Building New York With Ships’ Ballast — Cobblestones, Blitz Bricks & Bristol Basin

Posted on by April 23, 2014

bristolbasisIn the almost 6,000 miles of streets, roads and highways in the five boroughs of New York City, only about 15 miles are still paved with cobblestones. As noted by the New York Times: Starting in the 17th century, cobblestones (cobbling refers to the shaping of the stones) began to replace the city’s oyster shell and dirt streets. Round stones were used until the introduction of flat oblong granite, known as Belgian block, which was brought in as ship ballast. … In the mid-to-late 19th century, cobblestones began to be phased out as a primary material, in favor of less expensive concrete. 

One major concrete highway along the Manhattan side of the East River, the FDR Drive, has a foundation built, in part, of ballast bricks of a much newer vintage.   Continue reading →

Was Albert Einstein a Lousy Sailor ?

Posted on by February 12, 2014
AE-Tuemmler1

Prof. Albert Einstein on board of his sailing boat which he was given by friends. (photograph: A.Harms)

The first word that comes to mind when thinking of Albert Einstein is probably not “sailor.”  Nevertheless, Einstein enjoyed sailing and appears to have done at least some of his most important work while on sailing vacations.  A friend described sailing as, “his favorite of all pastimes.”  Remarkably, Einstein is said to never have learned how to swim. 

It is unclear when Einstein started sailing. In 1929, a group of admirers, including the American banker Henry Goldman, had a sailboat built for him as a present for his 50th birthday. It seems an unlikely gift unless Einstein was already a sailor, or at least had a strong interest in sailing. The boat was named Tümmler (German for Porpoise) and was a centerboarder with a fractional Bermuda rig, about 23′ long with a beam of 7.7′ and a sail area of roughly 215 square feet.  The boat had a 5hp engine, a galley stove, a head and berths for two.

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The Oldest Indian Ocean Shipwreck and the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea

Posted on by February 11, 2014

Roman Trade ShipSometime around the 60 CE, a Greek merchant, whose name is lost to history, wrote a guide, The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea.  Periplus is the Latinization of the Greek word περίπλους (periplous, contracted from periploos), literally “a sailing-around.”  While Erythraean literally means “red,” the guide includes what we now call the Red Sea, as well as the Gulf of Aden, the Indian Ocean, the Persian Gulf and the Bay of Bengal. The Periplus was organized into 66 short chapters, each usually only a paragraph in length, and served as both a Coast Pilot and merchant’s guide to trading in the ports along the coast. Trade in the region was expanding dramatically as roughly 100 years before the Romans had annexed Egypt and now had access to the Red Sea and Indian Ocean.

Beyond written records, such as Periplus of the Erythraean Sea, there have been few artifacts of this trade.  Soon archaeologists will start to excavate a shipwreck off the Sri Lankan fishing village of Godavaya. The shipwreck is believed to date from roughly the same period as the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea.  The wreck, the oldest located so far in the Indian Ocean, is in 110′ feet of water and is described as “a concreted mound of corroded metal bars and a scattering of other ancient cargo, including glass ingots and pottery, that have tumbled around on the seafloor for hundreds of years amid strong currents and perhaps even the occasional tsunami.”  Thanks to Alaric Bond for contributing to this post.

Indian Ocean’s Oldest Shipwreck Set for Excavation

NTSB: “Captain’s Reckless Decision to Sail” Led to Bounty Sinking

Posted on by February 10, 2014

bountysinkingThe NTSB Report conclusion came as no real surprise. Captain Robin Walbridge; who was lost along with a crew member, Claudene Christian, in the sinking of the replica of the HMS Bounty; should never have taken the ship to sea with the well forecast approach of Hurricane Sandy.  That is the bottom line.

Depending on your particular perspective, the focus could be placed on the relatively inexperienced crew, the material used in caulking while in the shipyard, the discovered rot in the hull, or the mal-functioning bilge system and lack of functioning back-up pumps. None of this would necessarily have mattered if the captain had sought to take the ship to a harbor of refuge, rather than attempting, and coming very close to succeeding, to sail around the hurricane.

The NTSB determined that the probable cause of the sinking was “was the captain’s reckless decision to sail the vessel into the well-forecasted path of Hurricane Sandy, which subjected the aging vessel and the inexperienced crew to conditions from which the vessel could not recover. Contributing to the sinking was the lack of effective safety oversight by the vessel organization.”

National Transportation Safety Board – Marine Accident Brief : Sinking of Tall Ship Bounty

Strong Pacific Trade Winds Slowing Warming

Posted on by February 10, 2014
Colour shading shows observed temperature trends (°C per decade) during 1992–2011 at the sea surface

Colour shading shows observed temperature trends (°C per decade) during 1992–2011 at the sea surface

Joseph Conrad, who claimed not to be a sentimentalist when came to the life at sea, waxed poetic when writing of the trade winds:  In the middle belt of the earth the Trade Winds reign supreme, undisputed, like monarchs of long -settled kingdoms…, whose traditional power, checking all undue ambitions, is not so much an exercise of personal might as the working of long-established institutions. … The regions ruled by the northeast and southeast Trade Winds are serene…. Those citizens of the ocean feel sheltered under the aegis of an uncontested law, of an undisputed dynasty. There, indeed, if anywhere on earth, the weather may be trusted. (Mirror of the Sea) 

A recent study suggests that the power of the “monarchs of the Trade Winds“, as Conrad refers to them, may be even more powerful and less serene than we thought.  After seeing dramatic increases in global temperatures in the last decade, the rate of temperature increase has flattened out in the last decade. Until recently, no one was able to explain the slow down in warming.  Researchers writing in the journal Nature Climate Change think that they have the answer. Continue reading →

Sleeping Beauty — Britain’s WWII Motorized Submersible Canoe

Posted on by February 12, 2014

med_diving_canoeIn World War II, the British government set up the Special Operations Executive (SOE) to to conduct espionage, sabotage and reconnaissance in occupied Europe. An unusual group, they were also known as “the Baker Street Irregulars,” (because their headquarters was on Baker Street in London.)  They also earned the nickname “Churchill’s Secret Army” and the “Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare.”  The SEO operated Station IX, a secret factory for designing commando equipment in a mansion called ‘The Frythe‘ north of London near the town of Welwyn.

One particularly unusual weapon developed at Station IX, was the Motorized Submersible Canoe (MSC). Continue reading →

Why Didn’t José Salvador Alvarenga Die of Scurvy in 13 Months at Sea?

Posted on by February 8, 2014

jose2José Salvador Alvarenga, the fisherman who apparently drifted for 13 months at sea in open boat, has been released from the hospital in the Marshall Islands.  How is it possible that he could have survived for over a year, while drifting more than 6,000 miles across the Pacific Ocean? Why didn’t he die of scurvy, like so many sailors on long voyages under much better conditions? Scurvy can be a very serious illness if one is without Vitamin C for more than a few months. During the 18th century, for example, scurvy killed more British sailors than enemy action.

The Associated Press spoke with Claude Piantadosi, a professor of medicine at Duke University and author of the book The Biology of Human Survival, and asked just these questions.

Q: Without fruit and vegetables, wouldn’t he have developed scurvy?

A: Actually, unlike humans, birds and turtles make their own vitamin C, so fresh meat from those creatures, especially the livers, would provide sufficient vitamin C to prevent scurvy. British sailors used to get scurvy because they ate preserved meat which had oxidized and lost its vitamin C.

Continue reading →

Melville’s Billy Budd – From Unfinished Manuscript, to Novella, to Broadway Play, to Opera, & Film

Posted on by February 8, 2014
The British tenor Mark Padmore as Captain Vere in “Billy Budd.” Photo: Joshua Bright for The New York Times

The British tenor Mark Padmore as Captain Vere in “Billy Budd.” Photo: Joshua Bright for The New York Times

The Glyndebourne Festival Opera’s Michael Grandage production of Benjamin Britten’s opera, Billy Budd, opened last night at the Brooklyn Academy of Music(BAM.)

Herman Melville’s Billy Budd was his last work, which almost died with him in 1891. The unfinished manuscript was found by a Melville biographer and was first published in 1924.  Since then it has re-emerged as a Broadway play, several movies, Britten’s opera, and at least one pop song.

Herman Melville‘s life and work are full of irony and contradiction. Continue reading →

Desperate Voyagers — Three Dead, Two Missing off Florida; Italy Rescues 1,100 Migrants in Med

Posted on by February 7, 2014
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Photo: Marina Militare

The two stories were drastically different and yet fundamentally the same. Off Florida on Thursday, roughly 75 miles northeast of West Palm Beach,  Zeeland, a Royal Netherlands Navy patrol craft bound for Key West, spotted and rescued seven on an overturned 24′ open console style power boat. Three others were reported to have died and two are missing. Those rescued were described as migrants. Where they departed from has not yet been reported. The U.S. Coast Guard has deployed a fast response cutter and a helicopter to help in the search off the southern Florida coast.

Also on Thursday, the Italian Navy rescued 1,100 migrants attempting to reach the country by crossing the Mediterranean Sea on small boats. As reported by Reuters, “Patrol helicopters identified the overcrowded rafts on Wednesday and four navy vessels participated in the rescue which ended early on Thursday, a statement said. The navy gave no details about the nationalities of the migrants.

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No, Noah’s Ark Was Not Round (& No Cannibal Rats)

Posted on by February 6, 2014
finkeltab

Dr. Finkel and the Tiny Tablet Photo: AP/Sang Tan

We recently endured the media farce in which dozens of newspapers and websites reported that “a ghost ship filled with cannibal rats may be headed straight for Britain,” even though the ship has probably sunk and the bit about the rats started out as an April Fools joke.  We now have multiple media accounts that “new evidence suggests Noah’s ark may have been round.”   The only problem here is that the evidence is not so new, the “discovery” is four years old, and it really doesn’t apply to Noah’s ark.

Raw Story had fun with the sloppy reporting, posting their own version of the story, “Noah’s Ark revealed to be filled with cannibal rats, drifting toward British coast.”

Continue reading →

USS “Forest Fire” on Her Way to the Flames of the Cutting Torches

Posted on by February 5, 2014

USS_Forrestal1The USS Forrestal left Phildelphia yesterday, under tow on her way to a scrap yard in Beaumont, Texas.  The USS Forrestal (CV-59) was the first US “supercarrier” and the first American aircraft carrier to be built with an angled flight deck, steam catapult, and an optical landing system.  When she was commissioned in 1955, she was the largest aircraft carrier ever built.  While the ship had a long and active career, she will probably be best remembered, however, for a series of deadly fires, starting with one in 1967 which killed 134 sailors and injured 161.   Continue reading →

MV Luno Breaks in Two on Breakwater near Bayonne, France

Posted on by February 5, 2014

The MV Luno, a 4,600 DWT Spanish general cargo ship, lost power in rough seas and high winds  and and was blown onto a breakwater south-west of French port city Bayonne.  In winds gusting up to blowing up to 110 Km/hr (68 mph), the ship broke in half and sank. The crew was rescued by helicopter. One crew member was reported injured.   Diesel oil has been spotted in the water around the sections of the ship.  Local marine authorities are reported to be activating their anti-maritime pollution plan. Thanks to Irwin Bryan for passing along the news.

Rescue drama and pollution fears as cargo ship slams into sea dyke in France

The Mystery of José Salvador Alvarenga & His 13 Months Adrift at Sea

Posted on by February 4, 2014

Castaway-Jose-Salvador-AlbarengoOn Saturday, we posted about a man who drifted ashore in a 22-24′ fiberglass boat on Ebon Atoll in the Marshall Islands, claiming that he had spent the last 13 months lost at sea. He claims that his boat was blown offshore in a storm off Mexico in December 2012.  He said that he set off from the fishing village of Costa Azul on the coast of the Mexican state of Chiapas on a one-day fishing trip with a 15-year-old, whom he knew only as Ezekiel . The teenager is said to have died after one month. The man had no identification and has since been identified as José Salvador Alvarenga. He said that he survived by eating birds, sharks, turtles, fish and barnacles.  If his story is true, Alvarenga drifted more than 6,000 across the open Pacific before washing up on the tiny atoll in the Marshalls.

Many, however, have questioned his story. Continue reading →

Black Sails, A Treasure Island Prequel with Dirt, Violence, & Sex — A Review

Posted on by February 2, 2014

blacksailsThe Starz premium cable channel has a new big-budget original series, Black Sails, which appears to be intended as a gritty, realistic look at piracy in the early 1700s in the pirate’s haven of New Providence in the Bahamas.  In terms of plot and characters, Black Sails is a prequel to Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic adventure novel for children, Treasure Island.  Black Sails is, however, not for young viewers. The violence and the sex are considerably more explicit  than anything hinted at in Stevenson’s novel which was originally serialized in the children’s magazine,Young Folks in 1881. Surprisingly, or on second thought perhaps not so, the original Treasure Island is more engaging and scarier than Black Sails.

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Harriett Tubman and the Great Combahee Ferry Raid

Posted on by February 1, 2014

Harriet TubmanToday’s Google Doodle is of Harriet Tubman.   Born a slave, Harriet Tubman escaped and would become a leading “conductor” on the “Underground Railroad” which helped slaves escape from  bondage in the South to freedom in the North and in Canada, prior to the Civil War.  Nicknamed “Moses,” she took made more than nineteen trips back into the slave-holding South to rescue more than 300 slaves.  Her greatest rescue mission, however, came during the Civil War, when she planned and help lead a Union riverboat raid at Combahee Ferry in South Carolina on the first of June, 1863, freeing 724 slaves.

Paul Donnelly of the New York Times described the scene on the 150th anniversary of the raid:

It is arguably the most beautiful scene ever recorded in war. Two Union gunboats, the Harriet A. Weed and the John Adams, converted ferryboats, churning up the Combahee River with their big side paddlewheels. Steam whistles signal, while in the bow of the Adams, a small, powerful woman is… singing. From all around, hundreds hear Harriett Tubman’s call and run for the boats, for freedom. At least 727 men, women and children escape, mothers carrying babies, including one pair of twins: the largest liberation of slaves in American history.

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Man Drifts onto Ebon Atoll — Claims to Have Survived 16 Months at Sea

Posted on by February 1, 2014

MapMarshallIslandslocatorA man recently drifted ashore in a 24′ fiberglass boat on Ebon Atoll in the Marshall Islands in the northern Pacific.  He speaks only Spanish and says his name is Jose Ivan.  He claims to have set off from Mexico heading for El Salvador with a companion in September 2012. The companion apparently died at sea several months ago.  If his story is true, he survived for 16 months and drifted across 8,000 miles of open ocean from Mexico.

Man Washes Up On Marshall Islands, Claims He Floated From 8,000 Miles Away

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Caribbean Princess Cruise Cut Short — Dense Fog or Norovirus?

Posted on by January 31, 2014

Caribbean_PrincessPrincess Cruises announced that the Caribbean Princess would be returning to Houston one day early “because we were informed that dense fog is expected to close the port for much of the weekend.” Others have suggested that it was because of a norovirus-like gastrointestinal illness that had sickened 165 passengers and 11 crew members aboard the ship. Personnel from the Center for Disease Control (CDC) will be boarding the ship today to make inspections. The outbreak on the Caribbean Princess, sickened slightly over 5% of the passengers. On the Explorer of the Seas, which also returned this week from a cruise shorted by an outbreak of gastrointestinal illness, more than 20%, or almost 700 of the passengers became sick.  Princess Cruises is owned by Carnival Corp.

The Ships of the Super Bowl — Norwegian Getaway, Cornucopia Majesty, & the Intrepid

Posted on by January 31, 2014
Photo: AP

Photo: AP

Super Bowl Fever has taken over New York and New Jersey.  (Personally, I am sick of it and we are still two days away from the game.) Football fans are swarming all over, on both sides of New York harbor. Four thousand of those fans are staying on NCL’s brand new cruise ship, the gaudily painted 1,063 feet long Norwegian Getaway.  It has been chartered as the “Bud Light Hotel.” This is not the first time that Budweiser has taken over a hotel for Super Bowl, but it is the first time it has chartered a ship. The ship has a passenger capacity comparable to the largest New York City hotels and larger than any hotel in new Jersey.  As reported by the New York Times:

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