Hurricane Sandy sunk a tall ship off the coast of Hatteras, N.C. The Coast Guard was able to rescue 14 people but two remain missing. Watch raw video of the rescue.
By NBC News staff
Updated at 1:33 p.m. ET:?A search was under way Monday for two crew members of the stricken ship HMS Bounty, which sank off the coast of North Carolina after it was caught in Hurricane Sandy, the U.S. Coast Guard said.?Earlier Monday, two Coast Guard helicopters rescued 14 people from life rafts after they were forced to abandon ship.
"It appears that two crew members didn't make it onto the life rafts," Coast Guard spokesman Lt. Michael Patterson told NBC News. The Coast Guard was speaking with the rescued crew members to find out more details.
Coast Guard rescue pilot Lt. Jenny Fields told NBC News that the operation was a "challenging hoist" but that she was lucky to have a "skillful crew" on her Jayhawk helicopter.
Fields said the crew appeared in "good spirits" and those rescued were "happy to be able to relax."
'It was huge out there'
Coast Guard rescue swimmer Randy Haba helped pluck several crew members off a 25-foot rubber life raft. He was also lowered to a crew member floating in the water alone. He wrapped a strap around his body, and raised him to the chopper.
"It's one of the biggest seas I've ever been in. It was huge out there," Haba told The Associated Press.
The two missing crew members were wearing survival suits designed to help keep them afloat and protected from cold waters for up to 15 hours, but so far the Coast Guard has not seen any sign of them.
The 180-foot, three-mast ship issued a distress signal late Sunday after taking on water, the U.S. Coast Guard said in a release.
The director of the HMS Bounty Organization, Tracie Simonin, said the ship -- which was built for the 1962 Marlon Brando movie, "Mutiny on the Bounty" --?had left Connecticut last week en route for St. Petersburg, Fla.
"They were staying in constant contact with the National Hurricane Center," she said. "They were trying to make it around the storm."
After receiving the distress signal, the Coast Guard sent out an aircraft to speak with the crew, which reported that the vessel was taking on water and had no propulsion.
The rescue took place in winds of 40 mph and 18-foot seas about 90 miles southeast of Cape Hatteras, N.C.
Those rescued were taken to Elizabeth City, N.C. Most of the crew were in their 30s, although one man appeared to be in his 70s, Coast Guard officials said.?
Jeff Haynes / AFP - Getty Images, file
The HMS Bounty, a replica used in the Marlon Brando movie "Mutiny on the Bounty," sails past the Chicago skyline in this image from July 2003.
Anxious family members
The mother of one of the crew members said she had talked to her daughter after the rescue. Mary Ellen Sprague said her 20-year-old daughter Anna Sprague had been aboard the HMS Bounty since May. The ship was going to spend the winter in Galveston, Texas.
Sandy strengthens as it bears down on eastern US
"She was probably the youngest member of the crew," Mary Ellen Sprague told the AP.
She said she had not learned many details yet because her daughter, normally talkative and outgoing, was being uncharacteristically quiet.
She was upset because the ship's captain and another crew member were still missing, Sprague said from her home in Savannah, Ga.
Glimpse into maritime history
The Bounty makes frequent trips around the country, offering a glimpse into maritime history, according to the ship's website, which appeared to be down Monday. It was originally a British transport vessel, and the replica has appeared in several films, including the 2006 movie "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest," with Johnny Depp. Its last stop before its winter hiatus in Galveston, Texas, was to be in St. Petersburg, Fla., on Nov. 10.
BreakingNews.com's coverage of Hurricane Sandy
It is unclear why the boat set out to sea with Sandy bearing down. Sandy could be the largest storm ever to hit the United States, according to NOAA's website.
TODAY's Al Roker reports that a coast guard rescue is underway off the coast of North Carolina, where 17 people are aboard a sinking 880-foot schooner that is taking on water just 160 miles from the eye of Hurricane Sandy.
The storm, which strengthened overnight off the mid-Atlantic coast.?was forecast to make landfall Monday night, likely in central or southern New Jersey.
The Associated Press and NBC News' Rachel Elbaum and Jim?Miklaszewski contributed to this report.
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