Minn. couple's son escapes sinking ship caught in Hurricane Sandy
John Svendsen, whose parents Bill and Jo Svendsen run a gift shop in Nisswa, Minn., was among the 16 crew members of the tall ship HMS Bounty in North Carolina who got caught by Hurriance Sandy on Monday, KARE 11 reports. He escaped with a broken hand and ribs. Fourteen of the 16 crew members, forced to jump ship as it sank, were rescued by the Coast Guard. One died and one was still missing late Monday.
It was the captain who remained missing, CNN reported. The 180-foot, three-masted ship was 90 miles off the North Carolina coast when it began taking on water. The crew had been trying to sail east to avoid the storm, CNN says.
The HMS Bounty is a replica of the famous tall ship on which the crew held a mutiny in Tahiti in 1789. The modern version was a living history vessel that sailed the country and offered educational tours, "dedicated to preserving the fine art of square-rigged sailing," according to its website. It was originally built for the 1962 movie "Mutiny on the Bounty" and was featured in the film "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest."
CNN has raw footage of the rescue: