The first annual Connecticut Schooner Festival begins this today! Five days of fun in Mystic and New London, September 11 – September 15. Click here to learn more.
Of all the things worth remembering on 9/11, one incredible event is often overlooked. After the attack, all the bridges, tunnels and rail lines in and out of New York City were shut down. Somewhere between 300,000 and one million people were trapped trapped in lower Manhattan. Amazingly, perhaps miraculously, they were all evacuated by that evening by a flotilla of ferries, tugs, excursion boats, fireboats, buoy tenders, patrol boats and yachts. The evacuation was unplanned and almost spontaneous. The Coast Guard called for “All available boats,” and all available boats responded, the captains and crews doing what needed to be done. It was truly an American Dunkirk.
As reported by NPR: A fire aboard a cargo ship in the Mediterranean Sea was set in order to get rid of 30 tons of hashish, according to officials in Italy and Malta. Authorities had approached the Gold Star, a Tanzania-registered ship, for an inspection Friday afternoon. But members of the crew reportedly set fire to their cargo, which Italian authorities identified as hashish resin. The incident began in waters about 30 nautical miles north of Malta, where police and firefighting ships converged on the Gold Star as it burned Friday night. They succeeded in quenching the flames around noon Saturday.
Last night the Daily Show put its own spin on the story. Thanks to Phil Leon for contributing to this post.
Two hundred years ago today, in what would become known as the Battle of Lake Erie, a squadron of ships under the command of Oliver Hazard Perry defeated and captured a Royal Navy squadron at Put-in-Bay in Lake Erie off the coast of Ohio. Last week on Labor Day, there was a reenactment of the battle, the largest naval reenactment ever undertaken in the United States. (No surprise the Americans won again.) The boats and ships involved in the reenactment had the additional challenge of avoiding the more than 2,000 spectator vessels. The Battle of Lake Erie Bicentennial site has a wonderful slide-show of photos taken during the reenactment. Click here to view it.
Here is a wonderful 90 second video from the Plain Dealer with an animated history of the battle:
Matt Rutherford
In April we posted about a drifting Nautor Swan 48 sailboat named Wolfhound which had been abandoned in a storm just north of Bermuda in February by her owner, Alan McGettigan, and a crew of three. Initially, the boat was reported to have sunk, but nine weeks later the boat was sighted very much afloat, looking only slightly worse for the wear.
Then, at the end of July, Matt Rutherford literally sails into the story. Matt Rutherford is the remarkable young sailor who completed a record breaking 309 day, more than 27,000 mile, non-stop circumnavigation of the Americas in April of 2012. He also raised over $100,000 for the Chesapeake Regional Accessible Boating (CRAB.) This year Matt was awarded the Ocean Cruising Club’s Jester Medal, for an outstanding contribution to the art of single-handed sailing.
We recently posted about the A.J. Meerwald‘s 85th birthday. On Friday September 13th, the Bayshore Center in Bivalve, NJ will be celebrating oysters as well as the A.J. Meerwald‘s 85th birthday and the 25th Anniversary of the founding of the organization created to restore the classic schooner. Come on down for some great food, an exciting new gallery exhibit, live music on the wharf, lectures on oysters and oystering, crafts, birthday cake and more!
In the Gallery: To celebrate the Meerwald’s 85 years, the new exhibit, “Salute to a Schooner: A Visual Celebration of the A.J. Meerwald” will feature images of the Meerwald through the years in all kinds of media – paintings, drawings, photographs, models and more! Click here to learn more.
After more than two decades, the City of Adelaide, the world’s oldest surviving clipper ship, is afloat again! The 1864 built clipper ship, supported by a 100 ton steel cradle, has been moved onto a pontoon barge and is being transported by tug on the first leg of her voyage home to her namesake city in Australia. The ship will initially be towed to London. She will then be loaded onto a heavy-lift ship to be transported to Australia. The ship has been sitting onshore in Irvine, Scotland since 1992, after sinking in 1989. The formal transfer of ownership of the ship to its new owners, Clipper Ship City of Adelaide, took place on Friday.
Historic clipper City of Adelaide ‘floats again’ for first time since 1991
Scientists have identified the largest volcano on earth, beneath the Pacific Ocean roughly half way between Japan and the Hawaiian Islands. The giant shield volcano has been named Tamu Massif and it is roughly, 100,000 square miles or approximately the size of the British Isles or New mexico. Mauna Loa, on the island of Hawaii, now the second largest volcano on earth covers, by comparison, 2,000 square miles.
Underwater volcano is Earth’s biggest
<The megavolcano has been inactive for some 140 million years. But its very existence will help geophysicists to set limits on how much magma can be stored in Earth’s crust and pour out onto the surface. It also shows that Earth can produce volcanoes on par with Olympus Mons on Mars, which, at 625 kilometres across, was until now the biggest volcano known in the Solar System.
Continue reading
I see from the A.J. Meerwald‘s Facebook page that today is her birthday. Launched in 1928, she is 85 years old today. The A. J. Meerwald is a restored Delaware Bay oyster schooner and the Official Tall Ship of the State of New Jersey. And a lovely lady she is, indeed. She was restored by the by the Bayshore Discovery Project and is used for onboard educational programs in the Delaware Bay near Bivalve, and at other ports in the New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware region. The A.J. Meerwald was added to the National Register of Historic Places on November 7, 1995. Here is a short video I shot of a sail on the A.J. Meerwald in New York harbor, four years ago.
The barque Peking, one of the last Laeisz “Flying P Liners,” at New York’s South Street Seaport will be open to visitors again for seven Saturdays, from 12:00 to 4:00 pm, starting today and running through October 19th. The four-masted steel hulled barque, built in 1911, has been closed since the museum shut down in February 2011. Other parts of the museum have reopened since but the Peking has remained shuttered. The future of the ship is uncertain, so this may be a good time to visit.
There are also lots of other activities going on at the Seaport, including a block printing workshop at Bowne printers, wood carving demonstrations by Sal Polisi, as well as sails on the schooner Pioneer. Click here to learn more.
An amazing video by Monterey Bay Whale Watch of a “megapod” of humpback whales, sea lions, and dolphins, taken off the coast of California on September 4th.
From Monterey Bay Whale Watch: This video was taken on a special all-day charter on September 4, 2013. Sightings included 75 Humpback Whales, ~1000 Short-beaked Common Dolphins, ~400 Pacific White-sided Dolphins, ~200 Risso’s Dolphins, and tons of great behavior like Humpbacks breaching, tail throwing, and trumpet blows, dolphins bow riding and breaching, and Humpbacks interacting with California Sea Lions!
Mystic Seaport is looking for a new captain for the newly rebuilt whaling ship, Charles W. Morgan. The whaler first sailed in 1841 and is scheduled to undertake a three month voyage next summer. The captain must have a 500-ton Near Coastal Master license and have 10 years of command experience on traditional sailing vessels with extensive knowledge in square-rig sailing.
Additionally, he or she must have skills in managing people and the press, as the sailing of the historic ship is expected to attract considerable attention. Dana Hewson, the museum’s vice president for Watercraft Preservation and Programs, said of potential candidates for the job, “They have to be absolutely qualified to manage this artifact, which has national and international importance. They also have to embrace the role of the public nature of this endeavor.” No Captain Ahabs need apply.
Earlier this week we posted about a reported attack on the container ship Cosco Asia while transiting the Suez Canal. A video has appeared on the internet which claims to show the attack.
As reported by Reuters:
The Ocean Institute is celebrating its 29th year hosting the Toshiba Tall Ships Festival at Dana Point, CA. The festival kicks off with a tall ships parade at sunset tomorrow, September 6th with festivities continuing through the weekend. Participating ships include the brig Pilgrim, the topsail schooner Spirit of Dana Point, the twin brigantines Irving Johnson and Exy Johnson, the three masted schooner American Pride, the topsail schooner Californian, the schooner Curlew, and the gaff-topsail schooner Bill of Rights. There will be music, food, arts and crafts, ship tours, historical reenactments and battle cruises. Click here to learn more.
These are good times for tug boat fanatics in the North East. On Labor Day, there was the running of the 21st Annual Great North River Tug Boat Race on the Hudson River in New York City, sponsored by the Working Harbor Committee and beginning tomorrow and continuing through the weekend is the 2013 Waterford Tugboat Roundup, at One Tugboat Alley in Waterford, New York, near Albany.
If you missed the Labor Day race, there are lots of great photos and video of the event. Will, over at the Tugster blog, has a great assortment of photos. See here, here and here. So does John Skelson and the Working Harbor Committee blog.
The Waterford Tugboat Roundup is a festival of food, music, historical tours, tugboat tours, crafts, and Saturday fireworks. There will be tugboat parades and competitions including line tossing and Nose to Nose Push-off, where the skill of the captains, the strength of the boat and the power of the engines are put to the test.
Saltwater crocodiles are close enough to living, breathing, terrifying sea monsters. Capable of growing to over 20 feet long and weighing a tonne, they are the the largest of all living reptiles and the largest riparian predator in the world. Saltwater crocodiles were in the news recently in recent stories from Australia. The first was frightening, but ended well, while the second was tragic.
Ryan Blair, a kayaker from New Zealand, was dropped off by boat on the remote Governor Island in Northern Australia off the Timor Sea. When Blair attempted to paddle the three miles back to the mainland, he was intercepted by a 20 foot long crocodile. He managed to paddle back to the island but found himself trapped as every time he attempted to leave, the crocodile returned. After two weeks, Blair was finally rescued when he was spotted by boatman Don MacLeod from the small nearby town of Kalumburu. MacLeod said the crocodile was “very, very, very large,” one of the biggest he’d seen in the area.
‘Very, very, very large’ crocodile traps tourist for two weeks on Australian island
Sean Cole, 26, was not so lucky. While at a birthday party on the Mary River, about 65 miles from Darwin in Australia’s Northern Territory, he ignored signs to stay out of the water. Cole and another man swam across the river. On their way back, Cole was was attacked by a crocodile. Sometime later, the police recovered his body.
Another year and I still did not manage to get up to Gloucester for the Schooner Festival and Race. Oh well. Maybe next year I’ll drag my catboat up for the catboat races. Congratulations to all the captains and crews who competed in the Mayor’s Cup with special congratulations to Captain John Foss on American Eagle, Captain Matt Suphin on Tyrone, and Captains Russ & Heidi Mead on Tillicum 1, winners of the Esperato Cup, the Ned Cameron Cup and the Betty Ramsey Plate, respectively.
This morning was the start of the Fisherman’s Cup Race from Gloucester to Provincetown, which kicks off the Great Provincetown Schooner Regatta, which begins today and runs through Friday. Click her for a schedule of events.
A beautiful evocation of this year’s parade of sail in Gloucester by Marty Luster.
Diana Nyad has succeeded in swimming the 110 miles from Cuba to Key West, FL, across the Straits of Florida. She is the first person ever to do so without a shark cage. The swim took 53 hours and she emerged from the water on a Key West beach at 2PM, dazed, sunburned and swollen. Her message to her waiting supporters was to never give up. Ms. Nyad is 64 years old and this is her fifth attempt to swim the passage. Prior attempts were thwarted by winds and currents, mechanical failure on support boats and by severe jellyfish stings.
Diana Nyad is nearing the five mile countdown to Key West on her epic 112 statute mile swim from Cuba to Florida. If she completes the swim, she will be the first person to swim from Cuba to Florida without a cage, wet suit or flippers. Nyad is 64 years old. This is her fifth attempt to swim across the Florida Straits. The last several attempts have been thwarted by jellyfish stings to her face and mouth. In this attempt, Nyad is using a special mask to prevent jellyfish stings to her tongue — a key factor in her failed attempt in August 2012.
John Bartlett, Nyad’s navigator, who has been on the escort boat Voyager throughout the swim, comments “Diana has stopped numerous times to tread water trying to restore herself….The greatest variable here is the extension of human endurance; how long will it take her to make those last 100 strokes at the end, and all the ones from here to then?”
The last miles could be the most difficult. Dr. Kot, one of Diana’s two team doctors, reported this morning at around 7:30 AM that Diana’s tongue and lips are swollen causing her speech to be slurred. He and Dr. Covington are concerned about Diana’s airways, but did not intervene.
Diana has said this is her final attempt. She posted on her website that she wants to prove “it’s never too late to chase your dream.”
See our previous posts about Diana Nyad’s prior attempts at completing this epic swim.
One of our favorites, the topsail schooner Unicorn is for sale.
For more information contact Dawn Santamaria, Co-Owner/Operator of STV Unicorn & Founder of Sisters Under Sail at dawn@tallshipunicorn.com. Asking price: $950,000 USD.