Armed Polite Society
Main Forums => The Roundtable => Topic started by: Ben on January 03, 2019, 10:55:26 AM
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The boat of Abby Sunderland, the 16 year old who made a failed attempt to be the youngest round-the-world sailor was just found off the coast of Australia after eight years (she survived and was rescued at the time of the capsizing).
Interesting part of the story: The thing is floating around for over eight years, then a few days after being discovered, "appears to have sunk" as per an Australian official. More than likely it was purposely sunk as a hazard to navigation (which, hey, is a legitimate concern). However they had notified her that it was found, and she apparently wanted to attempt salvage of if not the hull, stuff possibly still on board. I would have thought once notification was made, she would have been given some time for salvage, or if nothing else been made responsible for mitigating the hazard.
https://www.foxnews.com/world/californian-sailor-welcomes-discovery-of-yacht-in-australia
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Way out theory / plot:
Something valuable on board like "travelin' money" (gold?), she wanted it back, discoverers of the wreck figured they couldn't just steal it, so they sunk it so they could use "salvage rights" by third-party confederates to get it?
Shades of "Sea Hunt" plot lines, no? "Mike Nelson" (Lloyd Bridges) would be proud. And his client would be another one of those voluptuous hourglassey babes they seemed to like on that show.
<Homer voice> "...Mmmmmm... wet suits...." </Homer voice>
I gotta have more coffee in the AM before I post stuff like this.
Terry
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I doubt it sunk on it's own, It's been floating for 8 years. Unless the Aussie Navy/Coast Guard/Police sank it like Ben said. But the story says they think it sank. They just couldn't find it again the next day.
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They just couldn't find it again the next day.
That's also a distinct possibility. We tracked capsized boats on occasion for the Coast Guard since we were flying in the area anyway, and those little ones are hard to spot when they're upside down, even when you have an approximate lat/long. I wouldn't be surprised if somebody in the Aussie govt sent a helo out, couldn't find it in a reasonable time, and instead of expending more fuel, headed back to the barn with an, "I guess it sunk". :)
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It will be back but next time it will have pieces of MH370 attached making it that much harder to spot. [tinfoil] ;)
bob
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I doubt it sunk on it's own, It's been floating for 8 years. Unless the Aussie Navy/Coast Guard/Police sank it like Ben said. But the story says they think it sank. They just couldn't find it again the next day.
Hard to tell. I tried to destroy and sink a capsized boat once and that SOB wouldn't sink even after being rammed. I also went down to a dock once to meet a couple of Coasties about a boat we thought was going to sink if something didn't get done. While we were talking I heard a bubbling noise, turned around and the damn thing sank right there in front of us.
The question I have is did she have insurance and if she did, did the insurance company settle up?
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From what I remember from following her attempt at the time, her yacht had enough flotation foam to have positive buoyancy and was theoretically incapable of sinking.
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I know that on the gator freighter our surface guys delighted in immediately sinking any captured or derelict vessels. Probably because they were bored and hey 25mm.
Cubans several hundred miles from anything wanting gas and maps? Sink it. Free Ride back to Fidel land, gee thanks.
Somali pirate skiff? Sink it, well maybe. Okay, so you brought it in the well deck to gather Intel. Did Intel indicate there were live RPGs and giant cockroaches? Yeah, how about not bring that in the house. Also of note, a fiberglass and foam little boat will embarrass the world's finest navy, they don't sink easily.