These are strange days in the lobster fisheries. Depending on where you are on the US East Coast, lobster fishing either is in trouble or is booming. Even where thing are going well, there are serious concerns about the future.
Earlier this year, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission proposed a five year ban on commercial and recreational lobster fishing from Cape Cod to Virginia, due to depleted lobster stocks.
For the third year of a three year program, Parks Canada archaeologists have failed in their attempt at finding the wrecks of the HMS Erebus and HMS Terror. This year they searched an area west of King William Island, where Sir John Franklin and his expedition became stranded in ice.
Hurricane Irene has swept past, not as bad as she could have been, but bad enough, nevertheless. Downgraded to a tropical storm by 9AM this morning, she still caused significant flooding on the East coast, hitting Philadelphia particularly hard. The city, situated between the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers, saw the rivers rise to 15 feet above normal levels. In New York, the tide at the Battery was the sixth highest ever recorded at 9.5′. There was considerable local flooding on both sides of the Hudson. An estimated $4.5 million people are without power, at least 18 have died and property damage is estimated to approach $7 billion. Even in the Catskill Mountains, the town of Margarettville was flooded when the Eastern Branch of the Delaware rampaged through the center of town..
Here is a informal and incomplete roundup of how some of our favorite vessels, from New York harbor to Maine, weathered the storm, gathered from the news and social media sites.
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Given the arrival of Hurricane Irene to the East Coast of the US, it seems worthwhile to take a look back at the Hurricane of 1938, also known as the Long Island Express, the Yankee Clipper and the Great New England Hurricane. It was the first major hurricane to hit New England since 1869. The hurricane was estimated to have killed between 682 and 800 people, damaged or destroyed over 57,000 homes, and caused property losses estimated at US$306 million ($4.77 billion in 2011). Thanks to Jersey City Frankie for pointing out this documentary about the storm. By WGBH for PBS.
Watch the full episode. See more American Experience.
Hurricane Irene made landfall on around 8 a.m. this morning, near Cape Lookout, North Carolina. Below is a video of a pier at Atlantic Beach, North Carolina collapsing in the storm.
With Hurricane Irene slamming into North Carolina and bearing down on New York harbor, this seems quite timely. Here is an article for anyone who may forget how fundamentally the sea effects us all. A new study suggests that “El Nino,” the periodic warming of a large patch of the Pacific, doubles the risk of civil wars in 90 tropical countries.
Almost exactly a year ago, we posted about the “Top 5 Hurricane Vulnerable & Overdue Cities.” Number 2 on the list was New York City. After Sunday, New York harbor may still be vulnerable but we will no longer be overdue. Hurricane Irene is coming to call.
By 9 AM this morning Capt. Linda Fagan, Coast Guard Captain of the Port declared Hurricane Port Condition “Whiskey” for the Port of New York and New Jersey, indicating that gale force winds were expected within 72 hours. By 4 PM., this afternoon, Capt. Fagan increased the port condition to X-Ray, indicating expected gale force winds within 48 hours.” All vessels in the harbor over 500 GRT have to either depart expeditiously or submit their plans to stay moored to the Coast Guard for approval.
The last major hurricane to hit New York harbor directly was in 1821.
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A new trailer for William C. Hammond’s Cutler family Chronicles.
The Cutler Family Chronicals Trailer
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The Cutler Family Chronicles is a projected seven-book series profiling the best of American duty, honor and courage during the Age of Fighting Sail. Years covered in the series are 1774 to 1815, from the American Revolution to the Second Barbary War. All seven novels have as a backdrop the creation of the U.S. Navy and the emergence of the United States on the world stage.
The Battleship USS New Jersey has survived a lot. Commissioned in 1943, she fought in World War II, the Korean Conflict, the Vietnam War and supported U.S. operations during the Lebanese Civil War in 1983. Despite her success in combat, recent years have been difficult. Since 2004 she has been a museum ship in Camden, New Jersey on the Delaware River. Camden suffers from high crime and political corruption and the Battleship New Jersey Museum has had difficulty attracting visors in numbers sufficient to support operations. Now New Jersey’s Governor Christie has used his line item veto power to cut $1.7 million, roughly 40% of the museum’s operating budget. The museum staff, which in 2006 numbered 52, is now down to 5. The USS New Jersey, never defeated in combat, may yet be sunk by a governor’s pen.
Battleship New Jersey, historical museums face cuts in N.J. Gov. Christie’s budget
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Sail Training International, in partnership with the Sultanate of Oman, will be providing funding for up to 100 tall ship sail trainees yearly. The focus will be on young people who are who are financially disadvantaged or with a physical disability.
Yankee Ferry, left; Mary Whalen, right
Two articles within two days are making me wonder if re-purposed historic vessels might be becoming trendy in design circles around New York City. Curbed, a New York real estate blog featured the 1907 Yankee Ferry in “Hudson River’s Coolest, Oldest Floating Home” – “Taking transportation nostalgia to the next level, a couple has retrofitted an old Ellis Island Ferry as their very own floating home. Photographer Navid Baraty boarded the good ship last month to shoot what may be one of the best styled abodes west of on the Hudson.“
“The 1907 Yankee Ferry was affixed with guns and canons and was first used by the U.S. Army to patrol the Boston Harbor during World War I. In the 1920s, the Yankee was used by Ellis Island to transport newly arrived immigrants from the island to Manhattan, many of whom were kept below decks on their transatlantic voyage and are said to have obtained their first views of New York City from the decks of the [ship].”
Yesterday, Wendy Goodman’s Design Hunting blog in New York magazine featured the Tanker Mary Whalen, which the PortSide New York organization uses as headquarters and offices, in Behind Closed Doors: Good Views, Spacious Deck, Loads of Natural Light. The blog is described as “inside access to the city’s most exciting homes, design studios, parties and more from New York magazine’s design editor.” Who knew a coastal tanker would be so interesting to a design editor? The Mary Whalen is indeed lovely but we never expected the design cognoscenti to figure that out.
Screen Capture from 'XO Movie Night'
Last January we posted that Captain Owen Honors had been relieved of duty on USS Enterprise after it was revealed that he produced a series of lewd videos when he was XO (Executive Officer) on the nuclear powered aircraft carrier. Today a Navy panel voted to allow Captain Honors to stay in the Navy.
Panel: Captain Ensnarled in Lewd Video Scandal Can Stay in Navy
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Photo by Carolina Salguero
Two years ago we posted about the largely overlooked maritime evacuation of lower Manhattan on 9/11. With the bridges and tunnels shut down, between 350,000 and 500,000 people were evacuated by water in just a few hours. It was the largest maritime evacuation since Dunkirk and has gone largely unreported in the media. Now on the tenth anniversary of the 9/11attacks, PortSide NewYork is mounting a multi-media exhibit (photography, videos and oral history) about the extraordinary and little-known maritime role in 9/11, from evacuation to rubble removal.
The exhibit and presentations will be held on the historic 1933 U.S. Lighthouse Tender Lilac docked at Hudson River Park’s Pier 25 in Manhattan. The exhibit opens Thursday, September 8th and will feature presentations by Carolina Salguero, photojournalist on 9/11 and now Director of PortSide NewYork and engineer and journalist Jessica DuLong, who was chief engineer of retired New York City Fireboat John J. Harvey, the first fireboat to respond at Ground Zero on on 9/11.
PortSide NewYork is a waterfront-themed non-profit organization. More about the exhibit here.
I am trying to decide whether this story is more funny or scary. As there were no serious injuries, I am leaning toward funny. Thanks to Dirk Bal for passing it along.
Finnish ferry ran aground while the captain was stuck in the loo
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Photo: Lance Iversen / The Chronicle
The National Park Service has decided to dismantle the 96-year-old steam lumber schooner, Wapama, a National Historic Landmark. The ship is the last of of some 225 steam schooners that served the lumber trade and other coastal services along the Pacific Coast.
Lumber schooner Wapama, last of kind, is condemned
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Five years ago, a three month old dolphin’s tale became caught in a blue crab trap off the coast of Florida. The blood supply to her tail was cut off by the trap rope. The dolphin, which was given the name Winter, was rescued and transported to the Clearwater Marine Aquarium. Winter recovered, but subsequently lost her tail. She was, however, fitted with a series of prosthetic tales. Winter has become the most popular dolphin at the Clearwater Marine Aquarium and has now had a movie inspired by her story, called fittingly enough, Dolphin Tale. The movie stars Morgan Freeman, Ashley Judd, Harry Connick Jr. and Winter, who plays herself. Dolphin Tale will be in theaters in late September.
One year ago, Laura Dekker, now 15, set sail on her attempt to sail around the world alone. If she continues at her current pace, she will be the youngest person to ever complete a solo circumnavigation. Perhaps the most interesting thing about her voyage is that setting records doesn’t seem to be the primary goal.
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Just over a week ago we posted about a a bright orange jelly or “goo” that floated up on the beaches of Kivalina, a remote Alaskan village of just over 400 residents. At the time scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) determined that the goo was not man-made but was rather millions of microscopic invertebrate eggs, filled with fatty droplets. The only thing that they couldn’t say for sure was which specie of invertebrate the eggs were from. Now NOAA scientists have backtracked and are now saying that the “eggs” are not eggs at all but a type of fungus. And exactly which type of fungus is it? The scientists are not sure. Why aren’t we surprised?
UPDATE: Alaska’s mysterious orange goo NOT eggs, but a fungus!
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Last July, a Parks Canada expedition discovered the wreck of HMS Investigator, a ship which sank in 1853 after becoming trapped in the ice while searching for Sir John Franklin’s lost expedition in the Canadian Arctic. Exploration of the wreck has yielded what has been referred to as a “treasure trove” of historical artifacts in the in the silt below the deck of the shipwreck. Parks Canada is continuing the search for Franklin’s lost ships HMS Erebus and HMS Terror.
19th-century shipwreck artifact treasure trove
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What more can be written about the Titanic? In a book recently released in Great Britain and coming out this October in the US, Francis Wilson looks at the sinking and the impact on one of the more famous survivors – J. Bruce Ismay, chairman of J P Morgan’s International Mercantile Marine Company, which owned the White Star Line and the Titanic. Ismay’s life would have been far less complicated, albeit much much shorter, if he had chosen not to jump into the lifeboat.
How to Survive the Titanic, or the Sinking of J Bruce Ismay by Frances Wilson
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