Survivor Maine Maritime grad Jessica Hewitt has much to teach about loss, redemption, and the sinking of the Bounty. 8 Personalities 46 P o r t l a n d Monthly Magazine D espite her education at Maine Maritime Academy and expe- rience as a deckhand, nothing could’ve prepared Jessica Hewitt for what she faced aboard the Bounty at the hands of Hurricane Sandy. The Bounty, a replica of the Royal British Navy HMS Bounty, was built in 1962 for the MGM movie Mutiny on the Bounty starring Marlon Brando. On October 28, 2012, as she was sailing from Connecticut to Florida, hurricane-force winds sent the 50-year-old ship below the waves of the Atlantic. Hewitt and 13 of her shipmates survived. To begin with, tall-ship work is a rough gig. “Sailing is miserable,” Hewitt says and laughs. “It’s cold or it’s hot, you’re always wet, there’s no air-conditioning, and there’s no shower. It can be brutal. You stand on deck throughout your entire watch, getting absolutely pounded by the weather.” Much has been speculated about the fateful night the Bounty wrecked off the coast of North Carolina [See our sto- ry, “Mutiny on the Bounty,” April 2013]. A 2014 U.S. Coast Guard investigation blamed the Bounty’s captain, Robin Wal- bridge, and the ship’s management compa- ny. But so often, the truth is more compli- cated than a single bad judgment call. “I still have some anger toward Rob- in Walbridge,” Hewitt says. “I didn’t know it was such a big system. Often hurricanes downgrade to a much smaller weather pat- tern, and we all knew the Bounty had been through a hurricane before in much worse shape. But here’s the thing: I know he had our best interests in mind because he made sure we had immersion suits, which are ex- pensive and aren’t required on an uninspect- ed vessel. The Bounty wasn’t required to have these on board, but we had plenty. Thank goodness we did, because not as many of us would have survived if we hadn’t.” Captain Walbridge didn’t survive the sinking. His body was never recovered. Deckhand Claudene Christian also perished. For months, she worked eagerly aboard Bounty as a volunteer and, accord- ing to Hewitt, had been added to the ship’s payroll only days before Bounty set sail on her final voyage. “Her first pay stub was sent to her family after her death.” Much of Hewitt’s harrowing experi- ence on the Bounty stays with her–the loss of her shipmates, her leap from the tilting deck, the sight of the ship’s rigging crash- ing down on her floating crew, the feeling of being tangled in lines and pulled under. “When I was in the water, my life felt so fragile,” she says. “Like a piece of string that could be cut at any moment.” “For three months after the sinking, I (Continued on page 96) By Jeanee dudley “When I was in the water, my life felt so fragile. Like a piece of string that could be cut at any moment.” courtesy photos