HMS Bounty to Begin European Voyage

Posted on by April 5, 2011

HMS Bounty is making ready to sail from San Juan, Puerto Rico tomorrow to begin this season’s European voyage.   She will be calling at ports in the UK, Ireland, Belgium, Poland, Sweden, Germany and Russia, before returning to the US around October. For her complete schedule click here. She was originally intending to sail today but was delayed awaiting the arrival of parts.

The ship is a replica of the Royal Navy ship on which a famous mutiny occurred in 1789.  She was built for the 1962 movie  “Mutiny on the Bounty,” starring Marlon Brando.

 

Of Tsunamis and Seawalls

Posted on by April 5, 2011

Recent articles on the power of the tsunami that recently struck Japan say a lot about  both the power of the tsunami waves and the challenges of trying to cope with a constant threat from the ocean.   Japan’s first line of defense against tsunamis has been its extensive investment in seawalls.  As reported by the New York Times:  At least 40 percent of Japan’s 22,000-mile coastline is lined with concrete seawalls, breakwaters or other structures meant to protect the country against high waves, typhoons or even tsunamis. They are as much a part of Japan’s coastal scenery as beaches or fishing boats, especially in areas where the government estimates the possibility of a major earthquake occurring in the next three decades at more than 90 percent, like the northern stretch that was devastated by Friday’s earthquake and tsunami.

The headline of the article says all that need be said: Seawalls Offered Little Protection Against Tsunami’s Crushing Waves .   A follow-up article touches on the downside of relying on a fixed defense against the power of the sea.

In Japan, Seawall Offered a False Sense of Security
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Air France 447 Wreck Site Located in Atlantic off Brazil

Posted on by April 5, 2011

Photo: BEA, via Reuters

After over two years and three failed searches, an international team, including specialists from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, in partnership  with French authorities, have located the primary wreckage of Air France Flight 447 which disappeared over the Atlantic Ocean on May 31, 2009 while en route from Rio de Janeiro to Paris.  In addition to wreckage,  it is reported that the remains of multiple victims were also sited.    The discovery was made using side scan sonars from  Remus 6000 drone submarines, deployed by the search vessel, the MV Alucia.

Bodies From 2009 Air France Crash Are Found
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Laura Dekker, Singlehanding the Media Circus

Posted on by April 5, 2011

Laura Dekker, the 15 year old Dutch sailor who is sailing rather leisurely alone around the world on her yacht Guppy, has been  by all appearances handling the sailing part of her journey without too much difficulty.  If she completes here multi-stop circumnavigation prior to turning seventeen on September 20, 2012, she will be the youngest person to sail alone  around the world.  Recently, she was criticized for not handing the media as well as she has the seafaring.  Personally I think the attack is grossly unfair and rather misplaced.  She posted a few honest comments on her blog about dealing with the media when she was near exhaustion.  And she is all of 15 years old.  This silliness does, however, point out that to sail around the world alone these days, it is a good idea to have an advance teams of publicists precede you.

Teen sailor Laura Dekker lashes out against media
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Sailors and Society in Georgian England

Posted on by April 4, 2011

“Sailors and Society in Georgian England : The Home of Lord Nelson, Jane Austen & Jack Aubrey” – It sounds a bit like someone’s history thesis but in fact is a ten day luxury tour  organized and escorted by British maritime scholar and author of more than thirty books, Brian Lavery, and  Annemarie Victory, the owner of the New York-based specialty tour company that bears her name.  The tour sounds perfect for my wife and me.  I am a fan of Georgian Naval Fiction while my wife is a Janeite, a rabid fan of Jane Austen.  It is, however, a bit beyond my budget at around $10,000 a person, once airfare and incidentals are figured in.  Sounds like a wonderful trip all the same.  The tour is from September 12 to 22, 2011.

“Sailors and Society in Georgian England : The Home of Lord Nelson, Jane Austen & Jack Aubrey”

Thanks to Alaric Bond for passing the information along.

 

PT 658 – The Last Running PT Boat

Posted on by April 3, 2011

The fascinating story of the last running World War II motor torpedo boat, the PT 658, an historic relic rescued, rebuilt and restored by a group of gray-haired ex-PT boaters.

Save the PT Boat

PT Boat 658

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Nightingale Island Spill – Race to Rescue the Rockhoppers

Posted on by April 3, 2011

Fewer than 300 people live on the Tristan da Cuhna island chain, the most remote inhabited archipelago in the world, 2,816 kilometres from the nearest land.  An estimated 200,000  penguins, however, including roughly half of the world’s endangered Northern Rockhopper penguin, call the islands home.  When the bulk carrier Olivia grounded and then broke up on March 16 off Nightingale Island,  it became a race to save as many penguins as possible from the up to 1,500 metric tons of heavy fuel that spilled when the 75,000 tonne  bulker broke up.

Nightingale Island Oil Spill


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Ark Royal for Sale Online

Posted on by April 2, 2011

The Ark Royal is for sale,  presumably to a scrap yard but “alternatively the vessel may be purchased for re-use/refurbishment for non-warlike purposes.”  The main engine, most machinery and all weapons will be removed.  She will be available for inspection in early May and all bids are due by Monday 13th June 2011.

Tenders > Vessel ARK ROYAL R07

HMS Ark Royal, nicknamed “The Mighty Ark,” is the fifth Royal Navy ship to bear the name of the 1587 flagship that defeated the Spanish Armada in 1588. She was the flagship of the Royal Navy, the third and final Invincible-class light aircraft carrier.

Turning a Blind Eye – Nelson at Copenhagen

Posted on by April 2, 2011

On April 2, 1801 at a key moment at the Battle of Copenhagen, Admiral Sir Hyde Parker, in overall command of the British forces, sent a signal to Vice-Admiral Horatio Nelson to withdraw.  Nelson is said to have lifted his telescope to his blind eye and to have remarked, “I really do not see the signal.”  He carried on and won a great victory.   The phrase to “turn a blind eye” is attributed to this moment in what was Nelsen’s most hard fought victory, two hundred and ten years ago today.

Women at Sea and the SB What?

Posted on by April 2, 2011

We recently posted about “Women At Sea: Screening, Conversation, Reception,” which was held last Wednesday in Manhattan.  The program included a fascinating documentary Shipping Out, the Story of America’s Seafaring Women and a panel discussion with a number of women seafarers, including the Coast Guard Captain of the Port of New York, Capt. Linda L. Fagan; Coast Guard Head of Prevention, Commander Linda A. Sturgis;  tugboat Captain Ann Loeding; Sandy Hook Pilot, Capt. Coleen Quinn; former tanker, bulker and car carrier Second Mate Debra Tischler; Chief Engineer Jessica DuLong, and Marissa Strawbridge, Second Mate of the SBX-1.  The program and the presentations were extremely interesting and well done.

At the end of the evening I did ask myself one question, what is an SBX-1?  I had even asked Ms. Strawbridge and I still wasn’t sure.
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Astrodene’s Historic Naval Fiction Log Book

Posted on by April 1, 2011

Astrodene’s Historic Naval Fiction Log Book, a monthly newsletter on naval and nautical fiction and non-fiction is out for April.   Books due for release this month are the novels,  The Mountain of Gold by J. D. Davies, and Honor Bound by Robert N. Macomber, as well as non-fiction by Wynford Davies, HMS Warrior – Ironclad .   To read more, click here.

Bankruptcy on the Horizon? Horizon Lines Weighs April Filing

Posted on by April 1, 2011

Times have been tough for Horizon Lines, the US  Jones Act container shipping company that was spun off from Sealand in 2003.  In addition to suffering decreased revenues in the general economic downturn, in late February Horizon agreed to plead guilty to a felony charge of price-fixing and will pay a $45 million fine.   It also is facing a class action suit expected to be settled for roughly $20 million.  It is currently at risk of default on $330 million  worth  of  convertible  bonds and is reported to be considering filing for bankruptcy in April.

Horizon Lines Said to Weigh April Bankruptcy as Convertible Bonds Plummet

 

Wind Speeds and Wave Heights Rising

Posted on by March 31, 2011

Does the wind seem to blowing harder and the waves growing ever higher? Perhaps they are after all. A new study finds that wind speeds and wave heights have been rising significantly over the last two decades.

Study finds oceanic wind speed and wave height increasing

Oceanic wind speeds and wave heights have increased significantly over the last quarter of a century according to a major new study undertaken by ANU Vice-Chancellor Professor Ian Young.   Published in Science, the study is the most comprehensive of its kind ever undertaken.  Other authors include Swinburne University oceanographers Professor Alex Babanin and Dr Stefan Zieger.
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Holy Flying Fish! – A Mako Shark and an Eagle Ray Jump Aboard

Posted on by April 1, 2011

Last summer we posted about a breaching Southern Right whale that landed on a sailboat off South Africa.   This week, boaters off the Florida Keys and in the Gulf of Mexico off Texas got surprise visitors.

Off the Florida Keys a 200 pound spotted eagle ray jumped into chartered boat and landed on top of Jenny Hausch,  knocking her down. Ms. Hausch was able to crawl out from under the ray and was unhurt.   The ray was helped back into the water and swam away.

Florida Keys tourist survives collision with jumping sea creature
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Odyssey Searching for the S.S. Gairsoppa and $260 million in Silver

Posted on by March 30, 2011

On February 16, 1941 the S.S. Gairsoppa was bound from India to Britain, when she was torpedoed by a German submarine and sank 300 miles southwest of Galway Bay.  In addition to pig iron and tea, she carried silver bullion currently valued at $260 million.   This week,   Odyssey Marine Exploration , Inc. has been awarded a contract by the British government to locate the ship and to salvage the cargo. If successful Odyssey will be allowed to keep about 80 percent of  the silver bullion.

Odyssey Hunts Nazi-Torpedoed Ship’s $260 Million of Silver
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Arresting versus Disrupting Pirates

Posted on by March 30, 2011

Recently we posted about joint-operations by the Indian Navy and Coast Guard which since last Novemeber have succeeded in capturing 120 pirates in the Indian Ocean as well as taking several pirate “mother ships” and freeing the hostage held aboard.   On reader commented: Good on the Indian Navy. (Would we have done the same?)

In most cases the answer would be “no.”  A recent operation by the US Navy against Somali pirates demonstrates the difference in approach and outcome.
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The Shipwreck Behind Crane’s “The Open Boat”

Posted on by March 30, 2011

None of them knew the color of the sky. Their eyes glanced level, and were fastened upon the waves that swept toward them. These waves were of the hue of slate, save for the tops, which were of foaming white, and all of the men knew the colors of the sea. The horizon narrowed and widened, and dipped and rose, and at all times its edge was jagged with waves that seemed thrust up in points like rocks ……

Thus begins Stephen Crane’s classic short story, ‘The Open Boat.’    The story is almost as much fact as fiction.  While running guns to revolutionaries in Cuba, the SS Commodore sank after hitting a sandbar off Ponce Inlet, Florida.  Crane, part of  the  filibustering  expedition,  found himself in a small open boat with three other men for 36 hours in high seas.
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More Treasure from the Atocha – 17th century gold chain worth $250,000

Posted on by March 29, 2011

Last week, while searching near the the wreck of  Nuestra Senora de Atocha, Bill Burt, a diver for Mel Fisher’s Treasures, found a 17th century gold chain worth $250,000.

Deep sea treasure: 17th century gold chain worth $250,000 plucked from ocean bed near Atocha wreck
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Indian Navy Captures 16 Pirates, Frees 16 Hostages

Posted on by March 28, 2011

Indian Coast Guard ship Sangram

On Sunday the MV Maersk Kensington reported an attempted boarding by pirates while underway off the southern coast of India.  The Indian navy ship Suvarna and Coast Guard ship Sangram responded, intercepting the Iranian fishing trawler Morteza which had been hijacked and was being used as a pirate mother ship.  After a three hour running battle, the Indian forces captured 16 pirates and freed 16 hostages, 12 Iranians and 4 Pakistanis.
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