Sailing on the Hudson River Sloop Clearwater

October 31, 2008 · Filed Under Current, Lore of the Sea, Ships · 1 Comment 

Hudson River Sloop Clearwater from Rick Spilman on Vimeo.
The Clearwater is a Hudson River sloop modeled after the distinctive trading sloops that sailed up and down the Hudson in the 18th and 19th centuries.  The Clearwater was conceived by the folk singer, Pete Seeger, as a way to bring people down to the then very polluted [...]

An Old Salt’s Best Wishes for Halloween, a few days early

October 29, 2008 · Filed Under Current, Lore of the Sea · Comment 

I will admit to having been seriously distracted by the current election in these United States.  In addition to all the other things I have neglected, I have done effectively nothing to prepare for Halloween beyond buying enough candy to induce diabetes and/or add to the childhood obesity problem. 
And how do elections and Halloween have anything whatsoever [...]

Talking Like a Somali and Update on the MV Faina

October 26, 2008 · Filed Under Current · Comment 

An update on the MV Faina – still being held hostage by Somali pirates.
Somali pirates hold whip hand in standoff
And a comment by my 12 year old son, Ted. He suggested that he would like to learn some Somali so that next year when “Talk Like a Pirate Day” rolls around, he will really be [...]

Can I Get an Arrgh?

October 25, 2008 · Filed Under Current · Comment 

More Disnified pirates, as reported by the New York Times.  It seems the pirate reenactors who pay attention to the history can get annoyed by the new armada of faux Captain Jack Sparrows.
Can I Get an Arrgh?
““Why do some of them feel like they can wear blank spandex pants and a puffy shirt and [...]

Moving the Morgan

October 25, 2008 · Filed Under Current, Ships · Comment 

From TheDay.com. A crowd lined the waterfront of the Mystic Seaport H.B. DuPont Preservation Shipyard as the whale ship Charles W. Morgan arrived from her permanent berth at Chub’s Wharf to the shipyard Monday. Oct. 20, 2008, in preparation for the next stage in the restoration of the 1841 vessel. The Morgan, the oldest wooden [...]

The Business of Raising Sails on a Maine Windjammer

October 24, 2008 · Filed Under Current, Ships · Comment 

There are two Maine “Windjammers” currently for sale.  This may not be terribly useful information for those of us feeling more than usually penurious in the current economic downturn. Nevertheless there are moments when the idea of chucking it all and making a living on a sailboat or saling ship does have a certain appeal.
The two boats for [...]

Of Blogs and Logs

October 23, 2008 · Filed Under Current · 3 Comments 

As this is a nautical blog, I do feel compelled to at least tip our hat to Andrew Sullivan’s recent article ”Why I Blog“, in this month’s Atlantic Monthly .   (I do recommend Sullivan’s political blog for the Atlantic - The Daily Dish.)
I feel the need to recognize Sullivan because he labors manfully to use a nautical metaphor, the [...]

The Holy Ground – Songs, Sailors, and Women of Easy Virtue

October 20, 2008 · Filed Under Language, Lore of the Sea, Songs · Comment 

I am every fond of the Irish sea song “Holy Ground”.  The song is about a sailor bound for sea, leaving his lady love and hoping to return. “And still I live in hope to see the Holy Ground once more..” It is also known as the “Cobh shanty”, and indeed the “Holy Ground” is a [...]

George Washington’s Secret Navy – a new book by James Nelson

October 18, 2008 · Filed Under New Books · 2 Comments 

James Nelson’s new history, George Washington’s Secret Navy , looks at a fascinating period in American history when George Washington, largely without authority to do so, commissioned his own privateers to sail against the British. We will be posting a review soon. In the meantime from Amazon:
Mr. Nelson has taken an episode that occupies no more [...]

Divers close in on lost fortune of Ann Cargill, a scandalous star

October 16, 2008 · Filed Under History · Comment 

An intriguing news story. (Thanks to LizMc on the Horatians forum.) According to the BBC, Ann Carghill was “was the Britney Spears of her day.”  I think they slight poor Ms Cargill.
A Scandalous Star 
“When the packet ship, The Nancy, was wrecked off the Isles of Scilly in 1784 one of the victims included Ann Cargill, one [...]

Putting the Oy Back into ‘Ahoy’ –
Jewish Pirates of the Caribbean

October 14, 2008 · Filed Under New Books · 3 Comments 

A friend pointed this book out to me. It looks intriguing and is coming out in mid-November.  Jean Lafite was Jewish? Who knew?  (Thanks Henya!)  From a review in the Jewish Press:
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 [...]

Sailor Talk – “Kissing the Gunner’s Daughter” and “Sucking the Monkey”

October 13, 2008 · Filed Under Language · 1 Comment 

One of my particular frustrations with the “Talk-Like a Pirate Day” folks is that even if one ignores the very nasty nature of pirates, historical and modern alike, a second and perhaps even great problem remains. The Talk-Like-a-Piraters do such a lousy job of talking like pirates. A few “Aarghs”, “avast-ye maties”s and “shiver-me-timbers” isn’t very [...]

Review – Joan Druett’s Shark Island, a Wiki Coffin Mystery

October 7, 2008 · Filed Under Reviews · 2 Comments 

I recently read Joan Druett’s Shark Island, the second in her Wiki Coffin series of mysteries. A brief review:
What makes a mystery work for me is the detective – the knowledgeable outsider, living between two worlds, who can see things that others might miss. Whether it is Holmes, the consummate middle-class Englishman who is also [...]

The Evolution the Nautical Hero Part II.
Breaking the Cochrane Mold – Pressed-men, Yanks, Bastards and Maoris

October 6, 2008 · Filed Under Critiques · 1 Comment 

The nautical hero based on the Cochrane model – a British officer in the Georgian navy, often out of favor with the admiralty, sailing in detached service against formidable odds, has made for wonderful reading over hundreds of books by dozens of writers. Either in spite of this or because of it, many writers are [...]

Old Salt in The Huffington Post

October 2, 2008 · Filed Under Current · Comment 

I was recently published in The Huffington Post. An excerpt:
“The Golden Age of Piracy” or Long John Silver in a Tank
 
This morning I was struck by the odd juxtaposition of an announcement for a festival and a news item. Not long after reading about the upcoming Saint Augustine Pirate Gathering, (November 14th -16th), I also [...]

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HMS Surprise and Star of India

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