Rescue Mission to Nome – Russian Tanker Renda & USCG Icebreaker Healy Battle Ice to Deliver Fuel

Posted on by January 8, 2012

The Russian tanker Renda and the USCG icebreaking cutter Healy are on a rescue mission to the Alaskan city of Nome. After a major storm prevented a pre-winter fuel delivery by barge, the Russian tanker Renda was chartered to deliver 1.3 million gallons of diesel fuel and gasoline to the town of 3,600.  Without the emergency resupply the residents would have run out of fuel before spring.  The Renda is an ice strengthened tanker but found itself repeatedly stuck in sea ice last week. The Coast Guard icebreaking cutter Healy has had to cut paths for the tanker through ice that has ranged from 10 inches thick to several 5 foot thick pressure ridges.  Both ships are now expected to arrive in Nome on Monday or Tuesday.  When the ships arrive it will be the first time petroleum products have been delivered by sea to a Western Alaska community in winter.

Fuel tanker Renda escorted by Coast Guard ice breaker Arctic sea ice

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Update: Container Ship Rena Breaks Up on New Zealand’s Astrolabe Reef

Posted on by January 8, 2012

In early October, the MV Rena, a container ship owned by the Greek shipping company Costamare Inc, ran hard aground on the Astrolabe Reef in in the Bay of Plenty off New Zealand’s North Island.  When she struck the reef, the Rena was loaded with approximately 2,100 containers and around 1,700 tonnes of heavy fuel.  With the bow of the ship on the reef and the stern floating, structural cracking in the hull began to appear within two weeks of the grounding. The ship has now finally broken completely in half.  There is now concern that the stern of the ship could sink, potentially causing a new oil spill.  Also between 200 and 300 containers are believed to have fallen into the sea when the ship broke up, creating additional hazards to navigation.  Thanks to Alaric Bond for passing the news along and the Phil Leon for pointing out the video.

2012-01-08 – 3NEWS – RENA BREAKS IN HALF IN SEVERE STORMS

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Update: Cracking on the Vale Beijing – Offloading Bunkers and Transferring Cargo

Posted on by January 7, 2012

In early December, on her maiden voyage, the VLOC (Very Large Ore Carrier) Vale Beijing suffered structural cracking while loading cargo in northeast Brasil.  As reported by Maritime Propulsion , the extent of the damage was significant – the hull plating was found to have cracked in the vicinity of a water ballast tank, and from there water was making its way into a cargo hold. Vale Beijing is classed by DNV whose preliminary inspection reportedly described (in addition to the crack in outer hull plating) fairly substantial internal damage to web frames and longitudinals in the vicinity of the water ballast tank. 

Thanks to Dirk Bal for passing along a condition update and photos of the ship at anchor in the outer roads of Sao Luis,   The Vale Beijing is one of 35 Valemax class ore carriers delivered or under construction and are the largest ore carriers ever built.
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Jules Verne Trophy : Banque Populaire V – Closing on Finish Line and a New World Record at Almost Thirty Knots

Posted on by January 6, 2012

Update:  Banque Populaire V crossed the line at 45 days, 13 hours, 42 minutes, 53 seconds, beating the previous record by 2 days and 18 hours.  An amazing performance by Captain Loick Peyron and his crew. Our heartiest congratulations.

The live satellite map shows the maxi-trimaran Banque Populaire V  within 40 nautical miles of the finish line sailing at roughly 30 knots.  French skipper, Loick Peyron, and the crew of the maxi-tri are within hours of breaking the around the world speed record under sail and claiming the Jules Verne Trophy, smashing the previous record of 48 days 7 hrs and 45 min set by Frank Cammas’ Groupama 3 in 2010.   Banque Populaire V should cross the finish line line after roughly 45 days, 14 hours.

Brian Thompson, the only Briton in the crew, reports,  “Top speed I did on my last watch was 43.6 [knots]! That’s the fastest I will get to till the finish, as the wind will drop slowly. It might well have been my last full on blast on this mighty machine.  We have been doing 800 miles a day, doing 35 knots, and you wonder if something will go wrong at those speeds.”   Thompson will be the first Briton to circumnavigate the globe non-stop for a fourth time, beating existing records held by fellow sailors Dee Caffari MBE and Mike Golding OBE.

Brian Thompson thunders towards record books at 43 knots in Banque Populaire V
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Shanty Sings All Over – Mystic, New York, San Francisco, Port Townsend & Washington DC

Posted on by January 5, 2012

William Main Doerflinger Memorial Sea Shanty Sessions at the Noble Maritime Collection at Snug Harbor

This Saturday night, January7th, the Mystic Seaport will be hosting a “Chantey Blast and Pub Sing” from 1-5 PM in the Frohsinn Hall (aka the German Club), 54 Greenmanville Avenue, in Mystic CT as a fundraiser for the 33rd Annual Mystic Seaport Sea Music Festival  coming up in June.  The suggested donation is $15.

Around New York harbor, we have been fortunate to have had a monthly shanty (or chantey, if you prefer) sing for over a dozen years. In its current incarnation, it is called the William Main Doerflinger Memorial Sea Shanty Sessions at the Noble Maritime Collection at Snug Harbor.  William Doeflinger, who died in 2000, “collected” many well known sea shanties at the Sailor’s Snug Harbor retirement home in Staten Island, NY.  The shanty sing is held in one of the buildings where the old sailors sang their shanties for Doeflinger.  The acoustics are great and there is a sense of magic as the old songs are sung again where sailors from the great age of sail lived out their final days.  The shanty sessions are held on the third Sunday of every month.   from 2 to 5 PM, at the Noble Maritime Collection at the Snug Harbor Cultural Center at 1000 Richmond Terrace, building D, in Staten Island New York. For a short video see our post: The William Main Doerflinger Memorial Shanty Session, 5/15/11
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Laura Dekker, Banque Populaire V, Jules Verne, the Internet & and Our Shrinking Globe

Posted on by January 5, 2012

This morning, when I logged onto my computer, I checked the position of the max-trimaran Banque Populaire V as its screams it way across the North Atlantic at roughly 30 knots, seeking to seize the Jules Verne Trophy for the fastest non-stop circumnavigation. It is roughly 1,000 NM and less than two days, baring the unforeseen, from claiming the trophy.  I also read Laura Dekker’s blog.  The 16 year old single handed sailor is also sailing northward in the Atlantic, though much much slower than the Banque Populaire V. Her blog posts are straightforward and usually cheerful and upbeat. It is easy to see why so much of the sailing world is a fan of this remarkable young woman. Recently she wrote:

Waves behave nicer now and the wind is blowing from behind so Guppy still keeps rolling back and forth. Yet the wind is pulling at 15 knots which is unusual around here in the doldrums. Guppy is getting to be an oven now so I sleep during the day and stay up at night… and it is nice, what with the moonlit sea and the many many thousand stars up above.. It is real cool just to look at. Good winds keep Guppy happy and we are making good progress too with 3000 nautical miles already done which is more than halfway through this crossing. Let’s hope the second half will be just as good… Laura

I was struck how very strange it is to be tracking a racing trimaran in real time across the Atlantic or to be listening to a 16 year old sailor as she marvels at a moonlit sea while transiting the doldrums.
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The Lenox Project – Building a Restoration Warship

Posted on by January 4, 2012

A very interesting, if ambitious, new project.  While we often focus on the Georgian Navy, the Royal Navy during the Restoration is fascinating it own right.  The Lenox Project hopes to build a replica of the Lenox, a 17th century warship in the restored dockyard at Convoys Wharf, the site of Deptford Dockyard, the first of the Royal Dockyards, in Deptford, on the River Thames in London.

The Lenox Project 
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The Diversity of the Sea – Hybrid Sharks and Newly Discovered Species at Deep Sea Vents

Posted on by January 4, 2012

Given that we live on an ocean planet, it is remarkable how little know of the creatures of the sea. Recently, for example, scientists discovered the first hybrid sharks to be found in Australian waters. Also, teams of American and British researchers have just discovered new species of life in deep sea hydrothermal vents.

The Australian sharks are believed to be the result of in-breeding between genetically distinct Australian blacktip, whose range extends north from Brisbane, and the larger common blacktip found in southeastern coastal waters.

Hybrid Sharks Found in Australian Waters
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Berths Available on TS Pelican from Liverpool to the West Indies Next September

Posted on by January 4, 2012

The headline in the Liverpool Daily Post reads, “Places available on first Liverpool transatlantic tall ship voyage for more than 100 years.”   Whether this is literally true or not, the trip looks very interesting for a number of reasons. The three-masted barquentine Pelican will sail from the River Mersey with 28 passengers on a crossing from Liverpool to the West Indies on September 22.  Pelican is operated by Adventure Under Sail Ltd.
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Update: ValeMax Ship Finally Makes it to China

Posted on by January 3, 2012

It would have been almost funny, if billions of dollars were not at stake.  As we posted last June, the Vale Brasil, first of the Valemax class of Very Large Ore Carriers (VLOC) sailed on its maiden voyage with 391,000 tons of iron ore for China, only to be turned away. Vale S.A., the world’s largest iron ore producer, is building a fleet of 35 of the largest ore ships the world has ever seen specifically for the China trade, but China would not grant permission for the huge ships to call at Chinese ports.  Now, the first of the Valemax VLOCs has finally unloaded a cargo in China.  The Berge Everest, a Valemax ship owned by Berge Bulk Ltd and chartered to Vale, discharged what is reported to be a full cargo in the China’s Port of Dalian and has now sailed for Singapore.

Giant Vale ship completes maiden journey to China
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Tall Ship Elissa Fundraising On Track – Not So Endangered After All

Posted on by January 2, 2012

Last week we posted about America’s 10 Most Endangered Historic Ships of 2011, a list compiled by Joe Follansbee at the Fyddeye Guides.  This sort of list is interesting and useful in that it starts conversations about ships which require attention and could easily be overlooked.

There is at least one ship on the list, the barque Ellisa, that, while needing repairs, is in no danger of being ignored and is not “endangered” in any real sense.  This summer, it was found that a number of hull plates on the the 134-year-old barque had suffered serious electrolytic corrosion.  It is believed that the corrosion was a result of stray current from an underwater electrical cable broken by Hurricane Ike. The Fyddeye Guide noted that “the U.S. Coast Guard found severe hull deterioration and declared the ship unseaworthy, and thus unable to earn her keep.”  The problem with this statement is that while, like the Star of India, the barque Elissa is sailed at least once yearly, she does not “earn her keep” from sailing.
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The Passengers are Fatter so US Coast Guard Revises their Regulations

Posted on by January 2, 2012

For roughly the last fifty years, the US Coast Guard regulations for the loading and stability of passenger vessels has assumed an average weight of 160 pounds per person.  Conceding to the reality of a more corpulent population, the regulations were updated last month, increasing the  Assumed Average Weight per Person by 25 pounds, to 185 pounds.  So far the impact, particularly on larger vessels, has been small.  The Washington State ferry boat Wenatchee, which previously was rated for 2,000 people, can now legally hold about 1,700, which is not an issue as the ferry generally operates no where close to full passenger capacity. Likewise in New York harbor, the World Yacht and Circle Line cruises, deliberately operate at about 50 percent of capacity, about 300 people, to make for a roomier, more pleasant experience according to Jason Hackett, a company spokesman.

Smaller vessel owners who may be impacted by the change, are considering new stability tests and revised passenger calculations to maintain their current capacity.

Bulk’s Not Just in Bulkhead, So Coast Guard Steps In

The Cyber-Reconstruction of the 17th Century, Nossa Senhora dos Martires, at Texas A&M

Posted on by January 1, 2012

Audrey Wells and the Virtual Nau

What better way to start the new year than to look at a project which uses modern technology to recreate virtually a ship from 1606?    Dr. Filipe Castro,  of the Nautical Archaeology Program, Texas A&M University, working with the university’s Visualization Sciences department committee chairman Fred Parke and one of his students, Audrey Wells, have reconstructed a Nau, a Portuguese spice trader, the Nossa Senhora dos Martires (Our Lady of the Martyrs,) in 3D. More than simply a visual model, however, the project also looked at the hydrodynamics, stability and sailing performance of the ship. The project also considered the human ergonomics. How was it possible for such a vessel to carry a crew of 450, 220 tons of peppercorns, other cargoes, guns, supplies, and food and water for a six month voyage?  Using computer modeling, they are learning the secrets of sailing the ship lost on September 14, 1606, off the coast of Portugal.

The project is discussed in the The Cyber-Resurrection of Our Lady of the Martyrs in the Fall 2011 Surveyor, the journal of the American Bureau of Shipping.  See also, Virtual Nau.

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New Year a Day Early in Samoa and Tokelau

Posted on by December 31, 2011

New Year’s Day came a day early this year to Samoa and the Tokelau atolls in the South Pacific, while Friday, December 30th, disappeared entirely.  After being east of the International Date Line for almost 120 years, Samoa and the Tokelau atolls decided to move west, or more accurately to move the International Date Line, so that the islands are now west of the line. In doing so, they effectively made yesterday, Friday the 30th, disappear.  On the other hand, Samoa celebrated two July 4ths when they decided to shift east of the line back in 1892.

Samoa to switch time zones, skip Friday

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To Avoid Pirates, Volvo Ocean Fleet Traveling by Ship from Undisclosed Port

Posted on by December 31, 2011

On the first leg of the Volvo Ocean Race, half the fleet traveled to Cape Town on the deck of cargo ships following rigging or hull failures. Now in the second leg of the race, the entire fleet was loaded onboard an armed cargo ship on the day after Christmas at a “secret safe haven port in the Indian Ocean.” They will be carried to Sharjah, roughly 80 miles from Abu Dhabi, in order to restart the second leg on January 4th. This rather extraordinary step was taken to avoid the risk of pirate attacks in the Indian Ocean.

Leg 2 set for spectacular sprint finish into Abu Dhabi

 

The Perfect Wreck by Steven E. Maffeo – a review by Linda Collison

Posted on by December 30, 2011

Linda Collison, author of Surgeon’s Mate and Star-Crossed, recently reviewed Steven E. Maffeo‘s new book The Perfect Wreck – Old Ironsides and HMS Java: A Story of 1812 in her blog Sea of Words.  I enjoy reading Linda’s reviews almost as much as her books. Reposted with permission:

The Perfect Wreck chronicles a fateful clash of ships

“On board Old Ironsides, it suddenly occurred to Lieutenant Parker that thus far this battle had not been, and was not going to be, a mere pounding match. It was more a complex combination of skillful maneuver and artillery duel. He realized the two ships were much like fencers or boxers, with a succession of evolutions which resembled those kinds of changes of position – parries, lunges, ripostes, retreats, and advances – all accompanied by a continual play of the great guns, answering to the thrusts and blows of each individual movement…”

– from The Perfect Wreck –Old Ironsides and HMS Java: A Story of 1812.
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EDA-R : New French Navy Landing Craft

Posted on by January 3, 2012

A few days ago we posted about the boats Washington used to cross the Delaware.  Designs have changed since then,  Here is a wonderful animation by Raphaël Pierrot of the new French Navy  landing craft, the engin de débarquement amphibie rapide (EDA-R), which is a catamaran which provides the performance of an aircushion landing craft at the cost of a conventional landing craft.

EDA-R (Engin de Débarquement Amphibie Rapide)

 

Sea Shepherd’s New Speed Boat, Brigitte Bardot, Broken by the Southern Ocean

Posted on by December 29, 2011

Brigitte Bardot, the ex-Ocean_7_Adventurer

The reality TV stars, the Sea Shepherds, took their newest speed boat, the Brigitte Bardot, out on the Southern Ocean recently, which proved to be more than it could handle. The Brigitte Bardot reportedly cracked its main hull and severely damaged the port pontoon in heavy seas. No crew were reported to be injured and the boat will return to Freemantle Australia for repairs.

The Brigitte Bardot is the ex-Ocean_7_Adventurer, a high-tech 115 ft stabilized monohull twin diesel powered vessel built built to circumnavigate the world in less than 80 days. (It succeeded in rounding the world in 74 days in 1998.) The Sea Shepherd’s acquired the boat after sinking their previous speed boat, the Ady Gil, the ex-Earthrace, a biodiesel powered wave-piecing trimaran, which completed a circumnavigation in just 60 days 23 hours and 49 minutes.

Sea Shepherd anti-whaling boat damaged by wave

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New Masts for the Schooner Virginia

Posted on by December 28, 2011

In 2009, the non profit foundation that owns the schooner Virginia, the Virginia Maritime Heritage Foundation, ran out of cash. Burdened with $1.6 million of debt, they were forced to lay up the schooner. Now, the outlook for the schooner is still unclear but there are hopeful signs. The foundation has raised $100,000 to buy new masts, booms and spars, for the schooner to get the ship ready for OpSail 2012, coming to Hampton Roads in June. The new masts are expected to be installed in April. The Virginia Maritime Heritage Foundation is currently negotiating with Nauticus, a maritime museum in Hampton Roads, about using the Virginia as the centerpiece of a community sailing center.

Schooner Virginia to get new masts by OpSail

America’s 10 Most Endangered Historic Ships of 2011

Posted on by December 28, 2011

Joe Follansbee at the Fyddeye Guides has compiled a list of America’s 10 Most Endangered Historic Ships of 2011 to help raise awareness of the risk that these historic treasures may not be around much longer if something isn’t done.  One might argue over whether the schooner Spirit of South Carolina is more endangered than the schooner Ernestina or whether the barque Elissa is at greater risk than the barque Peking, but then that is the value of a such lists, to remind us of the ships we would all prefer not to lose to indifference and time.  The Fyddeye Most Endangered List:
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