King James Jesse Strang and the Mormon Pirates of Beaver Island

Posted on by December 1, 2020
James Jesse Strang

James Jesse Strang

We recently posted about the Michigan State Senate passing a resolution which officially recognized “International Talk Like a Pirate Day”. (It appears that they nothing better to do, in a state with a gaping budget deficit, collapsing cities and failing schools.  Oh well.)  The only pirates that they appear to be honoring are the Disney variety that wear funny hats and say “Aarrgghh.”   This nonsense made me wonder whether or not the state senators were familiar with the history of the real pirates in Lake Michigan.  One fascinating band was said to be led by King James Jesse Strang from his base on Beaver island.

James Jesse Strang was the leader of a group of Mormons who split from the church not long after the death of Joseph Smith. After falling out with Brigham Young, Strang moved his sect to Beaver Island in northern Lake Michigan where he reigned for six years as the crowned “king” of an ecclesiastical monarchy attracting upwards of 12,000 followers, until he was assassinated in 1856.

According to the newspaper accounts of the day, Strang’s group also practiced piracy on the lake and along the shoreline. Continue reading →

Historic Schooner Nina and Crew of Seven Missing Off New Zealand

Posted on by June 27, 2013
Nina in 1928 Photo: Paul Gilbert

Nina in 1928 Photo: Paul Gilbert

The 70′ schooner Nina and her crew of seven have been reported missing. They sailed on May 29, from Opua in the Bay of Islands, New Zealand bound for Newcastle, Australia.  They were last hear from on June 4th, 370 nautical miles west of New Zealand.  David Dyche is reported to be the captain of the yacht.  Two other American men and three American women are aboard, aged between 17 and 73 as well as a British man, aged 35.

“Our records show that conditions at the last known position for the vessel… were very rough, with winds of 80km/h (50 mph), gusting to 110km/h (70 mph), and swells of eight metres (26 ft),” said Kevin Banaghan, rescue mission co-ordinator for the New Zealand maritime authorities.

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Update: Mitsui OSK Reports MOL Comfort Stern Sinks

Posted on by June 27, 2013

Mitsui OSK Lines has announced: “President: Koichi Muto) reports the aft part of the containership MOL Comfort sank in the open sea near 14’26”N 66’26”E (water depth about 4,000m) at 16:48 JST (11:48 Dubai time) on June 27.

The 8,100-teu container ship, MOL Comfort, broke in two last week while under way from Singapore to Jeddah. The forward section of the ship is reported to still be under tow.

Update: MOL Comfort – Towing Begins of Bow, Six Sister Ships Inspected

Posted on by June 26, 2013
MV Capricorn is towing the forward section of MOL Comfort

MV Capricorn is towing the forward section of MOL Comfort

M/V Capricorn, a tug owned by Sri Lanka Shipping, is reported to have the forward section of the MOL Comfort under tow. The 8,100-teu container ship broke in two last week while under way from Singapore to Jeddah. The forward section of the ship is reported to be trimmed 3 meters by the head, but the water tight bulkheads appear to be intact. The tug Pacific Terrier is reported to be preparing to tow the after section of the ship. The after section is also said to be in relatively good condition with the engine rooms bullheads intact. An oil sheen is visible around the after section of the ship but MOL is reporting “there is no large volume of oil leakage confirmed.”

The MOL Comfort‘s six sister ships, the MOL Creation, MOL Charisma, MOL Celebration, MOL Courage, MOL Competence, and MOL Commitment, are all being inspected “as quickly as possible” by engineers from the shipbuilder, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and the classification society, Nippon Kaiji Kyokai.

Statement on Museum of City of New York’s Oversight of South Street Seaport Museum

Posted on by June 25, 2013

Many of us are still realing from the news that the Museum of the City of New York is withdrawing from managing the South Street Seaport Museum as of July 5, 2013.  The future of New York’s premier maritime museum is at best uncertain.

Susan Henshaw Jones, Ronay Menschel Director of the Museum of the City of New York and President of the South Street Seaport Museum, issued the following statement today:

Twenty-one months ago, the Museum of the City of New York wholeheartedly and enthusiastically took over the South Street Seaport Museum. A dedicated, seven member Seaport Museum Board of Trustees was formed, and during these 21 months, a small but mighty staff at the Seaport Museum downtown worked with many staff members from the City Museum uptown, with the uptown component literally doing double duty. But we were on a mission and we had a vision.

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Horrible News for New York’s South Street Seaport Museum

Posted on by June 25, 2013
24artsbeat-museum-blog480

Photo: Nicole Bengiveno/The New York Times

Back in 2011, there was new hope for the New York’s South Street Seaport Museum when the struggling institution was rescued by the City Museum of New York.  A $2 million grant from the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation gave the City Museum 18 months to put the Seaport museum back on solid footing. The period was extended for an additional nine months. Things appeared to be going well until lower Manhattan was devastated by Hurricane Sandy. Now, in the wake of the devastation wrought by the storm, the City Museum of New York is calling it quits and giving up on operating the seaport museum.

Seaport Museum Loses an Institutional Backer

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World’s Largest Solar-Powered Vessel in New York City

Posted on by June 25, 2013

I would argue that the wind is, in fact, created by the sun, so all sailing ships are also solar powered, perhaps once removed. The Turanor Planetsolar is, nevertheless, a fascinating vessel. Following her successful circumnavigation, she is now engaged in solar research.  See our previous posts. She recently visited New York. Thanks to Irwin Bryan for contributing to this post.

 

Update: MOL Comfort – Salvage Tugs Arriving Today & the Crazy Conspiracy Theories

Posted on by June 24, 2013

MOL_COMFORTMitsui O.S.K. Line has announced that “one patrol boat and three tugboats are heading to the site, and all of them are expected to arrive within June 24.”  The fore and aft sections of the ship’s hull are drifting near 15”12N 66’53”E and 13’38”N 64’10”E respectively in an east-northeast direction.

Meanwhile the right-wing blogosphere has been going crazy (crazier?) having picked up a post from a Russian blog  claiming that the MOL Comfort was carrying “4,500 containers of arms and ammunition for the Syrian rebels.”   The report allegedly originated with the Syrian newspaper Sham Life.  There is, of course, zero evidence to support the claim but then there rarely is in these sorts of conspiracy theories.

SSV Oliver Hazard Perry Arrives in Newport, RI

Posted on by June 22, 2013

ohp1The SSV Oliver Hazard Perry, still not quite finished but nicely taking shape, has arrived in Newport RI to be hauled and to get a fresh coat of paint. She will then will be dockside at the Newport Shipyard for a fund raising event on Friday July 5. She will be open to the public at Fort Adams on Saturday and Sunday July 6 and 7. A formal dedication of the ship, also open to the public will be held on Saturday morning at 11:00 a.m. at Fort Adams.  To learn more, click here.

Rhode Island’s official Sailing Education Vessel, the 196-foot, three-masted, square rigged SSV Oliver Hazard Perry, has been under construction at Senesco Marine in North Kingstown, R.I. She is expected to be completed in 2014.

Watch out for the Super Supermoon!

Posted on by June 22, 2013
Supermoon over Manhattan 2012

Supermoon over Manhattan 2012, Photo: Julio Cortez, AP)

This evening, watch out for the supermoon; well actually, a super supermoon, which on the East Coast of the United States should be rising in the East around sunset.  As reported by USA today:

A supermoon occurs when the moon is slightly closer to Earth than it typically is, and the effect is most noticeable when it occurs at the same time as a full moon, according to James Garvin, chief scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.

This full moon is not only the closest and largest full moon of the year, according to astronomy website EarthSky. It’s also the moon’s closest encounter with Earth in all of 2013. So it’s not just a supermoon — it’s the closest supermoon of the half-dozen or so that will occur this year, EarthSky reports.

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Summer Camp Aboard the Schooner A. J. Meerwald – Openings Still Available

Posted on by June 22, 2013

I wished that I could have sailed aboard a classic schooner when I was a kid.  For those in the New York/New Jersey Area, The Bayshore Discovery Project is sponsoring two five-day summer sailing camps aboard the classic oyster schooner (and the official Tall Ship of the State of New Jersey) A.J. Meerwald for teens from 13-17.  Campers will learn to raise and furl sails, coil lines, navigate, and steer the boat. With deckwashes, sea chanteys, knots, and standing watch, campers will truly become tall ship sailors.

The first sail departs on July 8 from Liberty State Park, traveling north toward New York, ending in New London, CT. The second departs on July 22, traveling south ending in Beach Haven on New Jersey’s Long Beach Island. The cost is $750 per camper and includes meals and on board lodging. For more information, call (856)-785-2060.  Or click here to learn more.

There is also a Sailor for a Day program for kids from 10-16 years old.   The one day program will include hoisting the sails, hauling in the trawl line, learning about local marine life, navigating the ship, tying knots, swabbing the deck, and singing sea shanties. The cost is $70. Call (856) 785-2060 ext. 100 to make a reservation. Click here to learn more.

Judas Island by Joan Druett – a Review

Posted on by June 21, 2013

Joan Druett’s Judas Island, the first book of her Promise of Gold trilogy, is a delightful mix of nautical adventure, romance and droll comedy.

In the novel, Harriet Gray, an eighteen year old British actress, finds herself abandoned on the deck of the brig Gosling, a ship whose ownership is unclear and which is under the command of Jake Dexter, a captain who technically may be a pirate, even if he does not think of himself as such. The crew is a motley band of treasure seekers, now highly distracted by the lovely young actress who stands before them. The Gosling is anchored off the brooding Judas Island. Captain Dexter and his crew are trying to unravel the island’s mysteries and find the treasure that is rumored to be be hidden somewhere on its shores, although to no avail. Harriet impetuously buys her way into the band of adventurers and induces them to sail to Valparaiso in search of her brother, who is rounding up a herd of alpaca, which she promises the crew will bring them all riches.

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Face of a 16th Century Archer From the Mary Rose

Posted on by June 19, 2013

Researchers at Swansea University, working with a Swedish expert, have reconstructed the face of one of Henry VIII’s elite archers, who drowned aboard the warship Mary Rose in 1545.

Face of 16th-century English archer revealed

It reveals a man in his 20s or 30s, who stood over six feet tall. The archer may have been a captain: he was found with an ivory armguard, a silver ring, and a bag containing a pewter plate, all of which indicate he was of high status. Tests also revealed signs of repetitive stress injury, likely caused by working in a profession where one is pulling a longbow with a force of up to 90 kilograms. 

The team at Swansea University’s College of Engineering analysed several skulls from the Mary Rose. They produced an exact 3D copy of one of them. Swedish expert Oscar Nilsson, who works with the police on reconstructing the faces of unidentified bodies, then used the copy to build up the man’s face muscle by muscle.

How to reconstruct a 500-year-old face

Fifth Annual North River Historic Ship Festival at Pier 25 in Manhattan June 20 – 23

Posted on by June 19, 2013
tugpegheadon

Photo: Betsy Frawley Haggerty

If you are in the New York area, check out the North River Historic Ship Festival that starts with a kickoff gala tomorrow night and runs through Sunday. The festivities include:

  • A gala reception honoring A.J. Pietrantone, the former executive director of Friends of Hudson River Park.
  • Free dockside tours of the steam-powered lighthouse tender, Lilac, the 99-year-old wooden barge Lehigh Valley No. 79 and tug Pegasus.
  • Free river trips on the world-famous and water-spraying retired NYC fireboat John J. Harvey and on South Street Seaport Museum’s historic schooner Pioneer. The 106-year-old tug Pegasus will also offer river trips.
  • Two circus performances on a covered wooden barge.
  • Fishing on the pier, river-critter touch-tank explorations and knot-tying aboard Lilac.

Click here to learn more.

Why and How Did the MOL Comfort Break in Half? Structural Flaw or Improper Loading?

Posted on by June 19, 2013

mloc4Why and how did the MOL Comfort break in half? The obvious answer is that no one knows, yet. We will learn more following an investigation, which is many months in the future.  In the mean time, what are the likely causes of such a casualty?  How and why could an only five year old ship, delivered in 2008, built at good quality shipyard, Nagasaki Shipyard & Engine Works, operated by a well known and established ship owner, Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, simply break in half?

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Container ship MOL Comfort Breaks in Two off Yemen, Crew Rescued

Posted on by December 30, 2013

UPDATE: Contrary to initial reports that the ship sank, the two halves of the MOL Comfort have remained afloat. Tugs have been dispatched to the site.

MOLCOMFORT

PTI Photo

The container ship MOL Comfort sank today off Yemen after suffering catastrophic hull cracking near amidships. A Coast Guard official was quoted as saying, “The vessel hull broke into two off the Mumbai coast and the crew members were rescued from the ship in two life rafts and a life boat,” a Coast Guard official said.  The ship was loaded with 4,500 containers was bound from Singapore to Jeddah. [Updated]

While there has been no determination why the ship’s hull broke, it seems likely that misloaded cargo might be the culprit. When loading a container ship, there is always an imbalance between the weight of the ship and cargo pressing down and the buoyancy of the sea pushing up. Too much weight in the ends can break a ship in half, which is what appears to have happened here.

Merchant vessel ‘Mol Comfort’ splits into two off Mumbai coast, crew rescued

New York Alligators – In the Peconic River, not the Sewers

Posted on by June 16, 2013

alligator-spotted-near-peconic-riverFor more than 80 years, there has been an urban legend about congregations of alligators living in the depths of New York City sewers. (Yes,a group of alligators is called a “congregation.” I didn’t know that either until I looked it up.) The legend goes that baby alligators acquired in Florida or Louisiana, brought back to New York by vacationers were flushed down toilets in New York City and went on to live and breed in the city sewers. It never happened. City sewers turn out to not be a good habitat for alligators.

Now, however, not that far from the big city, on the western end of Long Island, there have been sightings of five alligators in the Peconinc River. So far, four have been captured while the fifth is still at large. Alligators are not native to New York State. They would be incapable of surviving the winter. Nevertheless, thsi is not the first sightin gof alligators on Long Island. Just last October, animal control officers trapped another five in another area of Long Island. As reported by Fox News:

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