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Subscribe to RSSA ship that left New London, Conn., last Thursday en route to St. Petersburg, Fla., got caught in a dangerous Hurricane Sandy while 90 miles off Cape Hatteras. NBC's Lester Holt reports.
Updated at 11:43 p.m. ET: Searchers on Monday evening found the body of one of two missing crew members of the stricken ship HMS Bounty, which sank off the coast of North Carolina after it was caught in Hurricane Sandy, the U.S. Coast Guard said.
Claudene Christian, 42, was pulled from the water unresponsive and transported to Elizabeth City Hospital, the Coast Guard said. She was later pronounced dead. Crews continue searching for the remaining missing person, identified as the ill-fated ship's captain, Robin Walbridge, 63.
Earlier Monday, two Coast Guard helicopters rescued 14 people from life rafts after they were forced to abandon ship.
Coast Guard rescue pilot Lt. Jenny Fields told NBC News that the rescue operation was a "challenging hoist" but that she was lucky to have a "skillful crew" on her Jayhawk helicopter.
Fields said those rescued appeared in "good spirits" and were "happy to be able to relax."
Hurricane Sandy sunk a tall ship off the coast of Hatteras, N.C. The Coast Guard was able to rescue 14 people but two remain missing. Watch raw video of the rescue.
'It was huge out there'
Coast Guard rescue swimmer Randy Haba helped pluck several crew members off a 25-foot rubber life raft. He was also lowered to a crew member floating in the water alone. He wrapped a strap around his body, and raised him to the chopper.
"It's one of the biggest seas I've ever been in. It was huge out there," Haba told The Associated Press.
The two crew members who went missing were wearing survival suits designed to help keep them afloat and protected from cold waters for up to 15 hours.
The 180-foot, three-mast ship issued a distress signal late Sunday after taking on water, the U.S. Coast Guard said in a release.
The director of the HMS Bounty Organization, Tracie Simonin, said the ship -- which was built for the 1962 Marlon Brando movie, "Mutiny on the Bounty" -- had left Connecticut last week en route for St. Petersburg, Fla.
"They were staying in constant contact with the National Hurricane Center," she said. "They were trying to make it around the storm."
After receiving the distress signal, the Coast Guard sent out an aircraft to speak with the crew, which reported that the vessel was taking on water and had no propulsion.
The rescue took place in winds of 40 mph and 18-foot seas about 90 miles southeast of Cape Hatteras, N.C.
Jeff Haynes / AFP - Getty Images, file
The HMS Bounty, a replica used in the Marlon Brando movie "Mutiny on the Bounty," sails past the Chicago skyline in this image from July 2003.
Those rescued were taken to Elizabeth City, N.C. None had life-threatening injuries. The Coast Guard identified them as: Daniel Cleveland, 25; John Svendsen, 41; Matthew Sanders, 37; Adam Prokosh, 27; Douglas Faunt, 66; John Jones, 29; Drew Salapatek, 29; Joshua Scornavacchi, 25; Anna Sprague, 20; Mark Warner, 33; Christopher Barksdale, 56; Laura Groves, 28; Jessica Hewitt, 25; and Jessica Black, 34.
The vessel reportedly sank, but the mast was still visible, the Coast Guard said.
Anxious family members
Mary Ellen Sprague said she talked to her daughter, Anna Sprague, after the rescue. She said her daughter had been aboard the HMS Bounty since May. The ship was going to spend the winter in Galveston, Texas.
Sandy strengthens as it bears down on eastern US
"She was probably the youngest member of the crew," Mary Ellen Sprague told the AP.
She said she had not learned many details yet because her daughter, normally talkative and outgoing, was being uncharacteristically quiet.
Glimpse into maritime history
The Bounty makes frequent trips around the country, offering a glimpse into maritime history, according to the ship's website, which appeared to be down Monday. It was originally a British transport vessel, and the replica has appeared in several films, including the 2006 movie "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest," with Johnny Depp. Its last stop before its winter hiatus in Galveston, Texas, was to be in St. Petersburg, Fla., on Nov. 10.
BreakingNews.com's coverage of Hurricane Sandy
It is unclear why the boat set out to sea with Sandy bearing down. Sandy could be the largest storm ever to hit the United States, according to NOAA's website.
The Associated Press and NBC News' Rachel Elbaum and Jim Miklaszewski contributed to this report.
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Leave a Comment:
It's clear to me why they went out to sea "with Sandy bearing down." They're unadulterated fools. My special needs students are smarter than they were.
The owner should be financially charged for the rescue and if any people are lost he should also be criminally charged. Only a fool deliberately sends a ship anywhere near a storm. If a Connecticut harbor wasn't good enough he should have sent the ship "north", not south, towards the St Lawrence and a sheltered berth up there. Heading towards the storm was sheer idiocy.
"Two missing...." Not good. Prayers for them to be rescued alive.
I feel sorry for anyone in harm's way from the hurricane. I live in Nebraska. I'll take tornadoes over hurricanes any day.
Why were they there?
You wonder why these people would set sail and go right into the path of a hurricane. They're either totally nuts, or they read Lindsay Lohan's tweet!
If they had gone around the storm and made it to St. Petersburg, it would have made great hype and advertising for the tours they do.
Hope it was miscalculation and not just insurance fraud. Either way, so sorry for the loss of life of the two crewmen.
Rescue guys... may the Force always be with you... brave Souls you be.
I refuse to have even the slightest amount of sympathy for those who intentionally and foolishly put themselves in harm's way for no good reason......and there is NO GOOD REASON for that sailboat to put to sea in the face of a hurricane. Heck, even the Coast Guard used helicopters and not boats for the rescue, and they're experts!
Nobody cares what you have to say...you add nothing.
Oh....Mr. "Experienced blue-water sailor" speaks again!
Well I have more than just a little bit of experience around boats and on the ocean myself and I know enough that the captain was borderline criminally negligent and any crew member that got aboard that vessel is a fool.
I wonder how much it was insured for-HMMMMMMM?
According to the wife of the captain, he was trying to skirt the storm and head down and around Florida to escape the storm (). A lot of you are trying to hang the captain and crew, but I don't think they had much of a choice, even smaller boats would not do well in port with a storm and surge of this magnitude.
Prayers for the family of those missing.
We've known about the storm for days. Why did they even leave shore?
Todays Monday and the storm is coming in South of Atlantic City, they wouldn't have been in any danger staying in port in Maine. It would have been better to sink in port then at high sea. Dumb move to leave port and head toward Florida.
The Coast Guard is AWESOME. Bravo Zulu to the Coasties for their courage. I'm a member of the CG Aux and have seen these people risk their lives time and again to rescue people who needlessly place their lives AND the lives of rescue crews in danger. What a great service the United States Coast Guard is. Great job!
Hey there is a Franken Storm brewing up, why dont we head straight for it in our replica wooden ship?
Last week there was a huge storm below Cuba heading towards the Bahamas.
How the hell do you set sail to go around the bottom of Florida with that info?
Hoo, hoo, hum, there Mattie, drop that there anchor an bring out the Rum. We gonna ride this one out. Oh, shet, forgot the pumps, oh we don't have any pumps, well man the life boats. It's every man for himself.
Was this ship sailed by Captain Ron?
Neg, when a sailing ship runs into a storm they have to shorten or take in their sails to keep them from being ripped away or their masts from being torn out. How the heck did they expect to sail around a storm that was that large? I guess that they were trying to keep to a schedule but they won't be able to arrive on time where ever they were heading now. I hope that they find the two missing crew members alive but the hopes of that are probably slim to none. They should have dropped anchor in Hampton Roads and waited out the storm.
Had they not lost power and therefor their ability to pump the bilges, they probably would have been just fine. Not saying it wasn't risky taking her into the conditions as they were but going to sea is always risky. 40 knot winds and even rough 18 foot seas aren't that big a deal especially for a vessel that size. BTW the fact that she was a replica only means that she was built to modern standards not antiquated ones, so I'm sure she was considered seaworthy especially after just having come from time in the yard. And by the way, nobody in their right mind would take a vessel out and sink her on purpose in these conditions and climb into a liferaft hoping to be rescued. Anyone who makes that claim is an ignorant fool.
Hey Capt. Ron......they shouldn't have been out in the first place!!
This wasn't some storm that popped up out of nowhere. The situation was entirely avoidable. Some fool (i.e. the captain) decided to give a higher priority to a travel timeline/itinerary than to human lives. And a bunch of other fools (i.e. the crew) decided to go along with it!
I know you're trying to impress us all with your nautical "skills and knowledge" (I use the terms loosely) but you're actually coming accross like a blowhard idiot.
You obviously have gleaned your vast knowledge of all things nautical only from watching infantile movies. I've actually spent most of my life boating and the least 31 years as a professional captain in much of the northern hemisphere. You don't know anything and are just spouting a bunch of self important crap.
The fact that they were past the worst of the storm when they had trouble shows they were not fools or incompetent. They had their reasons for leaving port when they did and as I stated earlier would have been into calmer waters as they continued on. Staying in port often isn't the best option for larger vessels BTW as they have few safe places to hide. I' rode out a hurricane in Little Creek once and would not try it again given these very same circumstances.
Well I have uhhhh......32 years of experience as a professional captain! Yeah...that's the ticket!! And I've never been foolish enough to get on a boat and head straight into a hurricane. The reality of the situation is that you don't need ANY nautical experience to realize you don't take a boat out into a hurricane. A little common sense will do.
You calling me "self important".......now that's hilarious!!
Be it a beautiful ship - how stupid were they to be out there. I think it is an insurance fraud and the insurance company should not pay for this.
Also, the people being rescued should pay for their own rescue - not the taxpayer.
And to take it one step forward the government should not stick one penny into this ship or any of the costs that were involved.
This was due to their stupidity and this is their consequence.
Not everything is a scam, the ship was at sea before Sandy became an issue in the area, as far as sailing in 40 knot winds, if that was just the issue, no problem, the problem was the high seas, the ship does'nt do well with that included. I just wish her people would show better judgment in the future. if there is a future for her.
Let's see several post maybe on the right track i bet the wooden boat is insured for lots of money, and maybe the wooden boat was not doing very well financially( not a lot of hollywood movies being made with wooden boats exception Pirates of the Caribbean ) oh well bye-bye boat hello insurance money???
Should have been docked!
"left Connecticut last week for St. Petersburg, Fla." the ship tried to go around the storm.
If the Captain was one of the crew members rescued, then he should have his Captain's license revoked and also be held responsible for the two crew members that were lost.
First of all, they were coming from Connecticut where there was/is no storm. There are plenty of "safe harbors" on the way down the east coast of the US if you travel into the Chesapeake Bay, up local rivers and estuaries, and there is no reason to be out there.
Second, the weather forecasts started last week saying that this would be a record breaking storm, on par with The Perfect Storm, and the Captain decides to take a sailing ship, the HMS Bounty out to sea into a hurricane.
Third, if you are at sea and a hurricane is unavoidable, you generally want to be heading with the wind, not against it which means, because of the counter-clockwise circulation, and the massiveness of the storm, that there was no viable path between land and the storm and trying to go around the storm would put you right in it or aground.
Lastly, ships like the HMS Bounty, while the design was used for centuries, are not the best ships to take through a Hurricane. There really is no way to rationalize that it was a good idea to try to go around (through) one of the largest storms on record in the last century, especially a sailing ship...too much sail (structure) for the wind to catch and make the ride very very unpleasant.
Bottom line, the Captain should have headed to port and a safe harbor. A ship sunk moored to a pier is ultimately more salvageable than one sunk in the open ocean and I am sure that the insurance companies will ultimately claim that the Captain was negligent and had no business being out there during the storm of the century that was forecast more than a week in advance.
They were actually past the worst of it and on their way to calmer seas. They lost the ability to pump the bilges. It happens. It could have happened at any time during the voyage. If they had gotten through the storm and were off the coast of Florida at the time the power failed it wouldn't have been too big a deal but they were unlucky.
It's a sad fact that when there are dangers and warnings about storms or other natural disasters, there are always some ignorant people who compound the situation by ignoring the warnings and ending up creating more dangers and work for rescuers. Warnings should come with a threat: if you don't heed our warning, we're not coming to your rescue if you get into trouble.
I think that it is perfectly reasonable to put out in a wooden sailing ship and head south while a hurricane is known to be roaring north in the same part of the ocean. Since the Red Sea parted for Moses, why couldn't this hurricane be expected to "part" for this semi-historical ship?
Also, the three days waiting in port for the hurricane to dissipate is just too long to wait. After all, this is the 21st Century, after all. So, they didn't have to wait, so it was worth it. It was just a dumb old wooden ship, after all, and the lives of those lost, well, there will be a memorial service, after all.
Maybe the captain of the HMS Bounty could emigrate to Italy to join Captain Francesco Schettino of the Costa Concordia. They just might have a lot in common, after all.
Hope they saved the film. Could be a Academy Award movie coming to our theaters in the near future. Glad our Coast Guards ended up safe on this rescue. The Coast Guard must have a lot of stories to tell from these idiots that are warned far ahead of storms.
Saying the above. It hurts knowing love one's lost these people in the storm.