HMS Bounty sinking off US coast

[Dreadnought]

Myself and lady friend had recently visited the Bounty here in Philadelphia this summer. She is/was a beautiful ship. Chances are though she will be lost, at last report she had 10 feet of water interior of the ship and no chance of propulsion.

A true shame. A beautiful ship.

[blidgepump]

Ships passing in the harbor ??? .....

here are a couple more pictures from Aug 2010

[ATTACH]30562[/ATTACH][ATTACH]30563[/ATTACH][ATTACH]30564[/ATTACH]

Wisconsin,

We must of been within in a few hours of each other.
I was not aware that Tall Ships even plied the Great Lakes.
I took the tour on Sunday, August 2010 after stumbling across the event with my wife.
A sad fate for a tall ship to head into ( even close is close ) a hurricane.

[Chogy]

To those missing... I suspect they are lost, but I pray not. RIP if so. What a sad event.

Some of the comments on the news sites are rude as hell, like "What the &*(^% were they doing in the storm?" not understanding that the open ocean can be safer than port in some circumstances, especially for a tall ship. If tied to a berth, the high winds, waves, and surge, can pound the ship to splinters.

I'd think the safest place would be at anchor with room to weathervane, in as protected an area as possible. Obviously, topmasts struck and bare poles.

Maybe someone with squid DNA can correct me on this. ;)

[qaz14595]

From TallShipBounty.org -

UPDATED NEWS!!!!!!!! We received a distress call for Bounty at 1830 Sunday evening October 28th that the Ship lost power and the pumps were unable to keep up with the dewatering. At that time we immediately contacted the USCG for assistance. A C130 was sent to there position approximately 90 miles SE of Cape Hatteras. At 0430 Sunday Morning the Captain ordered all hands to abandon ship. There are 17 Crew on board and at this moment all crew are accounted for and are in Life rafts. The first USCG helicopter has reached the ship and is in the process of rescuing them. Bounty is currently still floating upright and intact. We will keep everyone informed as info becomes available.

Also it appears that she had just left a period in Drydock a week ago (Inludes a video of her being relaunched) - HMS Bounty launched at Boothbay Harbor Shipyard - WorkBoat.com

From a storm in 2010.....I just wonder how much worse it must have been in the hurricane - Rough seas on HMS Bounty - YouTube

[dave lukins]

We have to think of the crew first, the crew and ship second and the ship third..in that order with no adjustments. We want no loss of life and a ship can be rebuilt. We all await the next news and all at WAB insist it is good news.

[zraver]

We have to think of the crew first, the crew and ship second and the ship third..in that order with no adjustments. We want no loss of life and a ship can be rebuilt. We all await the next news and all at WAB insist it is good news.

Apparently your wish got heard by God as a prayer and was answered. 1 of the 2 missing has been found. She is unresponsive and may still die, but her worst case is now a burial instead of lost at sea. The ships captain is still missing, unknown if he was actually on the life rafts, or if he stayed with his ship.

[gunnut]

I pray for the lost crew member. We can always rebuild a ship. We can't always rebuild people.

[RustyBattleship]

To those missing... I suspect they are lost, but I pray not. RIP if so. What a sad event.

Some of the comments on the news sites are rude as hell, like "What the &*(^% were they doing in the storm?" not understanding that the open ocean can be safer than port in some circumstances, especially for a tall ship. If tied to a berth, the high winds, waves, and surge, can pound the ship to splinters.

I'd think the safest place would be at anchor with room to weathervane, in as protected an area as possible. Obviously, topmasts struck and bare poles.

Maybe someone with squid DNA can correct me on this. ;)

That is true even of modern warships. Once a year Southern California has to endure 3 or 4 days of "Santa Ana Winds" that sustain at least 40 mph with gusts up to 60 mph. The USS Brooke (FFG-1) was tied up to a pier in Seal Beach and was pounded repeatedly against the concrete pier from the winds. We had to replace aboout 108 feet of shell plating from the 2nd deck on up to the Main deck. The damage was so severe inwards that the CPO's also got a brand new galley & Mess built for them.

Our rough high estimate was 14 weeks using only day shift workers only 5 days a week. I suggested to the Shop Master of the Shipfitter and Welding Shop (Joe Meza) that the repairs are basically quite standard with no fancy work involved and it would make a great Apprentice Project for all shops. All they needed was a couple of "Leader" shipfitters, welders, riggers, etc. as instructors and most of the welding could be done on Swing and Graveyard.

Joe was a great supporter of the Apprentice Program (his son was an apprentice also) and the other Shop Masters agreed.

That was in 1978 and the Apprentice graduating class for that year (all shops) totalled 125. Apprentices that would graduate in 1979 totaled 96. Those that would graduate in 1980 totaled 103. And first year apprentices on board that would graduate in 1981 totaled 126.

So with 450 eager young people learning their trades all on a single special project outlined just for them, we got that ship out in 7 weeks.

But as previously noted, if the Brooke had gone out to anchorage instead of remaining tied up to the pier (the Captain was in D.C. at a conference) such damage would not have occured (though the pier looked like it came in only 2nd place). If it was a tall ship built of wood as the Bounty, it would have been splintered into driftwood.

The only thing the Bounty could have done, if possible, would be to pull into a harbor and anchor/moor away from piers and other ships. But apparently the storm came in too fast and with spiral winds she was caught in the open sea. This is very sorrowful as she used to tour the west coast as well. I have seen her at Long Beach's Shoreline Village and ealier tied up to the dock by the Copper Penny restaurant that used to be a Ford assembly plant.

But Mother Nature rules and she doesn't care how much artwork she destroys or how many lives she takes.

[dave lukins]

I pray for the lost crew member. We can always rebuild a ship. We can't always rebuild people.

Sadly the youg lady crew member Claudene Christian has died and the Captain is reported missing.

[blidgepump]

Hove to ....... sustainability factor ?

Sadly the youg lady crew member Claudene Christian has died and the Captain is reported missing.

Following this thread I was curious about the technique of "Hove to" taught in sailing and read this passage from a report:

"During the ill fated 1979 Fastnet Race, of 300 yachts, 158 chose to adopt storm tactics. 86 'lay ahull', whereby the yacht adopts a 'beam on' attitude to the wind and waves. 46 ran before the wind under bare poles or trailing warps/sea anchors and 26 Hove to. 100 yachts suffered knock downs, 77 rolled at least once. Not one of the hove to yachts were capsized or suffered any serious damage."

A sad event as details will follow on the Bounty just out of drydock.

[DonBelt]

Very sad indeed- the website yesterday had reported at first that the crew was rescued but now the news of the loss of a crew member and possibly the captain as well has reminded everyone that the sea can be a very unforgiving place. I agree with the previous post about people on the news websites bad mouthing the crew. Most ships have a better chance of avoiding damage on the water than pierside- I saw it during the 80's when we had a hurricane come thru Hampton Roads. Many ships were sortied and the ones that stayed pierside were battered and dented. (more than usual I mean). If the Navy sees fit to put 21 steel hulled vessels to sea like they did this time to protect them from damage from being pierside during a storm, what do you think could happen to a large wooden hull ship pierside? The crew has suffered a tragedy and doesn't need trolls who don't know anything judging them. The Bounty website is down last I checked, but on the search page there is a poignant phrase: HMS Bounty...at one with the sea

[dave lukins]

Following this thread I was curious about the technique of "Hove to" taught in sailing

I'm not too sure if a ship such as the Bounty has the ability to 'hove to' as shown in the text books. One of our sailing illuminaries will no doubt put us in the picture on that. ;)

[dave lukins]

Very sad indeed- the website yesterday had reported at first that the crew was rescued but now the news of the loss of a crew member and possibly the captain as well has reminded everyone that the sea can be a very unforgiving place. I agree with the previous post about people on the news websites bad mouthing the crew.

The Captain is reported missing at sea. I have no doubt he ensured all his crew were off, or heading for safety, before he himself thought of his own.

[Dreadnought]

A still video showing the Bounty being "swamped".

Watch: Dramatic Video of Tall Ship Rescue During Sandy - SKYE on AOL

[RustyBattleship]

Sadly the youg lady crew member Claudene Christian has died and the Captain is reported missing.

I was just reading in this morning's paper that Claudene Christian was actually a direct descendant of Fletcher Christian that led the mutiny.