Hurricane Sandy Sinks HMS Bounty

LONDON – The HMS Bounty, a ship that was first built for the 1962 film Mutiny on the Bounty, which starred Marlin Brando, and has been featured in other movies, including Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest with Johnny Depp, late Tuesday sank off the coast of North Carolina after being hit by Hurricane Sandy.

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The boat's captain was reported missing, and one of the 16 other crew members died as the storm toppled the boat, The Daily Telegraph reported.

Carol Everson, general manager of The Pier in St. Petersburg, Florida, where the vessel often docked, described the vessel "as a tremendous piece of history," the paper said. "It's devastating," she added.

Bounty crew member Claudene Christian, 42, was found "unresponsive" at sea and taken to a hospital following a dramatic rescue operation in the Atlantic Ocean, but her death was later confirmed by the hospital. The captain, identified as Robin Walbridge, 63, is still missing.

The ship had left Connecticut last week and was heading for Florida. Days before it sank, the 180 feet, three-mast vessel had changed its route in an attempt to avoid the brunt of Hurricane Sandy.

It was caught in 18 feet-high waves and 40 miles-per-hour winds, and it had taken on 10 feet of water before the crew abandoned ship in two lifeboats, according to reports. The BBC showed pictures of the boat in latest news updates about Hurricane Sandy.

Crew members who made it to the lifeboats were rescued by U.S. Coast Guard helicopter crews.

The ship was a replica of the original British ship famous for the mutiny that took place near Tahiti in 1789.