I was just feeling especially grumpy yesterday after a hard day's work. The rest of this story I feel will be important, even if it is not completed until months after the event.

There was testimony yesterday by shipyard workers in Boothbay saying that they had discovered additional rotting planking in the hull during the month long renovation, and that the Captain ignored their findings and ordered the crew to just paint over the planking.

The Mate has also testified that the Captain had rejected several appeals to abandon ship before finally conceding that the ship had to be abandoned, and then it proved too late to properly abandon the ship. The ship heeled over and the Captain some crew members were flung in the water, three never making it to the life rafts (one was rescued later by the Coast Guard helicopter crew).

Charley Noble