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HMS Bounty, Used in Movies, Sinks During Pre-Sandy Storming; 1 Crew Member Still Missing [UPDATED]
The HMS Bounty (Photo by Magic Madzik via Flickr)
The HMS Bounty, a tall ship built for the 1962 film "Mutiny on the Bounty," has sunk in the waters off North Carolina in the stormy weather ahead of the arrival of Hurricane Sandy. 14 crew members have been rescued from the vessel, but two people remain missing.
The ship's official site briefly explains what happened this weekend:
We received a distress call for Bounty at 1830 Sunday evening October 28th that the Ship lost power and the pumps were unable to keep up with the dewatering. At that time we immediately contacted the USCG for assistance. A C130 was sent to there position approximately 90 miles SE of Cape Hatteras. At 0430 Sunday Morning the Captain ordered all hands to abandon ship.
The Bounty had "left Connecticut last week en route for St. Petersburg, Fla," reports NBC News, and were hoping to navigate around the storm.
The U.S. Coast Guard sent out rescue crews, and were able to get 14 of the 16 on board Bounty to safety.
"It appears that two crew members didn't make it onto the life rafts," Coast Guard spokesman Lt. Michael Patterson told NBC News. A search remains underway for those individuals.
"The Coast Guard added that the two missing people were attempting to flee the ship and board the lifeboats when a huge wave hurled them into the water," adds the Washington Post.
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The story of this replica of the original HMS Bounty begins with its commission from MGM studios for the historical drama "Mutiny on the Bounty," starring Marlon Brando. The tale of the ship continues:
After filming and a worldwide promotional tour, MGM berthed the ship in St. Petersburg as a permanent tourist attraction - where she stayed until the mid-1980s. In 1986 Ted Turner acquired the MGM film library and the Bounty with it. He used it to promote his enterprises, and filmed Treasure Island with Charlton Heston in 1989. In 1993, Turner donated the ship to the Fall River Chamber Foundation, which established the Tall Ship Bounty Foundation to operate the ship as an educational venture.
In February of 2001 H.M.S. Bounty was purchased from the Foundation by HMS Bounty Organization LLC.
UPDATE 3:50 P.M. The Coast Guard has recovered the body of Claudene Christian, 42, one of the two Bounty crew members reported missing, according to a release. She was spotted in the Atlantic Ocean approximately 90 miles southeast of Hatteras, North Carolina on Monday. Christian was unresponsive at the time of the rescue and was hoisted into a Coast Guard helicopter, then airlifted to Albemarle Hospital in Elizabeth City.
Bounty crew member Robin Walbridge, 63, is still missing.
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