Seriously, how come the boat owner didn't notice they were still behind? And out of the other 17 or so members on the boat, wouldn't there have been at least ONE person who sensed something? Did anyone else find that weird?
shareSome say the crew never bothered with a head count and the crew say they did however must've counted inaccurately. Weird, but still happened in real life. Since the couple were left behind they now have a different method of making sure the entire group is back on board.
share[deleted]
I thought it was strange too that they got left in the first place. I am a SCUBA diver and here is what I thought was wierd/stupid:
1. The guy who counted the two guys twice
2. That the couple got lost and just stayed under water, rather than resurfacing to find the boat. It is a well known thing in scuba diving to resurface when you've lost the boat and wave for help.
3. They should have had a safety "sausage." This is a big, NEON, inflatable tube so that people can find you.
4. Also, they showed the mooring line early in the movie. Then it had disappeared by the time they resufaced to where the boat had originally been. In real life, they should have just held on to the mooring line to wait for the boat's return.
Missed another big one. A boat engine is LOUD underwater. You cannot miss it starting up and their cruising off. If they were the first boat at that site, then when a boat was heard to start up their engine (as opposed to cruising in and shutting down their engine), that should have been a big flag to pop your head up and see what the heck is going on. (admittedly I have a bit of an advantage in that my hearing is actually sensitive enough to be able to orient direction from such sound despite the much increased speed that sound travels--too fast for the vast majority of people to be able to tell the timing difference between their ears to be able to sense the direction)
As for "does it happen", the answer is most definitely yes. While taking a live-aboard dive boat from Miami to the Bahamas, heard on the radio a dive boat calling in to the Coast Guard reporting a lost diver. Heard another dive boat also making a general inquiry as to who lost a diver because they picked up an extra one. The two "crossed wires" had not figured out they were (almost certainly) talking about the same person while we were still in range (not for long--Blackbeard's Cruises have custom made dive boats that can make pretty serious time.
Steve
My husband and I did a Blackbeard's trip this past summer. It was great!!
shareTypically when the engine starts up, they leave quickly after.
Hmm... not an expert, but I thought you had to surface slowly. If they had started their engines but you were still minutes away from being able to surface, then tough breaks - no?
SpiltPersonality
Hmm... not an expert, but I thought you had to surface slowly. If they had started their engines but you were still minutes away from being able to surface, then tough breaks - no?
Only if you're at a certain depth. The depth they were at, no, they could swim right up.
Dive boats are very busy, and 20 divers are A LOT.
Well-run dive boats call out each person's name, waiting for "here!", instead of head counts.
1) The guy didn't count the divers TWICE. He didn't REMOVE the 2 ticks when the divers went into the water. Remember, the ticks were for people coming back ONTO the boat.
2) The couple was never lost UNDER the water, so there was no need to resurface. The surfaced in the correct spot, over the coral marker that he spoke of.
3) Agreed, and a whistle. My air-whistle can be heard over a mile away.
4) That wasn't a "mooring line", it was a "reefing line" which is connected to the back of the boat when there is a current.
I went on a snorkeling excursion as part of a cruise a few years ago. The crew had us count off several times before and after we got in the water. Even with that, they left one guy behind. Later that night, he was at my dinner table on the cruise. He was alone in the water for over an hour before another excursion boat took him in. For all his fear and danger, all the excursion company offered him was a t-shirt with their companies logo on it. Do you believe that??
The last time I snorkeled, the crew read names off a list and we had to say "Here". An infinitely better system! Plus, I'm so paranoid about being left behind I kept checking to see if I have drifted away and if people are getting back on the boat.
One last thing. The last time I snorkeled, the water was so choppy I ended up barfing. Boy, did the fish come running to me, lol. If you want to see a lot of fish, chum the water!
Omg, that must have been one long hour for that guy. I would not only be freaked out about being left behind but missing the cruise ship!
shareRemember that the one crew member counted heads before anyone went in the water.
As they came out of the water, he just made a check on the piece of paper he wrote down the number.
Now, remember that two of the divers came out of the water early... so he checked two out. But one guy couldn't go in, because he forgot his mask. He borrowed a mask from one of the early returns, but wasn't allowed to go in the water without a buddy. So one of the people who got out early, went in as his buddy.
When those two came out, the one was checked off again, and the guy who didn't go in at first, was also checked off. That meant that two extra checks went on the paper.
Which is ridiculous. First, somebody would have noticed that somebody was missing. Second, they should have counted TANKS, and done an actual HEAD COUNT before heading back.
So while it was clever how the discrepancy took place, it was ridiculous in a real world condition.
Nevertheless, it has happened.
Head counts are always a bad idea.
Well-run boats will call out each diver's name, waiting for a "here!"
aia was wondering why if there were 18 other people on the boat..no one realised they were gone..even if they didn't speak to anyone SOMEONE would have thought hey I can't see the young cute couple here anymore??
share[deleted]
The short answer is that you don't have to be no Mr. Science upstairs, to work on a boat.
shareIn the story that inspired this the company found the missing couple's things but didn't say anything for 2 days after and even sent their transportation away. Seems like complete irresponsibility and laziness to me.
shareOP, you do realize this film was based off a real story, they WERE left behind because of a faulty head count and the boating company did not realize their error until too late. They were missing for 2 days before the boat skipper discovered their personal belongings back at the companies office, and then phoned the hostel where the couple were staying and found out they had not returned.
The skipper Geoffrey Nairn was charged with manslaughter though later acquitted, and the boat company pled guilty to negligence and was fined.
No one knows exactly what happened to the couple (how and when they died), but the rest of the film is pretty much accurate.
1. Counting instead of using the divers names for verification.
2. The switch up w/ the lady diver returning & her partner, partnering w/ hairy guy.
3. The couple was reserved & to themselves, not memorable.
4. Between the three of them..Davis, Junior & Linda are brain dead...along with the other divers.
OP, you do realize this film was based off a real story
How would they have faked it though? The whole disappearance relies on the boat company failing to notice that they didnt come back onboard. They either hid in the water and got lucky that they made such a stupid mistake, or they bribed the company to go along with it. Since its basically manslaughter, I doubt that second option is likely.
shareYeah, good points. The third possibility, of course, is that if they *were* planning a disappearance, and got the idea from the experience of their friend in New Zealand, it wouldn't be hard to find a company with lax procedures. In real life, this incident prompted a formal commission of inquiry into the industry Australia-wide, not just over the Barrier Reef, which revealed an endemic problem with safety procedures and resulted in a massive tightening of regulations.
I'm not advocating the theory of the video I referred to (which seems to be inaccessible now, unfortunately; from my log-in it just brings up a "this video is private" error, whatever that actually means). I just find it interesting when stories like this one have aspects that don't fit easily with the accepted narrative, and they make me curious.
I think it has to raise eyebrows that such a similar thing happened to someone the Lonergans personally knew, from the same church congregation, in similar circumstances in New Zealand. *And* that they'd heard about it before leaving on their own trip. The video did suggest they had demonstrable reasons to want to vanish -- a failing business and mounting debts, for instance.
One other sad possibility that occurs to me is that they might have engineered a "disappearance", maybe expecting there would be other boats around for them to be rescued by, as with their friend in New Zealand, but that it didn't pan out that way. That's kinda tragic. But either way, I suspect they died a sad and lonely death similar to what the film shows.
You might very well think that. I couldn't possibly comment.
The controversy was because the *beep* defense team tried to get the jerk off skipper off a manslaughter charge. The young couples character was assassinated by the defense attorney and the stupid jury bought into it. Australians can't count and will obviously fall for any BS fed to them.
shareUltimately blame would rest on the diving company that took them out. There's absolutely no excuse to leave two people behind. Having a piece of notebook paper with a dude counting people as they climb back on the boat is absurd. Doing that, I would not be surprised if people got left behind on a weekly basis. It would be too easy to miss someone, or someone being counted twice, etc.
Simply take a head count on the way there, and do another one after the dive with everyone back on board. You could call out a list of passenger names and have them respond "present" or whatever.
Stupid post! Did you watch the movie? It explained by details how they got it wrong. AND that is what actually hapenned in real life.
shareHe even did a head check and didn't even notice that two of his passengers were missing . WTF!
Everything they’ve taken from us, we’re going to take back and more.
A couple go ONTO the boat. So 2 people were counted. That same couple went BACK INTO the water. But...the 2 people were still counted on the sheet. They were NOT crossed off when they went back in. Because it was a tour boat with strangers no one knew the couple who was left behind. They did check their time and were gone the 1 1/2 they had to scuba dive.