More than a dozen members of a Nova Scotia-built replica vessel are abandoning ship off the coast of North Carolina after getting caught in the high seas brought on by Hurricane Sandy.
Lt. Junior Grade Brendan Salerno, with the U.S. Coast Guard, told CBC News the 17-member crew of the 180' 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.
Hopefully all souls will be saved. Abandoning ship in a hurricane is definitely THE worst case scenario there is at sea.
