Wreck of Vasco da Gama’s Lost Ship Esmeralda Believed Found Off Oman

Posted on by March 19, 2016

dagama1The wreck of the Esmeralda, a ship from Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama’s  second voyage to India in 1502 and 1503, is believed to have been found close to Al Hallaniyah island, near the coast of Oman according to an announcement made by the country’s Ministry of Heritage and Culture this week. The wreck is believed to be the oldest wreck dating from “Europe’s Golden Age of Exploration.”

The wreck had been first discovered in 1998 and excavated between 2013 and 2015 by a partnership between the Oman Ministry of Heritage and Culture and the shipwreck recovery company Bluewater Recoveries Ltd., which is directed by David Mearns. More than 2,800 artifacts, including rare coins, have been recovered since the beginning of the excavation.

Sunken treasure recovered from 500-year-old shipwreck

Continue reading →

Kon-Tiki 2 Crew Rescued, Hōkūleʻa Sails On

Posted on by March 18, 2016

kontiki2xLast November, we posted about two balsa rafts which had set out from Lima, Peru, intending to sail to Easter Island and back, on the Kon-Tiki 2 expedition. Yesterday, the Chilean Navy rescued 14 crew members from the two rafts after they had been swept far off course by currents as the rafts were on the return leg of the voyage.

The voyage was intended both as an homage to Thor Heyerdahl’s famous voyage on the raft Kon-Tiki in 1947 and a voyage to collect data on climate change, ocean currents, marine life and plastic pollution. This expedition attempted to steer the rafts using adjustable “guara boards,” but were still unable to keep to their intended course.

Continue reading →

SeaWorld Announces the Last Generation of Captive Orcas

Posted on by March 17, 2016

dawnblackfishSeaWorld has announced that they are ending their program to breed captive orcas. The 24 orcas, also known as killer whales, currently held at parks in California, Texas and Florida will be the last generation of captive orcas at SeaWorld.  In an op-ed in the LA Times, Joel Manby, president and CEO of SeaWorld, wrote:

Americans’ attitudes about orcas have changed dramatically. When the first SeaWorld Park opened in 1964, orcas, or killer whales, were not universally loved, to put it mildly. Instead, they were feared, hated and even hunted. Half a century later, orcas are among the most popular marine mammals on the planet. One reason: People came to SeaWorld and learned about orcas up close.

For some time, SeaWorld has faced a paradox. Customers visit our marine parks, in part, to watch orcas. But a growing number of people don’t think orcas belong in human care. Lawmakers in Sacramento and even in the U.S. House of Representatives have proposed legislation to phase out orca captivity. Even the California Coastal Commission — a state agency with oversight over land use and public access — moved last year to ban orca breeding at SeaWorld San Diego.

Continue reading →

Humphrey Jennings’ “Farewell Topsails” 1937

Posted on by March 10, 2016

UntfarewlltopsailsFarewell Topsails is a short film about the last topsail schooners in the British china clay trade. Remarkably for a film made in 1937, the short is in color, using the Dufaycolor process. The film was made by Humphrey Jennings who would become known for his work during World War II with the Crown Film Unit, a film-making propaganda arm of the Ministry of Information. Jennings was described by film critic and director Lindsay Anderson in 1954 as: “the only real poet that British cinema has yet produced.” Jennings died at the age of 43, on the island of Poros, Greece after falling from a cliff while scouting locations for a film.

Humphrey Jennings – Farewell Topsails ( 1937 )

Earl of Pembroke at Weymouth

Posted on by March 14, 2016

earlofp1sOne celebrity at Weymouth during the Weymouth Leviathan was the tall ship Earl of Pembroke.  The barque has been featured in seventeen movies of TV shows. Unfortunately, like so many other movie stars, the ship was not accessible, behind locked gates and high fences. Nevertheless, I could get a good look at the ship from the other side of the river.

Earl of Pembroke started out in 1945 as Orion, a Baltic lumber schooners.  She carried lumber until 1974.  The ship was restored on in 1985 when the rig was changed from the original fore and aft schooner rig to her current barque rig.  She was renamed Earl of Pembroke, which was the original name of HMS Endeavour. Earl of Pembroke is now owned by Metaco LLP.

Continue reading →

Oracle Team USA AC45 Capsizes in Bermuda

Posted on by March 14, 2016

From 1862 to 1956, yachts competing in the America’s Cup were required to sail to the races “on their own bottoms.”   My, how things have changed. Today, the AC 45 foiling catamarans sailing in the current America’s Cup Races in Bermuda are far more like giant foiling beach cats than ocean-going yachts.  On the other hand, they are both fast and fun. Here is the Oracle Team USA AC45 capsizing. Fortunately, no one was injured and no damage was done to the boat.

See the moment Oracle Team USA’s boat capsizes

Remembering Weymouth History at the Weymouth Leviathan

Posted on by March 13, 2016

Riverywey1I am attending the Weymouth Leviathan, a maritime literary festival, in the lovely, historic port at the mouth of the River Wey in Dorset on the south-western coast of England. It is a fitting locale. Most of the writers attending write historical nautical fiction, history or both. Weymouth indeed has no shortage of interesting history.

Continue reading →

Did a 100,000 Year Old Iceberg Sink the Titanic? Or Perhaps a 4 Year Old Iceberg?

Posted on by March 12, 2016

TbergThe headlines are great. “Iceberg that Sank the Titanic 100,000 years old” and “Titanic iceberg was a 100,000-year-old giant” and “Iceberg that sank the Titanic was 100,000-years-old and of monstrous size” and so and so on. Dozens of headlines and all are variations on the same theme. It must be true because so many news outlets are repeating it!  Or maybe not.

This ancient berg frenzy was apparently set off by a recent study by Grant Bigg, professor of earth system science at Sheffield University, whose team has been tracking the paths of icebergs. They chose to model the path of the iceberg with which the Titanic had its unfortunate meeting in 1912. Apparently the scientists said that the iceberg came from a glacier formed by snow which fell “over 100,000 years ago.” Viola, a hundred-year-old iceberg is born.

Continue reading →

Linda Collison’s Water Ghosts — Foreword Reviews’ 2015 INDIEFAB Book of the Year Award Finalist

Posted on by March 11, 2016

wg2Congratulations to Linda Collison! Her novel Water Ghosts is a Foreword Reviews’ 2015 INDIEFAB Book of the Year Award Finalist. 

In our review from last May we wrote: In Linda Collison’s new novel, Water Ghosts, seven troubled teenagers embark on a vintage Chinese junk on a Pacific “adventure-therapy” voyage, to either help them work out their problems or just possibly to get them out of their parents’ hair. …

Water Ghosts is an absolutely gripping paranormal nautical adventure. While intended for young adults, it can be enjoyed by readers of all ages. Highly recommended.

Bound for the Weymouth Leviathan

Posted on by March 10, 2016

weymouthlevI am on my way to the Weymouth Leviathan, a maritime literary festival on the south-west coast of England. I am looking forward to seeing old friends, as well as meeting many fine writers who I know only through the magic of the internet. I also hope to swing by Bristol and Southhampton to visit several historic ships that I have admired from afar.

ALL ABOARD: Weymouth set to launch first maritime literary festival

Book Review: Alaric Bond’s HMS Prometheus — the Fine Line Between Valor and Recklessness

Posted on by March 11, 2016

hmsprometheus1

Originally posted in gCaptain by Rick Spilman. Reposted with permission.

In Alaric Bond‘s most recent novel, HMS Prometheus, the eighth of his Fighting Sail series, the Mediterranean is a dangerous place for the Royal Navy. In the autumn of 1803, the British fleet is overextended and vulnerable. Britain is still under the threat of invasion, and Nelson needs every ship he can lay his hands on to reinforce his blockade of Toulon. French squadrons are a constant threat while Barbary pirates snap up the weak or unwary.

Continue reading →

Update #2 : Drifting Yacht & Dead German Sailor First Sighted by Clipper Round the World Racers

Posted on by March 9, 2016

sayo2A week ago, we posted about the corpse of a German sailor aboard the yacht SAYO, a Jeanneau Sun Magic 44, which was found adrift off the Philippines on around the end of February.  The body was described as “mummified,” leading to speculation as to how long the sailor, identified as Manfred Fritz Bajorat, 59, had been dead.   A few days later, an autopsy performed in the Philippines concluded that Bajorat had died of a heart attack and had only been dead about seven days. Now, based on a report from the Clipper Round the World Race, the autopsy is in error. One of the race’s boats, LMAX Exchange, spotted the yacht dismasted and adrift on January 31st, about 650 NM east of Philippines and 470 NM west of Guam. A crew member swam out and boarded the boat and found the body of the lone sailor in an advanced stage of decay. A video of the discovery is below after the page break.

From a statement by Clipper Round the World:

Continue reading →

Help SUNY Maritime at Fort Schuyler Replace the Empire State VI

Posted on by March 13, 2016

ReplaceESWe recently posted about Scott Kelly, the American astronaut who spent almost a year in space on the international Space Station. Scott Kelly is an alumnus of the State University of New York Maritime College at Fort Schuyler.  Before graduating in 1987, it is very likely that he trained on the school ship Empire State VI.  The school ship is now 54 years old; two years older than Scott Kelly. The school recently posted a letter asking for support for funding to build a replacement. Click on the link below to show your support.

Help us replace the Empire State VI

Continue reading →

Podcast: “Captain Blackwell’s Prize” by V.E. Ulett

Posted on by March 7, 2016

blackwellprizecoverThe Fictional Café is publishing three audio excerpts from V.E. Ulett’s Captain Blackwell’s Prize as a podcast.  The first went up last Friday and the will continue for the next two Fridays, followed by an interview with the author on the fourth and last Friday of March.  Definitely worth a listen.  Click here to go to the podcast.

In our review of Captain Blackwell’s Prize, we wrote:  What makes Captain Blackwell’s Prize so entertaining is that it falls equally well in the categories of nautical adventure and historical romance. It is the sort of novel that readers of C.S. Forester and Patrick O’Brian can enjoy along with fans of Jane Austen and Daphne du Maurier. … A fun and fascinating read. Highly recommended.

Captain Blackwell’s Prize is available in print, as an e-book and an audio book.

Podcast: “Captain Blackwell’s Prize” by V.E. Ulett

NOAA Finds “Ghostlike” Octopod Off Hawaii

Posted on by March 6, 2016

Scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) have spotted a translucent white octopod at a depth of 4,300 meters while collecting geological samples with a remote-operated vehicle on Necker Ridge in the Hawaiian Archipelago.  Described as a “remarkable little octopod,” the creature which apparently lacks pigment cells, unlike most cephalopods, is believed to be a previously unknown species.

Ghostlike Octopus Found Lurking Deep Below the Sea

Saga of the Bluenose II Continues — Schooner’s New Rudder to Cost Another Million

Posted on by March 6, 2016

bluenoseiicbcFor the last few years, we have followed the sad saga of the “rebuilding” of the schooner Bluenose II.  The latest development involves the replacement of the existing steel rudder and steering system at an estimated additional cost of $1 million Canadian.  The project, which began in 2009, is many years behind schedule and significantly over budget. The original cost has grown from $14 million to a projected $25 million.

While the project is referred to as rebuilding or repair, it is, in fact, the construction of a new schooner. The old schooner was largely put through a wood chipper and a new schooner was built with new keel, frames and planking as well as more modern scantlings. The previous Bluenose II was a replica built in 1963 by the Oland Brewery, which was given to the province of Nova Scotia in 1971.  The original Bluenose was a fishing and racing schooner built in 1921 famous for winning a series of fishing schooner races in the 1920s and 1930s.

Continue reading →

Warning: Rogue Wave Ahead — Predicting the Ship Killing Waves

Posted on by March 5, 2016
Image: MIT News

Image: MIT News

Originally posted on gCaptain by Rick Spilman, on March 3, 2016. Reposted with permission.

Rogue waves are real sea monsters. Rising many times higher than surrounding waves, they have the power to sink ships and to cripple offshore platforms. Recently, engineers from MIT have developed a new means of predicting the formation of rogue waves, which may give mariners a two to three-minute warning before one of the monster wave hits.

Whether or not the new application proves to be practical, our understanding of rogue waves has undergone a remarkable and rapid evolution over the last twenty years – from a widespread denial that rogue waves even existed to a growing understanding of how to cope with these infrequent but all too often deadly waves.

Continue reading →

Update: German Sailor on Drifting Yacht Dead for Only a Week

Posted on by March 3, 2016
Manfred Fritz Bajorat

Manfred Fritz Bajorat

Day before yesterday, we posted about the body of Manfred Fritz Bajorat, 59, a German sailor, who had been found adrift on his yacht off the Philippines. The body was a dusty grey in color and the sailor was widely reported to have been “mummified.” We were not quite as convinced, so we referred to the remains as “at least partially mummified in the heat and salt air.” Even that proved to be an exaggeration. Likewise early reports said that the sailor has not been seen in seven years. Another report said that the sailor had posted on Facebook a year ago. So how long ago did Bajorat die and what killed him? An autopsy has revealed that Bajorat had only been dead for about a week when his body was found and that he had died of a heart attack. Click here for a photograph of the corpse. (May be disturbing to some.) Thanks for Alaric Bond for contributing to the post.

Scott Kelly, Starship Sailor Returns Home Taller After a Year in Space

Posted on by March 2, 2016
Mark & Scott Kelley

Mark & Scott Kelley

For several years now we have been posting about Scott and Mark Kelly, the identical twins who both graduated from merchant marine academies and served in the Navy.  Each became astronauts and both have traveled in space. Recently, Scott Kelly returned from an epic one-year mission aboard the International Space Station, the longest any American astronaut has ever spent in space.

Mark Kelly, now retired,  also playing a key role in the mission. As the only identical twins to serve as astronauts, Mark is now acting a control against which to compare the physiological changes that may have taken place in his twin brother Scott during his year in space.

One change in his brother was immediately noticeable. During his year in zero gravity, Scott Kelly has grown two inches taller than his twin brother Mark. Scott reports that overall he “feels pretty good. ” He will now begin what may be a year-long project to monitor his health.

Corpse of German Sailor Found on Drifting Yacht

Posted on by March 1, 2016

sunmagic44Two fisherman came across a macabre scene on a dismasted derelict sailboat, drifting 40 miles off the coast of Barobo in Surigao del Sur in the Philippines. A figure, the color of dry plaster, was slumped over the chart table with one hand appearing to reach for the radio handset. It was the decomposing body of a German sailor, which had at least partially mummified in the heat and salt air. Documents suggest that the body was that of Manfred Fritz Bajorat, 59, who had been reportedly sailing his yacht SAYO, a Jeanneau Sun Magic 44, for the past two decades. The cause of death and when the sailor died is unknown, but a spokesman from the Barobo police station said that there is no evidence of foul play. While it has been widely reported that Bajorat was missing for seven years, another other report says that he contacted friends on Facebook a year ago. Click here for more photos.  Thanks to Phil Leon for contributing to this post.