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Masts Stepped on the SSV Oliver Hazard Perry

Posted on September 26, 2014 by Rick SpilmanSeptember 26, 2014

ohpmast The main mast on the SSV Oliver Hazard Perry was stepped in a dockside ceremony on Wednesday at the Hinckley Company in Portsmouth, R.I. The 200′ tall ship is the first full-rigged ocean-going ship to be built in the United States in the last 110 years.

The mainmast towers 120’ above the deck of SSV Oliver Hazard Perry and is made up of three sections. The 65’ long lower section is made of steel. The upper two sections (called the topmast and t’gallant) are made of Douglas fir, which came from a private tree farm in Rainier, Oregon and was turned in Washington State on the largest spar lathe in North America. The ship’s foremast had been stepped earlier in the month and the mizzen mast was stepped Wednesday afternoon following the stepping of the main.

OHPRI has raised over $14 million toward the completion of SSV Oliver Hazard Perry and has $975,000 left to raise before the ship transitions into its operational phase for hosting education-at-sea programs next Spring.

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Update: Icelandic Panel Certifies Lagarfljótsormurinn Video “Authentic”

Posted on September 25, 2014 by Rick SpilmanSeptember 25, 2014

lagarfljotsormurinn_lake_monster_serpent Two years ago we posted about a video of what was purported to be the Lagarfljót Worm. An Icelandic commission has now narrowly voted that the video is “authentic.” The video, which shows undulating movements of something long and very slender, has been viewed 8 million times on the internet. Lagarfljótsormurinn, the Lagarfljót worm monster, is said to live in the Lake Lagarfljót near Egilsstaðir in East Iceland. There have been “serpent” sightings in the lake as recently as 1998, as well as dating back to a reference in the Icelandic Annals of 1345.

An analysis of the video in 2012 by Finnish researcher, Miisa McKeown, showed that the object in the video is not actually moving forward in the water but is stationary and undulating back and forth in the swift current. The movement of the ice and muddy water flowing around the object gives it the appearance of forward motion. This motion is consistent with an ice-caked fishing net caught on an underwater branch or rock — and completely inconsistent with a living animal. There is no indication that the video was faked or an attempt at a hoax. It seems to be merely not what it may appear at first glance.

Nevertheless, an Icelandic commission of 13 en-paneled to review the video determined by a 7-6 vote that the footage was an authentic image of the lake monster. Continue reading →

Tank Bennett, the Only American Sailor in the Royal Navy

Posted on September 24, 2014 by Rick SpilmanSeptember 25, 2014

Tank Bennett

One of the causes of the War of 1812, was the impressment of American sailors into the Royal Navy. But that was two centuries ago, and Yanks now, generally, do not serve in the British navy. As a result of love and an unexpected family history, Tank Bennett is said to be the only American sailor in the Royal Navy.

Born in Louisiana, he was serving in the US Navy on the USS Mahan, when he met his future wife, Diane, on a UK port call in Plymouth in 1989. They kept in touch, fell in love, married and settled in the United States. Tank promised Diane that if she ever wanted to move back to Plymouth, they would. After a few years, she missed her family, so Tank quit the US Navy and they moved back to the UK. Things have changed since 1812. As a foreigner, Tank would have had a long wait to join the Royal Navy. After researching his family tree, he discovered that the father he never knew was, in fact, a British citizen. Tank had been raised by an uncle. He discovered that his family had a history of moving back and forth across the Atlantic. By virtue of his British heritage, Tank was able to join the Royal Navy. His only real problem, so far has been his Louisiana accent. As noted by the Plymouth Herald:

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The Two SS Athenia, Torpedoed by U-Boats

Posted on September 23, 2014 by Rick SpilmanSeptember 23, 2014

Athenia 1923-1939

Seventy five years ago this month, the Donaldson Line passenger liner SS Athenia became the first British ship to be sunk by a German U-boat in World War II. The 13,465 gross ton liner sailed from Glasgow bound Montreal. On September 3, 1939, only hours after Great Britain had declared war on Germany, the German submarine U-30 under the command of Oberleutnant Fritz-Julius Lemp, on patrol about 250 miles northwest of Ireland, about 60 miles south of Rockall banks, torpedoed SS Athenia. Of the 1,418 aboard, 98 passengers and 19 crew members were killed. Of the dead, 54 were Canadian while 28 were American citizens.

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Pride of Baltimore II Boston to NYC: Setting Sail on a Tallship

Posted on September 22, 2014 by Rick SpilmanSeptember 23, 2014

A great video to start the week by Gale Browning aboard the Pride of Baltimore II .

The Pride of Baltimore II is a replica of an 1812-era Baltimore Clipper topsail schooner built in 1988 in Baltimore harbor to be a Goodwill Ambassador for the state of Maryland. I signed on to be working guest crew on a passage from Boston to New York City in September 2013. The breeze was perfect for setting most of the sails including the top gallant, fore topsail and stun’sail. After motorsailing through the Cape Cod Canal, we sailed most of the way to New York City. Come aboard and meet some of the characters that sail on tallships.

Pride II Boston to NYC: Setting Sail on a Tallship from Gale Browning on Vimeo.

Clipper City Craft Beer Tasting Cruise Goes Aground

Posted on September 21, 2014 by Rick SpilmanSeptember 21, 2014

cc1 The topsail schooner Clipper City set sail from Manhattan yesterday on a “Craft Beer Tasting Cruise,” which ran somewhat longer than expected. The steel ship grounded in New York harbor, south of the Statue of Liberty. Apparently many of the passengers were not aware of the grounding until boats came to ferry them ashore. All 121 passengers made it to shore safely. As the ship grounded near low tide, she floated free when the tide came in, without any reported damage to the ship or pollution of the harbor. What’s the old saying? “If you’ve never run aground, then you’re not much of a sailor.” And no doubt, the craft beer was tasty.

Historic Steamer SS Columbia Coming to New York!

Posted on September 21, 2014 by Rick SpilmanSeptember 21, 2014

The passenger steamer SS Columbia is heading toward New York! The goal is to restore the historic steamer, built in 1902, and to put her in service on the Hudson River. SS Columbia is the oldest surviving passenger steamship in the United States and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979. The SS Columbia has been towed from the Detroit River to the a drydock in Toldeo in preparation for the journey next year up the St. Lawrence and then down the Atlantic Coast to New York for the rest of her restoration.

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Crowdsourcing “Rescue of the Bounty -The Film”

Posted on September 20, 2014 by Rick SpilmanSeptember 20, 2014

Bountyundersailfullviewscottmaquire Award winning film maker David Wittkower has teamed with writer Michael Tougias to create a documentary, “Rescue of the Bounty,” looking at the loss of the Bounty in 2012. Tougias is the best selling author of the book by the same name. Wittkower has made two previous films about tall ships, one about a youth sail training program in Los Angeles and the other about the US Coast Guard’s barque Eagle. They are attempting to raise $15,000 through crowd sourcing on Indiegogo to fund the film. All contributions are tax deductible. Click here to learn more. Click here to contribute: Rescue of the Bounty -The Film.

On “Talk Like a Pirate Day,” Why Romanticize Thieves and Murderers?

Posted on September 19, 2014 by Rick SpilmanSeptember 20, 2014

jack-en-piratas-del-caribe On this the official “Talk Like A Pirate Day,” all I can say is, “No, thank you. I would rather not.” The problem is that there are still real pirates plying their trade around the globe, abusing and and too often killing merchant seamen. So, pretending to speak in some stilted form of 17th century nautical English, by way of Hollywood and Disney, while pretending to be a faux-pirate, seems in bad taste, at best. The larger question is, why romanticize pirates in the first place? In the real world, pirates, whether of the so-called “Golden Age of Piracy,” or of today, were and are nautical thieves and, more often than not, murderers as well.

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Tommy Thompson, SS Central America & the Plague of Gold

Posted on September 18, 2014 by Rick SpilmanSeptember 18, 2014

TTbillboard Odyssey Marine Exploration Inc. recently wrapped up recovery efforts on the wreck of the SS Central America for the year. In last five months, they have recovered more than 15,500 gold and silver coins, 45 gold bars and hundreds of nuggets, jewelry and other artifacts from the wreck, which lies in 7,200 feet of water, 200 miles off the Carolina coast. After repairs and study of the data collected thus far, Odyssey plans to return to the site in 2015.

Odyssey got the contract to salvage the cargo of the SS Central America from a court appointed receiver representing investors in a venture once lead by Tommy Thompson, which located the wreck in 1988. Therein hangs a tale of Tommy Thompson and his “plague of gold.”

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From Blue Water, White Death & Jaws to Katherine the Great White Twitter Shark

Posted on September 17, 2014 by Rick SpilmanSeptember 17, 2014

Katharine, Celebrity Great White Shark

In 1971, Blue Water, White Death, a documentary about great white sharks hit the big screens. I recall the documentary as thrilling and absolutely terrifying. White sharks were portrayed as monstrous killing machines, swimming in every ocean, ready to gobble us all up. And if that was not enough reason to stay out of the water, scenes from Blue Water, White Death were said to have inspired Peter Benchley’s best-selling 1974 thriller, Jaws. (Benchley also borrowed heavily from Melville’s Moby Dick, swapping out a white whale for a white shark.) Jaws the book was followed by Jaws the movie, followed by three sequels. The message was clear — sharks were viscous and terrible beasts. Be afraid! Be very afraid!

How times have changed. Continue reading →

The Schooners Columbia — 1923 & 2014

Posted on September 16, 2014 by Rick SpilmanSeptember 17, 2014

Columbia 1923 launch (left) Columbia 2014 launch (right)

The Columbia of 1923 was a fishing schooner built at the Arthur Dana Story shipyard in Essex, MA, from a design by Starling Burgess. She was famous for her speed and seaworthiness and for winning international schooner races, including one against Bluenose. Columbia was lost with all hands in a hurricane off Sable Island, Nova Scotia in 1927.

The Columbia of 2014 was recently launched at Eastern Shipbuilding in Panama City, FL. The 141 foot long schooner was also built to the same design as her namesake, although the new Columbia is built as a yacht rather than as a fisherman and of steel rather than wood. Burgess’ plans were adapted for steel construction by Gilbert Associates, naval architects in Boston. Columbia will continue to undergo outfitting and begin sailing trials. She will also be exhibited at the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show October 30th – November 3rd, 2014.

Frigate Hermione is Under Sail!

Posted on September 15, 2014 by Rick SpilmanSeptember 15, 2014

accueil__066374100_1654_28062007 After close to two decades of construction, the frigate Hermione is finally under sail. In 1997, a group of historical and tall ship enthusiasts formed the Association Hermione-La Fayette and set about building a replica of the French frigate, Hermione, which carried Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette, across the Atlantic in 1780 to join the American rebels in their struggle for independence.

The original Hermione was built in eleven months in 1779, in Rochefort, France by the shipwright Henri Chevillard. The replica took seventeen years in what proved to be part shipbuilding project and part living history museum. While observing the requirements of current safety regulations, the shipyard used primarily 18th century shipbuilding techniques and invited visitors to learn about the process. The 25 million euro cost of the project was largely financed by 3.7 million visitors to the shipyard during the years of construction. The Hermione Association has attracted artisan craftsmen from all over the world and now has close to 8,000 members.

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Battle of Trindade — Battle of the Doppelgänger Passenger Liners

Posted on September 14, 2014 by Rick SpilmanSeptember 14, 2014

Sinking_Cap_Trafalgar On September 14th, 1914, one hundred years ago today, off the Brazilian island of Trindale, one of the stranger naval battles of World War I was fought between two converted passenger liners, one of which was disguised to look like the other. In a battle of doppelgängers, the German liner lost to the British ship that it resembled.

Cap Trafalger was a passenger liner built for the Hamburg-South America Line for their service between Germany and the River Plate. She was 613 feet long with a beam of 72 feet, 18,710 GRT and could carry nearly 1,600 passengers. She went into service in April of 1914, but by August, with the outbreak of war, she was requisitioned by the German Imperial Navy as an auxiliary cruiser. Cap Trafalger rendezvoused at the remote Brazilian island of Trindade, 500 miles east of the Brazilian mainland, with the gunboat SMS Eber, which transferred naval officers, ammunition and armaments to the liner. Two 4.1 inch guns and six one-pounder pom-poms were installed on the ship. All were manned by German naval personnel. The ship was given the mission to act as a commerce raider, sinking British merchant shipping.

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The Battle Of Fort McHenry & the Star Spangled Banner

Posted on September 13, 2014 by Rick SpilmanSeptember 13, 2014

The Star Spangled Banner over Fort McHenry

At around 6AM, 200 years ago today, the British Royal Navy began a fearsome bombardment of Fort McHenry at the mouth of Baltimore harbor. The British had attempted to take Baltimore by both land and sea. The British army attack stalled the day before, with the loss of Major General Robert Ross. As the British Army prepared a second attack on the American earthworks, the Royal Navy took its turn. Baltimore’s defenders had sunk 22 ships in the main channel. Any attempt to clear the channel would bring the British under the the guns of Fort McHenry and other American batteries.

After initial skirmishing, the Royal Navy anchored just out range of Fort McHenry’s guns and brought to bear the most advanced weaponry of their day. Five bomb ships; HMS Terror, HMS Volcano, HMS Meteor, HMS Devastation, and HMS Aetna; could each fire cast iron exploding shells weighing upwards of 200 pounds for a distance of two miles. HMS Erubus, a ship carrying Congreve rockets with a range almost as great as the mortars, fired their novel, if not very accurate rockets at the fort, as well. (The bomb ship, HMS Terror, would later serve in the ill-fated Franklin expedition. Her wreck may have recently been discovered. )

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NOAA Expands Thunder Bay’s Shipwreck Alley Sanctuary Tenfold

Posted on September 12, 2014 by Rick SpilmanSeptember 12, 2014

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is increasing the size of the Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary in Lake Huron from 448 square miles to 4,300 square miles, doubling the number the number of shipwrecks protected to 200. Located in northwestern Lake Huron, Thunder Bay is adjacent to one of the most treacherous stretches of water within the Great Lakes system. Unpredictable weather, murky fog banks, sudden gales, and rocky shoals earned the area the name “Shipwreck Alley.” Thunder Bay is the only Marine Sanctuary in fresh water.

A Sanctuary for Sunken Ships

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Bicentenial of the Battle of Plattsburgh — the False Nile & Defeat of the Royal Navy

Posted on September 11, 2014 by Rick SpilmanSeptember 12, 2014

Battle of Plattsburgh

We may always associate September 11th with the tragic attacks of 2001. September 11th of 1814, however, 200 years ago today, saw a significant naval victory by the young American Navy at the Battle of Plattsburgh that may have changed the outcome of the War of 1812.

On this day, an American squadron, under the command of Master Commandant Thomas Macdonough, defeated the Royal Navy on Lake Champlain in a bloody battle at Plattsburgh Bay. The Battle of Plattsburgh turned back an invasion force of 11,000 British troops which was intended to do nothing less than redraw the map of the United States. Like the Battle of Lake Erie, a year before, the Battle of Plattsburg was fought in fresh water hundreds of miles from the ocean. It was not a large fleet battle, and yet, was no doubt one of the most important naval victories of the war.

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Repost: BOATLIFT, An Untold Tale of 9/11 Resilience

Posted on September 11, 2014 by Rick SpilmanSeptember 11, 2015

On the thirteenth anniversary of the attacks 9/11, it seems worthwhile to revisit the amazing story of the spontaneous maritime evacuation of somewhere between 300,000 and one million people who were trapped in lower Manhattan on the afternoon of September 11, 2001. It truly was an American Dunkirk.

Here is an amazing video that captures the madness, wonder, determination and commonplace heroism of that Tuesday in September, thirteen years ago today.

BOATLIFT, An Untold Tale of 9/11 Resilience

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A Super-Hero Suit to Dive on Antikythera Shipwreck

Posted on September 10, 2014 by Rick SpilmanSeptember 10, 2014

exosuit-main1 An international team of archaeologists and divers wearing an Exosuit will be diving on the Antikythera shipwreck this month. The suit is described as a part robot and part submarine, and evocative of the suit from the “Iron Man” movies and their hero, Tony Stark. With the Exosuit, divers can descend safely to 1000 feet (300+ m) and stay for hours, without having to decompress on the way back to the surface. It is fitting that the most modern high-tech suit is using to explore the shipwreck that was the source of the most advanced high-tech device know from the ancient world, the Antikythera mechanism.

Exosuit Hublot

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Ship From Franklin Expedition & Possibly the Battle of Baltimore Found

Posted on September 9, 2014 by Rick SpilmanSeptember 9, 2014

HMS Terror in ice

The wreckage of one of two missing ships from Franklin’s lost expedition of 1845 is believed to have been found. It is not known yet if the wreck is of HMS Terror or HMS Erebus. The Franklin expedition was an attempt to traverse the last unnavigated section of the Northwest Passage. Franklin, 128 men of the expedition and the two ships, were all lost. Searches for the lost expedition began in 1848, and continued through much of the 19th century. Since 2008, Parks Canada has led six major searches for the ships. A remotely operated underwater vehicle searching the Victoria Strait made the discovery on Sunday.

Before serving as an expedition ship, HMS Terror played a memorable role in American history. Indeed, so did a ship named HMS Erebus. Continue reading →