Yangtze River Tragedy — 14 Survivors, 444 Dead or Missing, Far More Questions Than Answers

Posted on by June 4, 2015

orientalstar2Was MV Dong Fang Zhi Xing (Oriental Star) unsafe and unstable or was she just at the wrong place at the wrong time? Should the captain have anchored, as did several other ships on the river, when he received warning of bad weather, or would the ship have capsized at anchor or underway when hit by the tornado? As the Chinese come to terms with the greatest nautical tragedy in decades, there are far more questions than answers.

The official Xinhua News Agency is reporting that only 14 had been rescued, and more than 70 confirmed dead, of the 458 aboard the ill-fated passenger ship that capsized in the Yangtze River on Monday night. The captain, Zhang Shunwen, along with the chief engineer, was one of the few survivors.  He has been detained by the police for questioning.

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The Secret Opera — Opera Cabaret on the Cutter Lilac, June 4th

Posted on by June 3, 2015

secretopera1If you are in the area tomorrow night, June 4th, be sure to stop by the Cutter Lilac at Pier 25 at N.Moore at West Streets on the Hudson River in Manhattan, for Opera Cabaret performed by The Secret Opera between 7 and 8:30 PM.  The performance is free and open to the public.

What is The Secret Opera, one well might ask? George Grella of New York Classical Review describes them as “one of the small, imaginative opera companies rapidly proliferating in New York City. They are nimble, make the most of limited resources, and present talented singers and new works that are outside the physical and financial scope of the Metropolitan Opera.”  The Secret Opera — Opera Cabaret is part of the Lilac Arts Series.

America’s only surviving steam-powered lighthouse tender, the former Coast Guard Cutter Lilac is operated as a museum by the non-profit Lilac Preservation Project.

Frigate l’Hermione Arrives Off the Virginia Capes

Posted on by June 3, 2015
hermioneAB

U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Michael Sandberg

The French frigate l’Hermoine arrived off the Virginia Capes yesterday where she was greeted by the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Mitscher. l’Hermoine is scheduled to visit Yorktown, Va. on June 5 on her twelve port East Coast tour.  The ship is a replica of the frigate l’Hermione which carried the Marquis de Lafayette to America 1780 with the news of French support for the American revolution.

l’Hermione arrived on the American coast very close site of the Battle of the Capes (also known as the Battle of the Chesapeake) of 1781 in which a French fleet commanded by Rear Admiral François Joseph Paul, the Comte de Grasse, defeated a Royal Navy fleet commanded by Rear Admiral Sir Thomas Graves. The French victory at helped to ensure the victory of American and French forces in the Seige of Yorktown.

MV Dong Fang Zhi Xing Capsizes in Yangtze — 458 Aboard, Over 430 Missing

Posted on by June 2, 2015

ostarcapsizeLast night, around 9:28 p.m, the river cruise vessel, MV Dong Fang Zhi Xing, capsized in a storm on the Yangtze River while carrying 458 passengers and crew, including 406 elderly Chinese tourists, 47 crew members and five tour guides.  The ship was on a 1,500km (930 mile) voyage from Nanjing to Chongqing via the Yangtze river when it was reported to have been hit by severe weather near Jingzhou and quickly capsized. There was no distress call and initial reports put the number of survivors at seven, including the captain and the chief engineer.  Roughly a dozen additional survivors have been reported to have been found, including a 65-year-old woman, who was pulled from the capsized ship.  The captain and the chief engineer have been detained by the police.

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Secrets of New York: Captains, Pirates and Ghosts

Posted on by June 1, 2015

“Captains, Pirates and Ghosts,” from the documentary series, Secrets of New York, hosted  by Kelly Choi.  It includes some nice shots of the South Street Seaport Museum‘s schooner Pioneer, with commentary by the museum’s Executive Director, Captain Johnathon Boulware.  Segments from the Bridge Cafe, were shot before Hurricane Sandy. The historic bar and restaurant were severely damaged by flooding. The restaurant has not reopened. Scenes from South and Water Streets, including Kit Burn’s Rat pit, shown in this episode are also featured in my novel, The Shantyman.

Water Ghosts by Linda Collison — A Review

Posted on by May 31, 2015

waterghostcoverIn 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.  Among the motley voyagers is fifteen-year-old James McCafferty.  While all teenagers, at one time or another, feel that no one sees the world as they do,  James has it far worst than most. He says, “I see things other people don’t see; I hear things other people don’t hear.”  Once at sea, James has premonitions of doom and believes that the ship is being taken over by Ming Dynasty spirits. It doesn’t help that the junk’s crew is disappearing or dying.

Collison, who has sailed the Pacific herself, captures the very tactile and real world of life aboard. At the same time, she evokes the otherworldly sense of being on a small boat adrift on an a vast, windless ocean where even time and space can also seem to come adrift.  Are the voices of the dead in the water real, or just in James’ head? Are the doldrums driving James mad or is something even more sinister at hand?  In Water Ghosts, the tension is as palpable as the equatorial heat and the rolling of the old junk in the incessant swells.

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.

The Strange Saga of the Mountain Submarine

Posted on by June 1, 2015

In 1881, John Holland designed and had built at the Delamater Iron Company in Manhattan a working submarine. Funded by the Fenian Brotherhood and intended to sink British shipping, the submarines was in all reepcts successful, notwithstanding that it never fulfilled the bellicose intent it’s backers. Holland’s invention plays a central role in Antione Vanner’s latest nautical thriller, Britannia’s Shark.  Holland’s remarkable submarine, Holland Boat No. II,  often called the Fenian Ram, is on display along with an earlier design, Holland Boat No. 1, at the Paterson Museum, in Paterson, NJ.

Recently another, notably less successful submarine went on display at the Gilpin County Historical Society Museum  in Central City, Colorado.  Called the “Mountain Submarine” the craft was raised from the depths of Missouri Lake, a frigid body of water 9,000 feet high in the mountains near Central City, where it sank on its maiden voyage in 1898.  The submarine was designed and built by Rufus T. Owen, a mining engineer.  John Holland, by comparison was an Irish school teacher. Safe to say Rufus Owen was no John Holland. His submarine sank before he could attempt the first test dive. Based on the appearance of the wood framed, zinc covered craft, he was proablaby lucky that it did.  Thanks to Dave Shirlaw for passing along the news.

A submarine found in the mountains? Exhibit shows oddity

Point Nemo & the Spacecraft Cemetery — Where Spaceships Go to Die

Posted on by May 29, 2015

pointnemoFirst of all, notwithstanding the name, there is no point, as in point of land, to Point Nemo.  Which may be exactly the point.  Point Nemo is the point in the ocean furthest from any land mass. Named for Captain Nemo of Jules Verne’s classic sci-fi novel 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, this point sits at 48⁰25.6’ South latitude and 123⁰23.6’ West longitude. The closest land is is 2,700 kilometers south to Antarctica. The waters near Point Nemo are referred to as the South Pacific Ocean Uninhabited Area.  The waters may be uninhabited but they are not empty. These lonely waters are the site of the Spacecraft Cemetery.  As reported by Gizmodo:

The Spacecraft Cemetery is the final resting place of 145 of Russia’s Progress autonomous resupply ships, 4 of Japan’s HTV cargo craft, and 5 of the ESA’s Automated Transfer Vehicles. 6 Russian Salyut space stations and the venerable Mir space station lie alongside the freighters that once supplied them.

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Piracy, Packet Ships and the Erie Canal — Why New York is the Center of US Publishing

Posted on by December 8, 2020

This week, Book Expo America and Book-Con, collectively among of the largest book publishing events in the world, are being held in New York City, on the Hudson River in the Javit’s Center. (My novel, The Shantyman, is one of seemingly countless books on display.)

It seems a good time to ask the question, “Why did New York become the book publishing center of the United States?  Why not Philadelphia, or Boston or Chicago? The answer may be piracy, packet ships and the Erie Canal.

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PortSide NewYork & the Tanker Mary A. Whalen Have Found A Home!

Posted on by May 27, 2015

Great news. PortSide NewYork and the tanker Mary A. Whalen have found a long-term berth at Brooklyn’s Atlantic basin. For the last several years, the non-profit based on the historic tanker has not had a berth accessible to the public. Now with public access PortSide will begin new programming by the Fall of 2015. From the PortSide NewYork press release:

The morning of Friday, May 29, 2015, the tanker MARY A. WHALEN will be towed to the south end of Pier 11 in Atlantic Basin in Red Hook, Brooklyn. PortSide would like to thank our friends at Vane Brothers for donating this tow. Vane is operating from the same location where the MARY A. WHALEN began her working life at the former site of Ira S. Bushey & Sons and is in the same business moving fuel. 

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Kirkus Starred Review of The Shantyman

Posted on by May 28, 2015

“A fabulously gripping sailor’s yarn.”

The Shantyman was recently reviewed by Kirkus Reviews. I am pleased to say that gave it a Kirkus Star. What does that mean? (I didn’t know either.) “The Kirkus Star is one of the most prestigious designations in the book industry. Look for the icon to discover books of exceptional merit.”  An excerpt from the review: “Spilman’s colorful, well-researched novel will enthrall both sailing enthusiasts and landlubbers.  A fabulously gripping sailor’s yarn.”

KIRKUS REVIEW

With eloquent accuracy, Spilman’s novel captures the life of a 19th-century sailor.

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Coming Home to USCG Cutter Lilac — A Voice Tube, the Wheel and the Builder’s Plate

Posted on by May 24, 2015

Sometimes restoring a historic ship involves starting at the keel and working up, or the deck and working down.  And sometimes it involves rediscovering the ship one piece at a time.  That was the case this year when three missing parts came home to the ex-USCG Cutter Liliac.  An account by Museum Director, Mary Habstritt:

lilacvoicetubeThe Voice Tube:  One day in February last year, our Museum Director got an email asking, “Is LILAC missing a voice tube from her bridge?” The ship was missing the mouthpiece to that very voice tube, but, how did the writer know to ask that question? He had it, of course. Ed Hlywa did, however, come by it honestly, buying it for $10 in the 1980s from LILAC’s last owner, Henry Houck. He says, “I always assumed that LILAC was heading to a shipbreaker and that I was preserving a little bit of nautical history.” Reminiscing one day, he Googled “LILAC Falling Creek” and was amazed to discover that she had survived and that the Lilac Preservation Project was working to restore her. Ed graciously offered to return this little piece of history, saying, “It has served me well and if you hold it to your ear, you may be able to still hear the orders being called down to the engine room.”

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Shipstrikes & Blue Whales — A Whale Too Large?

Posted on by May 24, 2015

There is good and bad news about California blue whales. The good news is that the number of whales along the west coast of North America has rebounded to close to levels prior to whaling.  The bad news is that blue whales are in ever greater danger of dying from run down by ships.  Blue whales can be difficult to see from the bridge of a ship and, for reasons not well understood, the blue whales do not necessarily move to avoid the oncoming ships. A recent, pioneering study may suggest a reason why. The whales may have evolved to be simply too large.  As reported by Takepart:

The short answer, according to a first-of-its-kind study, is that they have never learned to steer clear of big objects like ships. The largest animal that’s ever lived, at more than 100 feet long and 320,000 pounds, the blue whale for 30 million years never had to move out of anything’s way.

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Captain Kidd’s Treasure Found in Madagascar? The Legendary Treasures of Captain Kidd

Posted on by May 23, 2015

captkidd1Earlier this month, salvors reported finding a 50 kg silver bar off the coast of Madagascar, which they believed to be part of Captain Kidd‘s treasure lost in the sinking of the Adventure Galley in 1698.  The salvors are confident that they will find more silver in the wreck.  Whether they will remains to be seen.  In most historical accounts, after the ship became so rotten as to be unseaworthy, Captain Kidd stripped the Adventure Galley of anything worthwhile down to the hinges on the ship’s cabin door.  Kidd and his crew then sailed away on the Adventure Prize.  If Kidd stripped the ship, it seems unlikely that he would leave a large treasure of silver behind.

Captain William Kidd was a most unusual pirate, if he was a pirate at all.  Before 1696, Captain Kidd was a successful merchant and privateer.  Born in Dundee, Scotland in 1645, Kidd married a young English widow, Sarah Bradley Cox Oort, in 1691, who was also one of the wealthiest women in New York City at the time. They lived in a large house on Pearl Street with their two daughters. Kidd was a member and financial supporter of his church. Block and tackles from his ship are said to have been used to raise the spire on the Trinity Church in New York.

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Star Clippers Building World’s Largest Square-Rigged Passenger Ship

Posted on by May 22, 2015
Royal Clipper Photo: Star Clipper

Royal Clipper Photo: Star Clipper

Exciting news! Star Clippers is now building what will be the world’s largest square-rigged passenger ship.  The new ship, the fourth in the Star Clippers fleet, is expected to launch mid-2017.  Modeled after the five masted France II of 1912, the ship will be larger than the current world’s largest square rigged ship, the company’s five-masted Royal Clipper.  Star Clippers also operates the sister ships, Star Clipper and Star Flyer, which are four masted barquentines.

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Sonya Baumstein Rowing Across the Pacific Alone

Posted on by May 20, 2015

In 2012, Sonya Baumstein, biked from Mexico to San Francisco. In 2013 she used a standup paddleboard to travel across the Bering Strait. In the winter of 2011, she rowed 2,600 miles with three male rowers from Spain to Barbados. She is now attempting to row the 6,000 miles alone from Choshi, Japan, to San Francisco, California — without a support vessel. The 30 year old from Orlando set off Sunday on her epic voyage. Thanks to Phil Leon for contributing to this post.

Sonya Baumstein of Orlando to Row Across Pacific

Restoring the Wavertree 2015

Posted on by May 20, 2015

wavertreetug1If you are in the neighborhood tomorrow, Thursday, May 21, 2015 at 12:30PM, you may wish to stop by the “bon-voyage” party on Pier 17 in New York’s South Street Seaport for the Wavertree, as she slips her lines and is towed across the harbor to Caddell Dry Dock in Staten Island. The Wavertree, built in Southampton, England in 1885, was one of the last large ships to be built in wrought iron and is one of the few survivors. She will be undergoing a $10.5 million, almost year long, drydocking and refurbishment.

Captain Jonathan Boulware, Executive Director of the South Street Seaport Museum outlined the scope of the refurbishment at the New York Shiplore Meeting last Monday. He said that approximately 20 plates would be replaced below the waterline. The existing concrete ballast will be removed and replaced with a pumpable fixed ballast system. The tween deck will be replated. The main deck will be replaced with a steel deck which will then be clad in wood. Boulware acknowledged that this was a compromise. The original ship’s main deck was wood over iron frames, which is difficult to maintain and to keep watertight. The new metal deck will make preserving the ship easier and ultimately less expensive.

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USS Constitution Shifts to Drydock

Posted on by May 19, 2015

Last night, the USS Constitution was shifted to Dry Dock #1 at the Charlestown Navy Yard in Boston. The ship, the world’s oldest commissioned warship afloat, will be undergoing a three year refurbishment. USS Constitution, nicknamed “Old Ironsides,” entered service in the U.S. Navy on Oct. 21, 1797 and remains a commissioned U.S. Navy warship.  Since 1907, the ship has been on display opening her decks to the public. An interview with Naval History and Heritage Command Director Sam Cox.

USS Constitution Dry Dock Sam Cox Interview

Lilac Arts Launching Tuesday, May 19, on ex-USCG Cutter Lilac

Posted on by May 18, 2015
Click for a larger image

Click for a larger image

If you are near New York harbor tomorrow be sure to stop by from 6 — 9 PM, for a reception to launch the LILAC Art Series on the historic ex-Coast Guard Cutter Lilac.  The LILAC Art Series is a three month art exhibition by 25 artists with a focus on three themes inspired by the ship’s story – “Steam”, “Work + Labor” and “Restoration/Reinvention.”  Open free to the public. Regular hours on the Cutter Lilac resume on May 23, 2015. Also, stop by on Memorial Day for birthday cake celebrating LILAC’s 82nd year!

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