HMS Bounty - combined thread

[anchorclanker]

Claudene Christian was a descendant of Fletcher Christian.

The ship had been for sale for $4.6 million, unsuccessfully since 2010.

Bounty was launched from Boothbay Harbor Shipyard Oct 22 after being in drydock for maintenance.

I hate to suggest such a thing, but might the Captain have sailed her into the storm purposely, hoping to lose her so the owner could collect the insurance? He wouldnt be the first to attempt something crazy like that.

 

[Fly_H23]

Claudene Christian was a descendant of Fletcher Christian.

The ship had been for sale for $4.6 million, unsuccessfully since 2010.

Bounty was launched from Boothbay Harbor Shipyard Oct 22 after being in drydock for maintenance.

I hate to suggest such a thing, but might the Captain have sailed her into the storm purposely, hoping to lose her so the owner could collect the insurance? He wouldnt be the first to attempt something crazy like that.

I can't imagine doing that in the midst of such a storm. I'd bet the CG and insurance company will want to interview the survivors to find out why she was taking on so much water.

Who ultimately made the decision to set sail and why is my biggest question.

 

[Crazy Dave Condon]

I too have visited this fine vessel and proudly wear clothing bearing the name of the ship as part of the crew.

As a former dealer in North Carolina knowing this coast, I do not care at this point in time why the decisions made but better yet, I ask for all of your prayers that the skipper be found alive which is the most important thing at this time vs. pointing fingers.

Thank You

Crazy Dave Condon
American Marine & Sail Supply, Inc.

 

[cb32863]

The owner of AS knows the owner of the Bounty and received an e-mail from him. He said that as far as he knew the captain went down with the ship and he is the one that made the decision to leave the docks. He felt better to be at sea than have her bashing against the docks, not sure that the owner is on the same page with that thought, considering the loss of life involved.

Also, apparently the Bounty is still floating just beneath the surface according to the CG and the owner is looking in to how to have her raised and towed back.

 

[Scott B]

The owner of AS knows the owner of the Bounty and received an e-mail from him. He said that as far as he knew the captain went down with the ship and he is the one that made the decision to leave the docks. He felt better to be at sea than have her bashing against the docks, not sure that the owner is on the same page with that thought, considering the loss of life involved.

Also, apparently the Bounty is still floating just beneath the surface according to the CG and the owner is looking in to how to have her raised and towed back.

Dan, it is a friend of a friend of Alex.

Also not confirmed fact about the captain. The other is the Captain. Some of the crew saw him go down to the tween deck and it's rumored he went down with the ship.


USCG is continuing their search Oct. 31, '12

UPDATE: Coast Guard continues search for missing captain of HMS Bounty

PORTSMOUTH, Va. — The Coast Guard continues its search Wednesday for the missing captain of the HMS Bounty approximately 145 miles southeast of Hatteras, N.C.
Missing is Robin Walbridge, 63.
The Coast Guard Cutter Gallatin, a 378-foot high-endurance cutter homeported in Charleston, S.C., arrived on scene at approximately 3 p.m. Tuesday and began searching for Walbridge. The crew aboard the HC-130 Hercules aircraft from Coast Guard Air Station Elizabeth City, N.C., secured their searches for the night at approximately 7:30 p.m. Tuesday.
The crew aboard the Coast Guard Cutter Elm, a 225-foot buoy tender homeported in Atlantic Beach, N.C., searched through the night and is en route to North Carolina.
A crew aboard an HC-144 Ocean Sentry aircraft from Coast Guard Air Station Miami, Fla., conducted a four-hour search Wednesday morning, a Hercules aircrew from Coast Guard Air Station Clearwater, Fla., began a search at approximately 7:30 a.m. and a Hercules aircrew from Air Station Elizabeth City will conduct a search after the Clearwater Hercules crew completes their search.
"As of now, our intent is to continue searching for the missing person," said Capt. Doug Cameron, the chief of incident response for the Coast Guard 5th District. "This is still an active search, not a recovery effort. Factors such as fitness of the member, weather conditions, survival equipment and the results from previous searches are taken into consideration to determine how long the Coast Guard will search."
The Coast Guard is searching an area approximately 1,500 square nautical miles.
The water temperature is 77 degrees, air temperature is 64 degrees, seas are 12 feet, and the winds are 30 mph

 

[cb32863]

http://m.military.com/daily-news/2012/10/31/close-ties-between-coast-guard-hms-bounty.html

 

[Chris Patterson]

I'm curious. Is there any intentions of salvaging the boat? I do not know the answer to this question, but I thought it was just foundered, being a wooden boat. A buddy of mine that does recovery work for the merchant marine says they have one of those recovery boats that half submerge themselves, the come back up with the load,(Bounty), on her decks.
Anything on this?

Or did it go down down?

 

[anchorclanker]

Last I heard the owner had a tug standing by to attempt salvage if the CG reported seeing Bounty.

Others claimed Bounty was likely breaking up by now and there would be nothing left to salvage.

 

[Benny17441]

It was reported locally that the deceased female crew member was a descendant of the mutineers in the original HMS Bounty. This information came from a former crew member of the replica Bounty. Wilkipidia indicates that she was the great, great, great grandaughter of Fletcher Christian.

 

[sinnettc]

Got this from SA, comment at 10:47, "we chase hurricanes" is startling in light of this week's sad events: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNDneMuO7-U&feature=player_embedded

 

[OldCat]

IMHO: The captain failed at his first duty - protect the safety of the crew. No mater what damage the boat might suffer in the harbor, the crew would have been safer ashore. No matter the romantic nature of the boat - is is just wood. The lost people, including the captain, can't be replaced.

If my boat dies, I replace it. A lost crew member would be a lifetime of pain and regret.

If ashore and the weather is dangerous, stay ashore. It is only if the boat is already at sea that the decision becomes difficult.

OC

 

[Scott B]

Coast Guard suspends search for missing captain of HMS Bounty

PORTSMOUTH, Va. — The Coast Guard suspended its search Thursday for the missing captain of the HMS Bounty 200 miles southeast of Hatteras, N.C.
Missing is Robin Walbridge, 63.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with the Walbridge and Christian families," said Capt. Doug Cameron, the chief of incident response for the Coast Guard 5th District. ”Suspending a search and rescue case is one of the hardest decisions we have to make.”
The following Coast Guard assets assisted in the search:

• HC-130 Hercules aircrews from Elizabeth City, N.C. and Clearwater, Fla.
• MH-60 Jayhawk crews from Air Station Elizabeth City
• Coast Guard HC-144 Ocean Sentry crews from Miami, Fla.
• Crew aboard the Coast Guard Cutter Elm, a 225-foot buoy tender homeported in Atlantic Beach, N.C.
• Crew aboard the Coast Guard Cutter Gallatin, a 378-foot high-endurance cutter homeported in Charleston, S.C.

Coast Guard crews searched more than 90 hours, covering approximately 12,000 overlapping square nautical miles in the Atlantic Ocean since the Bounty's crew abandoned ship Monday morning.

 

[JohnS]

I'm guessing they did not have personal locator beacons for everyone. (Emphasis on "guessing".) Would they likely have helped the CG find Ms. Christian sooner and the Captain?

 

[Pat]

Here is a link to film of Bounty easily handling 18'+ seas as were reported off the coast here.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jI4Jh5_woT0

The bouys were registering 34 to 38 ft. wave heights well east of the hurricane.

It will be interesting to hear from survivors as they tell their story. A real tragedy.

 

[DianaOfBurlington]

Which Bounty?

I am still trying to figure out which Bounty this was. There have been two replicas-- the one built ad hoc for the film with Marlon Brando in 1962 and a more recent one, which supposedly is the one featured in B-roll for Pirates, Persuasion, Hornblower and others. I understand that Ted Turner bought the 1962 one as an archive, leaving the other one to do all the more recent work. I believe the one I saw off the Statue of Liberty in summer 2001 was the recent one. Always kinda weird seeing it flying a US flag.

Most news articles have been very confusing about this. Has anyone got any verifiable data on which boat this was? I am inclined to think it's the newer one; but where is the older one?

Of course we all know where the original is.

On another note, despite the loss of life which is always tragic, I am perhaps morbidly gratified that this ship took its end at sea, where a ship belongs. How else would any of us wanted it to go? --for eventually it would have had to go, as all ships do.

 

[zeehag]

bounty was built of wood for 1962 film. refit in 2007 and again hauled recently. she has sailed to europe, all over west and east coasts of usa and other places before her demise. st petersburg claimed her as theirs but she had greenport, ny as a hailing port.

 

[steve77]

I am still trying to figure out which Bounty this was. There have been two replicas-- the one built ad hoc for the film with Marlon Brando in 1962 and a more recent one, which supposedly is the one featured in B-roll for Pirates, Persuasion, Hornblower and others. I understand that Ted Turner bought the 1962 one as an archive, leaving the other one to do all the more recent work. I believe the one I saw off the Statue of Liberty in summer 2001 was the recent one. Always kinda weird seeing it flying a US flag.

Most news articles have been very confusing about this. Has anyone got any verifiable data on which boat this was? I am inclined to think it's the newer one; but where is the older one?

Of course we all know where the original is.

On another note, despite the loss of life which is always tragic, I am perhaps morbidly gratified that this ship took its end at sea, where a ship belongs. How else would any of us wanted it to go? --for eventually it would have had to go, as all ships do.

This was the one built for the 1962 movie. The website is tallshipbounty.org.

 

[anchorclanker]

I wouldnt call her ad hoc. Its said she was built traditionally from original drawings from the British Admiralty. She was increased in size from 86 feet of deck to 120, beam from 24 to 30, to accommodate film cameras. While she was built for the Marlon Brando movie she fully capable of sailing. Some keep calling her a movie prop like she wasnt built well, but she must have been built half way decent to last 52 years and tolerate Captain Hurricane chaser at the helm the last 10 some years.

There is another replica built in New Zealand in 1979 for the Mel Gibson remake of Mutiny on the Bounty, steel with timber facade.

 

[Scott B]

I am still trying to figure out which Bounty this was. There have been two replicas-- the one built ad hoc for the film with Marlon Brando in 1962 and a more recent one, which supposedly is the one featured in B-roll for Pirates, Persuasion, Hornblower and others. I understand that Ted Turner bought the 1962 one as an archive, leaving the other one to do all the more recent work. I believe the one I saw off the Statue of Liberty in summer 2001 was the recent one. Always kinda weird seeing it flying a US flag.

Most news articles have been very confusing about this. Has anyone got any verifiable data on which boat this was? I am inclined to think it's the newer one; but where is the older one?

Of course we all know where the original is.

On another note, despite the loss of life which is always tragic, I am perhaps morbidly gratified that this ship took its end at sea, where a ship belongs. How else would any of us wanted it to go? --for eventually it would have had to go, as all ships do.

Tallshipbounty.org

Tallshipbounty Background scroll down 3/4 page to You Can't keep a Great Ship Down

Wikipedia Bounty 1960 ship

This Bounty was built for the 1960's movie Mutiny on the Bounty. Turner acquired Bounty when he bought MGM and later donated to Fall Ship River Foundation. Current owners purchased in 2001 from the Foundation and did a major refit. 2005 she was refit again to appear as a merchant ship of the 1700's for the Pirates movie. After the movie it went through another refit in 2006 to the current ship.


Something else I found interesting from the History, many on the forums refer ot the original as just being a flimsy prop....

The Bounty was built in 1960 for MGM studios' Mutiny on the Bounty with Marlon Brando. Since then, the new Bounty has starred in several feature-length films and dozens of TV shows and historical documentaries.
The studios commissioned the ship from the shipwrights of Smith and Ruhland in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia to commission a new Bounty to be built from scratch. Completely seaworthy and built just the way it would have been 200 years before, the new Bounty was constructed from the original ship's drawings still on file in the British admiralty archives.

A 2nd Bounty was built in 1977 Wikipedia - Bounty 1978 ship

Bounty[2] (popularly HMAV Bounty)[FN 1] was built in 1977/78 for the movie The Bounty starring Mel Gibson and Anthony Hopkins. She is now a tourist destination in Hong Kong, China

 

[Gunni]

On another note, despite the loss of life which is always tragic, I am perhaps morbidly gratified that this ship took its end at sea, where a ship belongs. How else would any of us wanted it to go? --for eventually it would have had to go, as all ships do.

The Bounty didn't need to "go". She was killed by her skipper.

He can thank the United States Coast Guard that he isn't atoning to his maker for squandering the lives of the entire crew.

The Inquiry will not be kind to Capt. Walbridge. Rightfully so. And hopefully all mariners will gain new insight into the burden of responsibility placed upon a vessel's captain. Ships like the Bounty, Pride, Virginia, Kalmar, Lady Baltimore, etc. are timeless kinetic artworks. They deserve the highest respect and care.