"Who put these fools in charge of this ship, anyway?"

The Captain and he's no longer around to answer that question.

The Bounty was classified as a "wharfside attraction" rather than as a passenger-carrying tall ship. She was thus able to avoid more stringent Coast Guard licensing regulations. She was considered a "private yacht" when traveling from one port to another.

The consequences of this "shellgame" finally caught up with her, as it will with many of the other vintage tall-ships which engage in similar efforts to circumvent basic safety regulations.

Charley Noble