Shipwrecks, Mysterious and Otherwise, Uncovered by Hurricane & Drought

Posted on by September 6, 2012

Schooner Rachel makes another appearance Photo: MEYER VACATION RENTALS

The first reports spoke of a “mystery shipwreck” uncovered by Hurricane Isaac on an Alabama beach about six miles from Fort Morgan.   It turns out the wooden vessel is not so mysterious after all. Local historians identified her as the 150 feet long, three masted, lumber schooner Rachel built in 1918, which came ashore in a storm in 1923.  This is not even the first time that the wreck has made an appearance. She was also uncovered from  beneath the beach by Hurricane Camille in 1969, then again in 2004 after Hurricane Ivan, and again in 2008 after Hurricane Ike.  The only thing mysterious about the schooner is her cargo on the night of her demise. Legend has it that she was carrying bootleg alcohol instead of lumber when she ran aground during the Prohibition.

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Sailboats in the Arctic – Belzebub II Completes Northwest Passage & Scorpius Breaks Free From the Ice

Posted on by September 5, 2012

The sea ice in the Arctic has melted to a record low this year. Yachts are not voyaging where once only large icebreakers could travel. Recently, the three man crew of the Belzebub II, a 1976 built Hallberg-Rassy Monsun 31 sloop, successfully completed a three month transit of the fabled Canadian Northwest Passage, including becoming the first sailboat to cross the infamous M’Clure strait, which normally would be icebound. From the expedition web site:

Photo: Belzebub II crew

“The Arctic is melting at an alarming rate and is clear proof of our disharmony with the planet. By sailing this newly opened route we hope that our expedition will play a small part in bringing further attention to climate change and contributing to a larger shift in attitudes. Our approach to sail across a historical stretch of water that has traditionally been frozen is meant to be a clear visual example of the extent of declining polar ice.”

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2012 Waterford Tugboat Roundup

Posted on by September 4, 2012

The 20th Annual Great North River Tugboat Race & Competition was again a great success. For full and complete coverage check out Will’s Tugster blog. Great photographs and commentary.

For those in the area who still haven’t had your fill of tugboats, you may want to head upriver to Waterford, NY. for  the 2012 Waterford Tugboat Roundup.   Waterford is 12 miles north of Albany at the junction of the Hudson and Mohawk Rivers, and the junction of the Erie and Champlain Canals. It is the home of the “Waterford Flight”, the highest set of lift locks in the world.  Almost every year since 1999, the town of Waterford and the Waterford Maritime Historical Society has hosted the roundup, attracting tugs from all over the region. Last year the roundup was canceled due to the arrival of Hurricane Irene, but this year it is back and promising to be one of the best ever.  The festivities are held  from Friday to Sunday, September 7th – 9th.

2012 Tugboat Roundup

The Oyster – Environmental Hero in New York and a Criminal in New Jersey

Posted on by September 3, 2012

Hero or criminal?

Recently a number of newspapers have run an Associated Press article  titled, “New York’s new environmental ‘hero’ – the oyster.”  The article describes how researchers are reseeding oysters in New York harbor   Each oyster can filter about 50 gallons of water a day, removing toxins and suspended silt from the water.   The oysters may play a big role in cleaning up America’s polluted urban maritime environment.   The Oyster Restoration Research Partnership and others have begun seeding new oyster beds at Hastings On Hudson, Soundview Park, Governors Island, Bay Ridge Flats, the Bronx River, Gowanus Canal and Staten Island.  High school student’s at New York’s  Harbor  School are cultivating oysters for academic credit.

The one place that you will not find new oyster cultivation in New York harbor is on the New Jersey side.  The border between the two states runs right down the center of the Hudson River. While New Yorkers are working to reestablish the “environmental  hero,” on their side of the harbor, oysters are criminals on the New Jersey side.  Well, not the oysters themselves, but anyone doing oyster research.  Under Governor Chris Christie,  New Jersey banned oyster restoration in 2010 in waters classified as contaminated for shellfish, citing public health concerns.  The research oyster beds that existed in New Jersey were shut down. From the NY/NJ Baykeeper web site:

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Greenheart Project Crowdfunding – Help Build the First Greenheart Ship

Posted on by September 2, 2012

The Greenheart Project is now raising money to build a 32 meter sailing cargo ship for small ports and lesser developed countries. The design is extremely impressive. It is low-cost,  has zero-emissions and is also efficient to load and unload.  Cargo operations may seem a touch prosaic as compared to sails and sailing, but the truth is if you can’t load and unload a ship quickly and efficiently, it is very difficult to make the economics work.

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The Patriot’s Fate by Alaric Bond – A Review

Posted on by September 1, 2012

Alaric Bond’s The Patriot’s Fate, the fifth in his Fighting Sail series, is an exciting nautical adventure that is also a rich and fascinating voyage through the history, politics and complex divided loyalties of Britain at the end of the eighteenth century.

Many novels in the genre follow the model used by C.S. Forester, Patrick O’Brian and so many others, where the focus is the career of a single Royal Navy officer. The Patriot’s Fate, like the other books in Bond’s Fighting Sail series, is told through multiple perspectives, ranging from the ship’s captain, to the junior officers and warrants, to Jack Tars and the ship’s boys. The approach gives a much broader sense of what is going on aboard ship. It works particularly well in The Patriot’s Fate because it allows parallel and overlapping story lines that keep the novel moving along briskly.

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Schooners on the Capes – Twenty-Eighth Annual Gloucester Schooner Festival & Great Provincetown Schooner Regatta

Posted on by September 1, 2012

Two great schooner festivals and regattas are now underway on Massachusetts’ Cape Ann and Cape Cod. On Cape Ann, the Twenty-Eighth Annual Gloucester Schooner Festival began yesterday with the arrival of the schooner fleet. Today there will be dockside events and tours of the visiting HMS Bounty. The Mayor’s Race will be sailed on Sunday with Monday held in reserve as a rain day.

Just to the south on Cape Cod, the Great Provincetown Schooner Regatta begins today and runs through Friday, September 7th.  The week long festivities on land and sea include racing  in and around the waters of Provincetown Harbor and the Fisherman’s Cup race, a schooner only event, which starts in Gloucester on Tuesday, September 3rd  and ends in Provincetown harbor.

20th Annual Great North River Tugboat Race & Competition

Posted on by August 31, 2012

The 20th Annual Great North River Tugboat Race and Competition will be held again this year on the Hudson River at Pier 84 (off W44th Street) in Manhattan.  The festivities begin with a Parade of Tugs at 10:00 am with the tug boat race, from the 79th Street Boat Basin to Pier 84, starting at 10:30. Good views of the race are available from the dock. A special Circle Line Spectator Boat also provides a great view of the race and the parade of tugs.  Following the race, there will be line throwing competitions and  nose-to-nose pushing competitions between the tugs.  If you are anywhere near New York harbor on Sunday, it is worth stopping by. The event is sponsored by the Working Harbor Committee.

Once in a Blue Moon

Posted on by August 31, 2012

Tonight’s sky will be graced by a “blue moon.”  It is the first blue moon since New Year’s Eve 2009.  The next blue moon won’t appear until July 2015.  Tonight’s full moon won’t actually be blue for most of us.  A “blue moon” is commonly defined as the second full moon in a calendar month.  It doesn’t happen often and so is the inspiration for the phrase, “once in a blue moon.”

It is possible that there may be a literally blue moon for some. Ash in the atmosphere from forest fires or volcanic eruptions can make the moon appear to be tinted blue. There are a sufficient number of forest and brush fires in parts of the United States resulting from recent drought conditions so that tonight’s moon may be blue in both senses.

“Blue Moon” Friday—Last One Until 2015

Linda Collison’s Barbados Bound, a Review

Posted on by February 20, 2019

Linda Collison’s recently released “Barbados Bound,” begins provocatively, “I came aboard with the prostitutes the night before the ship set sail.”

The year is 1760 and not yet 17 year old Patricia Kelley is, quite literally, seeking to find her place in the world.  The illegitimate daughter of a West Indies plantation owner, attending an English boarding school, she finds herself without money, family or connections when her father dies suddenly. With a head full of dreams of reclaiming the plantation where she was born and largely raised, that her father promised to her as a dowry, she stows away aboard a merchant ship carrying gunpowder and military stores, bound for Barbados. She has much to learn of the world and her education is just beginning.

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‘Cajun Navy’ to the Rescue During Hurricane Isaac

Posted on by August 30, 2012

A wonderful story about private citizens in their own small boats in Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana, who came the rescue of their neighbors during Hurricane Isaac, guided by often by information from Facebook, earning the nickname, the ‘Cajun navy.’

‘Cajun Navy’ saves lives in New Orleans

Maritime Museum of San Diego Festival of Sail 2012

Posted on by August 31, 2012

Tomorrow, Friday August 31 through Monday September 3, 2012, the Maritime Museum of San Diego will host the Festival of Sail 2012, the largest tall ship festival on the west coast, transforming San Diego’s North Embarcadero into a nautical theme park.  More than twenty tall ships and other fascinating vessels will be participating.  The festivities start this afternoon with a parade of ships around San Diego bay finally ending at the Maritime Museum’s docks.

Festival of Sail 2012

Ships of New York Harbor: Marine Art of Christina Sun and Frank Hanavan Closing Party Thursday, August 30

Posted on by August 29, 2012

If you are near New York harbor, there is a closing party for the “Ships of New York Harbor: Marine Art of Christina Sun and Frank Hanavan” exhibit on the historic lighthouse tender Lilac tomorrow evening September 30, from 6 to 10 PM at Pier 25 on the Hudson River at West Street and N. Moore Street in lower Manhattan. There will be music by the Jug Addicts, a five-piece band playing music in the style of 1930s and 1940s “jug” bands, combining elements of ragtime, swing, and folk music.  David Sharps of the Waterfront Museum will serve as auctioneer at 8:30 PM when selected works by Frank and Christina and photographers Shelley Seccombe and David Hodgson are auctioned to benefit the restoration of the Lilac.

Hurricane Isaac in the Gulf, Typhoon Bolaven Pounds Korea – 4 Chinese Fishermen Dead, 12 Missing

Posted on by August 28, 2012

One hell of a day for storms at sea. Just after noon today, Isaac was upgraded to a Category 1 hurricane as it slowly moved north in the Gulf of Mexico toward Louisiana and the city of New Orleans, on a track disturbingly similar to that taken by Hurricane Katrina seven years ago, which came ashore as Category 3 hurricane.

In the Pacific, Typhoon Bolaven is pounding the Korean peninsula.  Five Chinese crew are confirmed drowned and twelve are still missing from two Chinese fishing vessels off Jeju Island, near the southern tip of the South Korean mainland.

South Korea typhoon kills Chinese fishermen

http://youtu.be/1cB-QndeZYU

Thanks to Phil Leon for contributing to this post.

Clipper Ship City of Adelaide Ready to Begin her Long Voyage Home to Australia

Posted on by August 28, 2012

Last January we posted that the composite clipper ship City of Adelaide would begin her voyage by barge and then ship  to her namesake city in Australia by March, “if all goes well.”   As is not unusual is this sort of project, there have been delays.  The new departure date from Scotland is now October.  The ship, built in 1864, has been fumigated and is waiting on a barge to take her to Rotterdam, where she will be loaded onto a container ship for her return trip to Australia.

The City of Adelaide is the world’s oldest surviving composite clipper ship and is the only surviving sailing ship built to give regular passenger and cargo service between Europe and Australia.  She is five years older than the composite clipper, Cutty Sark.

City of Adelaide to begin its trip to Port Adelaide from Scotland in October

America’s Cup Racing – the Reason that the Crews Wear Crash Helmets

Posted on by August 28, 2012

I have a distinct recollection a photo of Thomas Lipton on one of his Americas Cup challengers sipping a cup of the tea on which his fortune was based.  I can’t find the photograph, so perhaps I shouldn’t trust my memory.  Nevertheless, it is safe to say that America’s Cup racing has changed.  These days the sailors don’t sip tea from porcelain cups; they wear crash helmets. Last Friday, Russell Coutts, skipper of the Oracle boat demonstrated why the helmets are a good idea when he tried, unsuccessfully, to squeeze between the Race Committee boat and another racer at a speed of around 20 knots.  Thanks to Irwin Bryan for passing along the video.

America’s Cup – Jimmy on Russell’s Crash Out

http://youtu.be/6fbFT1JWw7Y

 

Alaric Bond on C.S. Forester – An Unlikely Sea Daddy

Posted on by August 27, 2012

Today is C.S. Forester’s birthday.  (Thanks to Margaret Muir, who pointed it our on Facebook. Otherwise, I would have missed it.) Cecil Louis Troughton Smith, who wrote under the pen name of Cecil Scott “C.S.” Forester was born on August 27, 1899.  While Forester wrote over fifty books, he will probably always be best remembered for his creation of Horatio Hornblower, the Georgian naval officer who rose from midshipman to admiral over a dozen novels and short stories.

Alaric Bond, author of the Fighting Sail series of novels, wrote an article for the June 2012 issue of Reflections, the C S Forester Society  magazine, on the influence C.S. Forester had on his writing. The article is reproduced below with his permission.

An Unlikely Sea Daddy

For me it all started with a slightly gruff and remote frigate captain. He was a man who lived his life bitterly aware of his own inadequacies, and in constant fear that one of his real, or imagined, weaknesses would expose him as the fraud he supposed himself to be. It was a wonderfully complex, yet understandable character and the fact that he shared a world that I then considered Nelson’s was an added bonus, although if Hornblower had appeared in any other time or genre he would probably have been almost as compelling.

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J. Steven Dews’ ‘Battle of Trafalgar’ Expected to Fetch over £100,000 at Bonhams Auction

Posted on by August 27, 2012

The old saying goes that success is the best revenge.  John Stevens Dews failed his ‘A’ level art. (For the non-British, including myself, the ‘A’ level is a public examination in a subject taken for the General Certificate of Education (GCE), usually at the age of 17-18.)   Perhaps the examiners should be examined. Dews, who was told as a youth that fame usually comes only after an artist has died, is now one of Britain’s most sought-after living marine artists.  Dews painting, “The Battle of Trafalgar – H.M.S. Victory breaking the enemy line and raking the stern of the French flagship as she goes through” is the star of the September 26th Marine auction at Bonhams in London.  The painting is expected to fetch between £100,000 – 150,000, or €130,000 – 190,000 or US$ 160,000 – 240,000.  Thanks to Alaric Bond for passing along the news.

Battle of Trafalgar masterpiece by artist who failed “A level” art for sale at Bonhams

Little Leon, 16′ Small-Tall Ship

Posted on by August 26, 2012

Leon of 1880 (left), Little Leon (right)

When I first saw the photo, I thought that the Little Leon was sailed by giants. The ship looked properly to scale, while the crew seemed disproportionately large.  It turns out that Little Leon is a 16′ long brigantine modeled after the Leon, a 120′ Norwegian brigantine built in 1880.  Little Leon will be sailing in the Old City Seaport Festival on the Delaware River in Philadelphia sponsored by the Independence Seaport Museum from October 5-7th.  For fans of other “small ships” see our post from 2010: “Small Ships Under the Tower Bridge“

Little Leon: Sailing a 16-foot model of a square-rigged ship

High Drama on the Sail to Dublin – Teens Battle 60 Knot Winds & Black Diamond of Durham Saves Singlehander

Posted on by August 25, 2012

Photo: Frank Miller/The Irish Times

The Dublin Tall Ship Festival is well underway this weekend in Ireland, with 40 tall ships and at least a dozen accompanying vessels.  A million vistitors are expected to throng the docks.  There was already considerable drama prior to the arrival of the ships and boats in Dublin.  Teen crew on the three masted 30 meter schooner, Kapitan Borchardt, battled 60 knots winds in a storm which snapped one of the ship’s booms.  No one was reported injured and the ship arrived safely in Dublin.  Ecuadorean navy’s tall ship, Guayas, also reported ripped sails.

Teens battle 110kph winds as Tall Ship damaged in storm

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