14 Rescued, 2 Missing From 'Mutiny on the Bounty' Replica Before It Sinks Off North Carolina Coast

Two crewmembers remain missing from the replica tall ship HMS Bounty after the vessel got caught in Hurricane Sandy and sunk off the North Carolina coast, officials told FoxNews.com.

U.S. Coast Guard Lt. Michael Patterson said 14 people were rescued from life rafts roughly 90 miles offshore by two MH-60 Jayhawk helicopters at about 6:30 a.m. Monday and were taken to Air Station Elizabeth City. Conditions in the area were reported to be 40 mph winds and 18-foot seas, Coast Guard officials said.

“We are still actively searching for two persons in the water,” said Patterson, adding that at least three Jayhawk crews are searching for the missing crewmembers.

The first Jayhawk crew hoisted five people into the aircraft, followed by a second helicopter that rescued nine additional crewmembers.

The director of the HMS Bounty Organization, Tracie Simonin, told the Associated Press that the ship left Connecticut last week for St. Petersburg, Fla. She said the crew had been in constant contact with the National Hurricane Center and tried to go around the storm.

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