The HMS Bounty replica ship, recently in for repairs at Boothbay Harbor Shipyard, has sunk offshore of North Carolina early Monday morning, caught in the fierce seas generated by Hurricane Sandy, according to the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG).
In a dramatic USCG helicopter rescue, 14 of the ship’s crew members were lifted from the ocean as high winds and storm-driven seas buffeted the aircraft, battered the victims’ life raft and at times caused the rescue swimmer to swing wildly on the cable upon which he was suspended.
Two of the crew were missing prior to the rescue. The lifeless body of Claudene Christian, 42, of Oklahoma was recovered from the ocean later Monday night.
The ship’s Captain Robin Walbridge, 43, of Florida, is still missing. The USCG reports that their mission is still a rescue and that their search efforts are ongoing as of Tuesday.
Walbridge was wearing a survival suit when last seen, according to the USCG. The water temperature in the area is a warm 77 degrees, and the ocean conditions are calming, so rescuers remain hopeful.
Many Lincoln County residents anxiously followed the rescue and search efforts, as the Bounty and her crew were regular visitors to Boothbay Harbor.
Shane Therrien, a bartender at McSeagull’s remembers them fondly. “They were very personable and very nice folks,” Therrien said. “All in all they were good ocean folks… It’s a pretty somber scene here at McSeagull’s right now.”
Vincent Frazetta, of Damariscotta, was taking photos of the ship coming into the Boothbay Harbor Shipyard when he made the acquaintance of Claudene Christian. They struck up a conversation about Alaska, where Frazetta was a former resident and Christian sometimes resided when not at sea.
“We talked about Boothbay Harbor and how much she loved the area and loved being on the crew of the Bounty,” Frazzetta said. “We were both sitting on the roof of shipyard’s engine shack used to winch the dock, and she was talking on her cell phone with her dad in Alaska… She was talking about the ship and crew, and very happy about it, and she was taking cell pictures of the ship’s rigging for her dad, while I was making photographs of the Bounty coming slowly up the rails.”
In a moment of reflection, Frazetta said, “It is very hard to reconcile her fate with the friendly woman on the shipyard roof only two weeks ago,” adding, “She was a beautiful and intelligent woman.”
In an ironic twist, Christian had written on her Facebook page that she is a direct descendant of Fletcher Christian, the First Officer of the original HMS Bounty who led the infamous mutiny. The Lincoln County News has been unable to verify this claim by press time.
In one Facebook posting, Christian wrote: “As a descendant of Fletcher Christian, I’m sure my ancestor would be proud… However this time, there will be no mutiny on this Bounty… At least not at the hands of me.”
Christian was a graduate of University of Southern California, as well as a former Miss Teen Alaska. She was the also the creator of “Cheerleader Dolls,” a line of dolls custom designed to match the uniforms of cheerleading squads around the country.
The names of other crew members had not been released publicly by press time. It is unknown if any local residents had joined the crew in Boothbay Harbor.
The last reported location for the Bounty was on Oct. 28 at 6:08 p.m. at position N 34°22′ W 074°15′, according to the Universal Licensing System maintained by the Federal Communications Commission, which is able to track vessels by their radio call sign. The position of her sinking was approximately 90 miles southeast of Hatteras, North Carolina, according to the USCG.
She departed Boothbay Harbor on Oct. 20, according to tallshipbounty.org, the website for the Bounty. She stopped for a day in New London, Conn., and was sailing to St. Petersburg, Fla., when she went down.
The search for Capt. Walbridge continues in the waters off North Carolina with the Coast Guard Cutter Elm, a 225-foot buoy tender home-ported in Atlantic Beach, N.C.
A variety of aircraft are also involved in the search. The Coast Guard Cutter Gallatin, a 378-foot high-endurance cutter home-ported in Charleston, S.C., is en route to the search area, which covers approximately 1350 nautical miles of open ocean.
