The Guardian reports that the United States Coast Guard rescued 14 of the 16 crew members who abandoned the replica tall ship HMS 'Bounty' while in the path of hurricane Sandy off North Carolina, using helicopters on Monday to pluck them from life rafts, officials said
The US Coast Guard continued to search for the two missing crew members, including the captain, who abandoned ship about 14.5 kilometres southeast of Hatteras, North Carolina when the vessel was in rough seas about 258 kilometres from the storm's eye.
The three-mast, 54.9 metre ship, built for the 1962 movie Mutiny on the Bounty, was lost.
"It is under water. The mast of the ship is still protruding from the water," coastguard spokesman chief Nyx Cangemi said, relaying eyewitness reports from the search and rescue team.
As the 16 crew members were abandoning the 'Bounty' wearing cold-water survival suits and life jackets, the final three on board were washed overboard, Cangemi said. One of them was pulled onto a life raft but the other two remained at sea, he said.
The 14 were rescued from two 25-person lifeboats with canopies, the US Coast Guard said.
Crews aboard a C-130 Hercules airplane and a third rescue helicopter were searching for the two missing crew members, and a two coastguard cutters were on the way to assist them, Cangemi said.
Captain Robin Walbridge, 63, who worked on the Bounty for 17 years, was one of the missing, said his wife, Claudia McCann.
"That was his passion," McCann said. "He's the best captain in the industry… there are not too many captains that can sail that kind of ship (a square-rigger)."
The captain was the last to leave the ship, wearing red survival gear, she said.
"That's the image I have in my head. I'm sure he made sure his crew were all tucked in their life boats before he got off the ship," McCann said.
The first of two MH-60 Jayhawk helicopters arrived on the scene at about 0630am and hoisted five people to safety, and a second helicopter arrived and rescued nine people, the coastguard said.
The ship was on its way from New London, Connecticut, to St Petersburg, Florida, said Tracie Simonin, director of the HMS Bounty Organisation. She said she was unsure how the captain attempted to navigate the storm.
The vessel was believed to be taking on water and was without propulsion, stuck in 64 kilometre/hour winds and 5.5 metre seas, the coastguard said.
The original 'Bounty', a British transport vessel, gained infamy for a mutiny in Tahiti in 1789.
The 1962 movie starred Marlon Brando as lead mutineer Fletcher Christian. The replica 'Bounty' has appeared in numerous documentaries and feature films including Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest.
Source: The Guardian
Image Sources:Paul Glazzard, USCG
