Iconic movie boat is Hurricane Sandy’s latest victim

A replica of HMS Bounty that has featured in several films and TV shows has sunk off the coast of North Carolina after it was stranded in the path of Hurricane Sandy.

The 180 foot (55m) vessel was taking on water and had lost power 90 miles southeast of Hatteras, North Carolina. It was stuck in 40 mile-per-hour winds and 18-foot seas.

The ship was roughly 160 miles from the centre of Sandy, a Category 1 hurricane bearing down on the U.S. East Coast.

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According to reports, sixteen crew members escaped the ship but only fourteen people have been rescued so far.

The US Coast Guard said: "The 16-person crew donned cold water survival suits and lifejackets before launching in two 25-man lifeboats with canopies.”

An aircraft is searching for the missing passengers, reports NBC news.

The boat was built for 1962 movie ‘Mutiny on the Bounty’, starring Marlon Brando, and was also featured in the ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ franchise.

It was made using the original ship's drawings from files in the British admiralty archives. However, all dimensions were increased by around a third to make room for the large 70 mm cameras used in the filming.

Apparently, the HMS Bounty replica was meant to be set alight at the end of the film but producers decided to keep it in service after Marlon Brando threatened to walk off the set in protest.

The original Bounty went down in history after the mutiny in Tahiti in 1789.