Of Painting Forth Bridge, Paddles and Creeks, Sand and Tides

Posted on by September 22, 2011

The Forth Bridge - Painted at Last

I recently learned a new figure of speech – “like painting the Forth Bridge,” which refers to a job which is never completed. Or at least it used to mean that. The Forth Bridge is a cantilever railway bridge over the Firth of Forth in the east of Scotland. It is is a marvel of British engineering, so large that for the last 121 years, teams of painters have been continuously painting the bridge. The job took so long that by the time the painters were finished, they needed to start again. Now however, the bridge will be coated with glass flake epoxy paint, which is similar to that used in the offshore oil industry. This improved paint technology will mean that the bridge will not require painting for 25 years.  A good figure of speech bites the dust, to coin a phrase.
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Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell is No More – A Navy Marriage and New Places to Recruit

Posted on by September 21, 2011

The US military’s previous policy toward gay service members; “don’t ask, don’t tell; officially came to an end yesterday.   Naval officer, Lt. Gary Ross, chose the day to marry his partner of eleven years, Dan Swezy, in Duxbury, Vt.   In Tulsa, Oklahoma, Marine recruiters who had been invited to set up a recruiting booth on the first day of the end of “don’t ask, don’t tell” at the Dennis R. Neill Equality Center, a gay community center, were pleasantly surprised by the reception, which was friendly, even if the number of potential recruits was modest.   Over the 18 years which DADT was official policy, the US Navy, Marines and Coast Guard  discharged  over 4,200 gay officers and enlisted personnel.   The Army and Air Force discharged more than 6,000.  Thanks to Alaric Bond for passing along one of the articles.

Updates: Murderer on HMS Astute Sentenced, Kidnapped Briton in Somalia & MSC Luciana Refloated

Posted on by November 19, 2011

Updates on three previous posts:  On Monday, Able Seaman Ryan Donovan was sentenced to life imprisonment after pleading guilty to murdering a senior officer on board the HMS Astute last April.   Submariner’s grudge turned proud day into tragedy

British tourist Judith Tebbutt, kidnapped last week from an exclusive Kenyan resort, is believed to be being held in central Somalia, by a pirate gang. Her husband, David Tebbutt, was killed in the pirate attack last week.  British Tourist, Kidnapped in Kenya, May Be in Central Somalia

The containership MSC Luciana which ran aground on Monday on a sand bar in the Westerschelde was towed off the sand bank at high tide that evening with the assistance of around nine tugs, and proceeded to Zeebrugge for underwater hull inspection.

Thanks to Dirk Bal and  Alaric Bond for providing updates.

The Wired Oceans – Cables Beneath the Deep Blue Sea

Posted on by September 21, 2011

Click for a larger image

For something so relatively new, we take the internet very much for granted.  The first graphical web browser is less than 20 years old.  Nevertheless, the internet seems ubiquitous in most of our lives.  But on a world that is over 70% ocean, how do we communicate from one continent to another?  Primarily, by sub-sea cable. TeleGeography has put together a map of the submarine cables that link us together on-line.

Submarine Cable Map
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The William Main Doerflinger Memorial Sea Shanty Session – September 18th, 2011

Posted on by September 22, 2016

Fifteen years ago, a group of sea shanty enthusiasts got together for an old fashioned shanty sing. Their first meeting was, fittingly enough on the windjammer Peking at South Street Seaport. For many years they met monthly at the Seaman’s Church Institute near South Street, until the church sold the building and moved out of Manhattan. Since May the group has been hosted by the Noble Maritime Collection at Snug Harbor in Staten Island. Snug Harbor was once a destitute sailor’s retirement home. The shanty sessions are dedicated to the memory of William Main Doerflinger who “collected” many of the old shanties from retired sailors at Snug Harbor. Last Sunday the shanty singers got together again. Here is a short video I shot of the session.

The William Main Doerflinger Memorial Sea Shanty Session – September 18th, 2011

Jack Tar Magazine’s “The New Conrads” Storytelling Challenge

Posted on by September 20, 2011

The folks at Jack Tar Magazine are sponsoring a writing contest, “The New Conrads” Storytelling Challenge, with some serious prize money attached.  Whether you enter or not, it is an interesting exercise to consider what the world of shipping would look like in a post petroleum world.

“The New Conrads” Storytelling Challenge
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Linda Collison Interviews Alaric Bond

Posted on by September 21, 2011

I have really enjoyed Linda Collison‘s two books in her Patricia MacPherson nautical adventure series. (See our reviews of Star-Crossed and Surgeon’s Mate.)  She is also an excellent interviewer. Here she interviews another favorite nautical writer and frequent contributor to this blog, Alaric Bond.  (See also Linda’s interview of Margaret Muir.) From her blog, linda collison’s Sea of Words:

I’m pleased to be under the same publishing house (or in this case, aboard the same publishing vessel – Fireship Press) as historical naval fiction author Alaric Bond, a man with a wry and dry sense of humour who likes to sail, plays the trombone, lives in a 14th century Wealden Hall house in Eat Sussex and has a penchant for many things historic, including old SAAB convertibles.  
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Your Father’s America’s Cup – Sailing the Stars and Stripes

Posted on by September 19, 2011

Last Wednesday, we posted Not Your Father’s America’s Cup – Plymouth Capsize Club. This video is about “your father’s America’s Cup.” The yacht is Stars and Stripes/ US34, captained by Dennis Connor in the America’s Cup. The contrast between the current AC45 catamarans and the old 12 meters and the IACC boats could not be more stark.

How to sail an America’s Cup Yacht

Container Ship MSC Luciana Aground on Sand Bank Southwest of Amsterdam

Posted on by September 19, 2011

If you think that you are having a bad Monday morning, consider the plight of the master of the container ship MSC Luciana. The ship was bound from Antwerp to Felixstowe when it ran aground on a sand bar in the Westerschelde, the sea-channel that connects the port of Antwerp with the North Sea, about 140 kilometres (87 miles) southwest of Amsterdam. The MSC Luciana is one of the larger container ships in the world at 1,200 feet long and a container capacity of 11,600 TEU.   The ship reportedly ran aground at high tide. Zeeland Region Safety’s Aart Oosten is quoted as commenting, “She is well and truly stuck and we are also going into low tide, causing further difficulties.  At the moment, we have several groups including the Dutch maritime authorities in a meeting to see how we will proceed,” Oosten said, adding the Panamanian-registered ship posed no immediate danger to the environment. “There is no danger and her crew remains on board,” he said.”

Container ship stuck on Dutch sandbank

Thanks to Dirk Bal for passing the story along.

Tom Grundner, Owner of Fireship Press

Posted on by September 18, 2011

There aren’t many publishers with a special interest in nautical fiction.  Tom Grundner, the owner of Fireship Press, who died suddenly on September 11th, was one.  I never had the chance to meet him in person, but I genuinely liked the man I knew only through emails and over the internet.  In addition to serving as Senior Editor of Fireship, he was also the author of the Sir Sidney Smith Nautical Adventure Series. (See our review of his book, The Temple.)  Prior to entering publishing, he had an impressive and varied career in academia and business.  For a complete obituary of this remarkable man, see David Haye’s Obituary: Tom Grundner (1945-2011).   See also An Interview with Tom Grundner.

Piracy in the Gulf of Guinea – Tanker Mattheos I Hijacked, 23 Crew Taken Hostage

Posted on by September 27, 2011

MATTHEOS I , Photo: J Dohrn, MarineTraffic.com

Earlier this week the 45,000 DWT tanker, Mattheos I, with a crew of 23, was hijacked off Benin in the Gulf of Guinea.  According to the IMB Piracy Center, this year there have been 19 pirate attacks on ships in the Gulf of Guinea as compared to zero last year.

Armed Pirates Hijack a Fuel Tanker Off Benin and Take 23 Crew Members Hostage
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“I was kidnapped by Somali pirates”

Posted on by September 18, 2011

Today is “International Talk Like A Pirate Day.”   Many use it as an excuse to dress up in bad costumes and shout “Aaargh, Matie” and “Shiver me Timbers,” in some sort of odd homage to Johnny Depp and the Disney version of piracy.  All we can say is “please don’t.”  The pirates of the 17th century that are the basis for this nonsense were a brutal lot, and why some consider it cute to dress themselves and often their kids as murderous thieves is not immediately obvious.

Piracy today is a huge problem. Thousands of mariners have been taken hostage by pirates, held in captivity for long periods under horrible conditions.  Modern piracy costs the world between $10 and 20 billion per year.  Pretending to be a Disney pirate may be an amiable amusement but otherwise only distracts from the real problem of modern day piracy. To learn more about modern piracy go to “SaveOurSeafarers.”

An article in the Guardian from last June does something extremely unusual. It allows a real victim of Somali piracy a voice.

Experience: I was kidnapped by Somali pirates

‘They kept us in a state of terror. Even when I could not see the torturing, I could hear the screams’
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The Great Brigantine Race of 2011

Posted on by September 16, 2011

Photo: http://www.brigantines.com

Talk about match racing!  This Sunday off Newport Beach, CA, two identical brigantines, the Irving Johnson and the Exy Johnson, will race.  They will be manned by crews from rival local clubs, the Bahia Corinthian and Balboa Yacht clubs, under the supervision of the brigantine’s permanent captains and crews.  The Irving Johnson and the Exy Johnson are two identical 90′ brigantines launched in 2002, named in honor of the the husband and wife team who sailed the brigantine Yankee four times around the world over eleven years.  The two brigantines are part of the Los Angeles Maritime Institute’s “TopSail Youth Program,” a sail training “education and adventure” program.

Here comes the 2011 Great Brigantine Race

Thanks to Tom Russell in the Traditional Sail Professionals Linked-In Group and Irwin Bryan for passing the word along.

Scurvy and the Google Orange

Posted on by September 16, 2011

Today the Google “doodle,”  the image that appears above the Google search box, was an orange. Why an orange?  If you clicked on the doodle it took you to a search for Albert Szent-Györgyi,  the Hungarian physiologist who is credited with discovering vitamin C in 1930 and won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1937 for his research. It is his birth day today.  An article in CNN commented, “ if you don’t have scurvy (and we’re going to go ahead and assume you do not), you should probably take a moment to say thanks.”  What? Without taking anything away from Dr. Szent-Györgyi, scurvy was not cured in 1930 in Hungary.  The cure for scury was discovered and then,  too often forgotten, many times between when it was documented by Hippocrates and the 19th century.
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“Pirate” Battle on the Delaware with the A.J. Meerwald, the Kalmar Nyckel and the Gazella

Posted on by September 16, 2011

Kalmar Nyckel

Frankly, the A.J. Meerwald , the Kalmar Nyckel, and the Gazela deserve far better.   The A.J. Meerwald,  the “Official Tall Ship of the state of New Jersey,” is  a 1928 built Delaware Bay oyster schooner.  The Kalmar Nyckel , the Delaware’s “Official Tall Ship,” is a replica of a 1625 built pinnance, which was the flagship of the colony of “New Sweden,”  in much of what is now Delaware.  The 1901 built barkentine Gazela Primeiro is a Portuguese fishing schooner now lovingly restored in Philadelphia.

These fine vessels will  be play-acting as “pirate” ships this Sunday in mock battles  in an event sponsored by the Independence Seaport Museum in Philadelphia.  Pairing an oyster schooner, a 15th century replica and a Portuguese barkentine is fine, but letting them be overrun by Disney-fied pirates, well that is a bit much.

Pirate Battle on the Delaware River

Fire on Norwegian Cruise Ship, MS Nordlys, Kills Two and Injures Nine

Posted on by September 15, 2011

A fast burning fire in the engine room of the Norwegian cruise ship, MS Nordlys, killed two crew members and injured nine others.  The more than 200 passengers aboard the ship were safely evacuated to the town of Aalesund, 230 miles (375 kilometers) northwest of the capital of Oslo.  Hurtigruten, the cruise line operating the MS Nordlys, has established a hotline for relatives of crew members here.

Two killed in fire on Norwegian cruise liner

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Thanks to Irwin Bryan for pointing out the story.

Sink the Ark Royal ?

Posted on by September 14, 2011

There have been a book, two movies and one pop song entitled, “Sink the Bismark.”    That is what came to mind when I heard that the Torbay Council’s Harbour Committee is recommending that they sink the Ark Royal.   The aircraft carrier, the ex-flagship of the Royal Navy, has been for sale since April.  Rather than have her sold to a scrap yard, the Torbay council is recommending that the ship be sunk as an artificial reef and recreational dive site.  Wreck the World, a group behind the proposal, believes that they are  in competition with up to twenty other bidders.

Torbay harbour bosses back Ark Royal sinking plans

Not Your Father’s America’s Cup – Plymouth Capsize Club

Posted on by September 14, 2011

The old days before Facebook or even the internet, the America’s Cup races were sailed on stately 12 meters in the light air of summer off Newport, Rhode Island. The most exciting thing I ever saw a twelve meter do was when several short-tacked through the anchorage at Breton Harbor, Newport, one evening . The 70′ boats sliced between the boats at anchor, delicately pirouetting to the sound of flying sheets and the flapping jibs, as those of us at anchor held our breaths when the beautiful, but large boats, cleared our respective sterns by inches. My, how things have certainly changed. The fact that crash helmets are standard equipment for the crew may say it all. Crash helmets? After watching the proceedings at the America’s Cup World Series in Plymouth, crash helmets are, definitely, a good idea.  Those AC45 catamarans are truly wild boats.

The Plymouth Capsize Club

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Thanks to Ulrich Rudofsky for pointing out the America’s Cup demolition derby.

Mariners’ Response to 9/11 – Carolina Salguero & Jessica DuLong Speaking Aboard the Lilac

Posted on by September 13, 2011

If you are in the vicinity tomorrow evening be sure to stop by the historic buoy tender LILAC at the Hudson River Park’s Pier 25 at North Moore Street, Tribeca, Manhattan, where Carolina Salguero & Jessica DuLong will speak on the Mariners’ Response to 9/11 from  7:00-8:30pm. Carolina Salguero was a  photojournalist on 9/11 and is now Director of PortSide NewYork. Jessica DuLong, is a journalist and author of My River Chronicles  (see our review here.)   She is also Chief Engineer on the historic fireboat John J. Harvey. Though retired from service, the John J. Harvey was the first fire boat on scene on 9/11, pumping river water around the clock to the firefighters at Ground Zero.  Today, Huffington Post also published “The Untold Story of Ground Zero Evacuations by Boat” by Jessica DuLong.

The talks are part of a multi-media exhibit (photography, videos and oral history) and presentation about the extraordinary and little-known maritime role in 9/11, from evacuation to rubble removal, produced by PortSide NewYork, a waterfront-themed non-profit organization.