Will Legendary Socotra Rock Be Latest International Flash Point?

Posted on by December 9, 2013
South Korean Aegis destroyer Yulgok YiYi patrols the waters around Socotra Rock, south of Jeju Island, on Dec. 2. Photograph by Yonhap via EPA

South Korean Aegis destroyer Yulgok YiYi patrols the waters around Socotra Rock, south of Jeju Island, on Dec. 2. Photograph by Yonhap via EPA

On Sunday, the government of South Korea announced that it was extending its air defense zone to include Socotra Rock, a submerged pinnacle in the Yellow Sea.  The Korean air defense zone now overlaps with the air defense zones already claimed by both China and Japan and is expected to increase tensions in the region. Both Korea and China had already claimed the rock as part of of each countrys’ “exclusive economic zones,” (EEZ).

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USS Oklahoma — December 7, 1941 And Beyond

Posted on by December 7, 2013

oklahomasinksOn the morning of December 7, 1941, USS Oklahoma was moored at an outside berth in the inner harbor at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor that day, the USS Oklahoma was directly in the flight path of the attacking planes.  USS Oklahoma was struck by nine torpedoes and rolled over in roughly 10 minutes. The diagram above shows the sequence of the capsize and the torpedo strikes that doomed the ship and four hundred and twenty-nine of her crew.

The USS Oklahoma was the last ship to be salvaged at Pearl Harbor.  The ship weighted about 32,000 metric tons and was rolled almost 180 degrees.  To right the ship, the Navy used a salvage technique called parbuckling.  Large A frames were mounted along the length of the hull to provide the leverage necessary to roll the ship.  The process took roughly four months and was finished in June 1943.  The ship was judged too damaged to be repaired. On the tow to a scrap yard in California, the USS Oklahoma sank in a storm in May 1947.

Salvage of the Battleship USS Oklahoma Following the Attack on Pearl Harbor 1942 1942-46

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Canada to Claim North Pole — Status of Santa Uncertain

Posted on by December 6, 2013

338393_Canada-North-PoleReports are that Canada is filing a claim to extend its northern sea boundary to encompass an area of over 1 million square miles of Arctic seafloor which includes the North Pole, under provisions of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). The Canadian are said to have spent the past 10 years and $200 million dollars to document the claim that they are expected to file with the UN today.  A preliminary assessment by the US Geological Survey suggests the Arctic seabed may hold as much as 25 percent of the world’s undiscovered oil and natural gas reserves.   PressTV reports that “Experts say a decision on the Arctic seafloor is probably 20 years away, with scientific evaluation on Canada’s claim taking roughly five years.”

The Canadians are not alone in their claims. Russia, Denmark, Norway, and the United States all claim overlapping sections of the Arctic seas and sea floor. Of the group, the United States is alone in not having ratified the UNCLOS treaty.

Currently both Russia and Canada are claiming the North Pole.  The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea has provisions and clauses for adjudicating conflicting claims.  Disturbingly, however, it does not appear to have a Santa clause. (Sorry.) Thanks to Phil Leon for contributing to this post.

Rediscovering the Japanese Aircraft-Carrier Submarine I-400 — Scuttled During the Cold War

Posted on by December 5, 2013

piscesRecently, the crew of the the Hawaii Undersea Research Laboratory‘s submersible Pisces V  announced finding the hull of the Japanese mega-submarine I-400  at a depth of 2,300 feet on the sea floor off Hawaii.  The huge submarine survived World War II but was scuttled by the United States in the early days of what would become known as the Cold War to prevent the Soviets from gaining access to what was at the time the most advanced submarine technology in the world.

The I-400 was the largest submarine of its day.  At 400′ long, the I-400 and its sister vessels would remain the largest submarines ever constructed until the advent of nuclear ballistic missile submarines in the 1960s.  The I-400 was also an aircraft carrier, capable of carrying up to three Aichi M6A Seiran bombers in water-tight hangers.  The submarines were intended to attack the Panama Canal among other targets. Thee of the huge submarines were built while two others were under construction at the end of the war.  All five were brought to Pearl Harbor following Japan’s surrender.

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Nigerian Tug Cook Survives Three Days in Sunken Tug 100 Feet Below the Atlantic

Posted on by December 4, 2013

At the end of last May, the Jascon 4 sank in about 100 feet of water off the coast of Nigeria.  All twelve of the crew were believed to have drowned.  Three days later, divers were sent into the sunken tug to retrieve the bodies.  They had recovered four bodies when one diver saw a hand and reached for it, only to be shocked when the hand reached back. Harrison Odjegba Okene, the tug’s cook, had miraculously survived in an air pocket for close to three days. The video of the moment when Okene was found has recently been released.  Thanks to Alaric Bond for contributing to this post.

Raw: Divers Find Man Alive in Sunken Tugboat

MV Cape Ray to Destroy Syria’s Most Dangerous Chemical Weapons at Sea

Posted on by December 3, 2013

caperaceWhen it came to destroying Syria’s most dangerous chemical weapons, there was a problem. No nation wanted to take the weapons and face the risks associated with destroying them on their soil.  Under an international agreement brokered by the US, Syria’s most dangerous chemical weapons have to be out of the country by a December 31 deadline.  The apparent answer is to put the chemical weapons on a ship and destroy the chemicals at sea. The roll-on/roll-off ship MV Cape Ray (T-AKR-9679) is now being outfitting with the  U.S. Army’s Field Deployable Hydrolysis System (FDHS). The FDHS was rolled out only this June and is a mobile chemical weapons disposal facility designed to destroy or make inert lethal chemicals and gases.

US prepares ship to destroy Syria’s chemical weapons

The MV Cape Ray, part of the U.S. Maritime Administration’s (MARAD)Ready Reserve Force, will be leased to the Navy.  The roll-on/roll-off ship was built in 1977 in Japan for Saudi Arabia’s National Ship Co. as MV Seaspeed  Asia. She is one of three sister-ships purchased by the Maritime Administration in 1993 and converted for military use.

Taking the 132′ Victoria Clipper Passenger Ferry for a Joy Ride

Posted on by December 3, 2013

victoria clipperWhat could be nicer than a boat ride on your birthday? Last Sunday, on his 33rd birthday, Samuel Kenneth McDonough allegedly took the Victoria Clipper, a 132′ high speed passenger ferry, for a several hour joy-ride in Seattle’s Elliot Bay.  He apparently either climbed over or squeezed through an opening in a fence to reach the $8 million ferry. Once aboard, he found an operating manual and a set of keys and figured out how to start the engines, which apparently is not easy to do.  Reuters quotes Darrell Bryan, CEO of Clipper Navigation, the ferry’s owner, “He’s not stupid.  We had engineers who have had challenges with starting these engines.”  Fortunately, McDonoughdid not master the ferry’s steering, so he apparently drove the ferry in slow circles. At one point the ferry was perilously close to going aground on rocks near the Elliot Bay Marina and also nearly collided with a Washington State Ferries vessel, according to police reports..  The ferry is capable of a top speed of 30 knots and had enough fuel aboard to travel roughly 65 miles, so it is fortunate that McDonough didn’t get the steering figured out.  On Monday, a judge set McDonough’s bail at $200,000.

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Bon Voyage to Captain Stanley Paris and the Kiwi Spirit

Posted on by December 3, 2013

A few hours ago, Stanley Paris, 76, at the helm of the 63′ custom yacht, Kiwi Spirit, sailed from the sea-buoy at St. Augustine, Florida, bound out on a solo, non-stop un-assisted voyage around the globe.  Paris will be attempting to beat American yachtsman Dodge Morgan’s 1986 solo-circumnavigation record of 150 days. If he succeeds, he will also be the oldest person to circumnavigate. The voyage, which Paris has planned for the last 4 years, is intended to be completely green, using no hydrocarbons. The Kiwi Spirit does have an engine but will be used only in case of emergencies. We wish you fair winds, Dr. Paris.  To track the Kiwi Spirit’s voyage, click here.

At 76, St. Augustine’s Stanley Paris to sail around the world

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Incredible Photos – Beauty & the Belugas & the Darker Backstory

Posted on by December 1, 2013

belugasThe photographs are not new, though they were new to me. The story on-line dates back to 2011. Thanks to Carolina Salguero for posting about them on Facebook. The photos are both beautiful and incredible — a naked woman swimming in arctic waters with beluga whales.  Of course, the word “incredible,” has two meanings – extraordinary and also impossible to believe. Which meaning should we apply here? Are the photos real?

Anyone who has watched the Pacific Life commercial where humpback whales are seen swimming and breaching across glass skyscrapers understands that graphics composting should not always be taken at face value. Nevertheless, the consensus seems to be that the photos are genuine. The woman is Natalia Avseenko, a 36 year old Russian free-diver. The story behind the photos is fascinating, but sadly, rather darker than the beautiful photos themselves.

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Sailing the Lugger Greyhound — View From Aloft

Posted on by November 30, 2013

Just about two years ago, we posted a time-lapse video of the building of the lugger Greyhound.  The video covers a 45 day building period in about ten minutes, starting from the keel, the raising of the frames to the beginning of planking.  Here is a video of the end product — the lugger Greyhound under sail in a video shot from aloft by Debbie Purser of Classic Sailing.  A beautiful craft, indeed.

Grayhound Sailing Lugger from Aloft

The Zong Massacre, General Average and Abolition

Posted on by November 29, 2013

Zong-MassacreOn November 29, 1781, the British slave ship Zong was desperately short of potable water, in part due to an error in navigation and in part due to an incompetent cooper. Captain Luke Collingwood, in command of the ship, ordered his crew to throw one-third of the ship’s cargo overboard — a shipment of Africans bound for slavery in Jamaica. Between November 29th and December 1st, 132 Africans, still bound in shackles, were thrown overboard and drowned.  The ship and its human cargo had been insured in England for £8,000.  After the ship finally arrived in port, the ship’s owners filed an insurance claim for the Africans killed by the officers and crew, claiming general average.

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Diving the Wreck of the Steamer Florida in Lake Huron off Presque Isle, Michigan

Posted on by November 28, 2013

In a dense fog, at about 9:00 AM on May 20, 1899, the 270-foot steamer Florida was nearly cut in half by the George W. Roby. The ship is sitting upright approximately 200 feet below the surface of Lake Huron, off Presque Isle, Michigan.  The video below, produced by Michael C. Barnette gives us a look at the remarkably well preserved wreck.

WRECK OF THE FLORIDA

Side Launching of New Sail Training Ship for Royal Navy of Oman — Nobody Panic

Posted on by November 27, 2013

The Damen shipyard in Galati, Romania recently launched a new sail training ship for the Royal Navy of Oman. The three masted steel square masted ship will replace the current Omani sail training ship, Shabab Oman, a wooden three masted barkentine.  The ship will be rigged and outfitted at Damen Schelde Naval Shipbuilding in Flushing (the Netherlands). The new ship was designed by Dykstra Naval Architects, who also designed the Stad Amsterdam, Cisne Branco and the Maltese Falcon.

The side launching of the ship set some hearts a flutter on the internet. Several websites, including those which should know better, featured headlines of “Ship Almost Tips Over During Launch” or ” Schooner Nearly Capsizes During Launch.”  No one should panic, however. That is just what a side launch looks like.  The ship was in no danger.  The engineers got their numbers right.  Everything is fine.  The video below shows the dramatic launch from three different angles.

Damen Galati launching STV

The Old Man and the Sea – an Amazing Animated Short Film

Posted on by November 26, 2013

In 1951, Ernest Hemingway wrote The Old Man and the Sea.  Published in 1952, the novella won the Pulitzer Prize in 1953 and was cited by the Nobel Committee when it awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature to Hemingway in 1954. It was Hemingway’s last major work of fiction to be published during his lifetime.

The Old Man and the Sea tells the story of Santiago, an aging fisherman, who struggles to catch a giant marlin far out in the Gulf Stream. In 1999, a paint-on-glass animated short film of The Old Man and the Sea, directed by Aleksandr Petrov, was released. The film took two years to make and required over 29,000 hand painted glass frames, slightly more individual paintings than the number of words used by Hemingway to compose the novella.  Petrov’s animation won many awards, including the Academy Award for Animated Short Film for 1999.  Now by the magic of the internet, Petrov’s animated short film is available on Youtube.  A beautiful film. Definitely worth watching.

The Old Man and the Sea – Amazing Animated film

Happy Evacuation Day!

Posted on by November 23, 2015
317px-Prison_Ship_Martyrs'_Monument_from_southwest

Prison Ship Martyrs’ Monument

Happy Evacuation Day!  On this day in 1783, the last shot of the American revolution was fired by a gunner on a departing Royal Navy ship at jeering crowds gathered on the shore of Staten Island, at the mouth of New York Harbor. The shot went wide, missing its target.  Sir Guy Carleton had ordered his troops to sail at noon on November 25th.  George Washington and an honor guard from the Continental Army marched in shortly thereafter. Before Washington could arrive, officially ending the seven year occupation of New York, the British flag, which had been nailed to a greased flag pole at the Battery, needed to be taken down. John Van Arsdale, a survivor of a British prison ship,  climbed the pole, ripped down the Union Jack and nailed up the Stars and Stripes.  For years, greased pole climbing contests were popular in celebrations of Evacuation Day in New York.

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Mourning Ming the Mollusk – 507 Years Old

Posted on by November 22, 2013

mingmIn February of last year, we posted about posidonia oceanica, known as Neptune grass, a variety of sea grass that covers the ocean floor from Spain to Cyprus. Some plants hare believed to be around 200,000 years old, making them the oldest living life form on the planet.  The plant reproduces by cloning so the DNA of any given plant be very, very old.  But what is the oldest non-colonial animal?  Scientists gathered a mollusk from the Icelandic shelf in 2006 as part of a study of climate change. Mollusks are generally thought to live for around 100 years. One of the mollusks collected was much older.

An arctica islandica bivalve mollusk, also known as an ocean quahogs, was found that was initially thought to be over 400 years old.  It was nicknamed Ming the Mollusk, as it apparently lived during the Chinese dynasty, though with in a different neighborhood. More recent analysis, however, suggests that the mollusk was in fact more than 100 years older — dating back 507 years.

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Diving Coral Reefs and Wrecks Without Getting Wet with Google Sea View

Posted on by November 20, 2013

googleseaviewGoogle has now extended its “Street View” imagery to well beyond where the streets and even the dry land ends.  Its new “Street View – Oceans” lets you virtually dive on the coral reefs of the Bahamas, explore the wreck of the Civil War steamer Mary Celeste, swim with Galapagos sea lions, or chase sea turtles off Heron Island on the Great Barrier Reef, all without squeezing into a wet suit or even getting wet.  Check it out – but be warned it is easy to get lost in the underwater panoramas.

Street View – Oceans

New Volcanic Island Rises Off Japan

Posted on by November 22, 2013

An underwater volcano has creating a new island around 620 miles south of Toyko, Japan.  According to the Associated Press it is roughly 660 feet in diameter, off the coast of Nishinoshima, a small, uninhabited island in the Ogasawara chain, which is also known as the Bonin Islands. Whether the island will survive erosion by the sea remains to be seen. Thanks to Phil Leon for contributing to the post.

Volcanic eruption in Japan gives birth to new island

Lifting the Clipper City of Adelaide Aboard Heavy-lift MV Palanpur For Her Voyage Home

Posted on by November 22, 2013

According to the latest news on their website, the City of Adelaide, the oldest surviving composite clipper ship built in 1864, will be hoisted onto the deck of the heavy-lift ship MV Palanpur in the port of Rotterdam today.  The heavy-lift ship will carry the historic clipper home to her name-sake city in Australia with several intermediate stops along the way.  But, how does one lift 500 tonnes of historic ship and cradle onto the deck of a heavy-lift ship? The obvious answer is  — carefully.  For a more detailed answer watch the simulation below.

Clipper Ship ‘City of Adelaide’ Lifting Simulation onboard ‘MV Palanpur’

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USS Freedom, Continued Break Downs in Singapore, Troubled LCS Program Facing Cuts

Posted on by November 21, 2013

1889733802In March of this year, we posted about the repeated blackouts suffered on the USS Freedom as it made its way to a deployment in Singapore.  Recently the ship was delayed due to failures in its water jet controls. In October it was sidelined by failures in the hydraulic systems. In July, the ship had generator and coolant system problems.  In addition to the problems with the mechanical and control systems, the ship has suffered repeated hull cracking, which have limited speeds.

USS Freedom is the first of one of two designs of the U.S. Navy’s Littoral Combat Ships.  A recent GAO report has also questioned whether the LCS ships’ communications systems are adequate for the networked missions intended.   A report from earlier this year suggested that the LCS may nor be survivable in combat.

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