Lobster Trap Christmas Trees – Christmas Tradition & Friendly Competition

Posted on by December 24, 2016

A lobster trap tree from Cape Porpoise, Maine

Lobster traps, also known as lobster pots, are ubiquitous around the coastal towns of New England. Around this time of year, Christmas trees built from stacked lobster pots rise in many towns along the coast. With fishermen being fishermen, a friendly competition between the communities has broken out over who has the best, most attractive or tallest lobster trap tree.  This year, Beals, just across Moosabec Reach from Jonesport,Maine appears to have the tallest trap tree, topping out at 60 feet. Rockland’s tree is only 30 feet tall but is decorated with garlands and lobster pot buoys.  It was also featured on the Discovery Channel’s “Extreme Christmas Trees.” See the trailer below for a glimpse of Rockland’s lobster trap tree.

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The Halcyon Days – Not So Peaceful This Year

Posted on by December 22, 2011

Kingfishers and Calm Seas

According to an ancient sailors’ legend, we are in the middle of the Halcyon days – seven days of calm on either side of the winter solstice. The legend says that the halycon bird lays its eggs on the winter solstice in a floating nest. The halcyon is said to have the ability to calm the seas so as to be undisturbed when laying its eggs. The halcyon is generally associated with the kingfisher.  For a more detailed version of the legend – The Myth of Halcyon – The Halcyon Days.

Unfortunately,  this year’s week before the solstice has been anything but calm.  Hurricane force winds forced the cargo ship, TK Bremen, ashore on the beach on Brittany; a storm sank an overloaded boat off Indonesia with the loss of 200; and the Russian jack-up drilling rig, Kolskaya, capsized under tow in a storm in the Sea of Okhotsk killing at least 50. So far the legend hasn’t worked out too well.

Ancient legends notwithstanding, on this winter solstice, we at the Old Salt Blog hope that the rest of your holiday season and the entire new year prove to be peaceful and prosperous.

Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge – “The World’s Roughest Rowing Race” Living Up to Its Name

Posted on by December 21, 2011

The Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge  which bills itself as “The World’s Roughest Rowing Race” is living up to its name. As we posted previously, seventeen boats set off December 4th to row across the Atlantic from Spain’s San Sebastian de la Gomera in the Canary Islands, following the ‘Columbus Route’ westbound to Port St Charles in Barbados. That number has now fallen to 12 boats as five have withdrawn from the race. The two most recent, H2Row and Boogie Woogie retired over the weekend.

The most dramatic moment in the race thus far came last week when Team Tom’s boat PS Vita sank from under them after being struck by a 30 foot wave. The rowers were rescued by the cruise ship Crystal Serenity which changed course to pick up the rowers who spent 10 hours in a life raft. The Corinthian Team, a four man boat now in fifth place, also encountered 30 foot swells but successfully weathered them. The leader in the race is currently Andrew Brown, a single rower in the boat JJ. Box Number 8 and Row to Recovery are in second and third places respectively.

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The Long Voyage of Laura Dekker – Reaching the End or Starting Again ?

Posted on by December 21, 2011

Laura Dekker, the 16 year old solo sailor, is on the last leg of her voyage around the world.   She is bound not for Europe but back to Sint Maarten in the Caribbean, from which she sailed on January 5, 2011. On her arrival, she will be the youngest ever to circumnavigate the globe alone.  As she noted on her blog yesterday, with typical understated good humor, “ Now I only have some 4800 nautical miles to go until I reach the Caribbean and finish my circumnavigation of the world. That sounds so incredibly close in view of all the miles Guppy already has under the keel, but at the same time it seems quite far away for I am still in the southern hemisphere. ..”

Her voyage may not end in the Caribbean. In a recent interview Laura commented “I will make my way back to Whangarei in New Zealand where I hope to settle and maybe call home.”  Laura was born in Whangarei, fittingly enough, on a sailboat.  It has always seemed that Laura’s focus has been on the voyage itself and not on setting records.
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Mariners Respond to 9/11- a PortSide NewYork Exhibit

Posted on by December 21, 2011

Last September, PortSide New York mounted a multi-media exhibit on the historic buoy tender, Lilac,  about the extraordinary and little-known maritime role played in the recovery from the attacks of 9/11, from the evacuation to refuse removal and rebuilding.  A video about the exhibit:

Mariners Respond to 9/11- a PortSide NewYork Exhibit

Dr. Edith Widder – Using Bioluminescence to Fight Pollution

Posted on by December 20, 2011

A fascinating glimpse in today’s New York Times at the work of Dr. Edith Widder who is using bioluminescence to measure the level of pollution in coastal sediments.

Illuminating the Perils of Pollution, Nature’s Way

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More Volvo Ocean Race Boat Failures – Team Sanya Sails for Madagascar

Posted on by December 20, 2011

The Volvo Ocean Race is a big money around the world race, with corporate or state sponsored teams, racing with professional crews on Open 70 sailboats. With that much money, expertise and hardware, what could go wrong? Quite a lot actually.

Two of a fleet of six boats, Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing‘s Azzam and China’s Team Sanya, dropped out within the first 24 hours of the first leg of the race with rigging or hull failures. Puma’s Mar Mostro would later also lose her rig. In all, half the Volvo fleet traveled to the start of the second leg of the race as deck cargo on ships. Azzam and Mar Mostro were given new rigs in Cape Town and Team Sanya’s boat had a damaged bow replaced. Yesterday, while in the lead on the second leg of the race, the crew of Team Sanya noticed a problem with their rigging. They avoided losing the mast but pulled out of the race and sailed for the closest port in Southern Madagascar. They have officially suspended racing until parts arrive and repairs can be made but have not pulled out of the second leg yet.

Sanya is beset by troubles again in Volvo Ocean Race

Stricken Fishing Vessel Sparta Not Fit for Antarctic Ice

Posted on by December 19, 2011

The Russian fishing vessel Sparta is afloat, though just barely after being holed by ice at the edge of the Ross ice shelf in Antarctica.  Why was an non-ice strengthened fishing boat fishing in such treacherous waters in the first place?  That is the question being raised by the Vyacheslav Martyanov, the deputy head of the Russian Antarctic expedition at the research institute of the Arctic and Antarctic regions.

Troubled fishing boat ‘not suitable for ice’

“The area where the Russian fishing vessel has been in distress is one of the most difficult icy zones of Antarctica,” he told state-controlled Voice of Russia.

 “Only ice-strengthened vessels or icebreakers can sail there. We can only guess how such a small and unfitted vessel came to that area.”
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Timelapse of the Building of the Lugger Grayhound

Posted on by December 19, 2011

Perhaps if I worked as fast as the folks in this video, I might get something done.

Thanks to Alaric Bond for passing along the link to the building of the lugger Grayhound. In March of 2010, we posted about the lugger Spirit of Mystery returning home to Cornwall after recreating the epic voyage by seven Cornishmen, several of whom had never been out of sight of land, who set sail in 1854 bound for the gold fields of Australia in Mystery, a 37′ Mounts Bay Lugger. The building of the lugger Grayhound is being directed by Chris Rees who led the building of Spirit of Mystery. The new lugger is a based on a 158 ton vessel built in 1776 by a boat builder from Cawsand, John Parkin. There is some mystery as to the full history of the vessel, but it is known she acted as both excise vessel and privateer.

The construction should take about 18 months to complete with a further year of fitting out.

Timelapse film of the building of the Grayhound

More than 200 Missing as Asylum Seeker’s Ship Sinks Off Indonesia

Posted on by December 18, 2011

On December 15th last year a boat loaded with asylum seekers wrecked on Australia’s Christmas Island, killing 48 or more than half of the passengers aboard.   On Saturday, a boat bound for Christmas Island sank off Indonesia roughly 50 miles off East Java. At least 240 people were aboard, though some reports put the figure at closer to 400 . Fewer than 50 people have been rescued thus far.  Rescue boats continue to search for the over 200 missing.

Asylum boat sinking

Indonesia Says 217 Asylum Seekers Missing After Boat Sinks
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Russian Oil Rig, Kolskaya, Capsizes off Sakhalin – 4 Dead & 49 Missing

Posted on by December 18, 2011

The Russian jack-up drilling rig, Kolskaya, capsized while under tow in a storm in the Sea of Okhotsk, 200 KM off Sakhalin Island at 12.45 local time (0145 GMT) Sunday.  Of the 67 crew on board, 14 were rescued,  four are reported to have died and 49 are missing.

The air temperature was reported to be -17C and rescue efforts by boat and helicopter are being limited by the severity of the weather.  The rig, built in Finland in 1985, was under contract to Gazprom.  The Kolskaya was being towed to Kholmsk on the western side of Sakhalin island when it capsized and sank in 20 minutes into waters more than 1,000 meters deep.  Thanks to Alaric Bond for passing on the news.

Russian drilling rig sinks off Sakhalin, 49 missing

Update: Sparta’s Condition Precarious with Help Days Away

Posted on by December 18, 2011

On Friday we posted about the Russian fishing vessel, Sparta, which was in danger of sinking off the Ross Ice shelf in Antarctica.  The ship with a crew of 32 had been holed five feet below the water line and was listing to 13 degrees.  Since then the news has been mixed.  A New Zealand Air Force Hercules flew over the Sparta late Saturday and dropped an emergency pump and fuel to help stabilize the ship. The second pump was able to slow the flooding but patches which the crew had placed on the hull  failed.  They are now attempting to re-secure the patches to the hull.

The Sparta’s owners have chartered the RV Aron, a South Korean icebreaker, to aid the stricken ship, but it could take eight days for the Aron to reach the Sparta.  The New Zealand fishing vessel, San Aspiring, gave up an attempt to reach the Sparta due to the ice. The Norwegian vessel Sel Jevaer is only 19 nautical miles away but is  currently blocked in by ice.  Sparta‘s sister ship, Chiyo Maru No. 3 is slowly making its way towards the stricken vessel but is still days away.

Ocean rescue hampered by ice

Japan Take Sea Shepherds to Court over Violence

Posted on by December 17, 2011

Japan’s whaling authorities are suing the Sea Shepherds in US courts to attempt to stop the violence directed by the organization against the annual Japanese whale hunt.  The Sea Shepherds claim that the annual hunt is illegal, but prefer what they refer to as  “direct action” rather than acting through the courts as the Japanese have chosen to do.

Japan whaling authorities sue Sea Shepherd in U.S.
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The Schooners of Madagascar and the Brittany Shipwrights

Posted on by December 17, 2011

Photo: Philippe Aimar

Last month we posted about the Bugis schooners of Indonesia – Where the Age of Sail Never Ended – the Bugis Phinisi, an Appreciation. Recently AFP (Agence France-Presse) published an article about another region where the age of commercial sail still lives on, as well. The locally built schooners of Madagascar still play a key role in keeping the local economy functioning. AFP also posted a Youtube video showing the schooners being built on the beaches of the island off the coast of East Africa.

French schooners still set sail in Madagascar
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Congratulations to Australian Rear Admiral & General Robyn Walker

Posted on by December 16, 2011

Only months after allowing women to serve in frontline combat units, Australia has promoted  Commodore Robyn Walker to Rear Admiral, the nation’s first female admiral.  Admiral Walker will also serve as the Australian Defence Force surgeon-general.

Admiral and surgeon general?  Rear Admiral Walker has quite an impressive resume.  From the Australian Navy’s Health Services – Profiles (which has not yet been updated to reflect her announced promotion) :

Commodore Robyn Walker, RAN qualified as a medical practitioner in 1982 and spent the next nine years working in the public health system in Queensland, Australia. Prior to joining the Royal Australian Navy her final position was the Director of Hyperbaric Medicine at Townsville General Hospital. CDRE Walker joined the RAN as a direct entry medical graduate in 1991 with the intent to continue her career in diving medicine.
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Cargo Ship TK Bremen Blown Ashore on Kerminihy Beach in Southern Brittany, Leaking Oil

Posted on by December 16, 2011

The Maltese flagged 6,600 DWT dry cargo ship, TK Bremen, was stranded this morning in high winds on Kerminihy beach at Erdeven, in southern Brittany, near the port of Lorient, France. Some of the 220 tons of fuel on board is reported to be leaking, threatening a local nature preserve.  Winds of over 80 mph were reported today and some 320,000 homes were without electricity due to the storm.

Fuel leaks off cargo ship beached off French coast

Russian Fishing Vessel Sparta Listing After Striking Sea Ice in Antarctica

Posted on by December 16, 2011

Photo: Maritime new Zealand

The 157 feet long Russian fishing vessel, Sparta, with a crew of 32 aboard, was holed below the waterline after striking sea ice in the Ross Sea off Antarctica early Friday morning.  The vessel is reporting have a one foot hole, five feet below the waterline and is listing 13 degrees. The ship is trapped in ice, reported to be up to five feet thick. The crew is attempting to limit the flooding and has been jettisoning cargo to lighten the ship.  Crew who are not occupied in the attempt to save the vessel are reported to have taken to the liferafts.  AFP news agency reports that the crew is made up of 15 Russians (including the captain), 16 Indonesians and a Ukrainian.

Assistance from other ships may be difficult due to the thickness of the ice.  The Chiyo Maru No. 3, a sister ship to the Sparta, is 290 nautical miles away and heading toward the damaged ship but is not ice strengthened and may be stopped by the ice. The San Aspiring, a New Zealnd long-line fishing vessel which is reported to have some ice strengthening, is also en-route but is four or five days away. A Norwegian fishing vessel, Sel Jevaer, is just 19 nautical miles away, but is blocked by heavy ice and cannot from reach the Sparta.

Crew of stricken Russian fishing ship on lifeboats

Russian Ship Sparta – Crew attempts repairs on Antarctic-stranded ship

First Tsunami Flotsam Arrives on West Coast & Perfect Storm Flotsam Discovery in Ireland

Posted on by December 15, 2011

Richard Figueiredo of Pembroke, Mass., lost hundreds of lobster traps in the “Perfect Storm” of 1991. One tag has been found on a beach in Ireland.

Two stories about flotsam and ocean currents. The first flotsam from the earthquake and tsunami, which struck Japan on March 11, is beginning to arrive on the West Coast of the United States. A large black float, believed to have floated from Japan, was found recently on a Neah Bay beach, according to Seattle oceanographers Curtis Ebbesmeyer and Jim Ingraham.  About 25 million tons of debris from Japan is expected to make landfall on beaches from southern Alaska to California, Ebbesmeyer said.

First debris from Japanese earthquake/tsunami reaches Olympic Peninsula
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China’s First New-Old Aircraft Carrier Returns from Second Sea Trial

Posted on by December 15, 2011

Last Sunday the first Chinese aircraft carrier returned from its second round of sea trials. The as of yet unnamed carrier, which reports suggest will be christened Shi Lang, was originally the unfinished Russian aircraft carrier Varyag whose keel was laid in 1985. The carrier is reported to be still missing gear necessary to land planes on the deck, due to a refusal of Russia to sell the equipment to China.  (See our previous post – From Varyag to Shi Lang – the Long Strange Voyage of China’s New Twenty Year Old Aircraft Carrier.)

First Chinese Aircraft Carrier Successfully Wraps Up Second Stage Sea Trials

Building the Viking Longship Dragon Harald Fairhair

Posted on by July 14, 2012

In western Norway, an ocean going Viking longship is taking shape. Named the Dragon Harald Fairhair, (or in Norwegian Draken Harald Hårfagre) she is the largest Viking longship to have been built in modern times and is due to be launched in the Summer of 2012. Here is a fascinating video which looks at the construction of the ancient clinker-built ship.

Dragon Harald Fairhair – A glimpse from the shipyard