Faunt in CNN’s Bounty Report

SF fan Doug Faunt, among the crew members rescued from the HMS Bounty when it foundered during Hurricane Sandy, is quoted in CNN’s latest report.

A lot of the information comes from testimony given at hearings held by the U.S. Coast Guard and National Transportation Safety Board investigation in February in Portsmouth, Virginia.

Faunt is introduced with this description:

Doug Faunt, 66, had been with the Bounty for five seasons as its volunteer electrician. After two decades working at IT giant Cisco Systems, he could afford to follow his tall ship passion without getting paid. The wiry, balding, white-bearded resident of Oakland, California, possessed valuable knowledge about computers, engines and communications equipment.

The CNN reporter reached out to survivors, including Faunt, and learned they have kept in touch.

Some say the captain’s decision to leave Connecticut put the crew’s lives in danger. But the Bounty’s shipmates came together to save themselves. And they continue to look after each other.

“They’re my family,” said the Bounty electrician, Doug Faunt. “Closer than my family.”

Earlier this month, Faunt and five of his shipmates reunited to sail once again.

This time, a 14-foot Sunfish had to do.

The reunion was hosted by deckhand Anna Sprague in the quaint Georgia beach town of Tybee Island, just outside Savannah, where Sprague first fell in love with the Bounty.

Scornavacchi was there, as were ship’s cook Jessica Black and deckhands Mark Warner and Jessica Hewitt. They took turns in the tiny boat, enjoying nice sailing weather: temperatures in the 70s, mostly sunny, winds around 10 mph. It was a great chance to catch up, hang out and let off steam after the stressful hearings.

Some survivors have been talking about teaming up to buy a new vessel. “We already have a crew,” Faunt said with a smile. “We just need a boat.”

Faunt himself has posted a little bit about his latest doings on his LiveJournal. There he gives a qualified endorsement to Outside Magazine’s story Sunk: The Incredible Truth About a Ship That Never Should Have Sailed.