: Well I can see the decision to leave port, as a ship is safer offshore- . . .

I wonder about the decision to sail, given the size of the storm, the small crew and the size of the vessel. The wave height at her last reported position was at least 18 ft so the wave length would have been comparable with the length of the vessel, a dangerous match. She might have been safer in harbor and the crew certainly safer ashore.

Bounty was 40 years old, rumored to be imperfectly maintained, had changed ownership and was up for sale again. Perhaps she wasn't fit for the trip; the equipment failures (loss of engines and generator) doomed her. At one time she was apparently under a scrap of sail, but with a crew that small they would have rapidly become exhausted trying to sail her in those conditions.