In 1955, Ted Hood founded Hood Sailmakers at the back of Maddie’s Bar in Marblehead. Hood Sailmakers would grow to be a premier sail maker in the 1960s and 1970s. Hood was also a boatbuilder, designer and sailor. In 1974 he built the 12-meter yacht Courageous and sailed it to victory in the America’s Cup. Ted Hood was inducted into the America’s Cup Hall of Fame and the National Sailing Hall of Fame. Ted Hood died last Friday at the age of 86.
My wife and I recently saw “The Boat Factory” a two actor play, starring Dan Gordon and Michael Condron, which celebrates the sprawling Harland & Wolff shipyard in Belfast, Northern Ireland. That’s right, a play about a shipyard. But not just any shipyard. Harland & Wolff is best remembered as the yard that built the Titanic, but the yard also built something like 1,700 other ships and at its peak employed 35,000 people. It was a city within the city of Belfast.
The play, written and performed by Dan Gordon, is based on his family experiences of growing up in Belfast in the shadow of the shipyard where his father and other relatives worked. The play follows the career of “Davy Gordon” from his apprenticeship in the shipyard to his death. Gordon refers to the play as his “long song to Belfast” and it reflects a fascinating mixture of kinship and pride in what the shipyard workers accomplished, while honestly recounting the often brutal conditions in the shipyard, where concerns for safety were secondary, at best. In many respects, it is a clear-eyed tribute to a time and place that no longer exists. A wonderful play, well acted and staged. The play finished its run in New York and is moving on to performances across Ireland during July, and then on to London from July 23 to August 17th and then to Caithness, Scotland from August 21-24. Definitely worth seeing if you are nearby.
The schooner Nina, a 70′ Burgess designed yacht built in 1928, was last heard from on June 4, when it was battling a storm off New Zealand. The yacht had sailed from Opua in the Bay of Islands bound for Newcastle, Australia on May 29. On board were the Dyche family, Captain David Dyche, 58, his wife Rosemary, 60, and their son, also named David, 17. Four other crew sailed with the family – Evi Nemeth, 73, a a retired Colorado University professor and computer engineer; as well as two other Americans, a man aged 28, a woman aged 18; and a British man aged 35.
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
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.
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.
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.
Today is the third annual Day of the Seafarer sponsored by IMO. This year’s theme is “Faces of the Sea.”
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.
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.
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.
Mitsui 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.
The 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Why 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?
Photo: MRCC Mumbai
In our post yesterday we described the MOL Comfort as having “sunk.” That was in error. The ship did indeed break in two, but both halves are still afloat, at least according to recent photographs.