Lt. Junior Grade Brendan Salerno, with the U.S. Coast Guard, told CBC News the 17-member crew of the tall ship HMS Bounty had decided to abandon ship after getting caught in 5.5-metre seas off Cape Hatteras.
"We have a Coast Guard Hercules C-130 aircraft on scene with the vessel. Right now the vessel has decided to abandon ship so right now we're working on rescue ideas," Salerno said Monday.
"We're trying to get one of our cutters underway and we're sending out some of our helicopters to try and get people that way as well."
Salerno said the winds in the area are sustained in the 75 kilometre per hour range.
The replica of HMS Bounty, which launched in Lunenburg in 1960, was made famous in a 1962 movie starring Marlon Brando — Mutiny on the Bounty. It has also appeared in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest starring Johnny Depp.
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They have been talking about how big this storm was going to be for days and they didn't head for safe harbor? That's just plain stupid. I've been to sea and seen some pretty rough stuff in the Bering. But it wasn't a hurricane and I was on a 378' High Endurance Cutter with 4 engines. No way in hell would you find me on a wooden tall ship in a hurricane.
Hopefully all souls will be saved. Abandoning ship in a hurricane is definitely THE worst case scenario there is at sea.
UPDATE: 2 were washed overboard while trying to enter the lifeboats and are lost at sea. 14 were rescued by a Coast Guard helicopter and are safe. SAR Ops are underway for the missing crew members.
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