TOM TANGNEY

HMS Bounty’s final hours had more drama than any of its movies

Oct 30, 2012, 6:43 AM | Updated: 10:40 am

The final hours of the HMS Bounty were more dramatic than any of the films it starred in. (AP Photo...

The final hours of the HMS Bounty were more dramatic than any of the films it starred in. (AP Photo/U.S. Coast Guard, Petty Officer 2nd Class Tim Kuklewski)

(AP Photo/U.S. Coast Guard, Petty Officer 2nd Class Tim Kuklewski)

The HMS Bounty, that 180 foot three-masted replica sailing ship, has starred in many a Hollywood blockbuster, but none was more dramatic than the real-life drama on board it in the last 36 hours.

One crew member is dead, the Captain missing and presumed drowned, but the Coast Guard did manage to rescue 14 crewmembers from the chilly Atlantic Ocean waters.

The Bounty is now at the bottom of the sea.

The ship had been sailing down from Connecticut to its home base in St. Petersburg, Florida when it got caught up in the Hurricane Sandy off the coast of North Carolina.

“We got a call from the owner who said they’d lost communication with the vessel and they were taking on water,” said Vice Admiral Robert Parker, with the Coast Guard. “Eventually they abandoned ship with 10 feet of water on deck.”

The ship was sinking near the eye of Hurricane Sandy but that didn’t stop the Coast Guard rescue team from attempting a rescue.

Rescue swimmer, Daniel Todd, fought off waves ranging from 18 to 30 feet high.

“Being down there in those waves is more like being in a washing machine,” Todd told the Today Show.

The rescuers pulled the crew up by basket, one by one.

The baskets presented their own unique problems, some swinging in the winds. Fourteen made it into the two rescue helicopters.

One of the missing Captain’s last onboard Facebook posts insisted “A ship is safer at sea than in port.” Unfortunately, that wasn’t true this time.

The HMS Bounty was built for the 1962 Marlon Brando movie, “Mutiny on the Bounty,” and appeared in countless other films set on the high seas including one of Johhny Depp’s “Pirates of the Caribbean” movies.

Watch dramatic video of the Coast Guard rescue.

Tom Tangney

Belfast...

Tom Tangney

Kenneth Branagh’s ‘Belfast’ is a crowd-pleaser that doesn’t quite hit the mark

"Belfast" has plenty to recommend itself but it's not nearly the moving testament to fraught times that Kenneth Branagh thinks it is or wants it to be.

2 years ago

Eternals, Marvel...

Tom Tangney

‘Eternals’ has to do a lot of heavy lifting for a single film

Imagine the daunting task Marvel sets for itself in "Eternals." It has to introduce 10 new superheroes, not to mention an entirely new cosmology.

2 years ago

French Dispatch...

Tom Tangney

‘The French Dispatch’ is unmistakably Andersonian

Wes Anderson is an acquired taste. But luckily, after 10 full-length movies, most critics and many movie-goers have acquired it.

2 years ago

Dune...

Tom Tangney

All set-up and no payoff: ‘Dune’ is world’s longest and most expensive trailer

It's hard to find the right metaphor for the new "Dune" movie. Whatever comparison you choose, it must reflect a sense of incompletion.

2 years ago

Last Duel...

Tom Tangney

Poor Marguerite’s story saves ‘The Last Duel’

Tom Tangney says, ultimately, The Last Duel is a proto-feminist take on the Middle Ages with Marguerite's take that brings the film into focus.

2 years ago

James Bond...

Tom Tangney

Daniel Craig’s final James Bond movie comes full-circle

The 25th installment in the James Bond movie franchise may be titled "No Time to Die," but "Too Much Time to Die" may be more fitting.

3 years ago

HMS Bounty’s final hours had more drama than any of its movies