Struck by a Breaching Whale – Circumnavigator Max Young Rescued off Baja

Posted on by June 14, 2012

Reflections

Since 1985, Max Young has sailed his Perry 50, Reflections, around the world.  He survived storm, calm, tsunami and pirates off Indonesia.  His voyage came to an end early Wednesday morning off Baja in the Pacific, 40 miles west of La Playa, Mexico, when a breaching whale struck his sail boat.  The whale disabled the boat’s steering and damaged the hull.  Unable to steer and with the boat taking on water, Young, 66, who was single-handing on a voyage from Central America, activated his EPIRB. The US Coast Guard dispatched a Hercules Long Range Surveillance Aircraft and vectored the Ocean Virgo, a Panamanian-flagged merchant ship, participating in the Automated Mutual-Assistance Vessel Rescue System (AMVER), to Young’s position.  The Ocean Virgo picked up Max Young at around 4AM Wednesday.

Sacramento Man Rescued After Whale Collision
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Marina 59 and the Far Rockaway “Boatel” Built from the Flotsam & Jetsam of Jamaica Bay

Posted on by June 13, 2012

Photo: Nathan Kensinger

In a marina in the Far Rockaway neighborhood, in the New York City borough of Queens, a summer habitation has grown up from a group of abandoned docks and boats.  Part artists’ colony and part junk yard, the Boatel at Marina 59 is described as :

... Summer adventure art camping on boats. The Boatel is an interactive art + sound installation that takes place on the docks of Marina 59, under the planes taking off from JFK airport and five blocks from Rockaway Beach.

23 artists from NYC and abroad are meticulously crafting a world out of the flotsam & jetsam of Jamaica Bay. A cluster of reclaimed/rebuilt docks + junk boats create worlds within worlds, an hour from the city and a thousand miles away from reality.
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Clearwater’s Great Hudson River Revival 2012 – A Music and Environmental Festival, 6/16 – 6/17

Posted on by June 13, 2012

If you are anywhere near the the village of Croton-on-Hudson, NY (about 30 miles north of New York City), Clearwater’s Great Hudson River Revival 2012 promises to be a great weekend of music, storytelling and sailing.

Over forty years ago, the folk singer, Pete Seeger, decided that he wanted to do something about the Hudson River, which was polluted with sewage, industrial waste and toxic chemicals and considered environmentally “dead.”  He decided to “build a boat to save the river.”  His idea was to build a replica of the classic Hudson river sloop to bring people down to the river again.  The Great Hudson River Revival initially helped raise the funds to build the sloop, optimistically named, Clearwater, which has since become a world-renowned floating classroom and a symbol of effective grassroots action. The Hudson River Sloop Clearwater is a non-profit organization that sails at the forefront of the nation’s environmental challenges. So far, over 500,000 children have experienced the Hudson River estuary aboard the sloop. The revenue raised by the Revival goes to support Clearwater’s numerous educational programs and its work toward environmental and social justice—as well as keeping the Clearwater sailing.

Clearwater’s Great Hudson River Revival
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Battleship USS Texas – 100 Years Old and Taking on Water Fast

Posted on by June 26, 2012

Battleship Texas taking on extraordinary amounts of water

The battleship USS Texas was launched 100 years ago on May 19th, 1912.  She is the oldest remaining dreadnought battleship and only one of six surviving ships to have served in both World War I and World War II.

Right now, she is also taking on water fast.  On Saturday, crews discovered what is described as “extraordinary amounts of water” flooding the ship’s engine room.  They still have not been able to identify the source of the leak but have been attempting to manage the flooding with additional pumps.  The ship is also beginning to list.

This is not the first time that the aged ship has sprung a leak.  In June of 2010, the ship came close to sinking but was caught time.  After that close call, a plan was developed to build a cofferdam around the ship, to create a dry berth. That was almost two years ago, but shortages of funds have postponed the construction.

Diving Dock Dogs and a Tall Ship at the Sailing Seaway Clayton Festival

Posted on by June 12, 2012

There have been lots of festivals this season with tall ships, but how many can boast dock diving dogs?  Last October, we posted about the new and growing sport of dock dogs, where dogs competing on how far they can jump into the water. This weekend’s Sailing Seaway Clayton festival in Clayton, New York will feature a visit by the STV Fair Jeanne, but will also include a Seaway Splash dock dog competition.  Dogs will be able to compete in three events – “Extreme Vertical,” and  “Speed Retrieve.”  The Seaway Splash events will be held on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.  Click here for a detailed schedule.   On Thursday at 6PM there will be a boat parade to escort the STV Fair Jeanne into port.  The  Fair Jeanne will also be open for tours on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Clayton, New York is a riverfront village on the St. Lawrence River in the Thousand Islands region. It is also home to the Antique Boat Museum.

Coast Guard: Report of Explosion on Yacht Blind Date A Likely Hoax

Posted on by June 12, 2012

Yesterday we posted about an odd distress call. The Coast Guard now considers the report that the yacht Blind Date exploded off the coast of New Jersey to be a likely hoax.  No debris from the yacht was ever found. Nor were the reported liferafts ever spotted.  The Coast Guard has begun an investigation into the probable hoax.
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Mysterious Explosion – Yacht Blind Date Reported Sunk off New Jersey Coast, Possible Hoax

Posted on by June 11, 2012

Explosion on Blind Date? More questions than answers

A very odd news report from this afternoon. At around 4:20 PM, a yacht identified as the Blind Date is reported to have exploded with 21 people aboard in the Atlantic, about 17.5 miles off Sandy Hook, New Jersey, according to NBC New York.  The people aboard are said to have taken to life rafts.  Coast Guard helicopters and rescue boats were dispatched.  The Coast Guard is reporting that 7 people are injured while other sources are reporting 9 burn injuries.

Over two hours after the explosion was reported, neither the Coast Guard nor private boats in the area have located any life rafts or debris from the reported explosion according to reporting by the Washington Post.

The U.S. Coast Guard says a report of the explosion could be a hoax because it can’t find any signs of distress in the water.

The yacht in the reports is believed to be the 160′ motor yacht built by Trinity Yachts in 2009 named Blind Date but there has been no confirmation of this either.

Happy Kamehameha Day ! – King Kamehameha, Isaac Davis, John Young and the Fair American

Posted on by July 28, 2012

Kamehameha the Great

Happy Kamehameha Day!  In the state of Hawaii, June 11th is celebrated as Kamehameha Day, honoring  Kamehameha the Great, the king who unified the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi in 1810.  The holiday was established in 1871 by King Kamehameha V, Kamehameha’s great grandson.  On this Kamehameha Day, it seems worthwhile to remember an Englishman and a Welshman, who became trusted advisors to the king and who helped him unite the island nation. Just as the Polynesian nobleman, Tupaia, advised Cook on navigation, so these two sailors, John Young and Isaac Davis, taught European gunnery and tactics to the famous king.
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Baltimore’s “Star-Spangled Sailabration” Kicks Off War of 1812 Bicentennial Festivities

Posted on by June 11, 2012

Starting this Wednesday, June 13th, Baltimore, MD will host its “Star-Spangled Sailabration,”  a week long festival with 18 tall ships and  22 naval vessels, marking the start of Maryland’s three year commemoration of the bicentennial of the War of 1812.   In addition to the parade of tall ships, the festivities will include parachute jumps into Camden Yards as well as music, fireworks and an air show over Fort McHenry.  Click here to learn more and to find “sailabration” schedules and maps.
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Iowa Class Battleship News – USS Iowa Makes Final Journey, USS New Jersey Gets a Loan and USS Missouri Saves the World From Aliens

Posted on by June 11, 2012

These are busy time for the World War II vintage Iowa Class battleships. The USS Iowa arrived yesterday in the Port of Los Angeles to tie up alongside her new permanent home, Berth 87, in San Pedro, California, where she will become a museum ship.

On the East coast, the USS New Jersey, a museum ship in Camden, NJ since 2001, has been suffering hard times financially due to a drop in tourism and a cut in state funding.  Last Wednesday, it received a a $900,000 loan guarantee from the Delaware River Port Authority.  This doesn’t solve the ship’s financial problems, but certainly buys some time.

In Hawaii, the USS Missouri, a museum ship since 1999, helped to fight off an alien invasion and save the the world.  OK, it actually fought off the alien invasion in the big budget movie, Battleship.  Apparently, the rest of the navy is blocked by an impenetrable force filed so a group of renegade officers and World War II vets and museum volunteers put the USS Missouri to sea to save the planet.  The movie only got a 34% rating on Rotten Tomatoes but we hear that the USS Missouri gave a wonderful performance.
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Remembering and Possibly Rediscovering Cook’s HMS Endeavour

Posted on by June 10, 2012

The recent transit of Venus, the passing of the shadow of the planet Venus across the face of the sun, brought to mind the voyage of Captain Cook in HMS Endeavour in 1768-1771.  Now, archaeologists in Rhode Island believe they may have located Cook’s ship.

in 1768, Cook’s orders were to search for “Terra Australis Ignota,” the “unknown land of the South” a vast continent believed to exist in the far Southern Pacific. While he was there, he was to observe the transit of Venus on 1769 in Tahiti, to help determine the distance between the Earth, the Sun and the planet Venus. Cook’s mission on HMS Endeavour was truly a voyage of discovery on both sea and space.

Cook’s Venus endeavour recalled

After Cook’s voyage HMS Endeavour was largely forgotten. Renamed Lord Sandwich, she served as a troop transport, carried commercial cargoes and was even a prison ship for a time during the American Revolution. She was finally sunk by the Royal Navy in Narragansett Bay in August of 1778 in the blockade of Newport, RI. Recently, Dr. Kathy Abbass, the director of the Rhode Island Marine Archaeology Project, believes that they have located the location where the Endeavour/Lord Sandwich was scuttled.

Long-lost ship Endeavour located?
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British Solo Rowers Sarah Outen & Charlie Martell Rescued from Tropical Cyclone Marwar

Posted on by June 9, 2012

Sarah Outen Photo: Toru Yamanaka/AFP/Getty Images -- Charlie Martell Photo:Johnny Green/PA

Tropical cyclone Marwar ended attempts by two solo British rowers to row across the Pacific this week.  Sarah Outen, 27, was attempting to traverse the globe using only human power, by either rowing, kayaking or cycling.   She began her attempt from London in April of 2011.  Her quest ended on Thursday, roughly 575 miles off Japan, when tropical Cyclone Marwar capsized her seven-metre (23ft) boat Gulliver.  The boat was damaged in the capsize and was taking on water.  The car carrier Texas Highway was the first to reach the stricken boat and stood by until the Japanese Coast Guard arrived.

Charlie Martell, 41, a Royal Engineer Commando, was attempting to row from Choshi, Japan, to San Francisco, California, when his boat was also caught in tropical cyclone Marwar.  In 50 foot waves, his boat, Blossum, was rolled several times, damaging a bulkhead.  Martell was picked up by the bulk carrier MV Last Tycoon.
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Explosive-Laden Liberty Ship SS Richard Montgomery May Sink Thames Estuary Airport

Posted on by January 3, 2016

The masts of the SS Richard Montgomery – too dangerous to move, too dangerous to ignore

The Liberty ship SS Richard Montgomery, with a cargo of high explosives, was wrecked off the Nore in the Thames Estuary in 1944.  Shortly after the wreck, an attempt was made to remove her cargo but the ship broke apart with 1,400 tonnes of high explosives still aboard.  And there, in the Thames Estuary, 1.4 miles from the town of Sheerness, the wreck of the SS Richard Montgomery has lain for the last 68 years, its masts still rising above the water, with an orange buoy marked “Danger” bobbing nearby.   Now the wreck may have sunk a proposal for an airport on the Thames Estuary.

MP says explosion risk from sunken WW2 munitions ship makes Thames Estuary airport plans a non-starter 
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Killer Whales Only Deadly in Captivity – New Ruling Protects Trainers, Who Protects the Orcas?

Posted on by June 8, 2012

A recent ruling by the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission, determined that orca trainers must either remain at a greater distance from the orcas, stand behind a physical barrier or use other devices to keep them safer during performances. This ruling comes two years after the death of Dawn Brancheau, a trainer who was dragged underwater and killed by an orca at the SeaWorld park in Orlando.

Ruling Puts Distance Between Killer Whales and Trainers

Ironically, the whales that are called “killer” are not dangerous to humans in the wild.  Only once they are split from their family groups and held in small tanks to entertain ticket buyers, do they live up to the name.  There are no documented cases of a wild orca killing a human.  There is only one documented case of a wild orca ever actually biting a human.  By contrast, there have been at least two dozen cases of orcas attacking humans since the 1970s, exclusively perpetrated by captive animals. Four of these attacks have resulted in deaths.

Killer whale attacks on humans
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OpSail 2012 Virginia – Parade of Sail

Posted on by June 7, 2012

Tomorrow, a truly impressive fleet of tall and naval ships will be proceeding in a “Sea and Air Parade of Sail.”    The parade will pass through the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay at Cape Henry, through Thimble Shoals Channel via the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel, past Fort Monroe in Hampton, and into downtown Norfolk along the Elizabeth River.  Click here for times and best viewing locations. Click here for a complete list of tall ships and here for a list of naval vessels.

OpSail 2012 Virginia

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Hermione, Freedom’s Frigate, is Afloat

Posted on by June 7, 2012

We have posted  last March about the replica of the French light frigate l’ Hermione, which has been under construction since 1997 at the historic dockyard in Rochefort, France.  The original l’ Hermione carried the 23 year old the Marquis de Lafayette back to America in 1780 carrying news of France support for the revolution.

This weekend, the replica l’ Hermione reached a major milestone. The Hermione is now afloat for the first time. The celebration of the ship’s launching is scheduled for July 6 – 8th.

Rochefort: the frigate “Hermione” afloat since Saturday

Tsunami Dock Washes up on the Oregon Coast

Posted on by June 7, 2012

A 66 feet long, 165 tonne, starfish and barnacle encrusted, steel and concrete floating dock has washed up on  Agate  beach, south-west of Portland, Oregon.  A plaque on the dock identifies it as coming from the port of Misawa in northern Japan, washed free during the tsunami of 2011.  The dock has tested negative for radiation.  The dock drifted 5,000 miles over 15 months. Debris from the tsunami continues to be a hazard to navigation. Fortunately, no vessel collided with the floating dock at sea. Unfortunately, two other docks from the same port are still missing.

Huge Japan tsunami dock washes up on US beach

Vacuum Cleaner Victims – the Clipper Ship Cutty Sark and Now the USS Miami !

Posted on by June 7, 2012

Victims of Vacuum Cleaners?

There is a new threat to our nautical heritage and our nation’s defense!  In 2007, the composite tea clipper Cutty Sark, built in 1869, was ravaged by fire.  An investigation revealed the culprit – an industrial vacuum cleaner.   Now, it appears that a vacuum cleaner has struck again!   Investigators say that a vacuum cleaner caused the recent fire on the nuclear submarine USS Miami in a shipyard in Maine, causing an estimated $400 million of damage.

US nuclear submarine fire linked to vacuum cleaner