Featured Books
Fighting Temeraire by Sam Willis
Live Yankees: The Sewalls and Their Ships by W. H. Bunting
His Majesty's Ship by Alaric Bond
Galveston's the Elissa: The Tall Ship of Texas by Kurt Voss
My River Chronicles - Rediscovering the America on the Hudson by Jessica DuLong
The Frigate Surprise: The Complete Story of the Ship Made Famous in the Novels of Patrick O'Brian by by Geoff Hunt and Brian Lavery
James Nelson's George Washington's Secret Navy
Defying Empire:Trading with the Enemy in Colonial New York by Thomas Truxes
Deadly Shoals, a Wiki Coffin Mystery by Joan Druett
Star Crossedby Linda Collison
The Privateer's Revenge: A Kydd Sea Adventure (Kydd Sea Adventures)
Peter Wicked: A Matty Graves Novel (The Matty Graves Novels)
The Jackass Frigate byAlaric Bond
Steady As She Goesby John Molloy
Voyages, the Age of Sail: Documents in American Maritime History, Volume I, 1492-1865
Expedition Whydah: The Story of the World's First Excavation of a Pirate Treasure Ship and the Man Who Found Her
Jewish Pirates of the Caribbean: How a Generation of Swashbuckling Jews Carved Out an Empire in the New World in Their Quest for Treasure, Religious Freedom--and Revenge
The Illustrated Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time
Welcome to the Old Salt blog, a home for lovers of the sea, for tellers of tales, for sailors, for dreamers and anyone else who wanders by. Pull up a chair by the fire and join us. There are many tales yet to be told.
Innovations in America’s Cup Sailing
The New York Times Science section has a fascinating slide show discussing the scientific innovations behind the two sailboats competing in the America’s Cup. The science is intriguing but the photos are simply breathtaking.
Innovations in America’s Cup Sailing
Maine group in running for decommissioned JFK
A follow-up to our previous post - Free Aircraft Carrier – ex USS John F Kennedy.
Maine group in running for decommissioned JFK
A nonprofit group in Maine says it’s still in the running to bring the decommissioned carrier John F. Kennedy to Portland Harbor as a floating museum.
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Bob Barker in a Collision with Whale Ship – Dangerous Games & Finger Pointing
The Sea Shepherd vessel, Bob Barker, named after TV game show host, was in a collision with the Japanese whaling ship, Yushin Maru 3. Both sides are blaming the other for the collision. No one was injured when the two ships came together. The Bob Barker suffered a three foot gash in the hull above the water line.
War of words between Sea Shepherd and Japanese whalers
The Good Ship A.J. Fuller
A.J. Fuller
Faulkner wrote, ”The past isn’t dead. It isn’t even past.” After reading Felix Riesenberg’s account of his first voyage around Cape Horn on the downeaster A.J.Fuller, I became curious about the ship. (See our review of his book Under Sail.) I soon discovered that she had a long and varied career until she was literally done in by a steamer. She sank after being rammed by the Mexico Maru, in Elliot Bay, Washington in 1918. Nevertheless, the A.J. Fuller is not completely gone. Her wreck was discovered by side-scanning sonar in 1998. A video of a dive on the wreck in 2000 is available via the magic of Youtube. (Video after the jump.)
The Necker Nymph – Sir Richard Branson’s New Underwater Plane
What to get the man who has everything? An underwater plane of course
Billionaire Sir Richard Branson may already own an airline, a record label, a mobile phone company, several luxury restaurants and a Caribbean island. But today the entrepreneur unveiled his latest toy – an underwater plane.
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US Postal Service Honors Sailors with Stamps
U.S. Postal Service To Honor 4 Sailors With Stamps
The U.S. Postal Service will issue “Distinguished Sailors stamps” Feb. 4 to honor four Sailors who served with bravery and distinction during the 20th century.
William S. Sims, Arleigh A. Burke, John McCloy, and Doris Miller were selected for the honor. The stamps will be unveiled in a ceremony at a First-Day-of-Issue Ceremony to be conducted at the Navy Memorial in Washington, D.C.
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GAO Report: Navy’s LCS Program Planning Flawed
Critics of the Littoral Combat Ships (LCS) say that they are too expensive and too limited in their capabilities. Some have termed them Little Crappy Ships. Nevertheless the US Navy plans on buying fifty five of them. Now a Government Accounting Office (GAO) report criticizes the Navy for poor planning and going ahead before it has researched the operations of these very new and different little ships. The Navy’s operational studies will not be finished until they have taken delivery of half of the ships. The Navy has no solid data to indicate how many men will be required to operate the ships or how much support will be required to keep them running.
GAO: Navy doesn’t have LCS data it needs
The Strange Saga of the Schooner Liberty
The schooner Liberty, reportedly owned by Philip DuPlessis, is on her way to Haiti loaded with aid for earthquake victims. In addition to his humanitarian activities, DuPlessis offers “leadership coaching and sail training programs” on the schooner. On their blog, Philip and Sharon Du Plessis say that they “are committed to life transformation. Our vision for the Liberty Schooner is to create a unique learning environment as a catalyst for a life transforming experience. We want people to develop to their full potential.”
But who is Philip DuPlessis? Is he a humanitarian sailor? Is he, as his Linked-in page describes him, an “innovator, inventor, life & leadership coach?” Or is he merely a con-man sailing a schooner he doesn’t own, bought with funds he “misappropriated?”
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Submarines Lost & Found, Part 6 – Wreck of USS Flyer, WWII Submarine, Found
Navy confirms sunken sub in Balabac Strait is USS Flier
Commander, Submarine Forces Pacific Fleet (COMSUBPAC), Rear Adm. Douglas McAneny announced today that a sunken vessel located in the Balabac Strait area of the Philippines is in fact the World War II submarine USS Flier (SS 250).
“I am honored to announce that, with video evidence and information provided by a team from YAP Films and assistance from the Naval History and Heritage Command, USS Flier has been located,” said McAneny. “We hope this announcement will provide some closure to the families of the 78 crewmen lost when Flier struck a mine in 1944.”
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Three Hundred and One Years Ago, Woodes Rogers Rescues Alexander Selkirk
Three hundred and one years ago today, February 2, 1709, the privateer Duke under the command of Woodes Rogers sailing into a bay of the small island, Mas a Tierra, in the Juan Fernandez archipelago. There they found a ragged figure waving a burning branch on the beach. The man was Alexander Selkirk, who had lived alone on the island for four years and four months. His tale would be the basis for Daniel Defoe’s epic novel, Robinson Crusoe.
Selkirk was appointed Mate by Rogers and later given command of a captured prize ship. Selkirk finally returned home to Scotland where he had trouble readjusting to society. He subsequently joined the navy, and rose to the rank of lieutenant. He died at sea in 1721 at the age of forty-five.
Abby Sunderland Restarts her Round the World Attempt
Abby Sunderland is putting into Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, interrupting her round the world attempt, because of a power problem aboard her yacht, Wild Eyes. The yacht’s solar panels and wind generators were not providing enough power and the yacht will be fitted with additional battery capacity.
Power Problems Stall Teen Sailor in Mexico
“Don’t start worrying, since I’m still north of the equator I won’t have to give up on the non-stop attempt. I will be re-staring from Cabo as soon as I can,” Abby wrote. “I was really upset about having to stop. I’ve hardly even started and I’m already heading in! I had finally gotten settled in, things were going somewhat smoothly and I was having fun. But I am glad that my team will be there waiting when I get in and I’ll be back out here soon, hopefully with a few less problems.”
Skipjack: The Story of America’s Last Sailing Oystermen by Christopher White – A Review
A review by Steven Toby, written for the Maritime History Listserv, included here with his kind permission. Sounds like a fascinating book.
Skipjack: The Story of America’s Last Sailing Oystermen by Christopher White is an excellent book on the last commercial fishing craft operating under sail in the US. The author has a journalistic rather than a scholarly approach, although he has an academic background in the biology/ecology area. He’s a great storyteller, and some of the anecdotes are almost novel-like.
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Building Pharaoh Hatshepsut’s Ship
In January we posted about the Jewel of Muscat a replica of a 9th-century sailing ship modelled on a famous Tang Treasure ship. Recently Nova broadcast a documentary on far older ships from the region, Pharaoh Hatshepsut’s ships, dating from 1479 BCE. Pharaoh Hatshepsut was the only female pharoah and she is said to have launched a fabled expedition on great trading ships to a far-away land known as Punt. The expedition is recorded in bas relief on her funeral temple. A team of archeologists and Egyptian boat builders have built a replica of one of these ships and sailed it in the open waters of the Red Sea. It is a fascinating documentary. Click here to read more – Building Pharoah’s Ship, or here to watch the video on-line.
Thank to Bowsprite for pointing out the documentary to us.
PS Ryde – Mine-sweeper ship that defied the Germans on D-Day set to be scrapped
Not every historic vessel can be saved and not every historic vessel should be saved. The difficult question is deciding which are worthy of saving before they fall prey to the ravages of time or, in this case, the bureaucracy. A story from today’s Daily Mail:
Mine-sweeper ship that defied the Germans on D-Day set to be scrapped for health and safety reasons
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Aircraft Carrier George H.W. Bush Delivered
After being under construction for almost a decade, the aircraft carrier George H. W. Bush was accepted by the US Navy following final seatrials last Friday.
Northrop Grumman delivers Bush aircraft carrier to Navy
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