A prominent insurance company is suing the owners of the HMS Bounty, an 18th-century replica sailing ship that sank off the North Carolina shore during Superstorm Sandy.
According to reports, Acadia Insurance Co. is seeking to recoup the $5.1 million it paid in claims after the 50-year-old ship sank from owner Robert Hansen due to negligence on the part of the captain.
Official findings from the National Transportation Safety Board suggest there were pre-existing problems with the ship, but that the captain was largely at fault for the ship’s sinking after sailing into the path of storm. Acadia maintains that thanks to these “unseaworthy conditions,” Hansen’s insurance contract should be voided.
“Bounty’s sinking was not a fortuitous, covered loss, but was a direct result of defendant’s reckless acts which directly caused the deaths of two people and injuries to others,” Acadia said in its 41-page complaint.
The complaint details 19 deficiencies found in the boat by the American Bureau of Shipping.
One of the 16 crew members of the HMS Bounty died during the storm, and the captain was never found.
The ship was originally built in 1960 for the film “Mutiny on the Bounty.”
