Mystic Seaport is hosting a Tattoos & Tallships Weekend on Saturday, July 16th and Sunday, July 17th. If you have a tattoo and a story to tell about it, be sure to stop by the “Tattoo Tales” booth, where you can show your tattoos and share your stories about them. Mystic Seaport staff will record each story on video and select the best to share on YouTube, Flickr, and Facebook.
On Sunday, the cruise vessel Bulgaria reportedly sank in approximately 3 minutes on the Volga River near Kazan, Russia. Of the 197 passengers reported to be aboard, more than 100, including many children, are believed to have died.
Death on Volga: Sinking Bulgaria cried for help as ships passed by
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See also: 100 Dead, Many Children, in Boat Sinking in Russia
Damage to power plant Photo: AP
This morning, an explosion at a munitions dump at the Evangelos Florakis naval base on the southern coast of Cyprus has killed at least 17 and injured over 40. The explosion knocked out the island’s largest power station at Vassilik and did significant damage to the neighboring community. Cypriot President Dimitris Christopfias, described the explosion as “a catastrophe of biblical proportions.” The cause of the explosion is yet to be determined but is believed to have been triggered by brush fires which ignited more than two thousand tons of black powder confiscated in 2009 from a Cypriot-flagged vessel M/V Monchegorsk bound for Iran.
Blast at Cypriot naval base kills ‘at least’ 17
William Tillman retakes the schooner Waring
William Tillman was the first black hero of the American Civil War. He was not a soldier but rather a 27-year-old cook/steward on the schooner S.J. Waring. One hundred and fifty years ago last Thursday, the schooner was captured by the Confederate privateer Jefferson Davis while about 150 miles from Sandy Hook, New York. Captain Smith, the master of the S.J. Waring was taken aboard the Jefferson Davis, and a five man prize crew was put aboard the schooner, with orders to sail her to a Southern port where the ship and her cargo would be sold.
William Tillman was a free black man, but was told that as a captive of the Confederacy, he would be sold back into slavery. Though at least one other member of the schooner’s original crew was held below in chains, as cook steward, Tillman was left to go about his regular duties. The prize crew made a fatal mistake in underestimating the cook steward. On July 16th, William Tillman decided to take back the ship.
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A modified F/A-18D Hornet fighter plane recently landed on the deck of the aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower controlled by linked computers on the ship and on the plane. A pilot and a flight engineer were on the plane but did not touch the controls during the landing.
‘Hands-free’ landing on Eisenhower is step toward unmanned naval flight
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Bragging rights are kind of fun. Whether they mean anything or not is often an open question. How one strings together the adjective phrases can make all the difference. For example, HMS Victory is said to be “the oldest commissioned warship in the world,” while the USS Constitution is said to be “the world’s oldest floating commissioned naval vessel.” The important word here is “floating.” What good is a warship if she is not afloat? Which is not to say that it is likely that the USS Constitution will sail out again to fight pirates they way she did in 1803 regardless of whether or not she is floating and still in commission.
Enrico Gurioli, writing for the Times of Malta, manages to avoid these sorts of nit-picky details by describing the Italian training ship, Amerigo Vespucci, simply as “the world’s most beautiful ship.” As beauty is in the eye of the beholder, no one can really argue the case one way or another. While I may not agree wholly with Mr. Gurioli, the Amerigo Vespucci, is a handsome vessel. I might be willing to go along with “the most beautiful sailing vessel built in 1931 named for an early Italian explorer.” Thanks to Irwin Bryan for passing the article along.
If there are tall ships in port, there must be a party going on. About 60 ships are expected at Greenock’s James Watt Dock from the first leg of the Tall Ships 2011 race from Waterford. Estimates range from 100,000 – 800,000 visitors expected in Greenock for the four day festival.
U.S. Navy photo by Chief Intelligence Specialist Raynald Lenieux
Was there a pirate attack? On Wednesday we posted about the reports that the Suezmax tanker Brillante Virtuoso had been attacked by pirates and set on fire. It is now unclear where such an attack ever took place. There was indeed a fire in the deck house that caused the crew to abandon ship. Whether there was an actual pirate attack is less clear. The tanker was assisted by the US guided missile cruiser, USS Philippine Sea. A statement from the Combined Maritiem Forces headedawurters read: “The Philippine Sea found no evidence of pirates and concentrated their efforts on assisting the crew members.” Despite initial reports of a pirate attack, the US Navy found no evidence of pirate attack. Likewise, a NATO statement said ‘”No confirmation of piracy.”
The Tall Ships Race 2011 is off to a great start. The race was kicked off with a festival in Waterford, Ireland, which was declared ‘an awesome success’ by the chairman of Fáilte Ireland, the national tourism authority. (See our previous post.) During the four day festival, an estimated 500,000 visited the ships and other festival events alongside the city quays or lining up on either side of the Suir Estuary to watch the Parade of Ships, which began the race last Sunday.
The Norwegian tall ship Christian Radich has won the first leg of the race from Waterford to Greenock. Another ship participating in the race, Irene of Bridgwater, was not so fortunate, running aground in Lamlash Bay. There were no injuries reported and the ship has been refloated and is reported to be on her way to Greenock. The tall ships depart on the next leg of the race on Tuesday.
In February, the sailing vessel Quest was hijacked by pirates 240 nautical miles off the coast of Oman in the Indian Ocean. The yacht’s crew of four Americans were taken hostage. The pirates were finally captured by US forces but not before they killed the crew – Scott and Jean Adams, Phyllis Macay and Bob Riggle. Today, in a Virginia court, a 23 year old Yemeni man, Mounir Ali, plead guilty to acts of piracy in the hijacking of the Quest. He is the eleventh to plead guilty to the attack. The other pirates were Somalis who plead guilty to the charges in May.
Yemeni man pleads guilty in pirate hijacking that killed 4 Americans
For several hundred years, up until just after World War II, cargo moved up and down the East Coast of North America by ships and boats of a range of sizes and shapes. When the interstate highways were built, all but most bulk cargoes shifted to trucks. Now there is an effort to rebuld the “American marine highway.” American Feeder Lines, a New York based shipping company, has launching a “New England to Halifax Shuttle,” a weekly service connecting Boston, Portland, Maine, and Halifax via container feeder ships. After having seen so many shipping companies in the United States shutting down, (including several of my ex-employers,) it is refreshing to see a new operation starting up.
The semi-submersible drilling rig, Transocean Marianas, was preparing to move to a new location off the coast of Ghana when the rig developed a serious list and was in danger of sinking. The rig, under contract to Italian oil company Eni, was not drilling at the time. gCaptain is reporting that an anchor punctured a pontoon causing the list. 108 personnel were evacuated, leaving only an emergency staff of 13 aboard the rig. A Transocean representatives has said that the rig has been stabilized.
Transocean rig off Africa taking on water
Transocean, the world’s largest offshore drilling contractor, was also the owner of the Deepwater Horizon, which exploded and sank on April 20, 2010, resulting in the largest largest accidental marine oil spill in the history.
Photo: giorgi112 at Vesseltracker
It has long been predicted and now it has happened – a pirate attack has set fire to a loaded oil tanker. On Wednesday morning, pirates operating in the Gulf of Aden attacked the Suezmax tanker, Brillante Virtuoso, firing a rocket propelled grenade into the deck house, setting the ship on fire. The ship is loaded with 141,000 tonnes of fuel oil bound from the Ukraine to Qingdao in China. There are reports that the fire is now under control or extinguished. Tradewinds reports that firefighting tugs are on scene.
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Elissa under sail
The barque Elissa, built in 1877 in Aberdeen, Scotland, the Official Tall ship of the State of Texas and the star attraction at the Texas Seaport Museum in Galveston, is suffering from electrolytic corrosion, which if not repaired, may keep the ship tied to its moorings at the dock. The cost for the restoration is estimated to be roughly $3 million. This weekend, the Galveston Historical Foundation is launching a “Keep Elissa Sailing” campaign to raise money for the restoration.
What is electrolytic corrosion? Electrolytic corrosion is “caused by an external source of current – often a leakage somewhere. Electrolytic corrosion is very common in marinas, where boats can find themselves linked together by the earth (ground) wire of their AC shore supplies. An electrical leak in one boat can cause untold damage in its neighbours.”
Foundation launches drive to restore Elissa
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Photo: bajasportfishinginc.com via CBSNews.com
At roughly 2AM on Sunday morning, the chartered fishing boat Eric sank in a storm in the Sea of Cortez off Mexico’s Baja Peninsula. Twenty seven American tourists and a crew of 16 were aboard were aboard the fishing boat when she sank. Thirty-five were either picked up or swam to shore. One is confirmed dead and seven Americans are still missing.
Search resumes for 7 missing after boat sinks off Baja California
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Happy 4th of July to all. On July 4th, Americans celebrate the signing of the Declaration of Independence from Great Britain in 1776. Joseph Hewes was one of the lesser known signatories to the Declaration. He was born in New Jersey, prospered as a merchant in Philadelphia and then moved to North Carolina. He represented North Carolina in the Continental Congress and in 1776 was appointed the chairman of the naval committee.
Americans have had a tendency throughout our history to glorify the “founding fathers,” often rewriting history in the process. Rather than viewing the founders as complex individuals with virtues and vices, they are often mythologized as all purpose role models. Joseph Hewes is either beneficiary or victim, depending on how you look at it, of this sort of mythologizing.
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Three weeks ago we posted about the MV Wisdom, which had been on her way to a Gujarat scrapyard when the tow line parted. The drifting ship nearly hit a major bridge near Mumbai before finally grounding on Juhu Beach, where is became a tourist attraction, much to the distress of local lifeguards and the the police. The ship did prove to be a short-lived windfall for local beach vendors. Late last Saturday at high tide salvage crews using three tugs freed the ship from the beach. The ship was towed to the Mumbai outer anchorage in preparation for towing to Alang-Bhavnagar Gujarat for scrapping. Three beach-goers drowned and thirty seven had to be rescued when they attempted to get too close to the grounded ship.
The wayward ship may be gone from Juhu Beach, but has been added to an on-line game, Mumbai Underground , where the ship has been added to the game’s story line.
US Coast Guard Cutter Alexander Hamilton
The US Coast Guard Barque Eagle stopped on her way home from her cruise of European ports to honor the memory of the crew of the Coast Guard Cutter Alexander Hamilton, sunk by German submarine U-132 off Iceland in 1942. On Friday, the Eagle‘s crew laid a wreath in Faxe Bay near the site of the wreck to commemorate the loss of 32 men who died in the attack. The Alexander Hamilton was the first US Coast Guard vessel lost in World War II.
Coast Guard Cutter Eagle to honor fallen Alexander Hamilton crew
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A great line-up of Summer reading from Astrodene’s Nautical Log Book for July: Newly released novels include Steven E. Maffeo’s, The Perfect Wreck – Old Ironsides and HMS Java: A Story of 1812, and Tom Grundner’s latest novel in the Sir Sidney Smith Nautical Adventure Series, Acre. Both are available in paperback and ebook formats worlwide. Cut and Run, Book 4 in the Fighting Sail series,by Alaric Bond has just been released on Kindle with the paperback edition expected shortly. In non-fiction Frank McLynn’s, Captain Cook: Master of the Seas, was recently released, as was Andrew D. Lambert’s, HMS Warrior 1860. Books due for release shortly include The Winds of Folly by Seth Hunter and Heart of Oak, Book 4 in the Sallee Rovers series, by M. Kei.
The world’ s longest bridge over salt water, the 26.4 mile-long Qingdao Haiwan Bridge, in China, has opened to traffic. It makes me wonder how you say in Mandarin, “OK, kids. Who needs to go to the bathroom? No stops on the bridge.”
China opens world’s longest sea bridge
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