Search halted for missing HMS Bounty captain; ship sank during Hurricane Sandy

Updated Thursday, Nov. 1 at 8:52 EDT

ELIZABETH CITY, N.C. – The Coast Guard is halting its search for the captain of a tall ship that sank off the North Carolina coast during Hurricane Sandy.

The Coast Guard said Thursday its search with ships, helicopters, and large planes failed to find 63-year-old Robin Walbridge of St. Petersburg, Florida.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with the Walbridge and Christian families,” Capt. Doug Cameron, chief of incident response for USCG 5th District, said in a statement. “Suspending a search and rescue case is one of the hardest decision we have to make.”

Walbridge was captain of the 55-metre, three-masted tall ship HMS Bounty. It sank before dawn Monday in hurricane-churned waters off Cape Hatteras.

The crew abandoned ship in two life rafts, and the Coast Guard rescued 14 crew members.

Walbridge was one of two crew members who were lost at sea. The body of 42-year-old  deckhand Claudene Christian was pulled from the water late Monday afternoon.

She was found unresponsive in the water and was later declared dead at a Albermarle Hospital, in Elizabeth City.

The search for Walbridge wend on for four day despite rough seas, in hopes the expert seaman could survive. He had been captain of the ship for more than 20 years.

The ship was built in Lunenburg, N.S. for the 1962 film “Mutiny on the Bounty” and was featured in several other films.

Christian was a descendent of Fletcher Christian, was one of the mutineers aboard the original Bounty in 1789.

HMS Bounty was a regular visitor to Nova Scotia, for the Tall Ships Festival. It’s most recent visit was in July of this year.

Walbridge and Christian spoke with Global News at that time.

*With files from Global News