Panel to Look at Tall Ship’s Sinking During Sandy

A federal safety panel is opening a hearing into the fatal mystery of a replica 18th-century tall ship that sailed dead into the path of Hurricane Sandy.

The HMS Bounty sank 90 miles off Cape Hatteras during the October storm. Fatalities from the incident included a crew member and likely the ship’s captain. He was never found despite days of searching.

Testimony begins Tuesday in Portsmouth, Va.

Investigators with the Coast Guard and the National Transportation Safety Board expect it to last more than a week. They will hear from the 14 surviving crew members, people from the shipyard where the Bounty underwent repairs weeks before sinking, and captains of similar ships that stayed in port as the hurricane churned along the East Coast.