US Coast Guard Continues Search for the Captain of the Bounty, Search Area Expands Exponentially

USCGC Gallatin (WHEC-721), photo by PA2 Kirby, USCG

The United States Coast Guard continues its search today for Captain Robin Walbridge, the missing captain of the HMS Bounty, a 180-foot sailboat which sank  approximately 125 miles southeast of Hatteras, N.C.

The crew aboard the Coast Guard Cutter Elm, a 225-foot buoy tender homeported in Atlantic Beach, N.C., arrived on scene at approximately 7:15 p.m. Monday and began searching for Walbridge. The crews aboard the HC-130 Hercules aircraft and the MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter from Coast Guard Air Station Elizabeth City, N.C., secured their searches for the night at approximately 7:30 p.m. Monday.

A crew aboard an HC-144 Ocean Sentry aircraft from Coast Guard Air Station Clearwater, Fla., began a four-hour search at 12:30 a.m. Tuesday, and a Hercules aircrew from Air Station Clearwater began a morning search at approximately 7:15 a.m.

The Coast Guard Cutter Gallatin, a 378-foot high-endurance cutter homeported in Charleston, S.C., is en route.

The Coast Guard’s is searching an area approximately 1,350 square nautical miles.

The water temperature is 77 degrees, air temperature is 67 degrees, seas are 15 feet, and the winds are 42 mph.

For more of gCaptain’s coverage of this story, please see the below links:

• Photos of the HMS Bounty Sinking
• HMS Bounty Sinking
• HMS Bounty Crew Rescue Video
• Hurricane Sandy