“Mind the Light , Kate” — New York’s Robbins Reef Lighthouse Keeper Kate Walker

Posted on by March 6, 2023

In 1886, lighthouse keeper John Walker’s last words to his wife Kate as he died died from pneumonia, were “Mind the light, Kate.” Kate, then 38 with two teenage children, took his final wish to heart. She minded the light — from that day on, every single day, for more than three decades.

Though standing only 4’10” tall and weighing around 100 pounds, Katherine Walker served as the keeper of the Robbins Reef Lighthouse for 35 years, following the death of her husband. In addition to the arduous task of keeping the light burning, she also rowed across the choppy waters of Upper New York harbor, a mile each way, to take her two children to school on Staten Island, weather permitting. 

An immigrant from Germany, Kate met and married John Walker, who in 1883 was appointed keeper of the Robbins Reef Lighthouse. Kate found herself living on a reef inhabited solely by harbor seals. (Robbins Reef comes from the early Dutch name, “Robyns Rift,” or Seal Rocks.) 

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Women’s & Black History Months: Remembering Raye Montague, Barrier-Shattering Navy Ship Designer

Posted on by March 6, 2023

In honor of both March’s Women’s History Month & February’s Black History Month, an updated repost about the barrier-shattering naval engineer Raye Montague, who died at the age of 83 in 2018.

At the age of 7, she was inspired to become an engineer after she toured a captured World War II German submarine with her grandmother.  As an African-American girl, however, she was told that becoming an engineer was simply not an option.

Thirty years later, Raye Montague became the first person to use a computer program to rapidly develop a preliminary ship design for the US Navy. The design process had previously taken the Navy two years. Montague completed the preliminary design of the Oliver Hazard Perry Class frigate in less than 19 hours. Her accomplishment revolutionized the way the Navy designs ships and submarines. 

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Women’s History Month — Honoring Admiral “Amazing Grace” Hopper

Posted on by March 6, 2023

During Women’s History Month, it is good to remember and to honor Admiral Grace Hopper. Grace Hopper was a pioneering computer scientist and a United States Navy Rear Admiral. Hopper received a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in mathematics from Yale. She was nicknamed “Amazing Grace” and is often referred to as the “mother of computing.”

In October of 2020, the U.S. Naval Academy officially opened Hopper Hall, the academy’s new center for cybersecurity studies, named in her honor.  The cybersecurity facility is the first building named after a woman at the three main service academies.

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Remembering Frank Woerner, “Folk Father” & Shanty Singer

Posted on by March 6, 2023

I was stunned and saddened to read that shanty singer and folklorist Frank Woerner has died. I haven’t seen an obituary yet, but I came across a Facebook post by Alison Kelley who wrote, “It is with great shock and sorrow that my dear friend and folk father Frank Woerner has passed away suddenly.”

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Update: Thames Sailing Barge Blue Mermaid Authorized to Carry Cargo in the Thames

Posted on by March 3, 2023

In 2019, we posted about Blue Mermaid, the first sailing barge built for trade in Britain since 1930. Recently, the Maritime and Coastguard Agency has granted permission to the Sea-Change Sailing Trust, which owns the Blue Mermaid, for the barge to carry cargoes of up to 110 tonnes, between Lowestoft and Sandwich – and up the Thames. Blue Mermaid is also the first UK-registered sailing vessel to be authorized as a commercial cargo carrier since the 1970s.

The sailing ship trust, which provides training and education for young people and vulnerable adults is working with Brightlingsea-based Essex Cement to carry cargo within its authorized range.

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Update: 49m Schooner Eleonora E Being Scrapped Following Collision and Sinking

Posted on by March 3, 2023

Sad news. The Eleonora E is being scrapped.

Last June, we posted that the classic 49m schooner was struck by a 60m long search and rescue vessel in Port Tárraco, Tarragona, Spain, and subsequently sank. The search and rescue vessel Punta Mayor was maneuvering in the harbor and became stuck in reverse. The vessel struck Eleonora E at midships on the starboard side, crushing the schooner against a seawall.

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Saving the Songs of Korea’s Sea Women

Posted on by March 1, 2023

On the first day of Women’s History month, something a bit different. 

Since at least the 17th century, on the Korean island of Jeju, the haenyeo, Korean for “sea women” have worked free diving in the clear island waters. Using an ancient breathing technique called sumbisori, the women dive as deep as 32 feet to harvest octopus, abalone, conch, sea urchins, clams and edible seaweeds.

To pass the time and ease the boredom while rowing in open boats to choice diving spots, the haenyeo would sing songs with simple melodies, to the rhythm of the ocean waves. Atlas Obscura notes that there is no sheet music for haenyeo songs, and few of the nearly 10,000 known tunes have titles. The song lyrics varied, but often women sang lamenting the day they were born, complaining about their incompetent husbands, and in protest of the government.

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US Navy Renaming Guided Missile Cruiser in Honor of Robert Smalls

Posted on by February 28, 2023

Yesterday, the Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro announced that the Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser formerly named USS Chancellorsville (CG 62) will be renamed USS Robert Smalls.

Earlier this month, we posted Remembering Robert Smalls – Former Slave, Pilot of the Planter, First Black Captain in the US Navy & US Congressman. On May 13, 1862, Robert Smalls, a 23-year-old slave, who served as the pilot of the Confederate armed transport, CSS Planter, led eight fellow slaves in an audacious flight to freedom. They seized the CSS Planter, steamed it out past the batteries and forts of Charleston harbor, and turned it over to the Union naval blockade.  Smalls would go on to become the first black captain of a US Navy vessel, a South Carolina State Legislator, a Major General in the South Carolina Militia, a five-term U.S. Congressman, and a U.S. Collector of Customs. 

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Black History Month Repost — David Debias, 8 Year Old Sailor on Old Ironsides

Posted on by February 27, 2023

Capture of H.M. Ships Cyane & Levant, by the U.S. Frigate Constitution

David Debias was a free black youth from the north side of Beacon Hill in Boston. In 1814, at only 8 years old, he signed aboard the USS Constitution, nicknamed “Old Ironsides.” He was rated as a ship’s boy and was assigned as a servant to Master’s Mate Nathaniel G. Leighton. 

On the night of February 20, 1815, Debias served on USS Constitution during the battle in which Old Ironsides captured HMS Cyane and HMS Levant.

He sailed on board Levant, with Master’s Mate Leighton, as part of the prize crew.  Levant was subsequently captured by a British squadron on the way back to the United States and Debias and the rest of the prize crew were imprisoned in Barbados. With the end of the war in May, he returned home and was finally reunited with his family. His father collected $31.98 — the equivalent of roughly $550 today — for his young son’s seven months of service.

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Searching for #TheKetchupBoatGuy — Heinz Wants to Buy Him a New Boat

Posted on by February 25, 2023

Elvis Francois, 47, was repairing his boat on the Dutch side of the island of Saint Martin in December when his boat was carried offshore and he subsequently spent 24 days at sea. He survived off a bottle of ketchup, garlic powder, and Maggi stock cubes, which he mixed with water. Francois was rescued after a plane spotted his sailboat with “help” engraved into the hull, according to Colombian authorities.

Now, ketchup producer Heinz is trying to reach Francois with an offer to help him buy a new boat… but they can’t seem to find him. So, Heinz reached out with a virtual “message in a bottle on Instagram:

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Remembering the MV Struma Disaster, Almost 800 Jewish Refugees Lost, 81 Years Ago Today

Posted on by February 24, 2023

Eighty-one years ago today on February 24, 1941, the overloaded and unseaworthy MV Struma was sunk with the loss of almost 800 Jewish refugees. Of the estimated 790 people who died, more than 100 were children. There was only one survivor.

The Romanian port of Constanta, on the Black Sea, was a major embarkation point for Jewish refugees attempting to leave Nazi-occupied Europe for Palestine. Thousands of Jews, desperate to escape the Germans, took the route by ship from Constanta via Turkey to Palestine, despite British immigration restrictions.

In December 1941, in Constanta, 781 Jewish refugees boarded the MV Struma. They planned to travel to Istanbul in Turkey, apply for visas to Palestine, and then sail to Palestine.

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Black History Month: Paul Cuffee — African-American Captain, Ship Owner & Shipbuilder

Posted on by February 23, 2023

During Black History Month, it is worthwhile to remember early African-American shipmasters. Who was the first? That is hard to say. Paul Cuffee is a good candidate.  An updated repost.

Paul Cuffee was born on Cuttyhunk Island, MA on January 17, 1759, the seventh of ten children of Kofi or Cuffee Slocum and Ruth Moses. His father, a freed black man, was a member of the Ashanti people of Ghana. His mother was a Native American of the Wampanoag Nation of Martha’s Vineyard. Cuffee Slocum was a skilled carpenter, farmer, and fisherman, who taught himself to read and write. In 1766, Cuffee Slocum was able to purchase a 116-acre farm in Westport, Massachusetts.

Paul Cuffee went to sea at 16 on whalers and merchant ships, where he learned navigation. During the American Revolution, his ship was captured by the British and Cuffee was imprisoned for three months in 1776 in New York. He returned home to Massachusetts and in 1779 built an open boat that he used to run the British blockade, bringing trade goods to Nantucket and ports on the Massachusetts coast.

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Thwaites “Doomsday Glacier” Melting Rapidly — Is It Time To Panic Yet?

Posted on by February 22, 2023

The calving front of Thwaites Ice Shelf in 2012. Photo by JamesYungel | NASA IceBridge.

The continued rapid melting of Antarctica’s Thwaites glacier is worrying, at the very least. The glacier was dubbed “The Doomsday Glacier” by an article in Rolling Stone magazine in 2017. At 80 miles across, Thwaites is the widest glacier in the world—roughly the size of Florida. Every year, it loses 50 billion tons of ice, contributing around 4 percent of annual global sea level rise. If the entire glacier were to melt, it would raise the ocean by 25 inches.

Last September, we saw a blizzard of scary headlines announcing that the doomsday glacier was “holding on by its fingernails,”  inspired by a statement by the British Antarctic Survey’s Robert Larter, who said, “Thwaites is really holding on today by its fingernails, and we should expect to see big changes over small time scales in the future — even from one year to the next — once the glacier retreats beyond a shallow ridge in its bed.”

This month, new research by the British Antarctic Survey and the US Antarctic program concluded that Antarctic glaciers may be more sensitive to changes in sea temperature than was thought. The new research suggests that even low amounts of melting can potentially push a glacier further along the path toward eventual disappearance.

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The Hanging of Captain Nathaniel Gordon of the Slave Ship Erie — February 21, 1862

Posted on by February 22, 2023

On February 21, 1862, Nathaniel Gordon, captain of the slave ship, Erie, was executed by hanging in New York City. Under the Piracy Law of 1820, slave trading was considered to be an act of piracy punishable by death. He was the only slave-trader ever to be tried, convicted, and executed in American history. Captain Gordon, originally from Portland, Maine was 36.  In a detestable trade, Captain Gordan was among the worst. When he was apprehended by the USS Mohican 50 miles off the Congo in 1860, the Erie, a ship of 500 tons, had 897 Africans crammed aboard. Of these, 563 were children. Captain Gordan preferred children because they were smaller and were less able to attempt to take over the ship.

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Happy Presidents’ Day – Lincoln’s Improved Camel Patent

Posted on by February 20, 2023

Nantucket Camel Ride

In the United States, today is “Presidents’ Day,”  a national holiday on the third Monday of February, falling between Lincoln’s (February 12th) and Washington’s (February 22) birthdays.  Here is an updated repost of the tale of a patent granted to Abraham Lincoln for a device to lift boats and ships over sandbars.

In the early 1800s, the entrance to the harbor of the great whaling port of Nantucket had shoaled in. Fully loaded whaling ships could not cross the bar and return to the docks beyond Brandt Point. For years the ships anchored offshore and were lightered, the barrels of whale oil loaded into smaller boats that could make it across the bar.

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Remembering the Knockdown and Capsize of the SV Concordia 13 Years Ago Today

Posted on by February 17, 2023

On February 17, 2010, thirteen years ago today, the SV Concordia, a school ship operated by West Island College International, was knocked down and sank off the coast of Brazil.  Fortunately, all 64 passengers and crew aboard were rescued. The Transportation Safety Board of Canada in its Marine Investigation Report concluded that poor training played a role in the knockdown and capsize of SV Concordia. 

How did the ship sink?  Contrary to earlier accounts,  the Transportation Safety Board found no evidence of a microburst, a sudden and violent downdraft of wind that can reach speed as high as 150 knots. There may have been downdrafts present in the squalls, but nevertheless, the winds in which the ship capsized were no stronger than winds the ship had previously encountered.

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Hugh Mulzac, First Black Liberty Ship Captain, Says No To Jim Crow

Posted on by February 16, 2023

Hugh Mulzak served as the first Black Liberty ship captain during World War II. When offered the command, he refused to sail with a segregated crew. An updated repost in honor of Black History Month.

Born in 1886 on Union Island in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, he went to sea at 21 and served on British, Norwegian, and American sail and steam-powered ships. After studying at the Swansea Nautical College in South Wales, he earned a mate’s license in 1910. He served as a deck officer on four ships during World War I.

In 1918, he became a naturalized US citizen and in 1920 sat for his Master’s license, earning a perfect score on the test. Despite his experience and qualifications, he was generally only able to find work aboard American ships as a messman or cook. Mulzak has been described as “the most over-qualified ship’s cook in maritime history.”

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Harland & Wolff, Shipyard That Built the Titanic, to Build First Ships in 20 Years

Posted on by February 15, 2023

Harland & Wolff, the Belfast-based shipyard, has recently signed a  £ 1.6 billion contract to build three support ships for the Royal Navy in partnership with Spanish state-owned Navantia. The shipyard built more than 1,600 ships, including the RMS Titanic. The last ship built by the yad was delivered in 2003.

UK Daily News reports that three years ago, John Wood, chief executive of London-based energy company InfraStrata, bought the company out of receivership for £ 6 million. The manager found eight-foot-tall weeds in the yard and recalls colleagues’ disbelief that the Harland & Wolff company, founded in 1861, could be raised from the dead. 

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Repost: Celebrating Frederick Douglass on Valentine’s Day — “I Will Take to the Water”

Posted on by February 8, 2023

Happy Valentine’s Day! In honor of both the day and Black History Month, here is an updated repost about Frederick Douglass. But what does Valentine’s Day have to do with Frederick Douglass?  As a slave, Douglass never knew the date of his birth, so he chose to celebrate it every year on February 14th.

Frederick Douglass was born around 1818. From an early age, he developed a close attachment to ships and the sea. His path to freedom led directly through the docks and shipyards of Baltimore, Maryland.

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