After overloading the Coast Guard boat with 32 people, I did not understand why they refused to meet up with the other Coast Guard ship five miles north. It struck me as nothing other than ego and dramatic purposes.
Transferring people at sea would be dangerous, and finding the other boat without a compass would be hard, it would seem to be less dangerous than trying to make it back to shire with an overloaded boat.
Did I miss something?
Well if they put that in the film then it would of been fiction.
If i recall from the book exactly It has nothing to do with ego Bernie was not a egotistical kind of person. To try an risk those men and his crews lives in making another daring attempt to find help would of most likely killed everyone on board.
Bernie wasn't stupid he knew those waters pretty good and he knew his and those mens best chance at survival was to find land as soon as possible. There's i don't know if it's in the movie but it's in the book he tells the men that his going beach the boat and once he does that all the men need to abandon the boat as quickly as possible and to help others that are injured to get off. He said on his word when he says jump they need to jump, i guess because the waves were still big.
Basically everything in the film apart from a few things like the love story part actually happened.
"Some of the worst things imaginable have been done with the best intentions"
My sense from the movie was that his refusal to follow that order was to be interpreted as personal growth. It struck me as the opposite...that this action was selfish. Therefore, it did not fit. I prefer your analysis.
Believe this man did not have a big ego at all you should read the book it would give you greater insight into who he was and why he did what he did.
Also give some of the interviews a try too with chris and ben they describe these men pretty good. They were working class men they went to work each day and went home after their shift was done. It just so happened that this situation happened kn their shift and it was their job to assist. Bernie was offered the gold life saving medal for the rescue but he refused to accept it unless his men received the same medal. Their families never really knew about the rescue until years later because back then they didn't talk about it, it was just apart of tbeir job.
They are people from a grand era a great generation (still with huge issues of course but what generation doesn't have issue's ) they didn't brag about what they did, they didn't have facebook, twitter, etc saying look what i did today. They just moved on with their simple lives
"Some of the worst things imaginable have been done with the best intentions"
Bottle - Great post. Thank you for taking the time to write (inform).
shareBottle - I got some of this from the DVD extras, but you put it very plainly and simply. Thanks for the reality check!
*Everything happens to me! Now Im shot by a child! (T.Chaney)
Bernie's boat lost their compass, and the other boat was at or near the place of the Pendleton's last position, far from where they eventually ran aground. In the movie, after the radio broadcast from the other rescue boat, Bernie smiles, shakes his head and says 'they think we're still there'. He realised they couldn't go further out to sea without a compass, they would never find that other rescue ship. Their best chance was to make for land, and that he could do that if he kept the sea at his back and the wind on his right.
share[deleted]
Did they not encounter the bar on the way back?
Yes they did but the seas had greatly calmed down when they reached it. The water that you clearly see hitting their faces is them going over the bar.
"Some of the worst things imaginable have been done with the best intentions"
OK, thanks.
I thought I heard one of the crew say something about the bar but I was too tired to rewind the video.
Will re-watch tonight.
In reality, the stern ended up on its side on a shoal less than 2 miles off the barrier Monomoy Island beach - some have it as 1/2 to 1 mile - and the winds/waves were going towards the beach so his chances of heading straight west and hitting some land were quite high. Now finding the channel/bar to pier took some effort but Bernie knew those waters real well. Thus attempting to head out to sea to find the other ship would have been very hazardous.
shareFrom the movie, I think Bernie's refusal to follow orders had to do with logic not personal growth or anything like that.
Without a compass he had a very small chance of finding the other boat - he had basically nothing to go on. However, he was trying to find land, and he could use wind and current patterns to help him find land. Logically and statiscally he would have a much better chance of finding land than finding that other boat. So his refusal to follow orders was his insistence that he knew these waters (without a compass) better than his boss - which was already given as fact since every character and the boss himself commented on the fact that he wasn't from the area.
My film reviews site: www.FilmGateReviews.com
Sigh.
Picture yourself as a tiny spec in he ocean. You have no compass, but you have a sense of the direction you came from and the direction of the wind.
Now picture the entire east coast of the US.
Now picture another tiny spec in that ocean.
You have to choose. Do you look for the GIANT CONTINENT or seek out the other spec?
The lives of your three crew members and the lives of the 32 freezing and injured people you just rescued depend on your choice.
Still think he was selfish?
Movies are IQ tests; the IMDB boards are how people broadcast their score.
I read yours after I posted mine that tries to point out the same .0001 degree versus 180 degrees problem. Most people have very little understanding of the physical/spatial world!!!! Amazing, isn't it.
shareYes, it's called common sense.
Land = Safety
Ocean with no compass = Danger
Transferring people at sea is damn near impossible. Best to hold your own and try to find your own way. A following sea is not ideal, but can be managed as long as you're not at risk of being pooped. My armchair opinion would be skate down the waves like Moitessier.
shareBernie knew where west was, and several thousand miles of coast were west of him, encompassing up to 180 degrees of headings. Going to the boat would force him to guess a small heading target (about 40 feet by 15 feet) out of 180 degrees of open ocean. Which would YOU bet on?
I realize that most people have not done off shore navigation, but I guarantee that if you spent one hour navigating out there, Bernie's choice would be clear.
When you captain a boat, other people's 'orders' are taken under advisement. The captain must make the decisions. I was surprised to see all of the comments that indicate that people believe that a captain follows others' 'orders'--but very few people are sailors.