8 Bells For The Bounty
I don’t really suppose that many people will care greatly about this but the replica of the H.M.S. Bounty has by this point been lost at sea approximately 90 miles southeast of Hatteras Cape Hatteras, NC to hurricane Sandy.
H.M.S. Bounty
Her 17 man crew had to abandon ship earlier this morning because her engines had failed, the storm was too bad to raise sail, and she was taking on water faster than her pumps could cope with.
God bless this frail ship of mine,
tho’ tiny it may be;
God bless its youthful skipper,
and those who sail with me;
Grant thy grace to all the stalwart lads
who bravely man its deck;
Come sail with us O Blessed One,
and each of us protect;
We’ll sail upon the northern breeze
to roam in search of glory;
It has been and always will be,
fate will set my life story;
So when you take this sailor, Lord,
forever from the sea;
I’ll sail my ship through Heaven’s gate,
for a sailor I’ll always be.— Wayne E. Walters
In 1961 she was built in the traditional manner to the original Bounty’s specifications from drawings from British admiralty archive files at the Smith and Ruhland Shipyard shipyard – who also built the Blue Nose – in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia for MGM’s 1962 Mutiny on the Bounty. Since then she has plied both the seas and film.
And so the Graveyard of the Atlantic will claim another toll, as is its due, and another of the few tall, gallant ladies of the sea left to us in these days shall hear the tolling of eight bells as her watch is ended forever.
Tags: History | HMS Bounty | Musings | North Carolina | Ships | The Sea
October 29th, 2012 at 4:29 pm
This one is tragic. I saw her once, in Mystic CT. Just lovely.
An old boyfriend spent 30+ years at Sikorsky aircraft. He sent me a video of the crew rescue this morning. It was a Sikorsky rescue chopper that brought them in. Wonderful work. He was an engineer and was involved in designing and building it.
Buy godspeed Bounty.
October 29th, 2012 at 4:32 pm
Yes, it’s tragic for us that we’ve lost her. She died well though and doing what she was built to do and for that I’m grateful to those who put her to sea where she belonged.
I spent a fair amount of time with her when I was young and I’ll never forget her.