Navy Observes 50th Anniversary of the Mysterious Loss of the Sub USS Scorpion

Posted on by May 31, 2018

Last week, the Navy marked the 50th anniversary of the loss of the Skipjack-class nuclear submarine USS Scorpion (SSN 589) in a private observance at the Scorpion Memorial on Norfolk Naval Station.  99 officers and crew died when the submarine sank on May 22, 1968, over 400 miles southwest of the Azores in more than 10,000 feet of water. Exactly how and why the Scorpion sank remains a mystery. 

After an extensive search, the wreckage of the submarine was located on Oct. 31, 1968, in more than 10,000 feet of water. Among the various hypotheses for why the submarine sank were a hydrogen explosion while charging batteries, the accidental activation or explosion of a torpedo, an attack by the Soviets, and even the malfunction of a trash disposal unit. A seven-panel naval board of inquiry concluded that “the certain cause of the loss of the Scorpion cannot be ascertained.”

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50 Million Years of Whale Animation in One Minute

Posted on by May 30, 2018

Slate recently featured an animation of 50 million years of whale evolution represented in one minute. The animation is the work of Jordan Collver, an illustrator and science communicator in the U.K. Collver used a series of illustrations to show the slow-changing morphology of the ancient quadruped Pakicetus, as millions of years of aquatic adaptation shapes the land mammal into the modern sperm whale. If you would like to slow things down a bit, a ten minute version of the animation is also available here.

Replica Stern-Wheeler MV Oliver Cromwell Sinks in Irish Sea

Posted on by May 29, 2018

The replica stern-wheeler MV Oliver Cromwell sank in the Irish Sea while under tow from Gloucester to Northern Ireland. The vessel was reported to have started taking on water 10 miles west of South Stack near Holyhead, Anglesey, on Friday, sinking within three hours after the Coast Guard was called. No one was aboard the vessel when she sank and there was no marine pollution reported. 

The Mississippi-style riverboat was built as a Dutch barge in 1922 and was converted to a riverboat hotel in 1993, traveling between Gloucester and Worcester. In a statement, the previous owners said, that “after many years of sailing the Severn as a hotel boat she was moored up as a static venue in the docks from 2009, primarily because the costs involved in renewing her passenger license were prohibitive.”  

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On Memorial Day — Remembering the US Merchant Mariners of WWII

Posted on by May 28, 2018

A post from several years ago that is well worth reposting.

What was the most dangerous service in World War II? The Army, the Navy, the Marines?  In fact, it was the Merchant Marine. 1 in 26 mariners serving aboard merchant ships in World WW II died in the line of duty, suffering a greater percentage of war-related deaths on average than all other U.S. services. Officially, a total of 1,554 ships were sunk due to war conditions, including 733 ships of over 1,000 gross tons.  An estimated 243,000 sailors served in the Merchant Marine during the war and roughly 9,500 died either at sea, as the result of wounds ashore or as POWs. During the early years of the war, the loss of merchant ships and sailors to submarine attacks was so great there was a real concern that Germany might succeed in winning the war by starving the Allies of supplies. The mass production of merchant ships in the United States and the parallel rapid training of hundreds of thousands of merchant sailors kept the necessary supplies flowing across the Atlantic.

Despite the importance of the merchant marine to the war effort and extreme dangers, merchant sailors were civilians who did not receive military benefits. Merchant mariners from World War II finally received full benefits only in 1988.

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Hidden Harbor Tour — Brooklyn Waterfront Past & Present

Posted on by May 27, 2018

Photo © Mitch Waxman

On June 7th, The Working Harbor Committee (WHC) is sponsoring a Hidden Harbour Tour® — Brooklyn Waterfront Past & Present — featuring guest speakers Capt. Maggie Flanagan, WHC & Waterfront Alliance, and Bill Miller, renowned maritime historian & author, www.billmilleratsea.com. From the WHC announcement:

Join Working Harbor Committee for a tour of Brooklyn waterfront industry, past and present.  From Newtown Creek through Sunset Park, the 8 miles of Brooklyn shore facing the Harbor’s Upper Bay were once filled with manufacturing, shipping, and commerce. Though apartment towers and landscaped parks now capture attention, Brooklyn still retains active trade and maritime business.

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Bones From Whydah Gally Shipwreck Not “Black Sam” Bellamy’s, After All

Posted on by May 26, 2018

Captain “Black Sam” Bellamy

Last February, we posted about human bone fragments found near the wreck of the pirate ship Whydah Gally on Cape Cod, Massachusetts.  The bones were located close to where a pistol, which possibly belonged to the ship’ captain, “Black Sam” Bellamy, had been recovered.  Forensic scientists from the University of New Haven in Connecticut compared the DNA from the bones to a DNA sample given by one of Bellamy’s living descendants in the United Kingdom. The question was “were these the bones of Black Sam Bellamy?” 

The answer is apparently, “No.” WBUR reports that the Whydah Pirate Museum in Yarmouth announced on Thursday that DNA testing determined the bone was from a male with general ties to the Eastern Mediterranean area but was not Bellamy. 

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Celebrating New Jersey’s Tall Ship A.J. Meerwald’s 90th Birthday!

Posted on by May 25, 2018

We recently posted about Portside NewYork’s tanker Mary A. Whalen‘s 80th birthday. We also posted about the ex-USCG lighthouse tender Lilac‘s 90th birthday, which is tomorrow. (Stop by for cake.) And coming up next weekend, June 2, is the oyster sloop, A.J. Meerwald‘s 90th birthday. Hosted by Discover Delaware Bay, there will be a celebration with birthday cake, food, music, and birthday sails beginning at 11 a.m. June 2, at the Bayshore Center at Bivalve, in Port Norris, NJ. Sails on the schooner will be available at 12 PM, 3:45 PM, 5:30 PM, and 7:30 PM. The celebration will continue with a Boat Parade at dusk followed by fireworks. 

The Bayshore Center is also celebrating the 20th anniversary of the Meerwald being officially designated the Tall Ship of New Jersey.

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The REMUS 6000 & the Galleon San José, the Holy Grail of Shipwrecks

Posted on by May 24, 2018

On Monday, the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) announced in a press release, that they “recently obtained authorization by Maritime Archaeology Consultants (MAC), Switzerland AG, and the Colombian government to release new details from the successful search for the three-century-old San José —a 62-gun, three-masted Spanish galleon ship that sank with a cargo believed to be worth billions of dollars. The ship, which is often called the “holy grail of shipwrecks,” went down with a treasure of gold, silver, and emeralds in 1708 during a battle with British ships in the War of Spanish Succession.”

The discovery was made over two years ago as announced by Colombia’s President Juan Manuel Santos. At the time little information on the discovery was made available. The recent press release by WHOI provides many missing details, including the use of an Underwater Autonomous Robot (AUV), the REMUS 6000. 

“The legendary wreck was discovered off the coast of Cartagena, Colombia, on Nov. 27, 2015, by a team of international scientists and engineers during an expedition aboard the Colombian Navy research ship ARC Malpelo led by MAC’s Chief Project Archaeologist Roger Dooley. It was found more than 600 meters below the surface during a search initiated by MAC and approved by The Colombian Ministry of Culture. The search was supervised by Instituto Colombiano de Antropología e Historia (ICANH) and Dirección General Marítima (DIMAR). Continue reading →

Where is Fat Leonard? Long-running Navy Purchasing Scandal Gets Stranger

Posted on by August 18, 2018

Where is Fat Leonard?  Fat Leonard, as Leonard Glenn Francis is known, was supposed to testify in Norfolk next week about his crooked dealings with dozens of Navy officers.  Except that apparently, he won’t. Fat Leonard was arrested in 2013 in the worst corruption scandal in Navy history.  He entered into a plea deal in 2015 and has been awaiting sentencing while in the custody of U.S. Marshals Service.

Except that he is no longer in their custody.  No one is saying where he is, although, it is rumored that last March, the 53-year-old 350-pound defense contractor’s health was failing and that he was released from federal detention to seek urgent medical care at a San Diego hospital.

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Ex-USCG Lighthouse Tender Lilac Turns 85 with Free Birthday Cake!

Posted on by May 22, 2018

We recently posted about the tanker Mary A. Whalen‘s 80th birthday. The historic lighthouse tender Lilac is also celebrating her 85th birthday. 

2018 Season Opening — 85th Birthday with Cake 
The ex-USCG Cutter Lilac, originally built for the U.S. Lighthouse Service, was launched on May 26, 1933. To celebrate her 85th birthday, birthday cake will be available for all visitors when the ship opens for her 2018 season next Saturday, May 26th on Hudson River Park’s Pier 25 in Manhattan.

In addition to cake, there will be tours of the ship, the opportunity to view the current exhibition, and to see the progress made over the winter in restoring communication systems and getting things looking shipshape.  Admission is free (although donations are always appreciated.)

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How Did a Cannon from HMS Bounty End Up in Scotland ?

Posted on by May 22, 2018

Thanks to Alaric Bond for passing on an intriguing news item. A cannon said to be from HMS Bounty, the ship made famous by a mutiny in 1789, is being put up for sale at an upcoming auction. According to the provenance, the cannon was gifted to Captain Stewart of the Orealla in 1898. The letter is signed by JR McCoy, president of Pitcairn Island and great-grandson of one of the original mutineers. The cannon was reportedly found in Scotland.

How did this come to pass? Following the mutiny, the leader Fletcher Christian sailed off with a crew of nine mutineers, six Polynesian men, twelve women and a baby. They arrived at Pitcairn, a tiny volcanic island in the South Pacific, which had been conveniently miss-plotted on Admiralty charts. Shortly thereafter, they burned the Bounty in what is now known as Bounty Bay. The ship’s four 4 pound cannons sank with the ship when she was set ablaze.

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Sea Level, Ships, Rocks and Stupidity

Posted on by May 20, 2018

A recent statement by Representative Mo Brooks (R-AL), who happens to be a member of the U.S. House of Representatives Science, Space and Technology Committee, is disturbing at best. He suggested that sea levels are not rising because of climate change but because rocks are falling into the sea.

Science Magazine quoted Representative Brooks in a hearing saying that “the California coastline and the White Cliffs of Dover tumble into the sea every year, and that contributes to sea-level rise.” He also said that silt washing into the ocean from the world’s major rivers, including the Mississippi, the Amazon and the Nile, is contributing to sea-level rise. “Every time you have that soil or rock or whatever it is that is deposited into the seas, that forces the sea levels to rise, because now you have less space in those oceans, because the bottom is moving up.” 

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Mary A. Whalen’s 80th Birthday — Art Inspiration Day & Birthday Tanker Tours

Posted on by May 19, 2018

The historic tanker Mary A. Whalen is turning 80 on May 21st. As part of a month-long celebration, Portside NewYork and the Mary A. Whalen is hosting an Art Inspiration Day and Birthday Tanker Tours.

The events take place tomorrow, Sunday, May 20th, from 8 AM to 6 PM on the tanker at the south end of Pier 11, Atlantic Basin, near the corner of Pioneer & Conover Streets, Red Hook, Brooklyn, New York.

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Volvo Racers Partying in Newport, Police Involved

Posted on by May 18, 2018

Clarke Cooke House, Newport, RI

As the song goes, “What do you do with a drunken sailor?” The answer for the police in Newport, RI early last Tuesday morning, when a group of sailors associated with the Volvo Ocean Race got rowdy, was to arrest seven of them. 

Police arrived at the Clarke Cooke House, an inn, bar, and restaurant on Bannister’s wharf on the Newport waterfront, after a fire alarm went off just after 1 AM on Tuesday morning. According to police, several people refused orders to get out of the building and move away from fire trucks so firefighters could go inside to reset the alarm. NewportRI.com reports what happened next: 

According to police, several people refused orders to get out of the building and move away from fire trucks so firefighters could go inside to reset the alarm. Continue reading →

The 14th (or 19th) Foot — the Floating Feet of the Salish Sea Continues

Posted on by May 17, 2018

A human foot in a hiking boot recently washed ashore on the banks of the Salish Sea in British Columbia. It is the 14th “disarticulated” foot that has washed ashore in a shoe or boot on the Salish Sea in Canada since 2007. If you include the shores of Washington State, the number of floating feet rises to 19. 

What is going on? Are the feet from victims of organized crime or a drug cartel? Is there a mass murderer with a foot-fetish? Probably not. Apparently, it is not unusual for a decomposing human body in seawater to come apart at the joints over time. A foot in a running shoe might have the right match of weight and volume to allow it to float. A modern shoe could become like a tiny lifejacket for a separate foot. 

A lack of evidence of foul play supports the theory that the feet naturally “disarticulated,” which is to say separated naturally. In 2017, the Guardian reported: 

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Queen Elizabeth 2 Opens as Floating Hotel in Dubai, At Last, Really

Posted on by May 16, 2018

After almost a decade, the Queen Elizabeth 2 has finally opened as a luxury hotel in Dubai. There was a “soft opening” in the middle of April and the hotel will have its formal opening around October of this year. So far seven of the ship’s 13 decks are open for business with 224 cabins available. When fully completed, the ship will have an estimated 600-800 rooms. It has been a long and difficult journey for the grand old ocean liner and cruise ship. 

The Queen Elizabeth 2, commonly known as the QE2, was operated by Cunard as both a transatlantic liner and a cruise ship from 1969 to 2008. In 2008, Cunard Lines sold the QE 2 to Dubai World for roughly $100 million. Unfortunately, the sale coincided with a world economic downtown, Dubai World faced a credit crunch and the plans to refurbish the ship as a luxury hotel were put on hold and repeatedly revised. The initial plans were dropped and a more modest hotel plan was announced. There were reports of the ship moving variously to Asia and to London. At one point, there were reports of the ship being sold for scrap, which were subsequently denied.  By around 2015, the consensus was that the QE2 was a dead ship, rotting away at the dock in Dubai. 

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John H. Harland Dies at 95, Author of Seamanship in the Age of Sail

Posted on by May 16, 2018

We were saddened to learn that John Harland has died. He passed away peacefully on May 11th, a few days after his ninety-fifth birthday. After a career in medicine, Dr. Harland became known as a researcher and author on maritime history. His book, Seamanship in the Age of Sail: An Account of the Shiphandling of the Sailing Man-of-War 1600-1860, Based on Contemporary Sources, illustrated by Mark Myers, is an encyclopedic and indispensable resource for anyone interested in the development and the details of sailing rigs in the age of sail. Beyond enjoying and relying on his work, I exchanged a few emails with Dr. Harland over the years and always found him to be incredibly knowledgeable, witty, and generous. He will be missed.

The Naval Marine Archive — Canadian Collection has posted an obituary for John Harford Harland, which reads in part: 

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Updated: WHC Hidden Harbor Tour of Port Newark, Thursday May 17th

Posted on by May 16, 2018

This Thursday, the Working Harbor Committee is hosting a Hidden Harbor Tour of Port Newark. The tour is one is one of the best ways to see the mighty port hard at work. The tour features guest speakers Mitch Waxman of The Newtown Pentacle; Bill Miller, renowned waterfront historian and author; ND Gordon Cooper, Chair of THE WHC and HHH Maritime Consulting.

More information from their press release:  For an exciting adventure, go behind the scenes of the bustling Port of NY & NJ on our Hidden Harbor Tour of Port Newark!

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Sailors’ Tattoos on Mother’s Day

Posted on by May 12, 2019

A repost from three years ago that seems appropriate for today.

Sailors choose their tattoos for various reasons. Among the most popular sailor tattoos are anchors, hearts and swallows.  Not infrequently, “Mom” also made an appearance as a reminder of loved ones and home.  On Mother’s Day it seems appropriate to look at sailors’ tattoos which reminded them of “Mom.”

Remy Melina, in the Live Science blog, writes about the popularity of “I Love Mom” tattoos:  The “I Love Mom” tattoo first became popular during World War II. As they traveled around the world, U.S. Navy sailors got tattoos to document their achievements and memories. Tattoo parlors began to pop up near military bases and patriotic tattoos came into vogue, according to John Gray’s book “I Love Mom: An Irreverent History of the Tattoo.”

Aside from wanting to express their patriotism, the homesick sailors started to request “mom” or “mother” tattoos as a sentimental reminder of home.

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Gordon Bok — Sailor, Singer, Songwriter and Wood Carver

Posted on by May 12, 2018

Gordon Bok – Photo by Chris Koldewy

If you are fond of songs of ships and the sea, you may already know Gordon Bok’s music. If not, you should definitely make his acquaintance. Bok is a particular favorite of mine — a sailor, songwriter, singer and a master wood carver from Down East Maine. He was recently interviewed by Rick Landers in Guitar International.  Landers writes: 

The roots of the many songs by master songwriter, Gordon Bok, stir a cauldron of mystery, wonder, fear and joy that are never far away when one sails the sea along the coast of his native Maine. Gordon has the deep rough-hewn gravitas of a man who not only thrives by the sea, but in many ways is of the sea.

His tunes cast a net that gathers us up in his songs and his tales of life where laborious skills are honored, when some are notable for their beauty and others held dear, as they may be relied upon when life and death slip beyond the philosophical and dip into the harsh realities of the sea. Click here to read the full interview.

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