New Year’s Repost: Watching the Ball Drop — the Nautical Origins of a New Year’s Tradition

Posted on by December 31, 2022

The USNO Millennium Time Ball

Tonight, millions will watch in person, online, or on television, as a jeweled ball drops in Times Square in New York City at exactly midnight to mark the arrival of the New Year, 2023. In recent years, the crowd in Times Square has been limited due to the pandemic, whereas this year, the pandemic restrictions have been lifted, so there should be a sizeable in-person turnout, despite forecasted rain this evening. 

Regardless of the turnout, the ball will drop at midnight. The six-ton Waterford crystal ball covered in 32,276 LED lights will not actually be “dropped” but lowered from a flag pole on the roof of One Times Square. In New York City, the tradition dates back to 1907. But where did the tradition of dropping a ball to mark the time originate?  

The practice dates back to 1829 and was related to helping sailors calculate their position at sea. Here is an updated repost.

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More Than 275 Artifacts Recovered from Franklin Expedition’s HMS Erebus

Posted on by December 30, 2022

A team of researchers conducted 56 dives over 11 days in September on the wreck of the HMS Erebus from the 1845 Franklin Expedition near Gjoa Haven recovering more than 275 additional artifacts from the historic shipwreck. The newly retrieved artifacts included a corrective lens from a pair of eyeglasses, a leather portfolio with a quill still pressed inside as well as a decorative box for drafting, a piece of paper that may be infused with metal, and a box of officers’ epaulets.

In 2020, archaeologists from Parks Canada retrieved more than 350 artifacts from the wreck site, including epaulets from a lieutenant’s uniform, ceramic dishes, wine bottles, a hairbrush with strands of human hair, and a pencil case. 

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Greenland’s Glaciers Melting 100 Times Faster Than Estimated

Posted on by December 29, 2022

A disturbing report from Phys.org. Greenland’s glaciers are melting 100 times faster than previously calculated, according to a new model that takes into account the unique interaction between ice and water at the island’s fjords. 

Published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, the model is the first designed specifically for vertical glacier fronts—where ice meets the ocean at a sharp angle. It reflects recent observations of an Alaskan glacier front melting up to 100 times as fast as previously assumed. According to the researchers, the model can be used to improve both ocean and ice sheet models, which are crucial elements of any global climate model.

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Ex-RN Patrol Boat Scimitar for Sale

Posted on by December 28, 2022

Was there something missing from your stocking this holiday season? Perhaps the used, but still in good shape, Royal Navy patrol boat of your dreams? Then you could be in luck. Alaric Bond was kind enough to pass along an E-Bay classified ad for Scimitar – a former Royal Navy patrol boat on offer for £134,995. The 16 m (52 ft 6 in) Scimitar is one of two Scimitar-class fast patrol boats that served in Northern Ireland in their early careers and as guard ships with the Gibraltar Squadron from 2003 to late 2020. Scimitar and her sister vessel Sabre were decommissioned in Portsmouth on March 30, 2022.

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Sting — Christmas At Sea (Live from Durham Cathedral)

Posted on by December 25, 2022

We hope everyone is having a joyous holiday season.  Here is a repost of a beautiful version of Robert Louis Stevenson’s poem “Christmas at Sea,” performed by Gordon Matthew Thomas Sumner, better known as Sting.

Sting – Christmas At Sea (Live from Durham Cathedral)


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Over the Holidays & in the New Year, May St. Nicholas Hold the Tiller

Posted on by December 24, 2022

An updated holiday season repost.

Saint Nicholas, long associated with Christmas and gift-giving, is also the patron saint of ships and sailors. The St. Nicholas Center notes: “Many ports, most notably in Greece, have icons of Nicholas, surrounded by ex-votos of small ships made of silver or carved of wood. Sailors returning safely from sea, place these in gratitude to St. Nicholas for protection received. In some places, sailors, instead of wishing one another luck, say, “May St. Nicholas hold the tiller.”

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Repost on the Winter Solstice — Shortest Day & Longest Shadows, or No Shadow At All

Posted on by December 21, 2022

Happy Winter Solstice to all! In the northern hemisphere, today is the shortest day and the longest night of the year. The sun is at its southernmost point of travel, over the imaginary circle on the globe we refer to as the Tropic of Capricorn. Today is also the day in which a person standing outside at noon in the northern hemisphere, outside of the tropics, would cast the longest shadow. If you are on the Tropic of Capricorn, however, at noon today, you would have no shadow at all. 

Reading an article in The Sailors’ Magazine and Seamen’s Friend, Volume 43, Issue 3, of  1871, got me thinking about shadows and the solstice. (I will admit that this is more than a touch odd.) It seems that at an 1871 gathering at the Chicago Academy of Sciences, a Rev. Mr. Miner, of Canada presented a paper called “The Snow Line” in which he observed, “Should a man start from the Tropic of Cancer at the winter solstice and walk 18 miles per day northward for six months, his shadow would remain nearly the same each day at noon.”  If instead of starting at the Tropic of Cancer one began at the Tropic of Capricorn, you might do away with your noon shadow altogether. 

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Thai Corvette HTMS Sukhothai Sinks in Storm, Search Ongoing For Over 30 Missing

Posted on by December 19, 2022

The Thai navy says 31 sailors are missing after the corvette, HTMS Sukhothai, with a crew of 100 capsized and sank during a storm in the Gulf of Thailand. The ship sank around 23:30 local time Sunday (16:30 GMT) after being struck by large waves, which caused down-flooding, knocking out the ship’s power. 

The BBC reports that search crews worked through the night to find survivors, with the operation continuing on Monday with air force assistance.

The ship had been on a patrol 32km (20 miles) east of Bang Saphan, in the Prachuap Khiri Khan province, when it got caught in the storm on Sunday.

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Moroccan Fishermen Celebrate World Cup Victory While Hauling Nets

Posted on by December 18, 2022

Morocco finished fourth in this year’s World Cup, becoming the first Arab and first African team to reach the semifinals in the international soccer tournament. Here is a short video of Moroccan fishermen at sea celebrating a team victory while still hauling nets.

Moroccan fishermen are celebrating Morocco victory in the boat while fishing

Mystic Seaport Celebrates 50th Anniversary of the Opening of the Henry B. du Pont Preservation Shipyard

Posted on by December 14, 2022

The year 2022 marks the 50th anniversary of the opening of the Henry B. du Pont Preservation Shipyard at the Mystic Seaport Museum, the first shipyard built specifically for preservation in the United States, and possibly the world, marking a new era in maritime preservation.

The video below describes the shipyard from a shipwright’s perspective, from “tree to sea.”

Find Your Sea Story – The Shipyard

Emirates Team New Zealand Breaks Wind-Powered Land Speed Record

Posted on by December 17, 2022

Emirates Team New Zealand, famous for winning the America’s Cup, has broken the wind-powered land speed record. Its land yacht Horonuku reached 138.2 miles per hour (222.4 km/h) in 25.3 mph winds on the dry basin of Lake Gairdner in South Australia. The previous record had been 126 mph, set in 2009 by Briton Richard Jenkins.

Glenn Ashby, pilot of the Horonuku was clearly happy with the run, but also tempered with the knowledge that the craft can go much faster. “The team and I are obviously buzzing to have sailed Horonuku at a speed faster than anyone has ever before – powered only by the wind. But in saying that we know Horonuku has a lot more speed in it when we get more wind and better conditions.” Said Ashby.

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Update: Atrevida II Rescue & the High Cost of Sailing Unprepared

Posted on by December 16, 2022

We recently posted about the rescue of two sailors and a dog from a 30′ sailboat, Atrevida II, off Cape Hatteras by the tanker Silver Muna. While the initial Coast Guard report was accurate, it was also incomplete. The initial reports stated that the sailboat was out of fuel and power, rendering its radios and navigation equipment inoperable, but didn’t mention that the sailboat had also been dismasted and had been adrift for roughly 10 days. Apparently, the two sailors, Joe DiTomasso and Kevin Hyde, were out of water and short of food when they were rescued.

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Young Sperm Whale Dies After Washing Up on Rockaway Beach in NYC

Posted on by December 15, 2022

A sperm whale, estimated to be a female between three and five-years-old, died after washing up on Rockaway Beach in New York City on Tuesday. PIX11 reports that the Parks Department was told about the approximately 30-foot sperm whale near Beach 73rd Street around 9 a.m. They’re working with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the Atlantic Marine Conservation Society (AMSEAS), and NYS Department of Environmental Conservation on a plan for examination and disposal.

According to AMSEAS, the whale is the sixth large whale stranded in New York since Oct. 20, 2022. Two others were sperm whales. The group plans on performing a necropsy within the next several days, a NOAA spokesperson said.

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Tanker Silver Muna Picks Up Overdue Sailors Off Delaware Coast

Posted on by December 14, 2022

Atrevida II Photo: Coast Guard

On Sunday, the US Coast Guard Fifth District command center in Virginia was notified that the Atrevida II, a 30’ Catalina sloop, on a passage from Cape May, N.J. to Marathon, FL, was overdue. Onboard were Kevin Hyde, 65, and Joe Ditomasso, 76, who were last in contact with family and friends on Dec. 3. 

The Coast Guard launched multiple fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, and three cutters to search for the Atrevida II. Ships from the Navy’s Second Fleet and commercial and recreational vessel traffic joined in the effort. They searched an area of 21,164 square miles of the Atlantic, spanning from northern Florida to the waters east of New Jersey.

On December 13, the sailboat was spotted by the Hong Kong-flagged 50,000 DWT tanker Silver Muna approximately 214 miles off the Delaware coast. The Atrevida II was out of fuel and power, rendering its radios and navigation equipment inoperable. Hyde and Ditomasso gained the attention of the Silver Muna crew by waving their arms and a flag.

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SS Central America — Ship of Gold & the $114,000 Pants

Posted on by December 13, 2022

Photo: Holabird Western Americana Collections

On September 12, 1857, the 289-foot-long sidewheel steamer SS Central America sank in a hurricane off the US East Coast. When she sank, 425 of her 578 passengers and crew were drowned and 30,000 pounds (13,600 kg) of gold from the California gold rush was lost. The loss of so much gold contributed directly to the Panic of 1857.

In 1988, the wreck was located and an estimated $100-159 million dollars worth of gold was recovered. The rights to the find have since become the subject of a decades-long legal battle. 

Earlier this month, the Holabird Western Americana Collections showcased at auction 270 items recovered from the ship. Included in the auction was a pair of work pants that sold for $114,000.

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Pandemic Flashback — Bounding Main’s T-Rex Quintet Singing “Strike the Bell”

Posted on by December 9, 2022

We are two years late in posting this. Nevertheless, it seems like a worthwhile bit of silliness for a Friday afternoon.  Back in 2020, a deadly virus was running rampant across the globe. Performance venues and even rehearsals were shut down. But – the members of the shanty and sea song-singing group Bounding Main knew that “Life … finds a way.”  Here is their pandemic T-Rex quintet singing the shanty “Strike the Bell.”

Strike the Bell – Pandemic Performance

Coast Guard: Distracted Pilot on Cell Phone Prior to Grounding of Container Ship Ever Forward in Chesapeake

Posted on by January 10, 2023

Last March, we posted about the grounding of the container ship Ever Forward near Baltimore in the Chesapeake Bay. The ship failed to make a turn in the Craighill channel and ran hard aground on a mud flat, where it remained stuck for more than 35 days. At the time, we noted that it was unclear whether human error or a mechanical failure caused the casualty. The Ever Forward had a pilot aboard at the time of the grounding.

The Coast Guard has now answered that question. Their accident investigation report “determined the incident’s causal factors to be the pilot’s failure to maintain situational awareness and attention while navigating, and inadequate bridge resource management.” They found that the accident was due to the pilot’s inattention while on his cell phone including sending texts, making a series of phone calls, and drafting an email while the ship was underway. 

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Radio Broadcasts Reporting Attack on Pearl Harbor 81 Years Ago Today

Posted on by December 6, 2022

An interrupted broadcast of a football game, a newsbreak during a performance by the New York Philharmonic, a weather report followed by an announcement from President Roosevelt that Japan had bombed Pearl Harbor. Reports of attacks on the Philippines. Here is a compilation of news reports from Sunday, December 7th, 1941, eighty-one years ago today.

Pearl Harbor Attacks – As It Happened – Radio Broadcasts

Remembering the Halifax Explosion of 1917 & the Boston Christmas Tree

Posted on by December 6, 2022

One hundred and five years ago today, on the morning of December 6, 1917, the French freighter SS Mont-Blanc and the SS Imo, a Norwegian ship chartered to carry relief supplies to Belgium, collided in the Narrows, a strait connecting the upper Halifax Harbour to Bedford Basin. The collision at first seemed minor, the two ships hitting at only about a knot.

Nevertheless, a fire broke out aboard the Mont-Blanc, which was loaded with munitions and high explosives. The fire burned out of control and ignited the cargo, causing the largest man-made explosion the world had ever seen prior to the nuclear age.  Roughly 2,000 died and 9,000 were injured. Many thousands more were made homeless. Large sections of Halifax, Nova Scotia were leveled.  A tsunami created by the blast wiped out the community of Mi’kmaq First Nations people who had lived in Tuft’s Cove, on the harbor’s eastern shore.

Relief efforts began almost immediately from Eastern Canada and the United States but were impeded by a blizzard. Boston authorities heard of the disaster by telegraph and sent a relief train around 10 pm. The blizzard delayed the train, which finally arrived in the early morning of December 8, and immediately began distributing food, water, and medical supplies. The train from Boston carried some of the first responders to the disaster.

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Lt. Cmdr. Amber Cowan — First Woman XO on US Navy Submarine

Posted on by December 5, 2022

A decade after women were allowed to serve in the US Navy’s Silent Service, Lt. Cmdr. Amber Cowan has become the first woman to serve as executive officer on a submarine.

Lt. Cmdr. Cowan, who joined the Navy in 2010, reported for duty to the ballistic missile submarine USS Kentucky, based out of Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor, Washington, as its executive officer Nov. 12, as reported by Navy Times.

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