandy traveled up the Atlantic coast and turned left “toward the most populated area along the eastern seaboard” and converged with an extratropical cyclone; this, in turn, fed the weakening Hurricane Sandy and transformed it into a monster tempest.
Superstorm Sandy’s extremely low atmospheric pressure and the strong high-pressure block to the north created violent east winds that pushed storm surge against the eastern seaboard. “To literally top it off, the storm surge combined with full-moon high tides and huge ocean waves to produce record high water levels that exceeded the worst-case predictions for parts of New York City,” write the researchers.
After the convergence of tropical and extra-tropical storm systems, the hybrid Superstorm Sandy made landfall in New Jersey and New York, bringing strong winds, storm surge, and flooding to areas near the coast and blizzard conditions to Appalachia. Image: Cornell University via ThinkProgress
Greene, Francis and Monger add: “If one accepts this evidence and … takes into account the record loss of Arctic sea ice this past September, then perhaps the likelihood of greenhouse warming playing a significant role in Sandy’s evolution as an extratropical superstorm is at least as plausible as the idea that this storm was simply a freak of nature.”
by Mai Armstrong for Working Harbor Committee
Sandy floodwaters rising over Pier 16 on October 29th, 2012. Photo via South Street Seaport Museum’s facebook
Last October, Hurricane Sandy flooded miles of coastline along the eastern seaboard. The South Street Seaport area was hit hard by a 8+ foot storm surge – corrosive seawater flooded every building, historic and modern alike. More than 6 months later, our friends in the hardest hit neighborhoods are still treading water, struggling to navigate Sandy’s aftermath. Confusion about how to get relief and whether you qualify for help, has made the road to recovery very slow. Time is running out. Many businesses have gone belly up, unable to hang on until help arrives. Now, even the South Street Seaport Museum has had to close her galleries.
The day after Sandy, the museum is underwater. Photo via SSSM facebook
From DNAinfo: The South Street Seaport Museum has shuttered its Sandy-damaged galleries, unable to bankroll the historic building’s expensive temporary heat and power systems while permanent repairs to the building are made. The exhibition space at 12 Fulton St. — which was inundated with corrosive flood waters that destroyed the escalators and elevators, along with heating, electrical and air-conditioning systems — was closed as of Sunday, the museum announced on its website.
The museum’s other location, Bowne & Co. Stationers, a recreation of a working 19th century printing shop at 209 Water St. — which also sustained hurricane damage — will remain open, according to the museum.
After the waters receded. Photo via SSSM facebook
After Hurricane Sandy, the museum managed to reopen the Fulton Street galleries in late December with generator power but without elevator or escalator service. The museum’s collections were spared from flooding because they were on the upper floors. At the time, the museum launched a Sandy relief fund and said total permanent repairs would cost more than $22 million. With the help of a $500,000 check from an anonymous donor, and other funds, the museum raised more than $800,000 as of January.
But museum officials soon learned that an infusion of cash that they were hoping for from FEMA would take years to arrive and that temporary repairs could preclude the museum from getting those funds.
With no working elevators, museum staff and volunteers moved historic artifacts lovingly up several flights of stairs. Photo via SSSM facebook
“First, we were nicely told [by FEMA] that we were a non-essential non-profit, which dropped us to the bottom of lots of their lists,” the museum’s general manager, Jerry Gallagher told member of the City Council’s Committee on Cultural Affairs on Feb. 28.
“We were told that those temporary repairs we contemplated would preclude future reimbursements for a full reinstallation of the systems, either in the basements or at some higher level.”
“We are plucky and feisty, but we now feel powerless to remain open,” he added, asking the City Council and the Economic Development Corporation for help.
SSSM staff and volunteers worked tirelessly to repair and reopen the museum galleries after Sandy’s devastation. Photo via SSSM facebook
Without proper heat and humidity control in the building, especially in the approaching summer months, the collections — including rare ivory carvings, marine paintings and ship models — are in danger, Gallagher said, and may have to be moved if they aren’t protected. It remains unclear when the Fulton Street galleries will reopen, but museum officials said they will focus on the Water Street space for now.
“The galleries within 12 Fulton will remain closed until the building’s systems are replaced, and we do not have a timeframe for that,” said a museum spokesman. “It is a complicated process because the building’s systems need to be moved out of the basement, and they cannot be relocated upstairs without ruining the historic fabric of these narrow, early 19th century buildings.”
The museum is still collecting donations for its relief fund.
by Mai Armstrong for Working Harbor Committee
Bounty. The mere mention of her name brings prickles of tears to my eyes. I still can’t believe that she and two precious souls are lost forever. The hearings to determine what transpired on that fateful day have been a kaleidoscope of disbelief and heartbreak.
HMS Bounty. Photo: yachtpals.com
gCaptain has been following the investigative hearings closely. Follow the links for their Bounty hearings coverage:
- Day 1: Chief Mate Testifies
- Day 2: Rotted Frames on Bounty
- Day 3: Testimony Highlights the Complexity
- Day 4: The Illusion of Experience
- Day 5: Sins of Omission
- Day 6: The Cost of Waiting
- Day 7: The 17th Passenger
- Day 8: The Whole Truth
Captain John Doswell. Photo: Mitch Waxman
Our own Captain John Doswell, expressed his feelings on the tragic event:
I only met Robin twice, two different times, both as Bounty was moored next to the fireboat on previous visits, and then by email several times, mostly about OpSail (we tried to get Bounty in the parade). When the vessel sank and many were quick to damn him, I held back and said let’s wait for the investigation, let him rest in peace. As a writer in Sea History Magazine said, “If he made a mistake, he paid the ultimate price”. But now it seems like a long series of mistakes and bad judgments, some going back months & even years. Hopefully, as the Coast Guard intends, the lessons learned from this tragedy will be helpful in saving future ships and lives. The final report will come out in CG Proceedings Magazine soon, which I get and will pass on at that time.
I do recall the first visit several years ago when Bounty was visibly and shockingly in bad shape. I went below decks. For the movie the steel frames had been covered with fiberglass fake wood, and one was cracked allowing me to see inside to the frame itself. She was generally dirty and not well-kept. Spars were broken and drooping, dirt everywhere. Robin admitted the boat was in bad shape but said he was about to embark on an ambitious plan to upgrade everything.
HMS Bounty. Photo: Tahiti.com
I saw her again a few years later and indeed she looked much better, almost like new. I think this was after the movie so some $ had been spent. She did manage to run her bowsprit into the back of the stage on Pier 66 – but eventually managed to land alongside John J Harvey. I went aboard again and everything I saw looked good, but I did not do a complete tour below decks, engine room, etc. The testimonies above are shocking to me. I would not have guessed any of that.
Sobering reading. It’s important to remember, Bounty was not a normal case. I believe most tall ships are very well run and I would not hesitate to sail on one in blue water. Bounty was a sad exception. In fact a close friend and also a captain, Maggie Flanagan, will be sailing on two in March, first on the USCG Cutter Eagle, then on Mystic Whaler, and I’m not in the least apprehensive.
As for Robin, I could not draw any conclusions from the two times I actually talked to him. I liked him. But, as Mario said, tall ship crew members and captains are very easy to like & admire. As damning as the hearings are at the moment, you have to assume he meant well and somehow lost sight of reality.
HMS Bounty and Fireboat John J Harvey at Pier 66 Maritime. Photo: Working Harbor Committee
Here is a pic from the 2nd visit – about 2-3 years ago I think – looking very shipshape.
Out of sight, a little damage to her bowsprit from hitting the stage building as she was trying to land. I was there, along with Krevey.
Eventually, after about 30 minutes, she got herself turned around with no tug or push boat to help.
Rest In Peace Claudene Christian. Photo: ClaudeneChristian.com via twitter
Rest In Peace Captain Robin. Photo: Dave Souza via the Herald News
Our heartfelt prayers to the families and friends of their lost loved ones.
Sailors Prayer
by Charles D. Williams
Sailors pray,
For fair winds and a following sea
The smell of salt in the air,
The feel of their skin as it’s touched by the spray
An albatross soaring above,
Dolphins in the ship’s wake at play
To witness a work of art that only God can create,
The sunset at the end of day
At night a million stars in the sky,
Safe anchorage in an islands lee
When the time comes to die as for all it must,
To awake in Sailors Heaven where nothing ever rusts
And always there would be,
Fair winds and a following sea
by Mai Armstrong via Captain John Doswell for Working Harbor Committee
When Hurricane Sandy’s surge rushed through the South Street Seaport flooding everything in sight, high-end retail stores and historic landmark buildings alike were inundated. None was spared her wrath.
The high water line at South Street Seaport after Sandy. Photo: Sloane via Instragram
Now, four months later, the aftermath of Sandy is still apparent. Nearly 85% of the businesses remain closed due to the super storm. The Daily News reports that the once thriving South Street Seaport is a ‘ghost town’. Every store on Fulton Street is still closed for business. With shops closed, the seaports main shopping thoroughfare usually filled with throngs of tourists is deserted. It has been estimated that approximately 450 jobs have been lost in the seaport area.
Apartment buildings are virtually empty, stores are stripped to the studs and their windows boarded up, once busy restaurants are silent – hobbled by ruined electrical and heating systems. The neighborhood surrounding the seaport is dark and deserted.
Boarded up shops at New York’s South Street Seaport in November. Nearly four months after Superstorm Sandy, many of the historic district’s businesses remain closed. Photo: Tina Fineberg/Associated Press via The Daily News
From The Daily News: “People have no clue that this corner of Manhattan has been hit so badly,” said Adam Weprin, manager of the Bridge Cafe, one of the city’s oldest bars that sits on a quiet street near the seaport. “Right now, it’s a ghost town and a construction site.”
From its red wood-frame building in the shadow of the Brooklyn Bridge, the Bridge Cafe has dealt with its share of changes over the last two centuries, including stints as a Civil War-era brothel and a bootlegging speakeasy during Prohibition. It has endured economic slumps, nor’easters and the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. But after the basement was flooded to the rafters and water destroyed the building’s wood foundation, Weprin faced the prospect of shutting its doors for good.
“The neighborhood’s been beaten,” Weprin said. “You walk around here and it’s like Chernobyl. At night, it’s vacated.”
The Bridge Cafe – NYC’s oldest drinking/eating establishment. Photo: Steve Garza via Forgotten-NY
The high-rises fared no better, although the corporations were more financially able to relocate their businesses away from water-logged buildings. As of Feb. 13, 10 major buildings are still without power and are operating on emergency generators, according to ConEd. Phone and internet service is very spotty. 10% of Verizon’s customers still have little to no service, underground cables having been destroyed by the corrosive salt water flooding.
All 27 floors of 110 Wall Street remains empty, leases were terminated because the building was so badly damaged by flooding. 2 Gold Street, a residential tower with around 1,000 tenants, couldn’t allow occupants to move back in until last week.
From The Daily News: “These offices, these high-rise apartments, they need to be reoccupied,” said Lee Holin, who owns Meade’s Restaurant, which sits on the edge of the seaport a few blocks from Sandy-damaged skyscrapers on Water Street. “All of our customers who live there have not been here in a long time.”
Meade’s was only able to reopen thanks to a $25,000 grant that Holin received from the Downtown Alliance, a neighborhood association that has doled out 100 grants to small businesses totaling about $1.5 million.
The grant program was so popular that it was suspended two weeks after its debut in mid-November.
Meade’s in the days after Sandy. Photo: Lockhart Steele via eaterNY
“We don’t have a lot of traffic,” said Nicole Osborne, who was tending the bar at Meade’s on a weekday afternoon. “It’s like we’ve been forgotten.”
In the darkened window of Stella Manhattan Bistro, an Italian restaurant on Front Street, hung an American flag reminiscent of those displayed all over the city after Sept. 11. Alongside it, someone had posted a sign that said: “Thank you for all your support. Stay strong.”
Stella Manhattan Bistro. Photo: ChristiNYca via Flickr
Most of the Front Street buildings had a geothermal heating and cooling system that was destroyed in the flood, said Jordan Barowitz, a spokesman for the developer, The Durst Organization, Inc. The repairs, which include moving the mechanical systems to the roof, are expected to drag on for months.
“We hope that they will come back,” Barowitz said of the shuttered businesses. “It’s very challenging.” Read more here…
by Mai Armstrong for Working Harbor Committee hat tip to Mitch Waxman
John B. Caddell aground after Sandy’s surge. Photo: Will Van Dorp
The John B. Caddell recently gained notoriety when she was grounded on a Staten Island street by Hurricane Sandy. In the following weeks, officials stabilized her hull and monitored her daily to ensure no residual oil spilled into the harbor.
John B. Caddell being lifted from Front Street on Staten Island. Photo: Will Van Dorp
Abandoned and unclaimed, she was lifted off the street six weeks after the super storm and nudged back into the water to be towed to DonJon Marine Company’s yard in Rossville, costing $25,000 in storage fees.
Now, she is headed for the auction block.
John B. Caddell. Photo: Will Van Dorp
From the Staten Island Advance: The city can now attempt to recoup that cash after a Staten Island justice declared the 72-year-old vessel abandoned and ordered it sold at auction to the highest bidder.
State Supreme Court Justice Philip G. Minardo instructed the city sheriff to set a minimum price of $25,000 for the ship. The 185-feet-long oil tanker can’t be sold for less.
In the event the bidding minimum isn’t met, the city is free to sell or dispose of the ship “in whatever manner it sees fit,” the judge ruled. He ordered that any remaining proceeds, after deducting expenses and salvage fees, be put into escrow for a year for “any true claimant.” Read more here…
by Mai Armstrong for Working Harbor Committee
Come hell or high waters, you can’t keep the Crab House down! The historic Long Island City restaurant reopened this week after being devastated by Hurricane Sandy four months ago.
Flooding destroying floors, furniture and memorabilia that decorated the walls of the Crab House. Photo: Ewa Kern-Jedrychowska via DNAinfo
From DNAinfo: The landmark Long Island City eatery reopened this week after it was destroyed by several feet of water during Hurricane Sandy — the second major disaster in the last few years at the restaurant, which was shut down for five months in 2009 after a fire.
“When this happened, it was sort of like, OK — again?” said Kris Mazzarella, whose father Tony Mazzarella opened the Waterfront Crab House at 2-03 Borden Ave. 36 years ago.
But when the October storm hit, it was less devastating than expected, she said, since the fire had already forced them through the rebuilding experience once before.
“We had done this before. We knew the steps that we were going to have to take,” Mazzarella said.
A group of regular customers dine at The Waterfront Crab House, at 2-03 Borden Ave. in Long Island City. Photo: Jeanmarie Evelly via DNAinfo
“We never took the victim mentality, like ‘Why is this happening?’ We never actually took that mentality at all. We were just like, ‘OK, let’s rebuild.’”
The restaurant, known for its seafood dishes and memorabilia-decked walls, has been almost entirely overhauled since the storm four months ago, with new floors, walls and a brand new bar.
“Everything was basically ripped out to the studs,” Mazzarella said. Read more here…
by Mai Armstrong for Working Harbor Committee
HMS Bounty sinking during Superstorm Sandy. Photo: USCG via gcaptain
Were Bounty’s timbers soft with rot?
From Navy Times: A replica 18th-century sailing ship that sank off North Carolina during Hurricane Sandy had a decaying frame with an undetermined amount of rot in it before leaving port, a Maine shipyard worker told federal officials Wednesday.
Todd Kosakowski told the panel that he showed Capt. Robin Walbridge the rot he found in the ship when his workers were replacing several planks at Boothbay Harbor Shipyard several weeks before the storm.
“I told him that I was more than worried about what we found,” Kosakowski said.
Rather than replacing the rotted wood — as Kosakowski said was the only way to fix it — the ship’s crew painted it over, he said.
Walbridge was “terrified” at what he saw, but he decided against removing additional planks to see how extensive the damage was and going ahead and replacing it, he said.
“It was very quickly shot down by the captain,” Kosakowski said. “That would have required a significant amount of time and money.”
Kosakowski said he was concerned about the ship’s condition when it left the shipyard and that he had advised Walbridge to avoid “heavy weather.” The ship would later head directly for the path of the hurricane before taking on water, losing power and rolling over as it tossed the crew into the Atlantic Ocean. Read more here….
HMS Bounty. Photo via YachtPals.com
What about “alterations” to the ship? Where they a factor in her loss?
From gcaptain: [Chief Mate] Svendsen testified about alterations to the ship’s construction arrangement in the yard period just prior to sailing that including the moving of fuel tanks and the addition of other tanks, new hatches, new tonnage openings and ladders, and all of it without Coast Guard or class oversight. The ship routinely sailed – according to Svendsen’s comments on Coast Guard evidence – with sails not in Bounty’s approved sail plan and carried removable ballast forbidden by the ship’s stability letter. Caulking on the ship’s plank seams and the replacement of planking raised eyebrows as well. But without access to all the evidence, it was hard to draw conclusions about what Svendsen was commenting on. There was a picture that none in the gallery could see and a reference to DAP and the number 33. Did the crew that caulked the seams of Bounty in the yards prior to sailing use house-grade DAP sealant on the planking seams? I don’t know. It seems more likely that they were bottom coating with Interlux 33 – but these are facts that were alluded to, not verified.
One rumor confirmed by Svendsen was that Bounty routinely needed bilge pumping in normal conditions. “We had to run the pumps once or twice during every four-hour watch.” Bounty made water – lots of it. During his last watch on the morning of September 28th – less than 20 hours before she went down – Svendsen said, ” the bilge pumps were running constantly.” Perhaps he attributed that to the sea state and water coming down from the weather decks, but he hit the rack just after noon thinking the ship was in good shape. Six hours later he was convinced that the ship was taking water through the planking at two spots on the port side (according to his testimony today). Six hours after that, he was alone in the Atlantic and swimming for his life. Read more here…
by Mai Armstrong for Working Harbor Committee hat tip to Dr. Roberta Weisbrod
