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Law

Hearings On HMS Bounty's Sinking Begin

WUNC | By Gurnal Scott
Published February 11, 2013 at 10:39 PM EST
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A federal safety panel will open hearings on the sinking of a tall ship during Hurricane Sandy last October.  The H-M-S Bounty set out to sea from a Connecticut port to outrun Sandy before it grew into the superstorm that slammed the northeast.  The crew had to abandon ship in 30 foot swells before the tall ship sank just off Cape Hatteras.  One crew member died.  The body of the the ship's captain was never recovered.  Coast Guard spokesman Lieutenant Mike Patterson says eight days of hearings are scheduled to find out what went wrong.

"One of the most important things is that the Coast Guard in cooperation with the N-T-S-B is conducting a thorough investigation," Patterson said.  "So that we completely understand everything that played a role in leading up to this so that we can hopefully prevent incidents in the future."

The Coast Guard is not expected to release a final report on the Bounty's fate for several months.

Law
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Gurnal Scott
Gurnal Scott joined North Carolina Public Radio in March 2012 after several stops in radio and television. After graduating from the College of Charleston in his South Carolina hometown, he began his career in radio there. He started as a sports reporter at News/Talk Radio WTMA and won five Sportscaster of the Year awards. In 1997, Gurnal moved on to television as general assignment reporter and weekend anchor for WCSC-TV in Charleston. He anchored the market's top-rated weekend newscasts until leaving Charleston for Memphis, TN in 2002. Gurnal worked at WPTY-TV for two years before returning to his roots in radio. He joined the staff of Memphis' NewsRadio 600 WREC in 2004 eventually rising to News Director. In 2006, Raleigh news radio station WPTF came calling and he became the station's chief correspondent. Gurnal’s reporting has been honored by the South Carolina Broadcasters Association, the North Carolina Associated Press, and the Radio Television Digital News Association of the Carolinas.
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