Bounty captain blamed for ship’s sinking

The captain of the tall ship Bounty has been blamed for the tragic loss of the vessel and two crew members.

The first federal report into the fatal sinking in 2012 says Capt Robin Walbridge’s ‘reckless decision’ to sail into the path of Hurricane Sandy was the likely cause of the disaster.

The tall ship visited Bermuda in June 2009 for the Tall Ship’s Atlantic Challenge, but did not take part in the event.

And in the summer of 2012 the Spirit of Bermuda’s crew worked alongside the Bounty in Norfolk, Virginia.

The three-masted square rigger, carrying 16 crew members, flipped sideways in heavy seas and high winds, throwing everyone into the Atlantic in October 2012 off the coast of North Carolina.

Capt Walbridge, 63, was never found and is presumed dead while deckhand Claudene Christian, 42, died after Coast Guard rescuers were unable to revive her.

At the time of the tragedy Alan Burland, co-founder of the Bermuda Sloop Foundation, said: “It feels like we have lost a friend.”

According to Monday’s National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) report heading into the storm’s path “subjected the ageing vessel and the inexperienced crew to conditions from which the vessel could not recover,” 

In a statement NTSB Chairman, Deborah Hersman, said: “The Bounty’s crew was put into an extraordinarily hazardous situation through decisions that by any measure didn’t prioritize safety.”

HMS Bounty is a replica of the ship of the same name famous for the mutiny of its crew in the 18th Century.

The ship, which was arguably the world’s most famous traditionally rigged replica ships, was built for the 1962 film Mutiny on the Bounty.

It also appeared in several Hollywood films including the ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ franchise.