Charlie's song clearly alludes to "The Mary Ellen Carter." How apt are the allusions? If you think about it, this is a diametrically opposite situation. Walbridge loved the Bounty and fought hard to keep her sailing in the face of financial impossibility, yet ultimately it was his decisions (compounded by those of others such as the owner, mind you) that sank her. There's a bitter irony in the line "The Bounty's on the bottom and she'll never rise again."

"Never Turn a Blind Eye to the Storm" narrates the fate of the tall ship Bounty that sank during Hurricane Sandy in 2012. There are (besides several books) a number of places to read the full, gripping story online. A very short version is that this ship was a replica (but fitted with an engine as well as sails) of H.M.S. Bounty, built for a movie in 1960. She had long since reached the age when wooden ships need massive maintenance to stay afloat, which her owner couldn't afford as she went from port to port giving dockside tours. She'd been captained for two decades by Capt. Robin Walbridge, who was passionate about both the Bounty and training new sailors. In 2012, after a dockyard visit for incomplete repairs, the Bounty was due to meet a potential sponsor in St. Petersburg, FL in mid-November. On October 25, Capt. Walbridge made a decision that was later to be fiercely debated: although warned that Hurricane Sandy was approaching and would be huge, he set off from New London, CT, with a crew of 15, most of them inexperienced. The string of poor decisions, equipment breakdowns, injuries, terrible weather, and unstoppably rising water that followed culminated in the Bounty being lost and the captain killed as well as one crew member. (The other 14 were saved by an incredible Coast Guard rescue operation that also makes quite a story.)