Jeanne Socrates Rounds Cape of Good Hope on Bid to Be Oldest Non-Stop Circumnavigator

Posted on by January 5, 2014
Photo: BRUCE STOTESBURY, Times

Photo: BRUCE STOTESBURY, Times

Jeanne Socrates, a 70 year old British grandmother, has rounded the Cape of Good Hope on her sailboat, Nereida, in her attempt to become the oldest non-stop solo circumnavigator.  She left Victoria, British Columbia in October and successfully rounded Cape Horn in January.  She is now setting a course to round Australia’s Cape Leeuwin.  This is Ms. Socrates’ third attempt at a solo non-stop circumnavigation. She has already completed two previous solo-circumnavigations but on each needed to put into port for repairs, after a grounding and a knock-down damaged her sailboat.  Best of luck Jeanne. No doubt the third time is a charm.  Thanks to Sheila and R. Bruce Macdonald for passing along the news. Click here to follow Jeanne’s progress.

Solo sailor passes Cape of Good Hope

Diving for Meteor Fragments In Lake Chebarkul After Meteor Injures 1,200 in Urals

Posted on by February 16, 2013
russia-670-reu

Photo: Reuters

A large round hole in the ice of Lake Chebarkul, 80 kilometers west of the Russian city of Chelyabinsk in the Urals, may have been made by a fragment of the meteor which exploded in a massive fireball above the region on Friday. The shockwave from the meteor damaged 4,000 buildings and injured some 1,200 people, mostly from flying glass.  Divers are scouring the bottom of  Lake Chebarkul looking for fragments of the meteor.  Thus far no other fragments have been found from the meteor in the region.

Divers scour Russian lake after meteor strike injures 1,200

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Rosanne Cash Helps Raise Cash to Help Save the Schooner Lettie G. Howard

Posted on by February 15, 2013
rcash-2T

Photo: Deborah Feingold

On Monday, April 8 at 8:00 PM at the New York Academy of Medicine, Rosanne Cash is singing at a benefit concert to help save the schooner Lettie G. Howard.

Rosanne Cash is a gifted, Grammy award winning singer/songwriter and the Lettie G. Howard is an exceptionally beautiful schooner celebrating her 120th birthday this year. The Lettie G. Howard, a wooden Fredonia schooner built in Essex, Massachusetts in 1893, is, not surprisingly, showing her age.  When she was drydocked at the Mystic Seaport in CT in 2012 to repair rot in her keelson, they discovered that the rot was far more extensive than originally thought. The cost of the repairs, of course, was also significantly higher than budgeted. (See our previous post – Help Save the Schooner Lettie G. Howard.)  The South Street Seaport Museum has undertaken a capital campaign to raise $250,000 for critical repairs and restoration to the beautiful old schooner and is more than halfway to reaching that goal. Now, Rosanne Cash is raising her voice to to help raise the necessary cash, so to speak, to finish the job.   Click here to learn more about the benefit concert.  Donors at the Jib level and above will be invited to join Rosanne Cash for a champagne reception following the performance.

Rosanne Cash Sings for Lettie G. Howard

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Soldini’s Maserati Team Set to Break New York to San Francisco Record

Posted on by February 17, 2013

timthumbUPDATE:  The Soldini Maserati team set a new New York to San Francisco sailing record of 47 days, 2 hours and 33 minutes, breaking the previous record by ten days.

Sometime Saturday, the Soldini team sailing the 70′ Maserati is expected to sail under the Golden Gate bridge, breaking the previous monhull speed record for sailing between New York and San Francisco by way of Cape Horn by roughly ten days.  Soldini and his eight man crew set sail on Maserati from New York on New Year’s Eve.  As of 16:00 EST Maserati was approximately 120 NM from the finish line at the Golden Gate Bridge.  Congratulations to the Maserati team.

M/Y Eclipse, the World’s Largest Yacht, in New York Harbor

Posted on by February 15, 2013

In October 2009, we posted “Rich Men’s Toys – Battleships, Helipads & Submarines,” about several mega-yachts, including the world’s largest, Roman Abramovich’s 557 feet (170 meters) M/Y Eclipse.  The yacht arrived in New York harbor this week and is now tied up on the Hudson River in mid-town.

The yacht features an armor plated master suite and bullet proof windows in the accommodations area and bridge. She also has two heliports, an advanced radar system designed to warn of incoming missiles and a submarine which can also serve as an escape pod. There are accommodations for 24 guests, with a crew of 70 as well as two swimming pools, a movie theater and a dance floor.

Have You Seen The World’s Largest Private Yacht In NYC?

YACHT ECLIPSE Arrives New York Harbor 2-13-2013

Bounty Hearings Streaming Live

Posted on by February 14, 2013
Photo:Petty Officer 2nd Class Tim Kuklewski /U.S. Coast Guard

Photo:Petty Officer 2nd Class Tim Kuklewski /U.S. Coast Guard

Today is third day of hearings by the US Coast Guard on the sinking of the HMS Bounty on October 29, 2012, with loss of crew member Claudene Christian and Captain Robin Walbridge.  The hearings will continue in Portsmouth VA through February 21st.  Highlights of the hearings so far include the owner of the ship, Robert Hansen’s refusal to testify by invoking his Fifth Amendment rights on Tuesday.  Yesterday, Todd Kosakowski, a project manager at Boothbay Harbor Shipyard in Maine, testified that d\rot was found on some of the ship’s framing while replacing planks. The extent of the rot in rest of the hull frames could not be determined with removing more planking which was not done.

Bounty Hearings Streaming Live

Starbucks Returns to Sea on USS Boxer

Posted on by February 14, 2013

boxerstarbucksThere is virtually no place on earth beyond its reach. No, not the US Navy. Starbucks. The coffee seller is now even opening a store on a navy warship, the amphibious assault ship, USS Boxer. The “Starboxer” is the first “fully functioning coffee shop” serving Starbucks coffee on a US Navy ship.  It is only fitting that Starbucks has gone to sea.  The company was named after the chief mate of the Pequod in Herman Melville’s novel “Moby Dick.”  Melville in turn used the name of a prominent whaling family in Nantucket for Ahab’s second in command.  In a very real sense, Starbucks has been at sea for quite some time. Thanks to Linda Collison for point out the new source of floating caffeine.

Starbucks has now opened a store aboard this Navy warship

Carnival Triumph – Another Blacked-out Drifting Cruise Ship – Why Again?

Posted on by February 13, 2013

Nightmare CruiseThere is a fire in one of two engine rooms on a cruise ship.  The fire is extinguished but the damage has been done. The cruise ship blacks out – losing power and most electricity. The ship is adrift in the ocean.  There is so hot food, hot water, or air conditioning for the several thousand passengers and crew aboard the ship.  Conditions aboard become extremely uncomfortable as sewage systems back up, food in refrigerators rot, and the temperatures below decks become sweltering.  Finally, tugs are hired to tow the ship into the nearest port.

This could be a description of what is currently happening on the Carnival Triumph, which is now being towed to Mobile, Alabama.  It could also equally be an account of what happened on the Carnival Spendor in the Pacific in late 2010, or the Ocean Star Pacific off Mexico in April 2011, or the MSC Opera in the Baltic in June of 2011 or the Costa Allure off the Seychelles in February of 2012.  The same thing almost happened on the Azamara Quest off the Philipines in March of 2012.  After drifting for 24 hours, the crew was able to restore partial power and electricity and  the Azamara Quest was able to make it to port on its own.

The design of each of these cruise ships should make the complete loss of propulsion and main generators due to a single engine fire impossible, yet with six ships disabled in just over two years, the failures are not only possible but apparently chronic.

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Update: Grim Conditions Aboard Carnival Triumph Under Tow to Mobile

Posted on by February 12, 2013

Conditions aboard the Carnival Triumph are reported to be growing increasingly grim. Since the ship was disabled by an engine room fire on Sunday off the coast of Mexico with over 4,000 passengers and crew aboard, there has no hot food, no hot water, sweltering indoor temperatures, and few working toilets. Passengers have complained of toilets overflowing inside cabins and the smell of rotting food due to the lack of refrigeration. Access to fresh water is limited and lines for food are very long. Many passengers are reported to be sleeping on deck to avoid the heat and the smells.  The ship was approximately 150 miles from the Mexican port of Progreso when the fire occurred, but apparently drifted 90 miles northward on the Yucatan Current. Originally the company announced that the ship was to be towed to Mexico, but the decision was then made to made to tow the ship to Mobile, Alabama. This will simply the arranging travel for the disembarking passengers but has added an additional day’s time in getting the ship to port.   Thanks to Bobbi Sheffield for contributing to this post.

Passengers on Crippled Carnival Cruise Ship Describe Worsening Conditions

Congratulations to Matt Rutherford – Ocean Cruising Club Jester Medal Winner

Posted on by February 11, 2013

Congratulations to Matt Rutherford who was recently awarded the Ocean Cruising Club’s Jester Medal, for an outstanding contribution to the art of single-handed sailing. In April of last year, Matt completed a record breaking 309 day, more than 27,000 mile, non-stop circumnavigation of the Americas. He made this incredible voyage, which included singlehanded non-stop passages through the Northwest Passage and around Cape Horn, in St. Brendan, a 27’ Albin-Vega sailboat. In addition to completing the voyage itself Matt has raised over $100,000 for the Chesapeake Regional Accessible Boating (CRAB.) A documentary is in production about Matt’s voyage – Red Dot on the Ocean.

Red Dot on the Ocean – Trailer

Engine Room Fire Strands Carnival Triumph in the Gulf of Mexico, Will be Towed to Mexico

Posted on by February 11, 2013

ctriumphAn engine room fire has knocked out the propulsion and the primary electrical system on the cruise ship Carnival Triumph in the Gulf of Mexico off the Yucatan Peninsula.  Emergency generators are providing limited power to the passenger areas.  The ship will be towed to to Progreso, Mexico and is expected to arrive on Wednesday. There have been no reported injuries among the 4,000 passengers and crew reported to be aboard the ship.  Carnival Triumph is a post-Panamax Destiny/Triumph-class cruise ship, built in 1999, operated by Carnival Cruise Lines, sailing on 4 and 5 day voyages from Galveston, Texas to the Western Caribbean.  Thanks to Phil Leon for contributing to the post.

Carnival Triumph cruise ship stranded in Gulf of Mexico

Deadly Lifeboat – Five Crew Dead and Three Injured in Falling Lifeboat on Thomson Majesty

Posted on by February 10, 2013

tmajestylifeboatFive crew members on the cruise ship Thomson Majesty are reported to have died and three others were injured after a lifeboat fell 65 feet into the water during a safety drill at the port of Santa Cruz in La Palma, in Spain’s Canary Islands.  The liefeboat flipped and trapped the eight men inside.  Three of the dead were Indonesian, one was Filipino and another was from Ghana. All the dead and injured to reported to be male.  None of the 1,400 passengers aboard the ship were involved in the accident.  An investigation is underway to determine the cuase of the accident.  Thanks to Miroslav and Phil Leon for passing along the news.

Five killed and three injured after lifeboat falls into sea off Canary Islands cruise ship

Happy Birthday Samuel Plimsoll, the Sailor’s Friend – a Man Who Truly Left His Mark on Shipping

Posted on by February 10, 2013

samuel_plimsollToday is Samuel Plimsoll‘s birthday. Born on February 10, 1824,  Plimsoll, a British politician and social reformer  fought for reasonable loading of cargo ships, which lead the adoption of the first modern loadline, which became known as the Plimsoll mark or Line.  In his book, Our seamen : an appeal, (available for free in various Archive.org), he pointed out that close to 1,000 sailors a year were being drowned on ships around British shores, often due to poor maintenance and overloading.  In 1876, through Plimsoll’s efforts, the Merchant Shipping Act was amended to provide for marking of a line on a ship’s sides which would disappear below the water line if the ship was overloaded. A further amendment in 1877 imposed a limit on the weight of cargo which vessels were permitted to carry and created rules governing the engagement of seamen and their accommodation on board ship.

Sam Plimsoll sounds like a fascinating character.  He was a friend to sailors, miners and beer drinkers.  In addition to his tireless labor for the safety of sailors, he was also involved in mine safety.  Early in his career he had been the manager of a brewery and is credited with finding a new way of straining impurities from beer.   Nicolette Jones wrote a critically acclaimed biography of Plimsoll, The Plimsoll Sensation, which was published in 2006.   From a review in the Guardian:

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Last Chance to Get A Free Kindle Edition of Hell Around the Horn

Posted on by February 10, 2013

The Kindle Edition of Hell Around the Horn will be free today through Monday, February 9 – 11th.  Click here to download a copy. This is the second and last Kindle free promotion for the book. For those who have asked for Nook, iPad, Sony Reader and Kobo editions, they should all be available early next month. For those interested in the paperback edition, it is available online on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Books-A-Million, Powell’s Books and other online booksellers.

Fulfilling a Legacy – The Essex Shipbuilding Museum

Posted on by February 8, 2013

A fascinating video about the legacy of shipbuilders of Essex, Massachussets being carried on by the Essex Historical Society and Shipbuilding Museum.   Thanks to Peter Lane for pointing it out.  See also our previous posts, The Shipbuilders of Essex and Launching the Schooner Ardelle – Essex Side Launch.

Fulfilling a Legacy – The Essex Shipbuilding Museum

Final Block for Aircraft Carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth Leaves Portsmouth

Posted on by February 7, 2013
Upper Block 07

Upper Block 07

Remember when ships were built from the keel up and launched by sliding down the building ways into the water with a satisfying splash?  OK, maybe I am showing my age. These days ships are built like LEGOs, massive LEGOs, of course, but still large blocks to be welded together to finally float gently for the first time in a drydock.  The massive blocks don’t have to even be built in the same place.

This came to mind on seeing that the last structural block for the Royal Navy’s new aircraft carrier, HMS Queen Elizabeth, is being moved from the building yard to the assembly yard.  The massive chunk of steel, piping and electronics is prosaically named, Upper Block 07, and contains the main bridge of the ship.  The block will move by barge from the BAE Systems shipyard in Portsmouth, where it was fabricated, to the Rosyth Dockyard on the Firth of Forth in Scotland, for the final assembly with the rest of the ship.  HMS Queen Elizabeth will be the first of the Royal Navy’s two new Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carriers and is scheduled for sea trials in 2017 and flight trials in 2017.  Thanks to Alaric Bond for passing along the news.

HMS Queen Elizabeth final section leaves Portsmouth

Solomon Islands Earthquake Triggers Tsunami

Posted on by February 6, 2013

A powerful magnitude 8.0 earthquake off the Solomon Islands in the South Pacific triggered a tsunami of up to 5 feet high, damaging several villages and leaving several people missing, presumed dead.   Five villages on Santa Cruz and neighboring islands were reported to have been struck, two or three of which were severely damaged. Thanks to Alaric Bond and Phil Leon for contributing to this post.

Earthquake and Tsunami Hits Solomon Islands

Solomon Islands earthquake triggers tsunami

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Be Careful What You Fish For – Marlin Capsizes Fishing Boat

Posted on by February 6, 2013

Perhaps the old adage, “be careful what you wish for” should be “be careful what you fish for.”  That was the lesson learned recently by a group of marlin fisherman off the coast of Panama after their intended catch capsized their boat. Thanks to Phil Leon and Cynthia Drew for contributing to this post.

Giant Marlin Manages to Capsize a Fishing Boat Off the Coast of Panama

Marlin Sinks Fishing Boat? Vessel Capsizes After Hooking Huge Fish

Shackleton Epic Expedition Lands on South Georgia Island – An Ocean Crossed, A Mountain Yet to Climb

Posted on by February 5, 2013

shackletonepicIn late January we posted about the “Shackleton Epic Expedition,” led by Australian Tim Jarvis, shoving off from Elephant Island in the lifeboat Alexandra Shackleton, in an attempt to reenact the incredible 1916 voyage of Ernest Shackleton and his six man crew in a decked-over lifeboat, across 800 miles of the Southern Ocean to South Georgia Island.  On Sunday, Jarvis and his crew hauled the Alexandra Shackleton ashore on the beach at Peggotty Bluff, South Georgia Island, the same location where Shackleton and his men landed nearly 100 years ago.  The reenactors will now attempt to climb mountainous ridge that runs the length of the island to reach the site of the whaling station where Shackleton sought help for his stranded expedition. Video of the landing after the jump.

Shackleton explorers reach landfall in expedition recreation

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Broken Keels in the Vendée Globe – Javier Sanso Capsizes, Keel-less Jean-Pierre Dick Takes Fourth Place

Posted on by February 4, 2013
Acciona - Upside Down without a Keel

Acciona – Upside Down without a Keel

The high-tech canting keels on the Vendée Globe Open 60 racing sailboats continue to be problematic, at best.  On Sunday, Javier Sanso’s boat, Acciona, capsized, when his keel broke off.  Sanso was rescued today.  Also today, Jean-Pierre Dick crossed the finish line despite having lost his keel toward the end of January.  Dick was fortunate enough to avoid capsizing and sailed close to 1,000 NM without a keel to finish the race.  Mike Golding currently in sixth place is also having keel problems.  His keel has not broken off but the has lost a forward fairing causing his keel box to leak.

Capsize leaves Javier Sanso drifting in liferaft awaiting rescue in Vendée Globe

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