Hurricane Sandy Stages Mutiny on HMS Bounty

The story of Fletcher Christian’s mutiny aboard the HMS Bounty against Captain Bligh is one of the most fascinating seafaring stories of all time. Christian put Bligh and 18 crewmen off the ship to fend for themselves while Christian took the Bounty to Pitcairn island to live a life of freedom with hot Tahitian chicks. The original HMS bounty was burned and scuttled. A replica of the Bounty set sail earlier last week from Connecticut to reach Florida, but ran into trouble off the Outer Banks of North Carolina- just like so many other ships historically encountered. The Coast Guard had to rescue the entire crew while the Bounty foundered. Reportedly the crew aboard had tried to “go around” the historic hurricane and failed miserably.

From WTOP here:

The Coast Guard rescued 14 members of a crew forced to abandon the tall ship HMS Bounty caught in Hurricane Sandy off the North Carolina Outer Banks and continued the search Monday for two other crew members.

Coast Guard Petty Officer 1st Class Brandyn Hill said the crew members were rescued by two Coast Guard helicopters around 6:30 a.m. Monday. The survivors were being taken to Air Station Elizabeth City on the North Carolina coast.

The tall ship 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.”

The rescue took place in winds of 40 mph and 18-foot seas about 90 miles southeast of Cape Hatteras, N.C.

The tall ship had been used in the Pirates of the Caribbean movie. The website is here, but unreachable as of this post. You know, for a historical society, these guys sure did ignore a lot of history in regards to storms and the difficulty of navigating the treacherous waters of the Outer Banks.