7:15 AM | *The role of the weather in the shipwrecking of the S.S. Minnow…new evidence has come to light which exonerates the Skipper once and for all*
Paul Dorian
The S.S. Minnow was badly damaged by a storm at sea while on a 3-hour tour just off the Hawaiian Islands in late September of 1964. Somehow, the Skipper and his first mate, Gilligan, managed to steer the boat to an uncharted “desert” island.
Overview
We all know the words…
“the weather started getting rough, the tiny shipped was tossed…”
Indeed, stormy weather played a critical role in the shipwrecking of the S.S. Minnow on that fateful day in late September 1964 onto an uncharted “desert” island somewhere in the Pacific Ocean. The ship set sail that day on a three-hour tour with five passengers, the captain of the S.S. Minnow, Jonas Grumby (aka Skipper), and his first mate named Gilligan. A sudden storm interrupted the tour, damaged the tiny ship, and the two-man crew somehow managed to steer the boat to safety onto an uninhabited island not far from the Hawaiian Islands.
For years, there has been a cloud hanging over the head of the Skipper as the result of conjecture that he was somehow at fault on that day in putting the passengers at risk. However, new evidence has come to light that should exonerate the Skipper once and for all from any wrongdoing.
Details
The captain of the S.S. Minnow, Jonas Grumby, had served for several years in the U.S. Navy and developed a close friendship with his “little buddy” named Gilligan. After Mr. Grumby – affectionately known as the Skipper – retired from the US Navy, he used his savings to buy the S.S. Minnow and hired Gilligan as his first mate. The boat was a 1964 “Wheeler” with a 165 horsepower dual engine and could reach a cruising speed of about 14 miles per hour. This would suggest that a three-hour tour on that fateful day in late September of 1964 would likely have put the ship no more than 40 miles away from Honolulu, Hawaii where it began its cruise. This distance away from Hawaii of 40 miles or less is certainly not a sign of recklessness on the part of the Skipper as it suggests the S.S. Minnow would remain in close enough proximity to Hawaii to be able to pick-up all-important AM radio transmissions which could potentially include weather alerts on rapidly changing conditions…and there were none.
The Skipper (left) seen here on the S.S. Minnow with his first mate, Gilligan (right), in preparation for the 3-hour tour.
During the three-hour tour, a sudden storm appeared at sea and the Skipper and Gilligan somehow managed to steer the S.S. Minnow to an uncharted “desert” island in the Pacific Ocean. The vessel was beached with multiple hull breaches in its wooden planking and restoration of the vehicle was virtually impossible given the volume of water that flooded the engines with no available replacement oil found on the island.
The ship was carrying 5 passengers including millionaire Thurston Howell III, his wife Eunice “Lovey” Howell, movie star Ginger Grant, professor Roy Hinkley, and farm girl Mary Ann Summers. While the two-man crew and passengers were understandably shaken, no one was physically injured thanks to the heroic efforts of the Skipper and Gilligan.
The legal troubles for the Skipper began when word got out regarding the shipwrecking of the S.S. Minnow. The S.S. Minnow was classified as a “common carrier” with its island charter business and as such, was held by law (Babcock & Beene v. Herbert, 3 Ala. 392, 396-397 (Ala. 1842)) to the strictest kind of accountability in ensuring the safety of all its passengers.
The S.S. Minnow is shown here as it departs for a tour from port in Honolulu.
Questions began to circulate in the legal community regarding the incident as to whether the storm was “reasonably foreseeable” and “did the Skipper and his first-mate put the lives of the passengers in needless jeopardy”? The law states that “if the storm had been foreseeable, the crew would have not acted responsibly in ensuring the safety of the vessel and its passengers”. However, “if the storm was an act of God, there would have been no liability for becoming shipwrecked”.
The temperature and wind speed profiles show no unusual weather conditions for the 26th of September of 1964 in the port city of Honolulu and there was no precipitation. Data courtesy NOAA, wunderground.com
Hourly observations for the 26th of September 1964 confirm the notion that the overall weather conditions were benign on the day of the 3-hour tour. Data courtesy NOAA, wunderground.com
It had already been well established in the defense of the Skipper that the weather on September 26th, 1964 featured benign weather conditions in Honolulu at the starting time of the 3-hour tour with no precipitation and no strong winds anywhere around the port. In addition, all official National Weather Service weather forecasts for the remainder of the day were quite favorable - both for the islands and for boaters planning to go out into the open waters of the Pacific.
Actual hard copy of a radar image from 26 September 1964 shows no radar echoes at 6:00 PM in the vicinity of Honolulu.
Actual hard copy of a second radar image - just 5 minutes later at 6:05 PM on 26 September 1964 - shows an impressive squall in the same vicinity near Honolulu (between the arrows).
And now new evidence has come to light that should - once and for all - clear the Skipper of any wrongdoing in the shipwrecking of the S.S. Minnow on that fateful day in late September of 1964. Actual hard copies of radar images that have been hidden from the public for many decades have recently surfaced (no softcopy exists) and they clearly suggest that the Skipper and Gilligan encountered a rare atmospheric phenomenon known to meteorologists as “Sudden Squall Line Eruptus (SSLE)”.
This rare weather phenomenon has been witnessed almost exclusively in tropical atmospheres over the warm ocean waters of the Pacific Ocean. The few observations that we have of this infrequent event suggest that totally clear conditions almost miraculously give way to the eruption of a dangerous squall line in just a matter of minutes and indeed that is exactly what is indicated by these just revealed radar images. In just a few minutes, the radar maps reveal a change from perfectly dry conditions to an ominous-looking squall line not giving boaters any time to prepare or make it back to land. It should be noted that computer forecast models were in their infancy back in the middle 1960’s and were very unlikely to have captured this kind of small-scale and rare atmospheric event and this would explain the universal favorable weather forecasts on that day.
In light of this new evidence, it can finally be said without reservation that the Skipper was indeed “brave and sure” and his mate, Gilligan, “a mighty sailing man” and if not for the courage of the fearless crew, the S.S. Minnow would have been lost.
One final note…Happy April Fool’s Day to all…hopefully, “you’re sure to get a smile”.
Meteorologist Paul Dorian
Arcfield
arcfieldweather.com