Ten years ago, when visiting Australia, I spotted the HMS Bounty in Darling Harbour while traveling aboard Harbour City Ferries in Sydney. Sadly, the three-masted sailing ship went down off the coast of North Carolina in the Atlantic Ocean during Hurricane Sandy on Oct. 29, 2012.
Fourteen of the 16 crew members were rescued by the U.S. Coast Guard, and Claudene Christian was eventually found. Christian, who claimed to be a descendant of HMS Bounty mutineer Fletcher Christian, was pronounced dead after being rushed to the hospital. Captain Robert Walbridge remains missing and is presumed dead.
A replica of the original HMS Bounty, the new Bounty was built at the Smith and Rhuland Shipyard in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia in 1960. She was constructed for the 1962 MGM movie Mutiny on the Bounty, starring Marlon Brando. The ship was overhauled in 2006-2007 and returned to active service. She appeared in two Pirates of the Caribbean movies and during summers from 2007-2012, she was a regular at tall ship events in England, Europe, the US and Galapagos Islands.
On the HMS Bounty Facebook page, notice of a relief fund has been posted. Former crew members are soliciting donations for the families of Claudene Christian and Capt. Robin Walbridge, along with the 14 surviving members of the crew. They may be sent via PayPal to HMSBounty2012@Yahoo.com.
5 comments:
Truly a sad story.
The family of Claudene reports on a group called hms bounty in retrospect that they have not had any financial help from the company and as of yesterday has had no call from the owner of this company.
The one in Darlington Harbour is the HMAV Bounty, a wood clad steel replica. Not the same.
The one in Darlington Harbour is the HMAV Bounty, a wood clad steel replica. Not the same.
Sorry to hear that about Claudene's family. And thanks for the info about the HMAV Bounty replica in Darlington Harbour. They were also building a similar boat off the island of Oahua when I was there a few years ago for filming of the last 'Pirates of the Caribbean' movie. The Bounty is still big biz after all these years ...
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