A fascinating short film dating from 1935. From the notes: This film is tricky to describe: is it a boat study, a film-poem, an experiment, a picture postcard? One thing is certain: it’s a rare colour snapshot of the Thames and London in the 1930s – and it looks quite magical.
For those in trouble at sea, technology has dramatically increased the chances of survival. Satellite phones, GPS transducers, EPIRBs and the like have made it possible to call for help across the vastness of the world’s oceans. Some things haven’t changed however. When help arrives, chances are, it will be a merchant seafarer who comes to the rescue.
This Wednesday, when a distress call went out from a boat overloaded with asylum seekers bound for Australia’s Christmas Island, the first vessel on the scene was the Bison Express, a cattle carrier. Within a few hours, two other merchant vessels also arrived. Four of the refugees died, but 134 were saved by the crews of the merchant ships.
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We posted yesterday about Sailing for Couch Potatoes, or how to watch the America’s Cup Races without leaving your couch. NBC, for example, is broadcasting the America’s Cup World Series Finale on Sunday.
The New York Times this morning featured an article describing briefly how the Cup Races are receiving the “television treatment” including the electronic placement of racing information, including starting lines and way points, live on the televised image of the race itself. This is similar to how the line of scrimmage and first-down line magically appear on the televised field during football games. Indeed, Stan Honey, who developed the technology for football, has been hired by the America’s Cup organization.
Ville D’Aquarius
The story began around 3AM Wednesday morning, when a US Coast Guard boarding team, conducting a random sweep on the container ship Ville D’Aquarius, near Sandy Hook, just outside New York harbor, heard a knocking sound which appeared to be coming from somewhere in the ship’s containerized cargo. The Ville D’Aquarius is a 1996 built CMA-CGM container ship with a 2,807 TEU capacity. When she was boarded she was reported to have had aboard 2,039 containers.
Coast Guard spokeswoman Fannie Wilks reported that the officers tapped in a container area of the ship. “They heard tapping back and it continued for six hours, but it became weaker and weaker, the sound, until it went away,” Wilks said. The tapping began to fade, she said, as the boat came into the Port of Newark. “That’s when the tapping finally went away, and they didn’t hear anything back,” she said. Coast Guard spokesman Charles Rowe said, “They heard sounds that were consistent with people being inside a container.”
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Another in the series from Seafarers UK in observation of Seafarers Awareness Week. If world trade is going to continue to grow, we will more well trained seafarers. Seafarers UK is a major supporter of Sea Cadets.
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Back in the old days, the America’s Cup was sailed in 12 Meter yachts in the often misty light air of Rhode Island Sound. It was a competition more suited to still photography than video. How times have changed. Now elimination matches are being sailed in AC 45s in the East Passage, directly off Newport, Rhode Island. Click here for the program. And if you cannot make it to Newport for the races that start today, you can watch the action from the comfort of your couch. NBC will be broadcasting the finale of the series at 14.30 EDT on Sunday, July 1st. In California, Comcast Sports will also boradcast live racing each day, as well as a full replay at 2100 PDT. Globally, the coverage is available on more than 35 networks including Mediaset in Italy, Canal+ in France, SkySports in the UK, Supersport in South Africa, Rogers Sportsnet in Canada, OSN across the Middle-East, Fox Sports in Australia and TVNZ in New Zealand. Live webcasts will also available on the internet. Would someone please pass the potato chips?
AMERICA’S CUP WORLD SERIES FINALE COMES TO NBC
America’s Cup World Series 2011-2012: Television and Internet Schedule
When I was coming of age, many thought that the future of speed on the water would be in motor-powered hydrofoils. While there are still a few hydrofoil ferries in operation, the idea really never caught on. Now, however, hydrofoils have appeared from a different quarter, powered not by engines, but by the wind.
Last week, a photograph hit the net of the Oracle America’s Cup AC45 “flying” on foils in San Francisco Bay. “L” shaped daggerboard foils and a “T” foil on the rubber were added to the racing catamaran and “voila,” she could fly. Exactly how the foils are controlled is still unclear but the photos released by Oracle Team USA definately show the boat flying on the “L” shaped foils, or ‘flying like “L“‘ as the caption on their Facebook page describes it.
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PT-728
Last April, we posted that PT-728, a World War II Patrol Torpedo boat, was listed as for sale in the Hammacher Schlemmer catalog. The vintage PT boat has now been purchased by the newly opened Liberty Aviation Museum in Port Clinton Ohio. She recently passed through Cleveland on her way to her new berth. PT-728 will be one of two PT boats at the new museum. The new museum has also acquired PT-724, which has been converted to a private yacht. The museum intends to restore the boat to its World War II configuration. Thanks to Phil Leon for passing along the news.
Seafarers UK has put together a series of videos describing their mission and why it matters. Here a widow of a fisherman describes the roll of Seafarers UK in her family’s recovery following their loss.
Seafarers UK Fisherman’s Widow
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Photo taken by the MV Bison after arriving at the asylum-seeker boat before it capsized, June 27, 2012.
A boat loaded with asylum seekers has capsized in Indonesian waters about 107 nautical miles north of Australia’s Christmas Island. The boat is reported to have had 150 passengers and crew aboard. CNN is reporting that 136 have been rescued by two merchants ships. This is the second boat overloaded with asylum seekers to have capsized and sunk within a week in the waters north of Christmas Island.
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For anyone who loves wooden boats, Mystic Seaport is the place to be this weekend. Starting Friday and running through the weekend, the 21st Annual WoodenBoat Show will feature a fleet of beautiful wooden boats of all shapes and sizes as well as a wide range of activities, including Family BoatBuilding, where families get together to build boats from kits during the show. There will also be wooden boat and ship building demonstrations, films, and an “I Built It Myself” showcase and contest. The event is hosted by Mystic Seaport and produced and presented by Wooden Boat magazine. Click here to download the boatshow directory. And if you aren’t a lover of wooden boats, a visit to Mystic this weekend just might change that.
Beginning this Saturday, Boston Harbor will once again be filled with tall masts and square sails. OpSail Boston 2012 is celebrating the USS Constitution and the bicentennial of the War of 1812. The USS Constitution, nicknamed “Old Ironsides” after British round shot bounced off her oak planks, is the world’s oldest commissioned naval vessel afloat. Named by President George Washington, she captured numerous merchant ships and defeated five British warships during the War of 1812.
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We posted recently about the attempts to repair hull leaks in the BattleshipTexas, the oldest remaining dreadnought battleship and only one of six surviving ships to have served in both World War I and World War II. The ship has been on exhibit at the San Jacinto Battlefield State Historic Site since 1948. Last Thursday, the ship was pumped out and a patch installed over a 2 in inch hole in the ship. The ship was floating on her lines with no leaks until Saturday night when new leaks, from another area of the ship’s hull, again began flooding the old dreadnought. The museum ship, which had reopened Saturday, has now been shut down to visitors indefinitely.
USS Texas springs more leaks; 1,500 gallons per minute leaking
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In concert with IMO’s “Day of the Seafarer,” the good folks at Seafarers UK are sponsoring Seafarers Awareness Week, starting today and running through the July 1. Seafarers UK is a leading charity for seafarers in need and gives grants of £2.5 million annually to more than 70 charities that help seafarers, their families and dependants, across the Merchant Navy, Fishing Fleets, Royal Navy and Royal Marines.
Seafarer’s UK has put together series of short videos in observance of the week, which we will be reposting. In the video below, piracy survivor, Chirag Bahri tells his story.
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We recently posted about Max Young, who was close to completing a twelve year circumnavigation on his 50′ sailboat, Reflections, when it was struck by a whale. The sailboat was severely damaged by the impact and began sinking. Max was rescued by the Ocean Virgo, a Panamanian-flagged merchant ship. He recently returned home to Sacramento and had a few comments about his ordeal.
Today is the IMO “Day of the Seafarer.” So? Why does it matter? It matters because without the hard working men and women who go to sea, our world, our global civilization, simply would not exist.
Take a look at a world map. Where the are major cities? With few exceptions, the major cities of the world are either on natural harbors or at the head of navigation of large rivers. These cities exist because of trade, specifically trade by sea. 90% of world trade is carried by sea. It is only the seafarers who make that trade possible. Our misnamed planet, Earth, is almost three quarters ocean, which, because of seafarers is a vast highway that binds us all together.
Seafarers bring the energy we rely on, the raw materials we take for granted, the clothes we wear and the goods we could not live without. The computer or tablet that you are reading this on was built from components sourced from around the world. Even the global internet is only possible because seafarers in cable-laying ships laid the fiber-optic cable on the ocean floor that links continents together in a “World Wide Web.”
Over one million men and women work, day and night, every day of the year, under difficult and often dangerous conditions, to make the world we live in possible. Seafarers hold the world together, yet too often they are invisible and ignored. They deserve far more than a day’s appreciation. We hope that everyone will join us in thanking the seafarers all across our watery globe for their labors and in wishing them all fair treatment, fair wages and fair seas.
IMO Secretary-General pays tribute to seafarers around the world
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Photo: Will Van Dorp
The Mermaid Parade has been held on Coney Island in Brooklyn, New York since 1983. And I missed it again this year. Damn. Maybe next year. Fortunately, the intrepid Will Van Dorp was on hand with his camera. Check out his Tugster blog for more photos.
The parade started as a beginning of summer celebration for workers in the Coney Island and grew to attract artists and performers from around the country. The event attracts thousands of particiapnts and hundreds of thousands of spectators. It is billed as the “largest art parade in the US” and often is claimed to be the largest art parade in the world. Parade founder Dick Zigun say, “It’s nautical. It’s naughty. There is a little bit of nudity, but it’s not New Orleans, it’s Brooklyn style.”
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Photo: REUTERS
Last week, we posted about the MV Alaed, a 9,000 DWT geared cargo ship, reported to be carrying refurbished Russian attack helicopters bound for Syria. The ship, sailing under the Curacao flag, was turned aback after the cancellation of its P&I insurance coverage. The MV Alaed has been reflagged under the Russian flag and is reported to be ready to set sail from Murmansk to Syria in a few days. The ship will sail with another vessel as escort. Moscow is one of Syria’s main arms suppliers. There is no UN arms embargo on Syria.
Russian arms ship to make second attempt to deliver helicopters to Syria
The Sea Orbiter concept design looks like something straight out of science fiction. Floating half above and half below the surface of the water, it appears to be more like a scimitar-shaped inter-galactic spaceship than any sort of oceanographic research vessel. Fifty eight meters high, it will drift on the ocean currents as a largely self-sustaining ocean-going laboratory. The concept of French architect Jacques Rougerie, the design has been under development for the past 12 years and construction is planned to begin this October.
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The 185-foot Honduran-flagged coastal freighter Jireh ran aground Thursday morning on Mona Island, a rocky outcropping in the Mona Passage about midway between Mayagüez, Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic. The island is uninhabited and maintained as a nature preserve, while the reefs around the island are popular dive sites. While the grounding damaged a section of coral reef, there have been no reports of oil leakage.
In addition to the five crew members aboard, there were 79 undocumented Haitians on the ship when she ran aground. Reportedly, dozens of the undocumented migrants swam to shore on Mona. The freighter is reported to have been carrying no cargo, other than the undocumented passengers, all of whom have now been accounted for by Customs and Border Patrol officials.
Reefs damaged, but migrant freighter not leaking after grounding at Mona
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