Women’s History Month — Remembering Mary Patten, Clipper Ship Captain

Posted on by March 1, 2023

During Women’s History Month, it seems a good time to remember Mary Ann Brown Patten, the first woman to command an American merchant ship. An updated repost.

The year was 1856. The ship was the clipper ship Neptune’s Car, bound for San Francisco from New York City. Mary’s husband Captain Joshua had collapsed, suffering from “brain fever.”  For 56 days, Mary took over the command and navigation of the ship. She faced down a mutiny and successfully brought the clipper into San Francisco. On her arrival, Mary was 19 years old and pregnant with her first child.

Mary was 16 when she married Captain Joshua Patten in 1853. He was 25 and a captain in the coastwise trade. The next year he was offered the captain’s berth on the clipper ship Neptune’s Car after the previous captain fell ill. He asked and was granted permission to bring his young wife on the voyage. With Mary at this side, Captain Patten made a fast passage from New York to San Francisco, then onward to China, London and back to New York.

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Update: UN Plans to Salvage Oil from FSO Safer Off Yemen

Posted on by March 13, 2023

CNN reports that the United Nations has released a plan to offload 1 million barrels of oil off FSO Safer, a floating oil storage and offloading vessel, that has been moored off the coast of Yemen for more than 30 years.

In an attempt to avert what could be one of the worst environmental disasters in history, the converted tanker was purchased by the UN to get the oil off the vessel.

As we posted in 2021, the ship has been held as a virtual hostage in the ongoing Yemeni civil war. A converted 400,000 DWT ultra-large crude carrier (ULCC), built in 1976, the ship now contains about 1.14 million barrels of oil valued at up to US$80 million. The ship has been progressively deteriorating due to a lack of maintenance and supplies, and many are concerned that the Safer is in imminent risk of sinking, fire, or explosion.

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Remembering the Birkenhead Drill — Women and Children First!

Posted on by March 12, 2023

HMS Birkenhead was one of the first iron-hulled ships built for the Royal Navy. She was designed as a steam frigate, but was converted to a troopship before being commissioned in 1851.

While transporting troops and a few civilians to Algoa Bay, the Birkenhead was wrecked on 26 February 1852 at Danger Point near Gansbaai, 87 miles (140 km) from Cape Town in the Cape Colony of South Africa. There were insufficient serviceable lifeboats for all the passengers, and the soldiers famously stood in ranks on board, thereby allowing the women and children to board the boats safely and escape the sinking.

Only 193 of the estimated 643 people on board survived, and the soldiers’ chivalry gave rise to the unofficial “women and children first” protocol when abandoning ship, while the “Birkenhead drill” of Rudyard Kipling’s poem came to describe courage in the face of hopeless circumstances.
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Haulout : Melting Sea Ice Pushes Walruses to the Brink

Posted on by March 4, 2023

A lone scientist on the coast of the Siberian Arctic finds that warming seas have taken a toll on the walrus migration, as documented in a film by Evgenia Arbugaeva and Maxim Arbugaev. “Haulout” is nominated for Best Documentary Short at the 2023 Academy Awards.

Women’s & Black History Months: Gladys West — Pioneer of GPS Technology

Posted on by March 1, 2023

In honor of both Women’s History Month and Black History Month, an updated repost about Gladys West.

From maps to apps to chartplotters, we all rely on GPS these days, sometimes whether we realize it or not. Ethan Siegel wrote in Forbes: Unbeknownst to most people, however, the science underlying this technology was primarily developed by two people: Albert Einstein, whose theories of special and general relativity both play an important role, and Gladys West, a still-living and largely unheralded Black woman whose scientific contributions enabled us to understand geodesy and the shape of the Earth well enough to make GPS technology possible.

Now, we all know who Albert Einstien was. Gladys West, perhaps not so much. In honor of Black History Month, here is an updated repost about the Black female mathematician whose work for the Navy made a major contribution to the development of the Global Positioning System.

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The Women Lighthouse Keepers of New Orleans’ New Canal Lighthouse

Posted on by March 4, 2023

New Canal Lighthouse

We recently posted about Kate Walker, the lighthouse keeper of the Robbins Reef Light in New York harbor for close to 35 years. Kate took over as keeper when her husband died of pneumonia in 1886. Oddly enough, in the 1800s, when women weren’t allowed to vote or own property, they could become lighthouse keepers.

Curbed New Orleans has posted an article about the female lighthouse keepers of the New Canal Lighthouse, on Lake Pontchartrain in New Orleans, LA. They quote Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation Education Center director Chris Cook, who said, “Across the country, it wasn’t unusual for the man to die and the wife to take over. It is unusual that it happened so many times in the New Orleans area.”

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After Two Decades of Negotiations, Historic Treaty to Protect World’s Oceans

Posted on by March 8, 2023

Marine protected areas as of 2020 (data from MPAtlas)

CNN reports that nearly 200 countries have agreed to a legally-binding High Seas Treaty to protect marine life in international waters, which cover around half of the planet’s surface, but have long been essentially lawless.

The agreement was signed on March 4 after two weeks of negotiations at the United Nations headquarters in New York ended in a mammoth final session of more than 36 hours – but it has been two decades in the making.

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“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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