As the Northeast braces for the arrival of Hurricane Sandy, the storm of record size has already taken a number of human casualties-- along with a piece of movie history. A replica of the HMS Bounty, used in the making of the 1962 classic Mutiny on the Bounty, was off the coast of North Carolina early this morning when it was overcome with waves and required rescue from the Coast Guard.
According to CNN, 14 people were rescued from two lifeboats around 6:30 am this morning, although two crew members remain missing. The ship, a perfect replica of the ship from the British Royal Navy that was at the center of the famous 1789 mutiny, was scheduled to be burned at the end of the shooting of the 1962 film, but star Marlon Brando threatened to walk off the set in protest. The ship was bought from MGM by Ted Turner in 1986 and has belonged to a number of foundations since then, traveling across the Atlantic many times. According to this article, the ship launched from Boothbay Harbor, Maine on October 22 after some routine maintenance.
You can watch the ship in action in this clip from the 1962 film, below. It is, of course, more important that the people onboard were rescued-- and that the two missing crew members be found-- but it's also a shame to see a piece of film history, so meticulously cared for and revered over decades, become a victim of the hurricane. There is another replica out there, though-- when Dino De Laurentiis made the 1984 film The Bounty he commissioned a new ship, which now lives at Lantau Island in Hong Kong as a tourist attraction.
