HMS Bounty Sinks: Captain Still Missing

The Coast Guard has found one of the missing crew members of the stricken HMS Bounty.

Lt Mike Patterson said crews have taken 42-year-old Claudene Christian to hospital for treatment. She is described as "unresponsive".

They are still searching for the captain of the ship Robin Walbridge, aged 63.

HMS Bounty sank near the eye of Hurricane Sandy on Monday.

Fourteen crew members were hoisted to safety from a lifeboat. The replica tall ship has now disappeared from view, apart from the top of the mast.

The captain ordered his crew to abandon the ship at about 5am on Monday. 

They were found 160 miles from the hurricane's centre. The vessel had lost power and started to take on water.

The US Coast Guard said the Bounty's crew had donned cold water survival suits and lifejackets before launching in two 25-man lifeboats with canopies.

The suits are designed to protect people from the cold waters for up to 15 hours.

"The first Jayhawk (helicopter) crew hoisted five people into the aircraft and a second helicopter arrived and rescued nine people," the Coast Guard said.

They were flown to Air Station Elizabeth City for medical treatment.

Rescuers faced 40mph winds and 18ft waves at the scene, which is 90 miles southeast of Hatteras in North Carolina.

Coast Guard Sector North Carolina received a call from the owner of the 180ft, three-mast ship, saying she had lost communication with the vessel's crew late on Sunday evening.

It regained contact with the ship after receiving a signal from the emergency position indicating beacon registered to the Bounty.

The current Bounty was built for the 1962 movie Mutiny On The Bounty with Marlon Brando and has since appeared in Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest.

The original Bounty is known for the mutiny that took place in Tahiti in 1789.