Is the AC72 the Boat That Could Sink the America’s Cup?

Posted on by May 12, 2013

artemisWired Magazine ran a weirdly prophetic article that appears to have been published almost immediately before the tragic death of British Olympian, Andrew Simpson, in the capsize of the Swedish Artemis Racing AC72 catamaran yesterday in San Francisco Bay.  In the article, titled “The Boat That Could Sink the America’s Cup” Adam Fisher suggests that the AC72 catamarans, in which the race will be sailed and on which Simpson died, may be too expensive, too dangerous and too fragile.

The article focuses primarily on the capsize of an Oracle AC72 last October, which at the time was dismissed by some as “a freak chain of events” while others worried that such a catastrophic capsize might happened again .  Fisher quotes Paul Cayard, CEO and tactician of Artemis Racing who said “It will be a miracle if we get through the summer without it happening to somebody… We’re going to start pushing harder, we are going to race, and those kinds of boats — catamarans — tip over.”   Cayard’s prediction proved sadly accurate when the Artemis Racing AC72 capsized yesterday and killed Olympic gold medalist, Andrew Simpson.

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The “Shutter Plank” Goes on the Whaleship Charles W. Morgan Today at Mystic Seaport, CT

Posted on by May 11, 2013

morgan1Correction:  The original post listed the wrong date for the anticipated launching of the  Charles W. Morgan. The correct date is  July 21, 2013.

Congratulations to the Mystic Seaport Museum and all those working on the whaleship Charles W. Morgan.  This afternoon at around 2PM,  the final plank, the “shutter plank” fastened to the hull of the historic whaleship.  The plank is called the “shutter plank” because it shuts in and completes the hull.  The Charles W. Morgan, built in 1841, is America’s last surviving wooden whaleship and has been undergoing a five year restoration at the Henry B. duPont Preservation Shipyard at the Mystic Seaport in Mystic, CT.  If all goes well, the Morgan will be re-launched on July 21, 2013.

British Olympian Dies in Artemis Racing AC72 Capsize Practicing for the America’s Cup

Posted on by May 9, 2013

artemis-capsizeAndrew Simpson, a British double Olympic medalist and a sailor with the Swedish Artemis Racing team, has died in the capsize of an AC72 catamaran while practicing in San Francisco Bay for the upcoming America’s Cup races. One other sailor is reported to be seriously injured There were 11 crew on the boat when it capsized.  The boat is reported to have been completely destroyed in the crash.

The AC72 catamarans are 72′ on the waterline with a beam of 45′ and a rigid wing sail 13 stories high, or roughly the length of a 747 wing.  Each boat is estimated to cost roughly $10 million. The Artemis is the second AC72 to have capsized.  An Oracle AC72 crashed and capsized last October, though no one was injured.  Both the Oracle and Artemis teams have been practicing sailing the huge catamarans on hydrofoils, which lifts both hulls out of the water.  “Foiling” as it is called, can increase boat speed but is also considered to be very dangerous.

Crewman dies in Artemis America’s Cup accident

South Street Seaport Museum’s Schooner Pioneer Sails Again

Posted on by May 9, 2013
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Captain Richard Dorfman at the helm of the schooner Pioneer – Photo by Terese Loeb Kreuzer

This weekend,  the South Street Seaport Museum’s schooner Pioneer set sail again from the seaport in New York’s East River.  After two summers of sitting tied to the dock the venerable old schooner, built of iron in 1885, is again carrying passengers on regular sails in New York harbor.  With all the problems facing the museum,  the Pioneer sailing again is another small, but important, victory.  Recently, we posted about the museum’s success in raising $250,000 to repair the 1893 built, Freedonia class fishing schooner, Lettie G. Howard

Seaport’s Pioneer ship sails into the new season

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Container/Ro-Ro Ship Jolly Nero Topples Genoa Port Tower, At Least 7 Dead

Posted on by May 8, 2013
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Genoa port control tower before and after allision with Jolly Nero. Photo:Photo: AP Photo/ AR/Studio6/LaPresse

The container/ro-ro ship Jolly Nero  slammed into the port control tower in Genoa, Italy on Tuesday night around 11PM, destroying the 165 ft-tall cement tower and killing at least seven.  Four people were reported to be injured  and at least two are still missing.  The 31,000 DWT Italian flag ship was being escorted by two tugs and had a pilot aboard in clear and calm weather at the time of the allision.  There are reports of mechanical failure aboard the ship that interfered with steering of the ship. The port of Genoa port, on Italy’s western Ligurian coast, is Italy’s largest commercial port. Thanks to Alaric Bond and Phil Leon for contributing to this post.

Seven dead in Genoa shipping accident

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Cannibalism on Land and Sea

Posted on by May 7, 2013
17th-century remains of a young girl excavated from Jamestown, Virginia, show evidence of cannibalism in the colony.

17th-century remains of a young girl excavated from Jamestown, Virginia, show evidence of cannibalism in the colony.

Last week, the news broke that evidence of cannibalism had been found at the Jamestown colony in Virginia. Cut and sawing marks have been found on the skull and leg bones of a young woman, suggesting that her flesh was stripped and eaten after death.  Jamestown was the first permanent English settlement in the Americas.  The cannibalism is thought to date from the “starving time” of 1609–1610.  The findings were a confirmation of what had been recorded in various accounts of the “starving time, ” when only Only 61 of 500 colonists survived.  Nevertheless, there was considerable disagreement among historians whether the accounts were accurate, or merely propaganda spread by various factions associated with the settlement.  The physical evidence appears now to have largely settled the dispute.

Evidence of Cannibalism Found at Jamestown Colony

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Voyage of the Mobro 4000 – Wandering Garbage Barge Helps Usher in the Era of Recycling

Posted on by May 6, 2013

On March 22, 1987, the tugboat Break of Dawn, towing the barge Mobro 4000, loaded with 3,168 tons of trash, set sail from Islip, New York, bound for Morehead City, North Carolina. The plan was to convert the trash to methane in a pilot recycling program. Things did not go as planned. Based on reports that the garbage may have contained medical waste, the barge was turned away in North Carolina. The barge was later turned away from ports in Louisiana, Mexico and Belize before finally returning to New York, where the garbage was ultimately burned in a Brooklyn.

The wandering garbage barge became a national and international joke but is credited with fostering increased interest in recycling. Likewise, the conversion of garbage to methane at garbage dumps to be used to generate electricity has become increasingly common. This morning, the New York Times featured its first “Retro Report” video: “The Voyage of the Mobro 4000.”

Fly Fishing in NYC’s Central Park & the Hunt for the Snakehead “Monster” Fish

Posted on by May 5, 2013
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Photo: Ed Wray/AP

When I think of fly fishing, the wilder rivers of North Carolina come to mind, or even Hemingway’s Big Two Hearted River, in Michigan.  I don’t think of Central Park, which is literally the center of New York City, a metropolis of eight million people, in a metropolitan area of over 20 million.  I have recently learned, however, that there is indeed fishing in Central Park.

But not all is well. There have been reports of a toothy predator, a northern snakehead in the lakes of the park. The snakehead, often referred to as a  “monster” fish, can live for days out of the water and will eat just about anything including other fish, frogs, lizards and even rats.

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Update: Chinese Vessel Did More Damage to Tubbataha Reef than USS Guardian

Posted on by May 4, 2013

Despite being smaller than the USS Guardian and spending less time aground on the Tubbataha reef, the Chinese fishing vessel F/V Min Long Yu, which ran aground on the protected reef on April 8, apparently did more damage than the US Navy minesweeper.  In addition to damaging the reef, the Chinese vessel was also found to be loaded with an illegal cargo of 22,000 pounds of of pangolin meat, a protected species of scaly anteater. The 12 Chinese aboard the vessel had been charged for poaching and possession of protected species, as well as for attempting to bribe park rangers. The Philippines’ Tubbataha National Marine Park is a UNESCO-designated World Heritage Site in the centre of the Sulu Sea.

Chinese vessel did more damage to Tubbataha than USS Guardian –TMO

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Moby Dick on a Barge and the Card Game

Posted on by August 5, 2013

For those near New York harbor, the Brave New World Repertory Theatre is presenting MOBY DICK–REHEARSED by Orson Welles, co-directed by John Morgan and Alexander Harrington at Red Hook’s Waterfront Museum & Showboat Barge on May 3-5 & 10-12 at 7:30. Click here for more details. Thanks to Brian Frizell for passing along the news.

Sadly, Moby-Dick, or, The Whale, arguably Melville’s masterpiece, only sold around 3,700 copies during the author’s lifetime and earned him only around $1,300. Fortunately, Moby Dick, or the Card Game, a new “dynamic and action-packed card game for 2-4 players, lovingly adapted from Herman Melville’s classic novel,” is doing considerably better. The card game developers are raising money on Kickstarter to finish the project. With 26 days to go in the fundraiser, they have exceeded their $25,000 target, raising $43,988, so far, from 1,171 backers.

Moby Dick, or, The Card Game

No, Ladies, Not Pirates of Penzance, These Were Real Pirates

Posted on by May 3, 2013

darchpiratesThe North Devon Women’s Institute branch recently hosted former sea captain Colin Darch, who was to speak on the topic of piracy. A number of women in the organization thought that the captain would speak about historical buccaneering, and so in what they perceived to be the spirit of the evening, dressed in what, these days, often passes for pirate garb: eye-patches, bandannas, plastic cutlasses, stripped shirts and that sort of thing. One woman wore a bright yellow captain’s hat featuring a skull and crossbones.

It turns out that Captain Darch was speaking of being captured and held for ransom for 47 days in 2008 by gun-totting Somali pirates. Captain Darch read excerpts from his memoir which described the terrible ordeal he and his crew of five endured as prisoners of very real pirates. The women immediately realized their mistake and apologized to the captain who apparently was good-natured about the mistake. Captain Darch’s ordeal was not quite over, however.

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E/S Orcelle – Wallenius Wilhelmsen Concept Car Carrier Powered by Sun, Wind and Waves

Posted on by May 1, 2013

In a recent Working Harbor Committee presentation, “Sailing Ships at Work – Past, Present and Future,” we included the E/S Orcelle, a Wallenius Wilhelmsen concept car carrier design, as an example of an innovative design that featured wing sails, as one part of its hybrid propulsion system.  While the wing sails, which also include solar cells, are interesting, the overall design is also worth a closer look.  The car carrier concept design is intended to produce zero emissions beyond heat and water vapor and to be propelled by fuel cells, wave energy, solar and wind power.  The radical hull form also requires no ballast water for stability and provides greater car carrying capacity that conventional ships.  First unveiled at the Nordic Pavilion at the World Expo 2005, it is a fascinating design from stem to stern.

E/S Orcelle

On May Day, a Look at Mayday

Posted on by May 1, 2013

coast.guard_.motor_.life_.boat_Happy May Day! May 1st is a traditional day of celebration of the coming of spring with May poles and dancing and general carrying on. In Europe it is also a day of solidarity with labor, similar o the US celebration of Labor Day toward the end of Summer.

Of course, Mayday, as a single word, typically repeated three times, is also an international call for help on the sea and in the air.  Mayday is a fairly recent term, dating only to the use of radio for communication with ships and airplanes. In 1923, Frederick Stanley Mockford, a senior radio officer at Croydon Airport in London, Mockford was asked to think of a word that would indicate distress  in an emergency. Many of the flights from London in those days were to Paris, so he borrowed from the French phrase, venez m’aider, meaning “come help me.”  Shortened to two rhyming syllables, Mayday was easily understood by pilots and ground crew.  Mayday was adopted as an international code word in 1927.

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Re-Discovering the Lost Egyptian Port of Heracleion After 1,200 Years Under the Sea

Posted on by April 30, 2013
hercleion1

Photo: Christoph Gerigk/Franck Goddio/Hilti Foundation

In 2001, a joint French-English expedition was searching the bottom of Egypt’s Aboukir Bay for the wrecks of French warships sunk in the “Battle of the Nile” in 1798.  Instead they re-discovered a lost city.  Known as Thonis to the Egyptians and Heracleion to the Greeks, the port city was no more than before it was rediscovered 1,200 years after it sank into the sea.  Now after more than a decade’s research, archaeologists have discovered a wealth of artifacts, revealing the trade and culture of a vibrant city at the center of Mediterranean trade.  A new documentary Egypt’s Sunken City/ A Legend Is Revealed examines the discoveries and uses 3D modeling to recreate the ancient city.  Thanks to Irwin Bryan and Alaric Bond for passing along the news.

3D map raises the real-life Atlantis from the deep: Scientists recreate Egyptian trading town buried for 1,200 years

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Are Humans the Descendents of the Aquatic Ape ? The Argument Continues on Both Sides of the Atlantic

Posted on by April 29, 2013

Baby_divingThere were two scientific conferences scheduled recently, both of which would address or were, to one degree or another, inspired by the “aquatic ape hypothesis” of evolution.  One conference will feature speakers supporting the hypothesis, while the second will hold it up for satire and ridicule.  Who says science isn’t a contact sport?

Next week, in London, the Royal Marsten School will sponsor the conference, “Human Evolution Past, Present & Future – Anthropological, Medical & Nutritional Considerations,” “a two-day symposium to explore new research and evidence which suggests that at some stage during the last few million years, our human ancestors were exposed to a period of semiaquatic evolution which led to the acquisition of unique and primordial human characteristics.” Speakers, including Sir David Attenborough, will voice support for the hypothesis.

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Saving the Lettie G Howard – South Street Seaport Museum Raises $250,000 to Restore Historic Schooner

Posted on by April 28, 2013

Lettie1Wonderful news!  In February 2012, the 1893 built, Freedonia class fishing schooner, Lettie G. Howard was drydocked to repair rot in her keelson.  The rot was found to be far more extensive than expected and since then the South Street Seaport Museum has been raising funds to repair the historic schooner.  Now, despite a world of other troubles, including being struck a devastating blow by Superstorm Sandy, the South Street Seaport Museum has succeeded in raising the $250,000 needed to restore the Lettie G Howard.   The highpoint of the fundraising was the recent gala fundraising performance by singer-songwriter Rosanne Cash.

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Istar, “Celebrity” Humpback Whale Killed by Likely Ship Strike

Posted on by April 27, 2013

istarThe mature female humpback whale that washed ashore dead on Long Beach Island last week was well known to scientists, who have tracked her for thirty seven years.  Kimberly Durham, rescue program director of the Riverhead Foundation, described her as a “celebrity in the whale world.”  The humpback was nicknamed Istar, after the Babylonian goddess of fertility. Istar was one of the most productive female humpback whales in the Gulf of Maine population, giving birth to at least eleven known calves. Istar was reported to be at least 41 years old, 48 feet long and was estimated to weigh 30 to 35 tons.  The investigation into the whale’s death is underway but the damage to her skull suggests that she was run down by a ship.  Ship strikes are one of the greatest threats to endangered species of whales.

Humpback found dead on East Quogue beach was a celebrity whale

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The Last Swift Boat

Posted on by April 26, 2013

There has been lots of interest in the restoration of surviving  World War II PT (Patrol Torpedo) boats. The closest thing to a PT boat in service during the Vietnam War was the PCF, Patrol Craft Fast, better known as the Swift Boat. These boats, at 50 feet long, were smaller than the World II vintage PT boats and relied on machine guns and mortars as their principal armament rather than torpedoes. The Swift boats were initially intended for coastal patrol and later became part of the “brown water” Navy, patrolling the interior waterways of Vietnam.  Now, volunteers from the Maritime Museum of San Diego have restored a 1968 Swift boat. Mark Gallant, the project manager says, “When this boat is up and running at the Maritime Museum, it will probably be the only operational swift boat in the United States and probably the world.”  Thanks to Alaric Bond for passing along the story.

Milestone reached for Vietnam swift boat project 

Chinese and Japanese Ships Contest Disputed Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands in the East China Sea

Posted on by April 24, 2013

Things are getting tense again in the East China Sea, specifically between the Chinese and Japanese.  The dispute is over a small group of uninhabited islands that lie between Okinawa and Taiwan and are known as Senkaku in Japanese and Diaoyu in Chinese.   Both natiosn claim the islands as soverign territory. Recently a Japanese nationalist group known as Ganbare Nippon sent 10 fishing boats carrying dozens of its members to the area around the islands. A representative for the group, Yasushi Watanabe, said the voyage — the third by Ganbare Nippon this year — was aimed at publicizing Japan’s territorial claim to the area, not at landing on the islands.  In response, the Chinese sent eight marine surveillance ships to the area.

Chinese and Japanese ships cluster around disputed islands