Bounty was built to extrapolated original ship's drawings from files in the British Admiralty archives, and in the traditional manner by more than 200 workers over an 8-month period at the Smith and Rhuland shipyard in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia.

[2] To assist film-making and carry production staff, her general dimensions were greatly increased resulting in a vessel nearly twice the tonnage of the original.

[4] After filming and a worldwide promotional tour, the ship was berthed in St. Petersburg, Florida on June 19, 1965 as a permanent tourist attraction, where she stayed until the mid-1980s.

In the mid-1990s, Marlon Brando, star of the 1962 version of Mutiny on the Bounty, showed interest in using the ship for a project in the area of his island in the South Pacific.

During the second dry docking, Captain Robin Walbridge decided to permanently remove the copper cladding and in its place applied marine anti-fouling paint to repel the insects that bore into the wood.

Due to cash flow problems all the crew's contracts were terminated and volunteers kept a watch over Bounty at its dock at Fall River Heritage State Park.

The ship's declining condition caused the vessel to temporarily lose her Coast Guard certificate of Inspection,[citation needed] but Bounty was restored.

In 2004 she left Florida for her season in the Great Lakes, but stopped in Lunenburg at the shipyard where she was built where the stem was replaced along with other more routine maintenance.

At the end of that season she stopped at Oswego, New York, where the entire rig, masts and all were removed and shipped to Scarano Shipyard in Albany.

The UK ports tour included a visit to Maryport, Cumbria, the birthplace of mutiny leader Fletcher Christian.

At about 04:10 BST thieves targeted the ship and stole a small sum of cash, several items of clothing with Bounty's insignia, a survival suit, a book, a life ring and an American flag.

[9][10] On October 25, 2012, the vessel left New London, Connecticut, heading for St. Petersburg, Florida, initially going on an easterly course to avoid Hurricane Sandy.

[13] At about 8:45 pm EDT, the organization relayed the request to Coast Guard Sector North Carolina about Bounty's situation.

[12] The ship's location was given as roughly 90 miles (145 km) southeast of the Outer Banks in the vicinity of a feature on the ocean floor known as the Hatteras Canyon.

[12] This caused pilot Lieutenant Wes McIntosh and co-pilot Mike Myers to conduct the search at approximately 500 feet (150 m) AMSL in an attempt to locate the vessel visually, around midnight and with poor visibility.

The USCG aircraft made radio contact with John Svendsen, Bounty's first mate, as the HC-130 circled the ship in the early morning hours.

Meanwhile, helicopter crews from Coast Guard Air Station Elizabeth City were instructed to prepare for a very difficult rescue operation.

With the plane short on fuel, the HC-130 dropped life rafts but had to leave the vessel and crew on their own in rough seas and 50-knot (93 km/h; 58 mph) winds.

It was also found that the "leading cause that contributed to the loss" of life was the captain's "decision to order the crew to abandon the ship much too late".

[25] In May 2013, family members of Claudene Christian filed a $90 million civil lawsuit against the ship owners, alleging unseaworthiness and negligence.