A movie star makes a fashionably late entrance
By Paige Dickerson, Peninsula Daily News
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The Bounty, built in 1960 for MGM's "Mutiny on the Bounty" — the Marlon Brando version — was expected to arrive in Port Angeles on Friday, but had to stop for repairs in Coos Bay, Ore., on its way north from California.
"We had a hard time with the wind and storms coming around Cape Blanco (Ore.) — there were gusts of about 40 knots, and we really burned a lot of fuel," Capt. Robin Walbridge said.
Walbridge, who has been with the Bounty for about 14 years, said the ship will likely not be open for tours during her two-night stay in Port Angeles.
"We expect to head to Victoria on Wednesday morning," Walbridge said.
Viewing from pier
But the 180-foot ship will be tied up at the tip of City Pier for viewing throughout today and in the morning before departing for Victoria.
The main mast stretches 115 feet tall, and the ship carries a crew 19 while sailing.
"She is actually a little bigger than the original one," said Capt. Bill Larson, the retired master of the Lady Washington, who lives in Port Angeles.
Larson was among the group of about 50 people on the pier to greet the Bounty in 55-degree temperatures and 18-knot winds.
Its 7 p.m. arrival was unannounced until about two hours earlier because of the uncertainties of its repairs in Coos Bay.
The Lynx — which docked in Port Angeles on Friday and offered pierside tours over the weekend — is expected to stay at City Pier through Tuesday.
Replica of original
The original Bounty was commissioned in 1787 and became infamous for the maritime mutiny.
The current Bounty was constructed for the 1962 movie staring Brando as 1st Lt. Fletcher Christian and Trevor Howard as the cruel Capt. William Bligh.
"They were supposed to burn the ship at the end of the movie, but Marlon Brando said he wouldn't be in [the movie] if they burned the ship," Walbridge said.
"So that is why we have her today."
The ship set sail from St. Petersburg, Fla., on April 6, and after transiting the Panama Canal has been making stops along the West Coast.
The Bounty will join more than 20 tall ships in Victoria's Inner Harbour for the Victoria Tall Ships Society festival Thursday through Sunday, which is expected to attract up to 40,000 people.
Stars of the show, in addition to the Bounty, will be the USCG Eagle, the three-masted flagship of the U.S. Coast Guard,; the Niña, a replica of Christopher Columbus' flagship that crossed the Atlantic in 1492, and the Lady Washington, the state's official tall ship from Aberdeen which was featured in the 2003 movie "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl."
Mock battles, wooden boat-building, sail making, live entertainment and children's programs of scrimshaw carving and model boat building are to be offered at the Victoria festival.
Many of the ships will be back in Port Angeles and Port Townsend en route from the Victoria festival to one in Tacoma on July 3-7.
For more information on the Victoria festival, visit www.tallshipsvictoria.ca.
Details about Tall Ships Tacoma 2008 can be found at www.tallshipstacoma.com.
For more information on the Bounty, visit www.tallshipbounty.org.
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Reporter Paige Dickerson can be reached at 360-417-3535 or paige.dickerson@peninsuladailynews.com.
Last modified: June 22. 2008 9:00PM