In Aftermath of Disastrous Lahaina Wild Fire, 49 Sunken Vessels Counted in Harbor

Posted on by August 25, 2023

In addition to devastating the historic town of Lahaina on the Hawaiian island of Maui, the recent wild fires also destroyed most of the boats in the harbor.  After almost two weeks, Channel KHON2 News reports that the US Coast Guard’s Pacific Strike Team said they have counted about 49 sunken vessels in the Lahaina Harbor as they work to mitigate maritime environmental impacts from the burn zone. 

Coast Guard Pacific Strike Team Lt. Trent Brown said crews are working to remove the fuel from the vessels to prevent it from leaking into the ocean. They have set a boom on the mouth of the Lahaina Harbor to help soak up fuel that may rise to the surface.  Divers are also searching for bodies.

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Sierra Madre, a Rusting Outpost of Philippine Sovereignty in the South China Sea

Posted on by August 24, 2023

An unlikely nautical relic of World War II, the BRP Sierra Madre, sits hard aground on Second Thomas Shoal, an atoll in the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea. Manned by a handful of Philippine marines, the rusting hulk serves as an isolated outpost defending Philippine sovereignty in highly contested waters.

Recently, two ships carrying supplies, escorted by two coast guard ships, delivered fresh provisions to the Sierra Madre, breaking a blockade by the Chinese coast guard. Two weeks prior, the Chinese prevented a previous Philippine supply mission from reaching the ship by firing water cannon at the supply ships. The Chinese have also been accused of  using a “military grade” laser light on a Philippine coast guard boat in past encounters.

The 100 meter-long BRP Sierra Madre, originally the USS LST-821, then the USS Harnett County, was a tank-landing ship built for the U.S. Navy during World War II. It also served in the Vietnam War and was transferred to the Philippines in 1976 and renamed for a third time.

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Panamax Meets Pana-Drought — Drought Restrictions In Canal Cause Delays and 200 Ship Backlog

Posted on by August 22, 2023

Panama, the fifth wettest country, is experiencing one of the two driest years in the country’s 143-year record. The historic drought has impacted the water levels in Gatun Lake and the Panama Canal resulting in the Canal Authority introducing ship draft restrictions and in cutting back on the number of ships allowed to transit the canal.

More than 200 ships are stuck on both sides of the Panama Canal after authorities capped the number of crossings because of the drought. The entrances on both sides of the Panama Canal are jammed with some ships backed up for more than 20 days.

The number of daily transits through the canal has been capped at 32 by the authorities in a bid to conserve water. Restrictions for the number of vessels passing through the canal has been extended until September 2.

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Pyxis Ocean, Sail-Assisted 80,000 DWT Bulk Carrier Sets Sail on Maiden Voyage

Posted on by August 21, 2023

Pyxis Ocean, an 80,000 DWT bulk carrier, fitted with two WindWings, a pioneering rigid wing technology, has set sail on its maiden voyage from China to Brazil.

The bulker, owned by Mitsubishi Corporation has been chartered by Cargill, one of the world’s biggest ship charterers. Cargill has been actively exploring wind assisted propulsion as one cleaner energy option. 

“It is risk taking. There is no guarantee … that the economics are going to work,” Jan Dieleman, president of Cargill’s ocean transportation division, told Reuters.

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Farewell FLIP, Famous Flipping Research Platform Heads Sent to Scrapyard

Posted on by August 19, 2023

After 61 years of service, the one of its kind research vessel FLoating Instrument Platform, known as FLIP, has been retired and sent to a scrapyard.  I distinctly recall being absolutely fascinated by this engineering marvel when it was almost brand new. As not quite a teenager, I remember being taken by both the simplicity and wonderful weirdness of the 355-foot-long research platform with a generally ship-shaped bow and a largely cylindrical hull. 

The vessel would be towed to deep water, where the ballast tanks in the stern would be filled with seawater and the craft would literally “flip” from horizontal to vertical. With 300 feet of the hull floating upright underwater, the research platform would float serenely in deep water, literally unmoved by ocean swells. (If this description doesn’t make any sense to you, check out the video below of the FLIP flipping.”

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LCS USS Sioux City, (We Hardly Knew You,) Decommissioned After Less Than Five Years

Posted on by August 18, 2023

The sad saga of the Littoral Combat Ships (LCS) is winding down. The small surface vessels, built in two classes, and designed for operations near shore, were intended to be inexpensive and flexible. Instead, they proved to be unreliable, relatively costly, and plagued by technical problems. Worse yet, the Pentagon concluded that the ships were not “survivable in a hostile combat environment” and that neither ship class could withstand the Navy’s full ship shock trials.

Recently, the Freedom-class Littoral Combat Ship, USS Sioux City, was decommissioned after less than five years in service. Such ships were meant to serve for 25 years. 

The Navy announced its intent to decommission Sioux City and eight other Freedom-class LCS early in the spring of 2022, part of a move to divest the sea service of as many LCS as possible in order to free up funding for other priorities, a tacit acknowledgment that the LCS fleet has not done what it was originally envisioned to do.

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Darwin200 — Retracing the Voyage of HMS Beagle on 105-Year-Old Dutch Schooner Oosterschelde

Posted on by August 17, 2023

Almost 200 years ago, Charles Darwin set sail from Plymouth, UK, as a naturalist on HMS Beagle on an epic voyage that would prove pivotal in the development of his theories of evolution.  

This week, the 105-year-old Dutch schooner Oosterschelde set sail from Plymouth on a two-year voyage to train and inspire a new generation of naturalists by tracing the voyage of HMS Beagle. On the 40,000 nautical mile voyage, the schooner will call at 32 ports around the globe and will serve as a floating laboratory on the sea and in port in the project called Darwin200. The project seeks to harness the legacy of Charles Darwin’s passion for natural history to engage worldwide audiences and advance global conservation.

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Ukrainian Naval Drones Redefining Warfare in the Black Sea

Posted on by August 16, 2023

When Russia annexed Crimea in 2014, at least 100 Ukrainian Navy vessels, representing 75% of the Ukrainian naval fleet, were captured by Russian forces. In the Russian invasion of 2022, much of the remaining fleet was destroyed or scuttled to prevent capture.

Rebuilding naval power with a war going on is daunting at best. Lacking a secure industrial base, the Ukrainians are relying on ingenuity and technology rather than steel fabrication to strike back at the Russian Black Sea Fleet.  Most notably, Ukrainian naval drones are redefining warfare in the Black Sea.

In addition to aerial drones and shore-to-ship missiles, the Ukrainians have developed naval drones with formidable ranges and increasing lethality. These drones are explosive uncrewed surface vessels (USVs) that have been used to attack Russian ships and shore infrastructure.

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Swansea Museum Seeking New Partner to Operate Bristol Channel Pilot Cutter Olga

Posted on by August 14, 2023

Swansea Museum, the oldest museum in Wales, is seeking a new partner to sail the 1909 Bristol Channel Pilot Cutter Olga.  Their 5-year loan agreement with Sailing Tectona comes to an end this year, and the vessel will return to Swansea in September.

Sailing Tectona has decided to focus on the refit of their 1928 gaff ketch yacht, Tectona, and getting her sailing again as soon as possible.  In June 2023, the organization won £70,000 towards the community rebuild of Tectona from the National Lottery’s People’s Projects fund, voted for by the public. 

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Update: FSO Safer No Longer an Environmental Disaster Waiting to Happen, Dispute Remains Over Oil

Posted on by August 13, 2023

The FSO Safer is now considerably safer. A United Nations operation to transfer more than one million barrels of oil from the decaying floating oil storage vessel into another ship off the coast of Yemen has been completed.  Removal of the oil began around July 14,  2023, and concluded on August 11, 2023.

The discharge of the oil from the decrepit vessel has been years in the making. In 2021, we posted that for several years, the FSO Safer, moored in the Red Sea north of the Yemeni city of Al Hudaydah, was a likely environmental disaster waiting to happen. 

The ship was being held as a virtual hostage in the ongoing Yemeni civil war. A converted 400,000 DWT ultra-large crude carrier (ULCC), built in 1976, the ship contained about 1.1 million barrels of oil valued at up to US$80 million. The ship had been progressively deteriorating due to a lack of maintenance and supplies, and many were concerned that the Safer was in imminent risk of sinking, fire, or explosion.

The UN said environmental disaster had been averted but it is unclear how the oil’s sale will be agreed between warring sides.

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Lāhainā, Maui, ex-Royal Capital & Whaling Port Destroyed in Hawaiian Wildfire, at Least 36 Killed

Posted on by August 10, 2023

Lāhainā, a town on the island of Maui in Hawaii, was the capital of the Hawaiian Kingdom in the early nineteenth century, Lāhainā was also a historic whaling port during the whaling boom of the mid-1800s. 

In recent years, Lāhainā has become a popular vacation destination, attracting tourists to the shops and restaurants along Front Street, going whale watching, or just keeping cool in the shade of a majestic banyan tree planted in 1873.

All this changed on Tuesday when a wall of flame swept through the town.  An extended drought and high winds from a passing hurricane combined to create an out-of-control brushfire, devastating many historic homes and buildings and killing at least 37.

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Tampa Mayor Jane Castor Goes Fishing in Florida Keys — Catches $1.1M Cocaine Cache

Posted on by August 9, 2023

CNN reports that Tampa Mayor Jane Castor made a big catch while fishing the Florida Keys with family late last month, spotting and hauling in a package containing 70 pounds of cocaine with an estimated street value of approximately $1.1 million, according to the mayor’s office.

The package was discovered south of Marathon on July 23, according to US Border Patrol.

Castor saved the location of the find on her watch as the family hauled the package out of the water onto their recreational boat, and contacted the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office to report the drugs, her office said. Border Patrol agents with the Miami Sector then took custody of the drugs, according to the border agency and the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office.

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Fossil of Peruvian Whale Rivals Blue Whale as Heaviest Animal Ever Discovered

Posted on by August 8, 2023

A recent study published in the journal Nature describes an extinct whale, Perucetus colossus, discovered in the desert in southern Peru, that rivals the blue whale in weight, if not necessarily in length.  The Perucetus colossus was a basilosaurid whale from the middle Eocene epoch of about 39 million years ago.

“The fossils were actually discovered 13 years ago, but their size and shape meant it took three years just to get them to Lima (the capital of Peru), where they’ve been studied ever since,” said Dr. Eli Amson, a co-worker on the discovery team led by paleontologist Dr. Mario Urbina, as reported by the BBC.

Eighteen bones were recovered from the marine mammal, including 13 vertebrae, four ribs, and part of a hip bone.

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Loch Ness Quest — Recruiting Volunteer Monster Hunters for Biggest Search for “Nessie” in 50 years

Posted on by August 7, 2023

The Loch Ness Centre, in partnership with Loch Ness Exploration, is seeking to recruit a small army of volunteers to join in what is described as the biggest search for the Loch Ness monster in 50 years. The Quest weekend is scheduled for Aug. 26 and 27.

The BBC quotes Alan McKenna, of Loch Ness Exploration, “It’s our hope to inspire a new generation of Loch Ness enthusiasts and by joining this large scale surface watch, you’ll have a real opportunity to personally contribute towards this fascinating mystery that has captivated so many people from around the world.”

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US Dispatches 4 Navy Destroyers to Aleutians to Counter Chinese & Russian Ships

Posted on by August 6, 2023

The US Navy dispatched four destroyers and a reconnaissance airplane after 11 Chinese and Russian military vessels carried out a joint naval patrol near Alaska’s Aleutian islands last week.

The combined naval patrol, which the Wall Street Journal first reported, appeared to be the largest such flotilla to approach US territory, according to experts that spoke to the outlet.

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Celebrating the 180th Anniversary of the Launch of SS Great Britain With a Model Cake

Posted on by August 4, 2023

One hundred and eighty years ago last month, Isambard Kingdom Brunel’s SS Great Britain was launched by Prince Albert in Bristol Harbour. To celebrate the anniversary, Giuseppe Dell’Anno, a winner of the Great British Bake Off unveiled a cake replica of the historic ship. The cake was made by Occasion Cakes in Bedminster and was carved out of a block made from several sheets of sponge.

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Chasing Icebergs in Iceberg Alley

Posted on by August 3, 2023

Every year, in “Iceberg Alley“, a stretch of water curving along the eastern coast of Newfoundland and Labrador, hundreds of icebergs drift by.

Recently, one such iceberg was caught on video and posted on X (ex-Twitter) where it quickly went viral, with almost 12 million views.

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August Sky Shows — Double Super Blue Moons, Saturn, & Perseid Meteor Showers

Posted on by August 2, 2023

Sailors have always watched the sky. This August, the sky is putting on quite a show.

In case you missed it, last night was a supermoon. A supermoon occurs when the Moon is at the closest point to the Earth, known as the lunar perigee. A full Moon during perigee will appear 14% larger and 30% brighter than when it is furthest away from Earth. If you did miss it, the moon will still be very bright, nearly 99% of the brightness of yesterday’s full moon

There are usually only three or four supermoons a year. This year there is a run of four in a row, which is very rare. The next supermoon falls on August 30th.

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Donald Lawson’s Trimaran Found Capsized in the Pacific, Lawson Still Missing

Posted on by August 1, 2023

Donald Lawson and his Dark Seas Project was nothing if not ambitious. Lawson, 41, was preparing to set out to break at least 35 sailing records on his ORMA 60 trimaran, Defiant. 

Lawson is a professional sailor from Baltimore who hoped to become the fastest person to sail solo and nonstop around the world in a boat no longer than 60 feet. He also hoped to become one of the few African Americans to set world records in the sport of sailing. Lawson and his wife started the Dark Seas Project, an effort to promote more diversity in the sport of sailing. He is also the chairman of the diversity, equity, and inclusion committee for U.S. Sailing, the national governing body for the sport.

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Where Cruise Ships Are No Longer Welcome — Amsterdam Latest Port to Impose Ban

Posted on by July 31, 2023

Have cruise ships worn out their welcome? Increasingly, port cities around the world are banning or regulating cruise ship dockings and operations in their coastal waters. Amsterdam has become only the most recent to do so.

The BBC reports that Amsterdam’s council has banned cruise ships from the city center as the Dutch capital tries to limit visitor numbers and curb pollution.

Politicians said the vessels were not in line with the city’s sustainable ambitions.
It means the central cruise terminal on the River IJ near Amsterdam’s main train station will close. It is the latest measure to clamp down on mass tourism in the city.

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