Chief Boatswain’s Mate Joseph L. George, No Longer the “Unknown Sailor” on USS Vestal

Posted on by December 7, 2017

Joe George is no longer the “unknown sailor” on the USS Vestal. The Secretary of the Navy Richard V. Spencer has announced the posthumous award of the Bronze Star Medal with V device for valor to Chief Boatswain’s Mate Joseph L. George for heroic achievement during the attack on Pearl Harbor.

On December 7, 1941, Pearl Harbor was under attack by Japanese planes. On the mortally wounded battleship USS Arizona, six sailors were trapped on the control platform on the ship’s main mast, which was wholly engulfed in flames.  Joe George was Boatswain’s Mate Second Class on the repair ship USS Vestal, which was tied up next to the battleship. Hearing the cries from the trapped men, Bosun’s Mate George attempted to throw a heaving line to the trapped men across the 70 to 80 feet gap between the Vestal and the control platform. After multiple attempts, George succeeded. He then fed a heavier line across which allowed the trapped sailors to climb hand-over-hand to the relative safety of the repair ship. 

Bosun’s Mate George was commended for his bravery and initiative but received no other recognition. His actions were not forgotten, however, even if he was not personally remembered. One history of the attack on Pearl Harbor mentions the “unknown sailor” on the Vestal who saved six men from being burned alive. Even George’s family was unaware of his heroism. 

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High Tech Square Rigger Black Pearl, Inspired by Maltese Falcon

Posted on by December 6, 2017

Russian billionaire oligarch Oleg Burlakov recently spent around $200 million to purchase the Black Pearl, a new sailing yacht built by Oceanco Yachts.  The yacht has three free-standing DynaRig masts and is strongly reminiscent of the three-masted Dynarig Maltese Falcon, launched in 1990. The Black Pearl is, however, about 20% longer and carries 20% more sail area than the Maltese Falcon.  The Black Pearl has a steel hull and an aluminum superstructure.

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Red Hook WaterStories — 1860: Slave Ship Erie Sold in Atlantic Basin

Posted on by December 5, 2017

Red Hook WaterStories delves into the rich and varied past and present of the waterfront of the Red Hook section of Brooklyn.  If you haven’t discovered the site, a project of PortSide New York, be sure to check it out.  Here is an excerpt from a post about the slave ship Erie, which was condemned and sold 157 years ago today, on December 5, 1860, in Red Hook’s Atlantic Basin.

In December 1860, the first shots in the Civil War would not be fired for another six months. Slavery would continue to be legal in the United States for another five years, until the adoption of the 13th Amendment. Nevertheless, the seizure and sale of the slave ship Erie marked a milestone in the struggle against slavery.

From Red Hook WaterStories: 

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Norman Baker — Adventurer & Navigator Dies in Plane Crash at 89

Posted on by December 4, 2017

As a teenager growing up in Brooklyn, Norman Baker dreamed of adventure.  And he didn’t just dream. At the age of 13, he won a contest where the first prize was flying lessons. He became an avid pilot and at the age of 89, died as he lived, in the crash of his 1966 four-seat single-engine Cessna on November 22nd. Captain Baker was flying to join his extended family for Thanksgiving when his plane crashed in a wooded area on Nov. 22, near Pittsford in central Vermont. His body was found in the wreckage. The cause of the crash was under investigation.

Although trained as an engineer, Norman Baker is best remembered as an adventurer. He mined for gold in Alaska, climbed the Matterhorn and lived on a 19th-century schooner that he and his wife had rebuilt.

In 1969 and 1970, he served as the navigator and radio officer on Thor Heyerdahl’s two Ra expeditions. Continue reading →

16 Year Ban on Fishing in Central Arctic Ocean

Posted on by December 3, 2017

Photo: NASA/Kathryn Hansen

Nine nations; the United States, Canada, Norway, Russia, Denmark, Iceland, Japan, South Korea, China; and the European Union have agreed to ban commercial fishing in the Central Arctic Ocean for at least the next 16 years. The goal of the pact is to allow scientists enough time to better understand the region’s ecology and the potential effects of climate change before allowing widespread fishing.

“There is no other high seas area where we’ve decided to do the science first,” says Scott Highleyman, vice president of conservation policy and programs at the Ocean Conservancy in Washington, D.C., who also served on the U.S. delegation to the negotiations. “It’s a great example of putting the precautionary principle into action.”

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Magnificent Panoramas from Tallinn Maritime Days

Posted on by December 2, 2017

We are several months late in posting about Tallinn Maritime Days from last July. The port of Tallinn, on the Gulf of Finland, is the capital and largest city of Estonia and hosted 50 sailing ships in this summer’s Tallships Race. Here are some amazing 3D VR images of the festival.  Click here for a panoramic view of the Norwegian full-rigged ship, Christian Radich. Click here for another panoramic view of the festival shot by Andrew Bodrov. Click and drag with your mouse to see the full images.

American Diver Dies in Cocos Island Shark Attack

Posted on by December 1, 2017

An American diving in a tour group off Costa Rico’s Cocos Island was attacked and killed yesterday by a tiger shark. The name of the victim has not been released and the circumstances of the attack are not known. The dive master was also attacked and seriously injured. He is reported to be in stable condition.

Cocos Island is a Costa Rican National Park roughly 300 miles off Puntarenas on Costa Rica’s Pacific Coast. The sharks are a big part of what attracts tourists to the island, which has been named one of the best 10 scuba diving spots in the world by PADI (Professional Association of Diving Instructors). Surrounded by deep waters with counter-currents, the island attracts large schools of hammerhead sharks, rays, dolphins, orcas and other large marine species. The schools of hammerhead sharks are among the largest in the world.

What makes the recent attack so shocking is that, according to the Shark Attack Data website, there have been only twelve shark attacks recorded in Costa Rica, not including the recent fatality, since 1919. Of these, only four attacks were fatal. Of the attacks recorded on their database, no attacks were near Cocos Island, prior to yesterday’s attack. 

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Building a Petrel Play Strip Kayak in One Minute

Posted on by November 30, 2017

I am a big fan of strip kayaks in general and the designs of Nick Schade of Guillemot Kayaks in particular. Given that our family already owns five kayaks, it has become harder for me to argue that I really need one more.  Nevertheless, I have even considered building a strip kayak in my basement but quickly realized that if I did manage to complete the project, I would have no way to get it out, short of excavation. I would not have the same problem if I built a strip kayak in my living room, but divorce is so expensive these days, so I decided against it.  So, instead of building a  kayak, through the wonder of Youtube, I can watch others build them. Here is a time-lapse video of one of Schade’s Petrel Play kayaks being built in just under one minute. If only it was really so quick and easy.

For those wanting more detail, Schade also has eight and twenty-minute videos of the same process.

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103 Year Old MV Doulos — on the Beach at Bintan

Posted on by November 29, 2017

MV Doulos once held the title of the oldest operating passenger liner. Now 103 years old, the historic ship may be close to beginning a new life as a shoreside hotel in the resort town of Bintan, Indonesia. 

When the refurbished ship will open as a hotel is unclear. Reports from 2016 said that the newly named Doulos Phos The Hotel would open by early 2017. The project has been delayed, however. The Tribun Batam reports as of November that “… until the end of 2017, in the field, the hotel is still in the process of working. This can be seen from the number of workers and heavy equipment that are on site.” (Translated by Google from the original Indonesian.)

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Latest Ghost Ships Wash Ashore in Japan

Posted on by November 28, 2017

A derelict wooden boat washed ashore on Monday on Miyazawa beach in the northwest of Japan’s main island Honshu. The boat’s only cargo was eight skeletons. Evidence suggests that the boat and the bones came from North Korea. This boat is the fourth vessel believed to be North Korean to have washed ashore or have been rescued in Japanese waters this month alone. Fifteen of those aboard these vessels were found dead while eleven survivors were rescued and returned to an uncertain fate in North Korea. 

Sky News reports that forty-four wooden vessels believed to be from the Korean peninsula have washed up on Japanese shores – or drifted off the country’s coast – so far this year, compared to 66 in the whole of 2016. 

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Captain James Colnett’s Barrel & the World’s Most Unusual Post Office

Posted on by November 28, 2017

Current mail barrel at Post Office Bay, Floreana Island, Galapagos

In 1793, Captain James Colnett of the merchant ship Rattler placed a barrel a short distance from a bay on the island of Floreana in the Galapagos archipelago. Captain Colnett was a British Naval officer, an explorer, and a maritime fur trader. On this voyage, he had been hired by British whaling interests to chart the Galapagos. In the barrel, he left the ship’s mail with the request of any homeward-bound ship that they would deliver the mail on their return to England. A replica of the barrel exists to this day, as does the free-lance postal service established by Colnett.

Why did Captain Colnett place his barrel on this island in a remote and generally arid archipelago? Continue reading →

Ghost Coral Reefs of the Florida Keys

Posted on by November 26, 2017

In 1775, George Gauld, a surveyor for the British Admiralty, charted the waters off the coast of the British colony of West Florida.  Recently, Loren McClenachan, historical ecologist and professor of environmental studies at Colby College, has compared Gauld’s charts of the coral reefs along the Florida coast to modern imagery. The results were grim. Compared to Gauld’s charts, far more coral reefs have disappeared than had been previously thought. The reefs have become ghosts.

Gizmodo reports: By comparing Gauld’s maps with modern coral cover information from several databases, McClenachan and her colleagues arrived at a bleak conclusion: roughly half of the seafloor occupied by corals in the vicinity of the Florida Keys in the late 18th century no longer is. Much of the dieback seems to have occurred in Florida Bay (where coral cover was an estimated 88% higher in the late 18th century) and close to shorelines (an estimated 69% higher per Gauld’s maps).

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A Mariners’ Christmas — Mystic Seaport Wreaths and Lobster Pot Trees

Posted on by December 3, 2017

Now that Thanksgiving is behind us, it is time to start decorating for Christmas with lights, trees, and wreathes. At the Mystic Seaport Museum, 170 wreaths are being constructed or decorated over a period of 18 days to provide decorations for the festivities.

Up and down the north-east coast of the United States and Canada distinctive lobster pot Christmas trees are being assembled and decorated to welcome in the season. In Barrington, Nova Scotia, a lobster pot Christmas tree built of over 200 recycled lobster pots was lit on Thursday accompanied by fireworks. 

In Rockland, Maine, a 150 lobster port Christmas tree went up about a week ago in preparation for this weekend’s Rockland Festival of Lights. The tree features 2,500 lights, and more than 100 lobster buoys. 

Rockland Lobster Trap Christmas Tree

No Sign of Missing Submarine ARA San Juan, Reports of Explosion

Posted on by November 24, 2017

The news of the Argentine submarine ARA San Juan, missing since a week ago last Wednesday, has been uniformly grim.  A report on Tuesday of a “heat stain” picked up by a US search place has come to naught.  

More disturbing is a report by the Vienna-based Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CNTBTO) which said that data recorded by its hydro-acoustic stations detected an “underwater impulsive event” shortly after the submarine disappeared in an area close to the the vessel’s last reported position. CNTBTO monitors compliance with the proposed nuclear test ban treaty and has 11 hydro-acoustic stations positioned around the world listening for signs of nuclear explosions. 

Argentine Navy spokesman, Enrique Balbi,  described the event as “an anomalous, singular, short, violent and non-nuclear event, consistent with an explosion…”  

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Remembering the Godmother of Thanksgiving — Sarah Josepha Hale

Posted on by November 23, 2017

Happy Thanksgiving for those on this side of the pond and below the 49th parallel.  (The Canadians celebrated the holiday in October.) Here is repost of a story I think is well worth retelling.  In the United States, Thanksgiving only became a national holiday in October of 1863. One of the early advocates of the holiday was the remarkable Sarah Josepha Hale, who is also remembered for a famous nursery rhyme and had a World War II Liberty ship named in her honor. An updated repost from 2014:

Thanksgiving is one of the central creation myths of the founding of the United States. The story is based on an account of a one time feast of thanksgiving in the Plymouth colony of Massachusetts in 1621 during a period of atypically good relations with local tribes. Before the celebration spread across the country, Thanksgiving was most popular in New England. On 19th century American whale ships, which sailed from New England ports, they celebrated only the Fourth of July, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. Of the three holidays, Thanksgiving may have been the most popular. On Norfolk Island in the Pacific, they also celebrate Thanksgiving, the holiday brought to the island by visiting American whaling ships.

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US Navy May Have Located Missing Argentine Submarine

Posted on by November 22, 2017

A US Navy plane may have located the position of the Argentine Navy submarine ARA San Juan which has been missing since last Wednesday. Sensors aboard the plane detected a ‘heat stain’ at 230 ft below the surface, roughly 185 miles off the east coast of Argentina. A rescue vessel involved in the search also picked up a sonar signal late Tuesday night.

Time is running out for the 44 crew members on the submarine, which reportedly has a seven day supply of oxygen.  If the submarine sank or was disabled a week ago, the oxygen supply could be very close to being exhausted.  

America’s Cup Concept Yacht AC75 — Foils But no Keel

Posted on by November 21, 2017

The Emirates Team New Zealand and Luna Rossa design teams have unveiled the AC75, a concept design for the 36th America’s Cup in 2021. The design is a 75 foot long foiling monohull. Most notably, the AC75 lacks a keel.  The design uses the righting forces generated by the canting port and starboard foils for stability, as well as to lift the boat out of the water at speed. The canting foils also are ballasted to provide additional stability.

Here is a video animation of the concept design with commentary by Dan Bernasconi, Design Coordinator Emirates Team New Zealand. 


Morning Report: ‘Completely new concept of boat’ for America’s Cup 2021

Coconut Crabs, the Size of Dogs, Hunt Sea Birds

Posted on by November 20, 2017

Coconut crabs are the stuff of nightmares. They live on remote coral atolls and are the largest land-living arthropod in the world. They can grow to over three feet long and weigh up to about 9 pounds. They can climb trees and use their immensely powerful claws to rip open coconuts. Recently scientists have discovered that they also hunt and eat sea birds. 

Mark E Laidre, a biologist at Dartmouth College, had heard stories of the crabs hunting sea birds and set out to investigate. He traveled to the Chagos Archipelago in the Indian Ocean. While crabs are generally known as scavengers, Laidre had never before encountered a crab which hunted which hunted its prey.

In a recent paper, he writes: 

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British Sailor, Simon Speirs, Dies in Clipper Round the World Race

Posted on by March 29, 2018

Simon Speirs, a 60 year old sailor from Bristol, UK, has died in the Clipper Round the World Race. On Saturday, Speirs,  was washed overboard while handling sails on the foredeck of the Clipper CV30 Great Britain, while sailing in rough seas in the Southern Ocean. Speirs was recovered but never regained consciousness. The cause of death is unconfirmed but is thought to be drowning. Simon Spears was buried at sea this morning. Speirs was a retired solicitor.

A statement by the Clipper Round the World Race organization reads: 

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Argentines Search for Missing Submarine ARA San Juan

Posted on by December 3, 2017

ARA San Juan, an Argentine Navy diesel-electric submarine, was on a routine mission when it went silent on Wednesday. Communications ended while the submarine was en route,with a crew of 44, from Ushuaia naval base, near the southern tip of South America, to the Mar del Plata base, south of Buenos Aires.  The submarine’s last known position was about 430km off the south-eastern Valdés peninsula.

“The last position [registered] was two days ago,” navy spokesman Enrique Balbi said, according to the AP. “Without wanting to be alarmist or overdramatic, the facts are that no form of communications could be established between the vessel and its command, even with the alternative methods that the submarine has.

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