The teen-round-the-world-sailing-escapades may be starting all over again.

Laura Dekker has Dutch court permission to sail around the world

A Dutch court cleared the way Tuesday for 14-year-old Laura Dekker to embark on a risky attempt to become the youngest person to sail solo around the world, an adventure that could begin in the next two weeks.

Judges at Middelburg’s family court lifted a guardianship order imposed on Dekker last year after she said she wanted to set sail when she was still just 13. Her plan ignited a worldwide debate on how far parents should go in supporting or encouraging their children’s improbable dreams.

“With this decision, the responsibility for Laura lies with her parents,” said presiding judge S. Kuypers. “It is up to them to decide whether Laura can set off on her sail trip.”

Giant Supertanker Suffers Mystery Explosion

Reports just in that the 160,000 tonne MV M. Star, a Very Large Crude carrier (VLCC) tanker belonging to Mitsui OSK Lines (MOL)suffered an explosion at 00.30 hours local time whilst West of the Strait of Hormuz in Omani territorial waters. The ship, which suffered hull damage, was reportedly subjected to ‘an attack seemingly from external sources’ according to the owners.

Grenade may have caused MOL tanker explosion

A VERY large crude carrier operated by Japan’s Mitsui OSK Lines was today damaged by an explosion in the Strait of Hormuz , with all initial indications pointing to a deliberate grenade attack.

Lloyd’s List spoke with the vessel’s master, Manoj Mathew, who said that the explosion was severe enough to have blown off five doors on the starboard side of the vessel’s accommodation and damaged the starboard lifeboat.

Japanese tanker damaged near Oman

An early report from the Japanese transport ministry said there had been an explosion on board the ship which could have been an attack.

But a port official in the United Arab Emirates says the vessel was hit by a freak wave, triggered by a small earthquake.

Causes behind Oil Tanker, M. Star incident still mysterious

The oil tanker, M. Star flying the flag of the Marshall Islands has suffered mysterious incident, whose causes are not yet known.   The competent authorities have embarked on investigating causes shrouding the accident, which did not result in any pollution to the environment or casualties.

Abandoned 1854 ship found in Arctic

HMS Investigator, abandoned in the Arctic 155 years ago during a search for Sir John Franklin’s expedition, has been found.

Parks Canada archeologists looking for the ship found it 15 minutes after they started a sonar scan of Bank’s Island’s Mercy Bay in the Northwest Territories, said Marc-Andre Bernier, chief of Parks Canada’s underwater archeology service.

“When the team arrived [on July 22], the whole bay was covered in ice,” Bernier said. “On July 25, the team had an opening in the ice.… It happened to be where the ship had been abandoned.”

They started a sonar scan of the area identified by British navy accounts as the spot where the ship had been left. They used a torpedo-shaped scanner, towed behind a Zodiac inflatable boat, which sends out sound waves and produces an image of the floor of the bay.

“After 15 minutes, they basically had an image of the wreck,” Bernier said.

“It’s in good condition,” he said. “Very good condition, actually — surprising condition.”

The ship is upright in about 11 metres of water, its bottom buried in sediment if it’s still there, and the upper deck under about eight metres of water.

The archeology crew has no plans to raise the ship. They will do a thorough sonar scan of the area, then send a Remotely Operated Vehicle, similar to the ROVs used to take pictures of the BP oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico, to take pictures.

The Investigator, captained by Robert McClure, was sent in 1850 to search for Franklin’s crew and their two ships, the Erebus and Terror.     The Investigator became trapped in ice at Mercy Bay for more than two years. Crew members eventually abandoned ship and were rescued by a Royal Navy sledge team.

In the end, McClure and the Investigator succeeded where Franklin failed — they are credited with finding the Northwest Passage.

“This is the ship that confirmed and nailed the existence of that passage,” Bernier said.

Before leaving the ship, the crew buried much of their cargo on Banks Island. The location of their cache was known and is also being investigated by the archeologists, who have also found the gravesites of three crewmembers who died of scurvy in April 1853.

Franklin’s party disappeared while searching for the Northwest Passage in 1848, following their captain’s death partway through the expedition. Their ships haven’t been found, despite numerous searches. Parks Canada is planning another search for the Erebus and Terror in August.

Historic Bay City steamboat Hiawatha up for sale on eBay

Thanks to Alaric Bond for pointing out the auction.

Barque Europa

Tall Ships Duluth 2010 has an impressive line up of ships scheduled for their tall ships festival.  The ships are expected to start arriving in Duluth today.  The Brig Niagara, the Barque Europa, HMS Bounty, the Pride of Baltimore II, the Roald Amundsen, the schooner Zeeto, the S/V Denis Sullivan, and the schooner Roseway will sail in a “Grand Parade of Ships” on Thursday afternoon with the tall ships festival getting into full swing Friday through Sunday.

Tall Ships Duluth 2010 July 28 – August 3

Workers in NYC begin to dismantle ground zero ship

Plank by plank, archeologists on Monday began the delicate process of dismantling a section of an 18th century ship that was found buried across the street from the World Trade Center site.

Each plank will be freeze-dried so that the fragmentary hull can eventually be reassembled and put on display, said Nichole Doub, head conservator for the Maryland Archeological Conservation Laboratory.

The 32-foot section of the nameless vessel was found earlier this month as workers were excavating for the rebuilt World Trade Center’s parking garage….

The section of the ship lay bathed in water and shielded from the sun by a tarp strung up on poles. Doub said the timber has to be kept wet or it will warp.

Each plank was labeled so conservators will know its precise location in the wreckage. The members of the conservation team then picked up each plank, measured it and wrapped it in layers of moisture-preserving insulation. The process of dismantling the ship was expected to take two to four days.

Boat made from plastic bottles completes Pacific voyage

The Plastiki left the US city of San Francisco in March, crossing the Pacific and then travelling via Western Samoa and New Caledonia before arriving in Australia.

It sailed via the Great Pacific Garbage Patch – a sea of waste about five times the size of the UK that sits just below the surface between California and Hawaii.

The vessel is a catamaran, with the thousands of plastic bottles attached with organic glue to two pontoons.

Other parts of the boat such as the sails and the mast are made from recycled materials.

Mr de Rothschild said he and his crew had wanted to raise awareness of the damage caused to the ocean by the disposal of plastic waste.

“We have this addiction to single-use, throwaway plastic, which is choking up the ecosystem,” he said earlier this week.

He said that a UN report warning of the dangers posed by plastic waste to the world’s oceans was the inspiration for his trip.

The Plastiki will now go on display in Sydney’s Maritime Museum.

It was named after the Kon-Tiki, the raft sailed across the Pacific by Norwegian anthropologist Thor Heyerdahl in 1947.

His grandson, Olav, was a member of Plastiki’s crew.

National Security cutter Stratton on Friday in Pascagoula, Miss

Last Friday, Michelle Obama was the first First Lady ever to christen a US Coast Guard Cutter, the National Security Cutter Stratton.   The cutter is named after the first woman to serve as a commissioned officer in the U. S. Coast Guard, Dorthy C. Stratton.     Prior to joining the Coast Guard in World War II,  Dr. Stratton was also the first full-time dean of women at Purdue University.  Stratton died in 2006 at the age of 107.

In 1942, she was commissioned a senior lieutenant in the U.S. Navy. Later in 1942, she was transferred to the U.S. Coast Guard where she became the creator and first director of the Women’s Reserve of the U.S. Coast Guard in World War II. Upon being named director, she was promoted to lieutenant commander and was promoted to commander in January 1944 and to captain one month later.  She was awarded the Legion of Merit medal for her contributions to women in the military upon retirement in 1946.

First Lady Christens Coast Guard Cutter Dorothy C. Stratton

It took the First Lady two tries but she successfully broke open the traditional bottle of champagne against the bow of the Coast Guard Cutter Dorothy C. Stratton, named after the first woman to serve as a commissioned officer in the U. S. Coast Guard.

Obama praised Stratton’s accomplishments, which included serving as the first director of the SPARs, the Coast Guard Women’s Reserve created in 1942 by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. The name is an acronym of the Coast Guard motto Semper Paratus, translated as “Always Ready.” A spar in nautical terms refers to a supporting beam. Stratton is credited for creating the name.

“As a woman, and as a mother of two daughters, as an American, I stand in awe of her life of service,” Obama said of Stratton. “And after all these years later, all of us — whether you’re a woman or a man, Coast Guard or another service, whether you’re military or civilian — every American can be inspired by her example.”

Like other women’s Reserves at that time, SPARs was created to free men from stateside service in order to fight overseas. Stratton volunteered to serve in the military after the bombing of Pearl Harbor despite having no military background and a strong academic future.

“When a colleague at Purdue University said … ‘Dorothy, you can’t afford to do this,’ her reply was simple. She said, ‘I can’t afford not to,’” Obama said.

Obama told the crowd of about 3,000 gathered for the ceremony that Stratton demonstrated the power of a single individual to bring about real change.

Stratton traveled the country, giving speeches, recruiting other women, including, for the first time in the Coast Guard, African American women.

“To so many of those young women, she became their mentor; she became their champion and their inspiration. And she built them into a proud 11,000-strong Coast Guard Women’s Reserve,” Obama said.

During her service, Stratton laid the groundwork to break down the barriers of women’s service in the military and left in its wake a legacy that lives today, Obama said.

“It also freed a new generation of women to believe in themselves — as radio operators, air traffic controllers, parachute riggers and machinists. These women were strong, independent, confident,” she said.

After World War II, it would be another 30 years before women started to be fully admitted into the Coast Guard and other services. Now they serve as an integral and indispensable part of the military, Obama said.

Navy’s Summer Extravaganza Returns to Portsmouth in 2010
Navy Days at Portsmouth Naval Base, Friday 30th July – Sunday 1st August, will feature serving warships of the Royal Navy, ships of foreign navies, thrilling naval displays, historical re-enactments and the world-class attractions of Portsmouth Historic Dockyard, including HMS Victory.

The frigate HMS Cumberland which last year was on an anti-piracy patrol in the Indian Ocean, has joined the list of top participating vessels at Portsmouth Navy Days.  Thanks to Alaric Bond for pointing it out.