HMS Bounty and Gypsy Moth IV, both for sale

by Sail-World Cruising on 22 May 2010 One is a tall ship and one is a ketch, but this month two vessels with some of the most famous names in modern sailing history have a lot more than you would think in common. HMS Bounty, square-rigged replica of the original Bounty of 'Mutiny on the Bounty' fame, and Gypsy Moth IV, Sir Francis Chichester's yacht that took him around the world and into the history books in 1966, are both for sale.

HMS Bounty:
HMS Bounty is a master class example of classical square-rigged yachting. She is also a celebrated piece of cinema, having featured in films such as Treasure Island, Mutiny on the Bounty, and Pirates of the Caribbean. With the Cannes Film Festival 2010 underway, what better time to introduce HMS Bounty: a piece of cinematic history.

The Bounty was built in 1960 by Smith and Ruhland in Canada after being commissioned by MGM Studios. She was built for the film Mutiny on the Bounty, starring Marlon Brando, replicating the original HMS Bounty yacht built in 1784; which was the scene of the real, famed 'Mutiny on the Bounty'.

The original was originally a three masted ship, modified into an armed tall-ship, which was destroyed in 1790. The replica tall-ship HMS Bounty measures 54m LOA and holds the same classic maritime style as the original, featuring an enhanced eight-foot ceiling ‘tween’ decks for film crews.

HMS Bounty underwent a major three-phase restoration project from 2001 to 2006 after being purchased by the HMS Bounty Organisation LLC. The first phase of the refit was to replace the hull, which at the time was so damaged the vessel was taking on 30,000 gallons of water an hour.

The second phase took place in the Bayou Le Batre, Alabama, where nine of her sails and her rigging were replaced in time for her debut in Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest.

The final phase saw the yacht's deck and superstructure refitted, replacing the planks on the deck and the ribs. Shipwrights and crew worked hard to replace the exterior and gut the interior.

By 2006 the refit was complete and HMS Bounty emerged ready for her 2007 world tour. During the tour, the Bounty travelled from Novia Scotia to Britain, before recreating Captain Bligh’s original voyage of the Bounty in 1787, stopping at Africa’s Cape of Good Hope, New Zealand and Tahiti in October 2008.

After her endurance trip to Tahiti the crew then travelled to Pitcairn Island, Easter Island and the Galapagos and finally returned to the US through the Panama Canal in January 2009.

HMS Bounty is designed to accommodate 12 passengers alongside 18 crew members on her voyages. A part of cinematic history, HMS Bounty is for sale with http://www.yachtworld.com/wme/!WME_Yachts for approximately US$4.9 million.

Gypsy Moth IV:

Gipsy Moth IV is the famed 53ft (16.2m) Illingworth and Primrose ketch that took Francis Chichester around the world solo in 1966/7.

She was the first round-the-world yacht designed specifically for that task, and perhaps the last to be a central part in such a popular tale of British patriotism. Chichester was knighted for his accomplishment, and on his return became a national hero on a scale unknown by the sailing heroes of today.

After the voyage, the boat was half-interred in a concrete bunker at Greenwich, south-east London. She sat there for years, in the shadow of the Cutty Sark, until a project initiated by Yachting Monthly and sailing school the UKSA, hauled her out and did a complete restoration in a record-breaking five months, during 2005.

She then commenced another circumnavigation, skippered by Richard Bagget and changing crews of disadvantaged youths. On April 29, 2006, when just 200 miles from her next landfall of Tahiti, after a navigational blunder, Gipsy Moth ran aground on a coral reef at Rangiroa, an atoll in the Tuomotus, known as The Dangerous Archipelago in the Pacific Ocean.

The yacht was seriously damaged. After six days, a major salvage operation was undertaken with Smit, the Dutch big ship experts who were called in by the UKSA, with local help from Tahiti and Rangiroa. After a day-and-a-half spent patching up the holes in the hull with sheets of plywood, the yacht was successfully towed off the reef into deep water on a makeshift 'sledge'. She was towed to Tahiti and put on a cargo ship to be taken to New Zealand. She finally completed her circumnavigation without further mishap, and was welcomed back to Britain by Giles Chichester, Sir Francis's son. Since then she has been based at the United Kingdom Sailing Academy in Cowes where she takes young people on adventurous and educational sailing trips as well as taking paying members of the public on board.

To inquire about purchasing Gipsy Moth IV, contact www.berthon.co.uk!Berthon_Yacht_Brokerage, or telephone Sue Grant there by phoning +44 (0)1590 679222