Huricane Sandy Claims a Tall Ship. One I've boarded.

So if you're anywhere near the U.S. right now, you know we're battling a hurricane that's being felt throughout a full 1/3 of the country.

Tomorrow I plan to go take pictures of the way the extreme weather is churning up Lake Michigan here in Chicago, but I wanted to take a minute to note that we've had what is assumed to be two fatalities already and one ship lost.  The HMS Bounty sank in Hurricane Sandy earlier today.

In August of 2010 I attended the Tall Ships Festival at Navy Pier as a Media Guest and I toured the Bounty.  It was a replica of the ship used in the movie "Mutiny on the Bounty" and more recently it was used in "Pirates of the Carribean: Dead Man's Chest" before becoming part of the Tall Ships Tour.  The Bounty was probably the most popular attraction at the festival.  I noted on my blog posts in 2010 that at one point the line just to board her was over four hours long.

Most of the crew were able to get into survival suits and board lifeboats before she went down. Two crewmembers are unaccounted for.  They're certain they left the ship before she sank, but they didn't make it to the lifeboats.  My thoughts are with them and their families.

Here are a few of the shots I got on board this amazing ship:

Some of the media news coverage of the loss of the ship

ABC News
CNN News
Video of the rescue of 14 of the 16 crew

Update:  Of the two missing persons, one has been found and rescued, but is - at last report - unresponsive.  The remaining missing person, somewhat fittingly, is the Captain.