Hi Mark,

...if they might have been thinking that mounting a salvage attempt might be in the works... I don't recall Charlie ever addressing this issue, but it could have been feasible. They were not THAT far offshore, after all - would have been expensive, no doubt, but that boat was worth some serious money, so perhaps not out of the realm of possibility? Perhaps the folks at Alpha, or the insurance company, were still assessing that possibility at that time?

Although I do recall Charlie saying that given the amount of water the boat was taking on, he expected it to sink eventually...

One other difference I see between the 2 incidents, and the decision whether or not to scuttle the respective boats... To me, an evacuation by helicopter - especially one operating at the far limits of its range as was being done with BE GOOD TOO - seems a FAR riskier operation than one to a ship standing by. Seems a much higher chance of something going pear-shaped with a helo evacuation, where they might have to abort the mission before all 4 could have been gotten off. In that event, I think you'd still want to be able to await rescue aboard a boat that still had all its thru-hulls intact... (grin)

best regards,

Jon