6H

Was a surprise that The Gulf of Sidra started to break up in the storm?

no - Cussler had done a very thorough job of describing the neglect of the ship - as well as setting us up for the fact that the exothermic reaction was going to weaken the ship

Surprised that it lasted as long as it did.

I wouldn't be surprised to hear it wasn't safe in a hurricane.

No it didn't seem that stable to begin with.

No, we'd been told it was little more than a wreck.

This was most definitely a given, and Cussler signposted this for us.