Hurricane force winds extending 175 miles from the eye of this storm Monday morning. (50 mile increase in radius in past day?)

Storm center moving with a ground speed of 18 mph with unpredictable direction today, somewhat slower yesterday.

Ship top speed 10 kt (11.6 mph?).

If the ship was out very far at all when the storm first was reported to be a hazard where they were, there's no visible way it could get to a safe harbor or run out of the path of the storm as they apparently tried to do. The storm has grown in area faster than it's moved, so the "danger zone" is moving significantly faster than the center, and there probably was just no place they could run to.

Reports so far don't give enough information to plot the charts on the situation, but it's plausible enough to assume they were just in a situation where there was no way out.

John