Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Tall Ship HMS Bounty Sinks in Hurricane/Superstorm Sandy-- Part 1

From the Oct. 30, 2012, Courant Business by Dan Haas.

I was very sad to hear that this ship, built to the exact specifications of the original, sank yesterday off Wilmington, NC, when it was unable to navigate through the 40-foot waves of Hurricane Sandy, took on water and went down.

It had a crew of 16.  Fourteen were rescued yesterday by  Coast Guard helicopters.  The last one off the ship, the captain is still missing.  One other man was rescued, but died later.

The vessel was constructed specifically for the 1962 movie "Mutiny On the Bounty" starring Marlon Brando.  It had been in New London, Ct., for a gathering of the crew of the submarine USS Mississippi on Oct. 25th after a month of repairs of Maine and was on its way to its home port in St. Petersburg, Florida.It went down 100 miles off Cape Hatteras in what is known as the Graveyard of the Atlantic for the number of ships that sank there.

The 412 ton ship has three masts, the tallest at 115 feet and ten miles of rigging.

The crew member who was found, but later died was 42-year-old Claudene Christian (and I'm thinking when I first read it, that his last name was the same as the leader of the mutineers.  But that name sounded a bit more like that of a female.) and he reportedly is a descendant.  Later, I found out that Claudene Christian was female.  Her ancestor has been played by four of Hollywood's leading men: Errol Flynn, Clark Gable, Marlon Brando and Mel Gibson.

More to Come. --Cooter

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