HMS Bounty sinks; two crew members missing
Posted Oct 29, 2012 06:39:42 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Iconic Nova Scotia-built tall ship HMS Bounty has sunk off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina.
Built in Lunenburg, N.S., the ship was used in the 1962 Marlon Brando movie “Mutiny on the Bounty.”
U.S. Coast Guard Petty Officer David Weydert says the 5th District Command Center in Portsmouth, Virginia got the call around midnight that the ship was in distress and taking on water in 18-foot seas and 40 knot winds.
“Watchstanders dispatched crews aboard two MH-60 Jayhawk helicopters from Coast Guard Air Station Elizabeth City, N.C., to rescue the crew,” reads a news release from the USCG. “The first Jayhawk crew arrived on scene at approximately 6:30 a.m. and hoisted five people into the aircraft, and a second helicopter arrived and rescued nine people.”
The ship was about 160 miles from Hurricane Sandy’s centre, southeast of Hatteras.
Sixteen people donned cold water survival suits and life jackets before launching in two 25-man lifeboats with canopies.
“The Coast Guard 5th District command center in Portsmouth subsequently received a signal from the emergency position indicating radio beacon registered to the Bounty, confirming the distress and position,” says the Coast Guard.
A C-130 Hercules aircraft remains on scene and is searching for the two missing crewmembers and a third Jayhawk crew is en route to assist search and rescue efforts.
The Coast Guard says it first got a call from the owner of the 180-foot, three mast tall ship, HMS Bounty, saying she had lost communication with the vessel’s crew late Sunday evening.
HMS Bounty was in Halifax in August for the Tall Ships Festival.
