Beluga Whale that Attempted to Mimic Human Speech

Posted on by October 23, 2012

http://youtu.be/HtIv8RIbDbk
Beluga whale ‘makes human-like sounds’

Sailors once called beluga whales the “canaries of the sea.”  Sailors could hear the “song” of the beluga, a range of chirps and whistles, through the wooden hulls of their ships.  There is a fascinating story in the news these days about a beluga whale named NOC which started making some very unusual and non-beluga-like noises.  NOC was captured in 1977 and became a part of the Navy’s Marine Mammal Program in San Diego.  Around 1984, NOC started making sounds which divers mistook for human speech.  NOC continued this behavior for around four years and then stopped. Now almost 25 years later, researcher Sam Ridgeway and his colleagues have published a paper on his vocalizations in the journal Current Biology.   Thanks to Phil Leon for contributing to this post.

There Once Was a White Whale Who Tried to Speak to Humans

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Fireboat John J. Harvey – 2012 Fall Benefit, Sunday October 28th, Pier 66 on the Hudson River

Posted on by October 22, 2012

This Sunday there will be a full day benefit for the historic Fireboat John J. Harvey on Pier 66 (26th and the Hudson River) in New York. It looks like lots of fun.

The festivities are divided into two parts. From 1-5pm the focus is Family Fun featuring face-painting, pumpkin painting, ‘tour-the-grant’ tours, short boat-rides on the fireboat as weather allows, celebrity readings of ‘Fireboat’, hot dogs, soda, hamburger sliders, cole slaw, potato salad, pasta salad and on-going silent auction or raffles. Tickets are $25 for adults and $15 for children.

From 5 to 7pm, there will be a Gala Sunset Cocktail Party with Grammy Award Winner Rosanne Cash and Tony Award Winner Alan Cumming and hosted by The inimitable Florent Morellet.  Tickets start at $100.

Click here to learn more and buy tickets: John J Harvey Fundraiser

Salvaging the Costa Concordia

Posted on by October 22, 2012

While pre-trial hearings are underway in an Italian court, an Italian-American engineering consortium has begun salvage operations to remove the cruise ship, partially capsized off the island of Giglio.  It will be the first time a ship of this size has been salvalged in one piece. Already six months behind schedule, the engineering challenges of salvaging the Costa Concordia are huge.

Teams battle to remove Costa Concordia shipwreck from ocean

Major Roy Bates – First Prince of Sealand

Posted on by October 21, 2012

Prince Roy and Princess Joan

Patrick Roy Bates, better-known as Prince Roy of Sealand – the title he awarded himself  – died earlier this month at the age of 91 in Leigh-on-Sea,Essex, UK.   In 1967, Major Roy Bates, a veteran of WWII, occupied a derelict concrete offshore WW2 anti-aircraft gun platform off the east coast of England. He declared it the Principality of Sealand.  Being only about half the size of an Olympic swimming pool, Bates declared it to be “the world’s smallest independent state.” He also declared himself “His Royal Highness, Prince Roy of Sealand.”   His son was dubbed Prince Michael, and wife and daughters became Princesses Joan and Penny.  The new principality is in international waters about seven miles off the coast of the British container port of Felixstowe.  Thanks to Alaric Bond for passing the news along.

Major Roy Bates: The self-proclaimed ‘Prince of Sealand’

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Bon Voyage to the Jubille Sailing Trust’s Barque Lord Nelson on Her Round the World Voyage

Posted on by October 21, 2012

Today, on the 207th anniversary of Lord Nelson’s victory at Trafalgar, the Jubilee Sailing Trust‘s 55-meter three masted barque, Lord Nelson, sets sail from Southhampton, UK on a 23-month 50,000 mile journey around the world.  The ship will visit more than 30 countries on all seven continents and cross the equator four times during the voyage.

The Lord Nelson is the Trust’s flagship and the first sailing ship specifically built to allow physically-disabled and able-bodied sailors to sail side-by-side.  The ship is equipped with wheelchair lifts, Braille instructions, joystick steering and a talking compass.  The ship’s professional crew is also specially trained in working with people of all physical and sensory abilities in engaging in watch keeping and ship handling.

JST – Sail the World

Schooner Lynx, “America’s Privateer” Arriving in NYC to Commemorate the Anniversary of the War of 1812

Posted on by October 20, 2012

To commemorate the 200th Anniversary of the War of 1812, the schooner Lynx, “America’s Privateer,” will be visiting New York harbor from October 25th through October 31st.  The 122-foot top-sail schooner will sail into North Cove Marina on the Hudson River in Downtown Manhattan on Thursday, October 25th at 8 am. The schooner will be open for public tours and sails.   For schedules and tickets click here. All proceeds help benefit the educational programs taught aboard Lynx.

Lynx is an interpretation of an actual privateer named Lynx built by Thomas Kemp in 1812 in Fell’s Point, Maryland. She was among the first ships to defend American freedom by evading the British naval fleet then blockading American ports and serving in the important maritime efforts.  She is fitted with period ordnance and flies pennants and flags from the 1812 era.

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Video for a Saturday Morning – Launch of HMS Bounty – Boothbay Harbor Shipyard

Posted on by October 20, 2012

A relaxing video for a Saturday morning. HMS Bounty slides gracefully back into the water at Boothbay HArbor Shipyard last Thursday.  Thanks to Tom Russell on the Linked-in Traditional Sail Professionals group for pointing it out.  In other news, HMS Bounty will be returning to St. Petersburg for one weekend, November 10-11.  Thanks to Ann Brown for the heads up.

Launch of HMS Bounty – Boothbay Harbor Shipyard

Melville’s Moby Dick – Contemporary Reviews and Sales Figures

Posted on by October 19, 2012

Herman Melville

Yesterday we posted about the Google Doodle honoring Herman Melville‘s Moby Dick on the anniversary of its publication.  The reviews of Herman Melville’s Moby Dick when it was published in 1851 were decidedly mixed. There were indeed positive reviews to balance the negative. Like some of the reviewers, many readers expected another adventure tale like Melville’s Typee or Omoo and didn’t quite understand Melville’s brooding masterpiece, Moby Dick. Sales were disappointing.  While  Typee and Omoo sold 16,320 and 13,325, respectively, Moby Dick only sold 3,715.  It is only a modest exaggeration to say that Melville’s greatest work, Moby Dick, was also the book that ruined his career as a writer.

Here are excerpts of contemporary reviews collected at Melville.org – The Life and Works of Herman Melville.

The Good

To convey an adequate idea of a book of such various merits as that which the author of Typee and Omoo has here placed before the reading public, is impossible in the scope of a review. High philosophy, liberal feeling, abstruse metaphysics popularly phrased, soaring speculation, a style as many-coloured as the theme, yet always good, and often admirable; fertile fancy, ingenious construction, playful learning, and an unusual power of enchaining the interest, and rising to the verge of the sublime, without overpassing that narrow boundary which plunges the ambitious penman into the ridiculous; all these are possessed by Herman Melville, and exemplified in these volumes. —London Morning Advertiser, October 24 1851

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Adrift in the Pacific – Coast Guard C130 Spots Fisherman Off Tarawa & Air Canada Flight Spots Yacht Off Australia

Posted on by October 19, 2012

It has been a good couple of days for air search and rescue in the Pacific.  U.S. Coast Guard C-130 airplane stationed at Air Station Barber’s Point on Oahu spotted three fishermen 70 nautical miles west of the Pacific atoll of Tarawa after they had been adrift at sea for five days.

Elsewhere in the Pacific, an Air Canada Boeing 777 became a most unusual search and rescue plane. A sailor who sailed from Sydney on his 36′ boat, bound for the port of Eden on the south coast of New South Wales, was caught in high seas. His boat was dismasted and he later ran out of fuel.  The sailor, Glenn Ey of Queensland, activated his EPIRB. The signal was picked up the Australian Maritime Safety Authority, who identified Air Canada Flight AC033, bound from Vancouver to Sydney, as the closest plane to the EPIRB signal.  The airliner dropped from 37,000 feet to 4,000 feet and the pilot asked everyone on the right side of the plane to look for the sailboat.   Soon several passengers and crew spotted the drifting sailboat.   A merchant ship was dispatched to assist Glenn Ey once his position was confirmed by the Air Canada sighting.

Air Canada flight finds stranded Australian yacht

Moby Dick – The Masterpiece that Ruined Herman Melville’s Career Honored By Google Doodle

Posted on by October 18, 2012

Today the Google Doodle honors Herman Melville‘s masterpiece, Moby Dick, on this the 161st anniversary of its publication.  Ironically, the book that has garnered Melville immortality also effectively ruined his career.   Known as a writer of semi-autobiographical stories, neither the critics nor the reader knew what to make of Moby Dick. Moby Dick and all of Melville’s other books as well would be out of print for thirty years by the time of his death in 1891.  Moby Dick would not become broadly popular until the “Melville Revival” of the 1920s.

Herman Melville Books: Moby Dick Google Doodle

Also check out the Moby Dick Big Read.  Various actors and writers have been reading a chapter a day and posting them on-line. Tilda Swinton reads Chapter 1 and so on. They are up to Chapter 33, though the previous chapters are all available on the site.

Class A Dominates Great Chesapeake Schooner Race – Woodwind Wins on Elapsed and Corrected Time

Posted on by October 20, 2012

Woodwind – Fastest Overall

In our previous post about the Great Chesapeake Schooner Race we focused on the Class AA schooners, the big boats over 50′. Big boats sail faster, right? Not necessarily.  (Thanks to Paul Caroll for pointing out our oversight.)

This year, the Class A schooners dominated the race. While the Summerwind did indeed take the Class AA honors, the Class A schooner Woodwind won the race both on elapsed and corrected time. Woodwind cross the line almost 2 hours ahead of the next fastest boat, Heron and over three hours ahead of the first Class AA boat, Summerwind. We offer our belated congratulations to the owners, captain and crew of the Woodwind. A remarkable showing.

This was indeed the year for the Class A schooners. The top three Class A schooners racing; Woodwind, Heron and Prom Queen; all beat the elapsed time of the Class AA schooner Summerwind and the rest of the Class AA fleet.  For detailed race results, click here.

Hudson River Sloop Clearwater Teaches Kids Unplanned Lesson in Water Depth by Running Aground

Posted on by October 18, 2012

I have chaperoned my son’s class on a trip on the Hudson River Sloop Clearwater. They have a wonderful program for school groups – teaching kids history, ecology, and a bit of seamanship while also having great fun on a river cruise. On Monday afternoon, they added a new element to the curriculum while sailing near Yonkers and finding unexpectedly shallow waters near the Saw Mill River. The Clearwater ran aground, no doubt for neither the first nor the last time. There were no injuries nor damage to the sloop. As the executive director of Hudson River Sloop Clearwater, Inc., Jeff Rumpf, said, “The school group got an extra experience to see how you handle a sailboat in that sitation.”

Clearwater runs aground on Hudson River, students safe

Here is a video from around four years ago of a class trip on the Clearwater.

Hudson River Sloop Clearwater

Sailor Drowns After Being Knocked Overboard Following Great Chesapeake Schooner Race

Posted on by October 15, 2012

On one schooner, the 2012 Great Chesapeake Schooner Race ended in tragedy.  Shortly after the 43-foot Cuchulain crossed the finish line at Windmill Point, at just after 4 p.m. on Friday, Paul Stephen Case, 68, of Racine Wisconsin was knocked overboard and drowned, while handling sails in gusty and choppy conditions.  Case was an avid sailor who had participated in sailing races around the world.  This was his second time racing in the Great Chesapeake Schooner Race. Our condolences to his friends and family.  Thanks to Gareth Hughes for passing along the sad news.

Sailor in Bay schooner race knocked overboard, dies

Kings Point’s Summerwind Wins Great Chesapeake Bay Schooner Race Followed by Pride II and Virginia

Posted on by October 15, 2012

In the 22nd Great Chesapeake Bay Schooner Race, thirty nine schooner raced from 127 nautical miles down the Chesapeake Bay from Baltimore, Maryland to Portsmouth, Virginia.  Summerwind, the 100′ 1929 John Alden designed schooner owned by the United States Merchant Marine Academy at Kings Point, NY, won first place, followed by the Pride of Baltimore II and the schooner Virginia.  For a complete list of results and awards click here.

This race represents a real comeback for the schooner Virginia. In 2007 the Virginia won the Great Chesapeake Bay Schooner Race, but by 2010 she had fallen on hard times. See our previous post – Cash-strapped Schooner Virginia appears dead in the water.   As we posted in July, the schooner Virginia is back and doing quite well. Third place is nothing to be scoffed at, particularly as simply getting to the starting line can be the greatest challenge in these difficult economic times.

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Windjammer Peking – Disappointment in Hamburg

Posted on by October 15, 2012

On Friday, we posted that the windjammer Peking is in need a new home.  The 101 year old four masted steel ship has spent the last 37 years as a museum ship at New York’s South Street Seaport Museum.  The seaport museum is recovering from a serious financial crisis. The museum manangement believed that they had reached an agreement with a German maritime museum in Hamburg to take the Peking off their hands.  That deal apparently has collapsed over concerns about the cost of ship transport and renovation.

While many in New York are seriously concerned about the future of the Peking, it also seems that many in Hamburg are very disappointed that the ship appears not to be destined to return to the port city where she was built in 1911.  A survey by the newspaper NDR.de showed that 70% of the respondents supported returning the ship to Hamburg.  The local Chamber of Commerce is expressing its support and there are reports of merchants offering funding.  On the other hand local politicians are concerned about the considerable costs involved in moving and repairing the ship.   The Peking is reportedly in such poor condition that towing may not be practical and would require using a heavy lift ship to transport the ship.

May be “Beijing” but return home to Hamburg?

Aegis Cruiser USS San Jacinto Collides with Nuclear Sub USS Montpelier in Atlantic off Florida

Posted on by October 14, 2012

USS San Jacinto (CG-56)

This has not been a good few months for Aegis missile cruisers.  In August, USS Porter collided with a VLCC (a large tanker) near the Strait of Hormuz. Yesterday at around 3:30 PM, during routine operations, the Aegis cruiser USS San Jacinto collided with nuclear submarine USS Montpelier off the northeast coast of Florida.  A statement issued by the Navy says that there were no injuries aboard either ship and that the submarine’s nuclear powered reactor “was unaffected by this collision.”

Navy Submarine and Cruiser Collide Off Florida

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Windjammer Peking Needs a New Home – South Street Deal with Hamburg Falls Through

Posted on by October 13, 2012

Photo: DNAinfo/Julie Shapiro

The Peking, a steel-hulled four-masted barque built in 1911, which has been a largely neglected fixture at New York’s South Street Seaport for almost the last 40 years, is now in desperate need of a new home.

The South Street Seaport Museum thought that they had an agreement with the city of Hamburg to take the grand old ship. That deal apparently fell through and the future of the old ship is again in doubt.  Susan Henshaw Jones, president of the South Street Seaport Museum, said she will hear proposals from anyone with a berth for the old ship. “The ultimate alternative, which is to scrap her, it’s unthinkable,” she said.

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Hell Around the Horn – the History (and Fiction) Behind the Novel

Posted on by October 12, 2012

In writing historical fiction, researching the history can be challenging. When researching my novel, Hell Around the Horn, I discovered that the three primary sources for the history behind the novel, two memoirs and the Official Ship’s Log, disagreed with each other in significant details and events. There is no agreement between the three accounts as to even how many died on the voyage, for example.  I had to ask myself where the history ended and the fiction began and how that mattered in writing my own fictional account of the deadly voyage of a British windjammer around Cape Horn in the disastrous winter of 1905.

Next Tuesday, I will be speaking at the New York’s Shiplore and Modelmaker’s Club on “Hell Around the Horn – the History (and Fiction) Behind the Novel,”  at 7:30  p.m. at 79 Walker Street, 5th floor in Manhattan. Please stop by if you are in the neighborhood.

What is Italian for “Chutzpah”? Schettino Sues to Get His Job Back

Posted on by October 12, 2012

Francesco Schettino, captain of the Costa Concordia, who steered his ship into a reef off the island of Giglio and then delayed the order to evacuate the sinking ship, resulting in or contributing to the deaths of 32 passengers and crew, was fired by Costa Cruise Lines in July.  Captain Schettino faces charges of multiple manslaughter and abandoning the ship.

Schettino is now suing Costa. He wants his job back, with back pay, of course. Does anyone know the Italian word for “chutzpah”?

Costa Concordia Shipwreck Captain Sues To Win Back Job