And so it begins. Legal action has been taken against the owner of the HMS Bounty, a tall ship that sank in October when it sailed into Hurricane Sandy (on purpose). The mother of Claudene Christian, a deckhand who drowned during the sinking, is from owner Robert Hansen and the company of the Bounty.
Christian alleges that the ship , and that the captain of the ship grossly overestimated their ability to weather the storm. The Bounty, which was built in the 1960’s as a movie prop, rolled over and sank about 90 miles from Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. The Coast Guard rescued 14 crew members, but Claudene Christian and the ship’s captain, Robin Waldridge, both died.
The suit says that Hansen and company’s “willful, callous and reckless conduct” led to the “greatest mismatch between a vessel and a peril of the sea that … could ever be imagined.” Hansen has not yet made any comment. Meanwhile, the Coast Guard continues to investigate the circumstances surrounding the Bounty’s sinking.