scrutiny on the bounty

Two weeks ago (Thursday, December 4th) Loren, Erica and I went downtown to see the HMS Bounty, which docked in Baton Rouge for two weeks. Loren and Erica had never heard of it, but I had vaguely heard about the mutiny and the movies made about it. When I heard it was in town I decided to read up about the boat and I discovered it was not the original (which was blown up after the mutiny in 1790) but a replica built in the 1960s for the movie Mutiny on the Bounty with Marlon Brando. It has been used in a few other movies, most recently the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, and when I read that and told Loren and Erica, we just had to go see it. It had been cold all week and I had dressed appropriately but of course that day it was warm in the morning so I was only wearing a t-shirt and light jacket. By the time we got down there in the afternoon, however, it was fuh-REEZING and sooooo windy, too. I grabbed a scarf from Loren's car but that didn't help too much. Anywho the Bounty was docked down by the USS Kidd, which we plan to visit at a later date. Fortunatley we were the only ones on the boat so we got the VIP tour from a crew member. I got to turn the wheel that Marlon Brando, Clark Gable, John Wayne, and ORLANDO BLOOM and JOHNNY DEPP touched!!! I still haven't washed my hands (just kidding - Mary remember when you met Peabo Bryson?). I asked about the big round thing in the middle that looked like what they summoned the Kraken with in the Pirates movies. It's called a wench and he put some spokes in and let us turn it. Then we got out of the wind and went below deck to look around. Sadly we didn't really have time to read all of the facts about the boat because Loren had to be to work, but it was fun peeking around and meeting some of the crew. They sail around the country and dock in different cities for a few weeks at a time. One of the ladies was from England and was on the movie crew for Pirates but decided to stay on the boat when filming was finished. So it was a fun, but freezing, afternoon and now I want to quit school and join the crew! PS - we didn't really scrutinize the ship, that was just the only word I could think of that rhymes with mutiny.

The USS KIDDThe HMS Bounty

Loren and me freezing our nubs off!

Touching THE WHEEL (with the Mississippi Bridge in the background)

All the famous people who have been aboard the Bounty

The wench (the one in the middle) hehe :)

Funny faces

The captain's cabin

A cool little chest

The bow

A little cannon

The river sure is low these days

Goodbye Bounty!