CG suspends search for Bounty captain

PORTSMOUTH, Va. (WAVY) - The Coast Guard announced Thursday it has suspended its search for the missing captain of the HMS Bounty 200 miles southeast of Hatteras.

Robin Walbridge, 63, has been missing for four days after the tall ship took on water Monday morning close to Cape Hatteras.  

The crew abandoned ship and 14 crew members were rescued by the Coast Guard. One crew member, Claudene  Christian, was recovered later but passed away at a hospital. 

Coast Guard crews from Florida joined Elizabeth City and Portsmouth crews in the search for Walbridge, spanning 12,000 square nautical miles and logged more than 90 hours.

Resources included HC-130 Hercules aircrews from Florida and North Carolina, MH-60 Jayhawk crews, HC-144 crews from Miami, crews abroad the Cutter Elm and Cutter Galltin. 

WAVY.com spoke with a Coast Guard spokesman earlier this week, who said a lot goes into determining the length of a search for missing shipmates.

" There's information on the environmentals for instance, wind, sea height, the water temperature. There's also more anecdotal information like was he a good swimmer? Did he have survival training? Age, did he get in the appropriate survival equipment? Was he in the water or was he in a life raft for instance? And all of those factors contribute to the survivable determination," said Lt. Michael Patterson.

A spokesperson for the Bounty says the ship was trying to get from Connecticut to Florida and the crew tried to go around the storm, but Hurricane Sandy was too big and too strong.