Paul Allen’s yacht Octopus
Billionaire and philanthropist, Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen is loaning his 126 metre superyacht Octopus to the British Royal Navy to mount an expedition to locate and raise the bell from the battle cruiser HMS Hood (51) sunk by the German battleship Bismark in the Denmark Strait in 1941. Only three survived the sinking in which 1,415 died, the largest loss of life ever suffered by any single British warship.
If the recovery effort is successful, the bell will be given to the HMS Hood Association to be displayed at a new exhibition hall due to open at the Royal Navy Museum. The wreck of HMS Hood was discovered in 2001, in water 2,800 meters deep, and has been designated under the Protection of Military Remains Act 1986. The bell is known to be lying on the seabed well away from the ship’s hull which will not be disturbed by the recovery operation. The government has licensed the recovery of the bell – as well as providing a memorial, the recovery will prevent it being taken by any illegal operation for personal gain, an MoD spokesman said. Thanks to Captain Michael J. Howorth for passing the news along.
As noted by Super Yacht News, none of the newspapers carrying the story of the loaning of Octopus to the Royal Navy explain why it is a superyacht carrying out the expedition and not a properly equipped salvage vessel.
Paul Allen to Loan Octopus to Royal Navy in Search for Bell from HMS Hood
Earlier this month, 
Last April 
The Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum’s 5th Annual Chesapeake Folk Festival, this Saturday, July 28th, in St. Michaels, MD, celebrates the Bay’s people, arts, work, and bounty offers a full stage of live music all day long, regional foods, hands-on activities with regional craftspeople, small-craft paddling around the harbor, and more.
Two recent reports look at the actions and inaction of BP and its contractor Transocean before the Deepwater Horizon explosion and the consequences of the resulting spill on the environment. The explosion on the drilling rig Deepwater Horizon killed 11 and injured 17 and resulted in the largest accidental marine oil spill in the history. A report issued Tuesday by the Chemical Safety Board faulted BP and Transocean for failing to focus on the larger issues of safety and serious accident prevention. The report found that many of the the same failures in safety analysis and planning which lead to a 2005 explosion at a BP Texas City oil refinery, killing 15 employees, contributed to the Deepwater Horzion catastrophe.
The fire on the containership 
Drivers on the 
At the end of May, we posted about the “
The Smit 16,320-hp ocean going tug Fairmount Expedition has reportedly been successful in controlling the spread of the fire on the MSC Flaminia, the 6,732 TEU container ship which was abandoned in middle of the North Atlantic last Sunday after suffering a fire and an explosion. The Fairmount Expedition was joined last night by a second salvage tug, the 16,500-hp Anglian Sovereign. A third tug, the 10,880-hp Carlo Magno, is expected to arrive around mid-day Sunday to assist with the firefighting.