HMS Bounty Owner Embroiled in Lawsuit

The family of 42-year-old Claudene Martilla Christian, who died when the tall ship HMS Bounty sank off the coast of Cape Hatteras, N.C., as Hurricane Sandy made its way up the Atlantic coast in October, has asked a federal judge to order the Bounty's owner to pay $90 million in damages, according to an article published Saturday in Newsday.

Robert E. Hansen, whose company HMS Bounty Organization is based in East Setauket, did not return Newsday's requests for comment.

The lawsuit, filed last Monday, accuses Hansen of negligence in allowing the ship to sail. It reads: "Not only was the decision to go to sea with this wooden ship – originally built as a movie prop – reckless, but so too was the two-hour notice given to the crew. There was no time to allow them to grasp the full implications of the storm, or to confer with family, friends or knowledgeable individuals."

The ship was 50 years old and had been featured in a few movies before it sank on Oct. 29.

Click here to read surviving crew members' testimony as part of a Coast Guard and National Transportation Safety Board investigation, and click here to read the full story on the lawsuit from Newsday (subscription required).