Superstorm Sandy: Bounty skipper could be alive after sinking, say rescuers

Rescuers were yesterday continuing to search for the captain of the sailing ship Bounty, which sank as it passed through superstorm Sandy.

The US Coast Guard said that Robin Walbridge, 63, could still be alive more than a day after the replica 18th-century vessel went down in high winds and waves.

When the HMS Bounty set sail from Connecticut last week the captain believed he could navigate around Sandy and weather the storm. However, after two days in rough seas, he realised his journey would be far more difficult.

“I think we are going to be into this for several days,” Mr Walbridge said in a message posted on Sunday on the vessel’s Facebook site, which reads like a ship’s log of her activities.

“We are just going to keep trying to go fast,” he added.

By Monday morning, the vessel had started taking on water, its engines failed and the crew had to abandon ship as it went down in the immense waves.

Most were plucked from life rafts shortly after the ship went down, but Claudene Christian was found hours later, unresponsive and floating in the water. She was pronounced dead after being taken to a hospital.