Acadia Insurance Sues Owner of HMS Bounty

An insurance company is suing the owner of an 18th-century replica sailing ship that sank during Superstorm Sandy.

Newsday reported on Nov. 14 that Acadia Insurance (a W.R. Berkley Co.) sued Robert Hansen earlier last month. The suit seeks to recoup $5 million in payouts after the HMS Bounty sank off North Carolina in 2012.

One of the 16 crew members died. The captain was never found.

The National Transportation Safety Board noted some problems with the 50-year-old ship but largely faulted the captain for sailing into the storm’s path. Acadia says the Setauket, New York-based Hansen didn’t disclose leaky areas and other “unseaworthy conditions,” so his insurance contract should be voided. The three-masted ship was built for the 1962 film “Mutiny on the Bounty.”