missing?
There are independent circulation centers to the east and northeast of the hurricanes borders. There is also a continuous water vapor trail that comes from the ITCZ into the storm and connects to the heat transfer system connected to the independent circulation centers.
When the loop is played those independent circulation centers begin to dissipate, but, the ocean had to be rather turbulent. Those independent circulation centers would be causing multi vectors to the winds, hence the surface ocean waters.
In the image to the right are the circulation centers I am referring. They appear to be self contained and turbulent.
The ship was out of Jacksonville? No matter the direction it took, which I haven't looked into, it would have been caught in oscillating water vapor systems. These circulation centers dissipated and were incorporated into the hurricane within the hour following this image.
That is a lot of heat energy with vectors that are anyone's guess. A ships captain that is used to standard skills to predict the storms would not be able to discern these quick developments from moment to moment. There would be many rouge waves with substantial height. That ship was large and provides a significant surface area to catch different directional waves at the same time.
