Absolutely horrific. I've encountered a number of cyclones and even an eye once! No telling from the category how vicious the actual wind gusts will be, so many factors involved. Bad enough to have to abandon a ship, but in those conditions. What a terrible way to die drowning in a hurricane. The other part that shocked me: It has been reported that a major merchant ship goes down somewhere in the world every two or three days; most are ships sailing under flags of convenience, with underpaid crews and poor safety records.
Chilling to think that we still haven't advanced much beyond the Titanic.
The lack of timely, accurate weather information to help them make better decisions was the other shocker here. The technology is there but it appears the cost is prohibitive. I mean you can watch real time wind patterns from right in your browser but there were technical and financial difficulties with them accessing vital information that could well have saved the ship and their lives.
Thanks for sharing, excited to read this. I'm endlessly (morbidly) fascinated by tragedies at sea. For anyone who hasn't read it but is jonzing for more, William Langewiesche's story of the Airbus crash over the Atlantic, published in the same corner of the web (same favicon and everything!) is a great shot-chaser combo.