HALIFAX – Two U.S. Coast Guard rescuers who risked their lives during Hurricane Sandy to save the crew of the sinking HMS Bounty are being honoured for their efforts.
Aviations Survival Technicians Randy J. Haba and Daniel J. Todd will receive the 2013 International Maritimes Organization (IMO) Award for Exceptional Bravery at Sea.
The combined efforts of the two rescue swimmers helped save the lives of 14 of the tall ship’s 16-member crew, after they abandoned ship in 10-metre seas and gale-force winds on Oct. 29, 2012.
The ship’s captain, 63-year-old Robin Walbridge, was lost at sea and 42-year-old deckhand Claudene Christian was found unresponsive in the water hours after the ship went down.
At its 110th session in London, last week, the IMO Council said Haba and Todd “overcame the effects of cold, fatigue and ingesting sea water to deliver 14 crew members of HMS Bounty to safety.”
Haba was on board the first rescue helicopter to arrive at the scene, 145 kilometres off the coast of North Carolina, and spent more than an hour — in high waves, wind and rain — bringing the survivors from the life rafts to a rescue basket, to be safely raised to the chopper.
“At one point, he was engulfed by a huge wave that knocked his mask off, severely restricting his vision and further hampering his tremendous efforts,” an IMO statement reads.
He went on to help two more survivors without his mask on.
“He exhibited exceptional strength and endurance throughout the entire rescue,” the statement adds.
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Todd arrived with another Coast Guard helicopter 30 minutes after the first and immediately began pulling survivors from the raft.
“Whilst he was assisting the second survivor into the rescue basket, a large wave toppled the life raft containing the four remaining survivors. Todd immediately secured a handhold on the sea anchor to stabilize his position,” the IMO statement recounts.
He then went onto rescue three more survivors from another raft.
The awards will be presented at IMO headquarters on Nov. 25.
The sinking of HMS Bounty — a Lunenburg, N.S.-built replica of the famed 18th century vessel — prompted a U.S. Coast Guard investigation into the captain’s decision to sail into the storm and the condition of the 52-year-old ship.
During hearings held in February, a Maine shipyard owner, who worked on the boat prior to its ill-fated voyage between Connecticut and Florida, told a panel he was worried about rotted wood found on the vessel.
Walbridge was ‘terrified’ at what he saw, but he decided against removing additional planks to see how extensive the damage was and going ahead and replacing it, Todd Kosakowski said.
Months after the eight-day hearing, Claudene Christian’s mother — also named Claudene Christian — filed a $90-million lawsuit against the ship’s owner, Robert Hansesn, and the HMS Bounty Organization LLC.
Her daughter, a descendant of Fletcher Christian — a master’s mate aboard the original vessel during the legendary mutiny on the Bounty in 1789 — was on her first voyage with the ship as a paid deckhand when she died.
Her body was retrieved about 13 kilometres away from the wreck site.
Capt. Robin Walbridge, who spent almost 20 years with the Bounty, was never recovered. The air and water searches for the captain, were called off after 90 hours.
The 55-metre, three-masted tall ship replica, built in 1960, was constructed for the Hollywood film version of the Mutiny on the Bounty, starring Marlon Brando.
HMS Bounty was a regular visitor to Nova Scotia, for the Tall Ships Festival. It’s most recent visit was in July 2012.
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