Maine shipyard officials face questioning about sunken tall ship

The Associated Press

PORTSMOUTH, Va. - Officials from a Maine shipyard that worked on a Canadian-built replica 18th-century sailing ship that sank during hurricane Sandy will testify at a coast guard hearing in Virginia.

HMS Bounty underwent repairs at Boothbay Harbor Shipyard in Maine several weeks before the ship sank 145 kilometres off Cape Hatteras, N.C., during the October storm.

One member of the ship's 16-person-crew died and the captain was never found.

Coast guard officials started hearing testimony Tuesday from surviving crew members. Boothbay Harbor Shipyard officials are scheduled to testify today.

The hearing is expected to last through Feb. 21.

The ship was built at Smith and Ruhland Shipyard in Lunenburg, N.S., for the 1962 film "Mutiny on the Bounty" starring Marlon Brando.

It was featured in several other films over the years, including one of the "Pirates of the Caribbean" movies.

_ With files from The Canadian Press.