Gregory A. Freeman - The Gathering Wind: Hurricane Sandy, the Sailing Ship Bounty, and a Courageous Rescue at Sea

ALSO BY GREGORY A. FREEMAN

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First published by New American Library,

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First Printing, November 2013

Copyright Gregory A. Freeman, 2013

Title page photograph copyright Nejron Photo/Shutterstock Images

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REGISTERED TRADEMARKMARCA REGISTRADA

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA:

Freeman, Gregory A.

Hurricane Sandy, the sailing ship Bounty, and a courageous rescue at sea/Gregory A. Freeman.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN 978-1-101-63518-6

1. Bounty (Ship: 1960) 2. ShipwrecksAtlantic Ocean. 3. Search and rescue operationsAtlantic Ocean. 4. United States. Coast GuardSearch and rescue operationsAtlantic Ocean. 5. Hurricane Sandy, 2012. I. Title.

G530.B687F74 2013

910.9163'48dc23 2013025288

PUBLISHERS NOTE

While the author has made every effort to provide accurate telephone numbers and Internet addresses at the time of publication, neither the publisher nor the author assumes any responsibility for errors, or for changes that occur after publication. Further, publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party Web sites or their content.

T O R OBIN W ALBRIDGE AND C LAUDENE C HRISTIAN

We chase hurricanes.

B OUNTY C APTAIN R OBIN W ALBRIDGE , A UGUST 2012

According to Captain Robin Walbridge, Bounty has no boundaries. As her captain, he is well-known for his ability and desire to take Bounty to places that no ship has gone before.

THE FIRST LINES OF W ALBRIDGE S BIOGRAPHY ON THE B OUNTY S W EB SITE

P RINCIPAL C HARACTERS

(Ages at the time of the Bountys sinking)

B OUNTY

Robin Walbridge, 63, captain

Robert Hansen, 58, owner

John Svendsen, 41, chief mate

Matthew Sanders, 37, second mate

Daniel Cleveland, 25, third mate

Laura Groves, 28, bosun

Christopher Barksdale, 56, engineer

Adam Prokosh, 27, able seaman

Douglas Faunt, 66, deckhand and radio officer

Claudene Christian, 42, deckhand

Jessica Hewitt, 25, deckhand

John Jones, 29, deckhand

Drew Salapatek, 29, deckhand

Joshua Scornavacchi, 25, deckhand

Anna Sprague, 20, deckhand

Mark Warner, 33, deckhand

Jessica Black, 34, cook

C OAST G UARD

Lt. Wes McIntosh, 33, pilot of the first Coast Guard plane on the scene

Lt. Mike Myers, 36, copilot of the first Coast Guard plane

Lt. Commander Peyton Russell, 39, pilot of the second Coast Guard plane to arrive

Lt. Aaron Cmiel, 28, copilot of the second Coast Guard plane

Lt. Commander Steve Cerveny, 43, pilot of the first Jayhawk helicopter

Lt. Jane Pea, 31, copilot of the first Jayhawk

Aviation Maintenance Technician 3rd Class Michael Lufkin, 25, flight mechanic on the Jayhawk piloted by Cerveny and Pea

Aviation Survival Technician 2nd Class Randy Haba, 33, rescue swimmer on Cerveny and Peas Jayhawk

Lt. Steve Bonn, 44, pilot of the second Jayhawk helicopter rescuing survivors

Lt. Jenny Fields, 26, copilot of the second Jayhawk

Aviation Maintenance Technician 1st Class Neil Moulder, 38, flight mechanic on Bonn and Fieldss Jayhawk

Aviation Survival Technician 3rd Class Daniel Todd, 27, rescue swimmer on Bonn and Fieldss Jayhawk

Aviation Survival Technician 2nd Class Casey Hanchette, 29, rescue swimmer on the third Jayhawk, which recovered Christian

Aviation Maintenance Technician 1st Class Ryan Parker, 34, flight mechanic on the third Jayhawk, the one that recovered Christian

Commander Kevin Carroll, 41, U.S. Coast Guard lead investigator

I NTRODUCTION

IN OCTOBER 2012 a famed tall sailing ship and its crew were on a collision course with Superstorm Sandy, the largest hurricane ever recorded in the Atlantic Ocean, the storm that would go on to wreak devastation on the East Coast. In a remote Coast Guard station, brave men and women were about to be called to action. This is their story.

The accounts of individual crew members on the Bounty and of the Coast Guard rescuers are woven together from personal interviews with the author and their testimony at the U.S. Coast Guard hearings. All dialogue and internal thoughts portrayed in the story are based on what those people reported saying, hearing, or thinking at the time.

The precise sequence of some events in the last few days of the Bountys trip are difficult to know with certainty. All of the ships written logs were lost in the sinking, and the memories of Bounty crew members differ on some details regarding the time lineespecially on Saturday and Sunday, when the crisis escalated quickly. During their sworn testimony before the Coast Guard panel investigating the incident, many of the Bounty crew struggled to remember even what day certain events occurred; some were off by several days when relating known events. The author used his best judgment when testimony and other information conflicted.

A note regarding the name of the ship: The original ship was the HMS Bounty, because it was a British navy vessel and the HMS designates His (or Her) Majestys Ship. The ship that sank October 29, 2012, was an American-flagged civilian vessel and thus named Bounty, not HMS Bounty. But because it was a replica of the original ship and carried forth the history of that British vessel, it was commonly known as HMS Bounty.

C HAPTER 1

SURVIVORS

THIRD MATE DANIEL Cleveland was grateful to find a wooden grating from the