Letter From the Editor: An Imperfect Storm

Last summer, while surfing streaming services, I stumbled across director Wolfgang Petersen’s film adaptation of Sebastian Junger’s bestselling marine disaster story, The Perfect Storm. The film, which starred George Clooney, Mark Wahlberg, Diane Lane and others, was flawed in many ways, but visually compelling. A commercial swordfish boat called the Andrea Gail pushes far out into the North Atlantic from Gloucester, Massachusetts, and falls victim to heavy winds and seas from the convergence of a dying hurricane and a pair of strong weather fronts. None of the six crew survived, and the boat was never found.

Cut to August 19 of this year. I awakened in Montana on the first day of some R&R to a flood of emails from friends and associates with links to news stories about the sinking of the 184-foot Perini Navi Bayesian while the yacht was at anchor off Porticello on the north coast of Sicily. Fifteen of the 22 guests and crew were rescued. Seven, including the yacht’s owner, British tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch, his 18-year-old daughter, business associates and the yacht’s chef died.

The exact cause of the Bayesian sinking has generated much speculation, but it was clear from the outset that a powerful wind event—possibly a waterspout or a violent downburst from a thunderstorm—swept through the area and caused the sloop-rigged yacht, which had a towering 246-foot aluminum mast, to roll 90 degrees before sinking in about 160 feet of water. The boat sank in minutes. All but one of those who died were later found by divers trapped inside the hull.

Such events are exceedingly rare in the superyacht world. Modern yachts are meticulously designed and engineered, not just for aesthetics and performance, but foremost for safety. Fires and groundings occur with disturbing regularity, but a sinking with multiple lives lost is extremely rare, especially one that happens near shore in plain sight (albeit dark) of other boats and cameras.

Junger’s account and Petersen’s telling of the final moments of the Andrea Gail were largely speculation. The captain had been in radio contact with the skipper of another swordfish boat as the drama unfolded, but the Andrea Gail’s antenna was possibly
damaged before the sinking. The actual details of her final moments remain unknown.

While the cause or causes of the loss of the Bayesian are under investigation, what is known is that she was knocked down, took on water and sank with a loss of seven souls. Why she actually sank is the question.

Many who have offered theories, including naval architects and marine engineers, have postulated that the positive stability limits of the yacht were exceeded as she was laid flat without her retractable keel lowered. The big question is how water “down flooded” into her interior spaces. Was it open engine air intakes? Was it open hatches or ports? Was the crew negligent? Or was it a combination of factors, as often is the case in aircraft crashes?

There are plans to raise the yacht, which likely will at least reveal possible sources of the water incursion. Time and extensive official examination likely will illuminate the specific circumstances.

As of this writing, Italian authorities have launched an investigation focused mainly on the captain and crew with manslaughter or “negligent shipwreck” charges possible. The ultimate circumstances of the final minutes of the six seamen lost on the Andrea Gail will never be known, but with survivors and access to the Bayesian hull, the details of that loss should be an eye-opener.

Whatever the investigation concludes, the event is a cruel reminder that no matter how well-found a vessel is or how competent the crew is, boats operate in a capricious and potentially deadly environment. 

Winter 2024