The Coast Guard rescued 14 crew members who took to lifeboats when the HMS Bounty sank in a storm on October 30, among them long-time fan Doug Faunt, one of its regular volunteers. A search continues for the Bounty’s captain and another crew member who are missing at sea.
Faunt sent a tweet after reaching shore: “The ship sank beneath us, but we swam free and mostly got into two rafts. I’m at the USCG station Elizabeth City NC. Thee are two unaccounted for at present.”
The three-mast, 180-foot ship, built for the 1962 movie Mutiny on the Bounty is under water but for the tip of one mast still protuding above the surface.
Update 10/30/2012: Gary Farber says the missing crew woman is not the captain’s wife, as she was reported in an online source. Farber lives in Faunt’s home, and has posted more commentary on his Facebook page.
Doug Faunt back on shore after Coast Guard rescue. Image from CG’s video via Gary Farber.
Discover more from File 770
Subscribe to get the latest posts to your email.
A North Carolina TV station’s site reports one of the missing crew has been recovered:
The Coast Guard’s video posted on the Defense Video & Imagery Distribution System shows Doug at 10:23 walking away from the helicopter and clearly in yellow overalls and jacket from 11:01-11:05 conversing with one of the responders. Linked posted by Geri Sullivan at Making Light, forwarded via Lenny Bailes and Andrew Porter.
That’s a great trick, considering Doug isn’t on Twitter.
Facebook, Twitter: same thing. The Star attributes incorrectly.
I’ve posted pretty much everything there is to post on the sinking on my FB Timeline, fwiw. Answered calls so far from CBS, NBC, GOOD MORNING AMERICA, and AP.
And Geri got the links from me via email. How the wheel goes around. Rather faster to check with the housemate of the person involved in the first place.
Photo of Bounty as last seen: http://twitpic.com/b8nd39
Claudene Christian died: http://thechronicleherald.ca/novascotia/156687-bounty-crew-member-dies-hospital-official-confirms
Doug has posted: “We’re greiving for Claudene Christian and hoping for Robin. Suurface units wil be out tonight and air search resumes early tomorrow.
4 minutes ago via mobile”
Also to me: “I’m not being polite to news media.”
Claudene Christian (who has said she’s a descendent of Fletcher): https://www.facebook.com/claudene.christian
Cheers for rescuers: http://abcnews.go.com/US/cheers-fill-chopper-hurricane-sandy-ship-rescue/story?id=17588614#.UI9Ka8U0V8G
Doug writes of the reported injured crew (not himself): “both injuries are relatively minor. The “broken back” is a couple of cracked rib and a dislocation- the “broken arm” is actually a couple of bones in the hand.”
Thank you, U.S. Coast Guard: http://www.forbes.com/sites/joanlappin/2012/10/29/bounty-rescue-the-u-s-coast-guard-is-amazing/
Much earlier today, brief statement by owner: http://www.ksdk.com/news/article/345129/28/Coast-Guard-finds-1-missing-crew-member-of-ship
Mike, there’s a picture of Doug made from the rescue video on my FB page which you’re welcome to copy, if you’d like, or I could email it to you if you’d prefer.
Come to think of it, you can see it here in my Twitter feed.
And this is very sad to read now.
I added the image — thanks Gary!
AP misquotes me here:
No, I said “jack-of-all-trades, and so I’m *not* surprised, but I am impressed, that….”
Also I never said the postings were made “as the ship went down.” I clearly explained they were made after Doug was ashore.
Was this ship in Sydney in 1999? If it was, I had a very pleasant afternoon on board.
The BOUNTY that was in Australia was used in a cable-TV adaptation of MOBY DICK in which Patrick Stewart played Captain Ahab. So I can truthfully say that I have sailed on a ship that was commanded by Patrick Stewart!
Martin – it would appear you were on a different Bounty replica: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bounty_%281978_ship%29
Anthony Hopkins – Lieutenant William Bligh
Mel Gibson – Master’s Mate Fletcher Christian
from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bounty
More about the Bounty that Doug was on:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bounty_%281960_ship%29
Apparently Claudene Christian was a descendent of Fletcher Christian.
http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/2012/1030/HMS-Bounty-casualty-claimed-tie-to-mutinous-Fletcher-Christian
Hope they are able to recover the Bounty. (That reads like a pun, but its an accident.) Someone should probably inquire into why they were caught in such bad weather, but I guess the reach of the storm surprised a lot of people.
The Bounty isn’t recoverable.
Doug on pictures: “The orange item on my chest is a rescue knife,and the lump behind that is my teddy bear, Mush, in a waterproof bag.”
Here’s another of the various articles I’ve linked to since yesterday.
This is/was the Bounty.
A relief fund has been established by former crew members for donations to the families of Christian and Walbridge, along with the 14 surviving members of the crew of HMS BOUNTY.
Donations can be sent via PayPal to [email protected].
[Via Gary Farber.]
Mike Walsh: Thanks for the clarification about the difference between the two HMS Bounty ships.