Bounty
Built: 1960-1961 at Smith & Rhuland Shipyard in Lunenberg, Nova Scotia Christened 8/28/1960.
Gross Tonnage: 412 tons
LOA: 180’
LOD: 120’
Height of Main Mast: 115’
Draft: 13’
Freeboard: 12’
Sails: 18+ (10,000 sq/ft)
Max Capacity: 12 underway, 150 on-deck; berthing for 49
Today’s HMS Bounty was built as an ocean-faring vessel in 1960 for the movie, Mutiny on the Bounty, the famous story of the British crew who overthrew Captain Bligh in order to remain in the Islands of the Pacific, rather than return to England. MGM sailed the ship around the world to promote the film, eventually bringing her to New York for the World’s Fair in 1964. She made St. Petersburg, Florida her permanent home for 21 years until Turner Broadcasting bought the MGM film library in 1986. The ship left St. Petersburg and Tampa Bay to go to Miami and travel the West Coast, East Coast, and Great Lakes. In 1993, Ted Turner donated the ship to the city of Fall River, Massachusetts. In 2001, a Long Island, New York businessman purchased the ship.
The Bounty has returned to her Hollywood roots with frequent appearances in documentaries and film productions. Recent productions include Sponge Bob Square Pants, the Movie, a documentary on Captain Bligh for a Baltimore film production company and a documentary for the History Channel on Queen Anne’s revenge. In the summer of 2006, Bounty had a starring role in the movie of Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean II starring Johnny Depp.
Although Bounty does participate in movies, it is always our wish to make every effort to greet and educate the hundred of thousands of Bounty fans that greet us at port appearances around the waterways of the United States. Bounty encourages school groups to visit the ship as well as offering sail passages to learn how to sail an 18th Century ship. Bounty is one of the largest active wooden square-rigger that is also a full-rigged ship sailing today and one of the most recognizable tall ships in the world.
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