The good folks in Eastport, Maine have seen fit to once again hold their annual Eastport Pirate Festival this weekend, featuring lots of fun activities including a lobster boat race. (Who knew pirates had lobster boats?) The Treasure Coast Pirate Fest in historic downtown Stuart, Florida is also being held this weekend. No lobster boats, but lots of food, music and other activities. On the West Coast, the Toshiba Tall Ships Festival hosted by the Oceans Institute is being held this weekend at Dana Point. Not strictly a “pirate festival” the tickets are being sold as “Pirate Adventure Passes.” Children are invited to attend the “Friendly Pirate School! Watch as your child learns to talk like a pirate, walk like a pirate and sing like a pirate!”
Continue reading
On this day in 1754, William Bligh was born. Following the famous mutiny on HMS Bounty, his name would become synonymous with harsh discipline bordering on tyranny. The mutiny on the Bounty would be only one of four mutinies that Bligh would live through before he retired as Vice Admiral. He was captain of ships that mutinied in the fleet-wide mutinies at both Spithead and the Noire in 1797. As the Governor of New South Wales, now Australia, he was arrested in the mutiny referred to as the “Rum Rebellion” in 1808. In courts marshall which followed the mutinies, Bligh was always exonerated.
If the Bounty had merely sunk instead of mutinied, Bligh would likely be remembered as one of the greatest navigators of the age. Following the mutiny, he sailed an overloaded 23′ open boat, with 18 loyal crew members, on a 47-day voyage across 3,618 nautical miles of the Pacific Ocean to Timor without charts or compass, equipped only with a quadrant and a pocket watch. A recent biography by maritime historian Rob Mundle, Bligh, Master Mariner, makes the case that there is a “lot more about Captain Bligh than the Bounty, mutiny and convicts.”
Continue reading
USS William D Porter
The news that the battleship USS Iowa has found a new home brings to mind the story of the battleship and the destroyer USS William D Porter, nicknamed the “Willie D.” The USS Iowa served in World War II as the presidential shuttle in the Atlantic Fleet, moving President Roosevelt to and from the Tehran conference. In November 1943, while the president was aboard the USS Iowa, the battleship came under attack by a live tordepo, accidentally launched from the USS William D Porter. The Iowa was able to avoid the torpedo by taking evasive maneuvers. From that day until she was sunk in June 1945, whenever the Willie D entered port or joined other Naval ships, she was often greeted with “Don’t shoot, we’re Republicans!” (President Franklin Delano Roosevelt was, of course, a Democrat.)
Continue reading
The USS Iowa will soon have a new home. The Port of Los Angeles has won the bidding to support the battleship, beating out Vallejo which had also been actively bidding for the ship.
Photo: DNAinfo/Julie Shapiro
The Seaport Museum of New York, better known as the South Street Seaport Museum, will be taken over by the Museum of the City of New York with starting funds of $2 million in the form of a grant from the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation. The Seaport Museum has been effectively shut down since last February due to a major shortfall of funds.
A 23 year old woman reportedly fell overboard into the North Sea just after 8.30pm on Monday night from the Princess Seaways DFDS ferry bound from from Newcastle to Ijmuiden. The woman was reportedly lighting a cigarette at the rail when she fell. The ferry reversed course and successfully rescued the woman using the ferry’s rescue boats. She was subsequently airlifted by helicopter to to Scarborough Hospital before being released. Yet another reason not to smoke. Congratulations to the officers and crew of the Princess Seaways for their speed and professionalism in executing a successful night rescue at sea, which is no easy task. Thanks to Alaric Bond for passing the news along.
Last February we posted that Somali pirates had hijacked a Danish sailboat with four adults and three children aboard. Yesterday, the Danish Foreign Ministry announced seven Danish citizens, including a family with three children had been released. It has been reported that the pirates were paid a $3 million ransom on Tuesday.
Oh well. I guess there is nothing surprising about this news report. It seems that David Copp, a tourist visiting Ilfracombe Harbour, west of Bristol, in the UK, complained to the harbor-master that the fish being landed on the quayside had a “disgusting smell.” Nor, for that matter, were the fish pleasent to look at. As reported by the Telegraph, via Yahoo:
The 46-year-old was outraged that his children, aged seven and nine, had been forced to endure the sight of 12 crates of dead fish and crabs, piled up on the quayside. Continue reading
MT Phoenix on Sheffield Beach
The MT Phoenix, which has been hard aground and leaking oil on a South African beach, is finally free. This Saturday, two salvage tugs, Smit Amanda and Smit Siyanda, under the direction of the South African Maritime Safety Authority (SAMSA), successfully towed the ship into deep water.
The 120 year old ketch, Leader, was dismasted yesterday in force seven winds off Portland Bill, Dorset; losing her main mast, boom, sails and associated rigging. An RNLI lifeboat was called to assist and successfully towed the Leader and her 16 crew to safety in Weymouth. Aside from reports of seasickness, no one was injured.
Leader is operated by the Trinity Sailing Trust as a sail training vessel for young people. She was built on the Dart river in the A.W.Gibbs boatyard at Galmpton in 1892 and is one of the last working sailing trawlers still afloat.
Drama on the high seas as crew of 120ft yacht are rescued after losing mast and rigging
Continue reading
Ironically, the further inland from where Hurricane Irene made landfall in Brooklyn, the more damage and disruption the storm caused. While the 19th Annual Great North River Tug Boat Race and Competition went off without a hitch, the annual Waterford Tugboat Roundup scheduled for Sept. 9-11 at the Waterford Harbor on the Erie Canal has been cancelled due to storm damage from Tropical Storm Irene.
While here in New York harbor, we were cheering on tug boats racing along belching black smoke, the good folks in Gloucester, Massachusetts were celebrating classic schooners. The tug boat race was great fun, but I do so love schooners and the schooners at Gloucester put on quite a show. Video courtesy of GoodMorningGloucester.com
The Hudson River as it enters New York harbor is still an unhealthy shade of brown from all the runoff from Hurricane Irene. Nevertheless it was a fine day to be on the river, especially to watch the 19th Annual Great North River Tug Boat Race. A short video of the race.
Great North River Tug Boat Race 2011
For photographs taken from shore check out Will’s tugster blog.
Fin whales have been called the “the greyhounds of the sea” because they are fast and sleek. grwoing to almost 90 feet, they are the second longest animal on the planet but only the the sixth heaviest. Though they are baleen whales, from a distance they can be mistaken for dolphins due to their scimitar shaped dorsal fins. The great fin whales have now returning to the Irish Sea off Wales and the Sea Trust is keeping an eye out for them. Sea Trust is the marine arm of the Wildlife Trust, South & West Wales.
Giant fin whales making their annual trip to Welsh waters
Continue reading
Recent surveys have indicated that Nelson’s flagship, HMS Victory, was leaking, suffering from rot and being pulled apart by her own weight. Now, as the first part of a major restoration project, the ship is being down-rigged. Twenty six miles of rigging will be removed. Thanks to Alaric Bond for passing the news along.
Was the stolen 8' long "whale tooth" a narwhal tusk?
The thief is described as a man, 40 to 50 years old, dressed in black leather, wearing a dark coat, carrying an 8 foot long whale tooth. The man was also reportedly walking a white dog. He allegedly stole the tooth from a museum in Stavanger, Norway. The tooth is said to be more than 100 years old and is valued at around $9,300.
The story, as it has been reported, raises more questions than it answers. Exactly how does one walks out of a museum with an eight foot long whale’s tooth without being noticed? What variety of whale has an eight foot long tooth? Sperm whales, the largest of the toothed whales, typically have teeth around 7 inches long. Was the stolen “whale tooth” a narwhal tusk, perhaps? Thanks to Irwin Bryan for passing the article along.
This like a great weekend to be in San Diego. OK, an especially great weekend as the Port of San Diego and the Maritime Museum of San Diego are hosting a four day Festival of Sail. Music food, sailing, mock gun battles, a parade of tall and historic ships. Even the Pacific Voyagers will be joining in.
Festival of Sail 2011 will be Friday September 2nd thru Monday the 5th, 2011
The 19th Annual Great North River Tugboat Race and Competition sponsored by the Working Harbor Committee is scheduled to run this Sunday, September 4th, in the Hudson River off Pier 84 at the foot of West 44th Street. The Parade of Tugs starts at 10:00 AM while the race starts at 10:30. The race will be followed by Nose to Nose Pushing and Line-Toss Contests. It is a great event. if you are near New York harbor this weekend, it is definitely worth stopping by. See our previous post: 2011 Great North River Tugboat Race and Competition. For more information see also: 19th Annual Running of the Great North River Tugboat Race & Competition
After five circumnavigations, Captain Daniel Moreland and the Barque Picton Castle will be changing their course for this year’s voyage focusing primarily on the Atlantic visiting ports in Europe, Africa, the Caribbean and the Spanish Main.
World Voyaging Tall Ship Picton Castle Announces New Voyage Around the Atlantic
Running shoe that contained a mystery foot
A human foot wearing a running shoe washed ashore in British Columbia recently. It is the eleventh foot to have washed up on the coast of the Salish Sea, the coastal waterways surrounding southern Vancouver Island and Puget Sound, since 2007. Eight feet have washed up around Vancouver and three feet have come ashore in Washington state.
Foot Washes Ashore in Canada, the 11th Since 2007
Continue reading