On April 21, 2007, Reid Stowe sailed from the Hudson River on the schooner Anne. His goal was to stay at sea for 1,000 days without touching a port or being resupplied. It would be the the longest sea voyage in history. Today, Reid Stowe is returning to the Hudson River after 1,152 days at sea and will be greeted by a flotilla of boats escorting him in to his first landfall in over three years.
Sophie Oldendorff on fire in Tampa
Busy days in the Gulf of Mexico. On the surface above the continuing Deepwater Horizon disaster yesterday, a drill ship attempting to contain the oil was struck by lightning and caught on fire shutting down containment operations. Reportedly, operations resumed today. BP: Oil containment efforts resume after ship fire.
Not too far away last weekend, the battleship USS Texas came close to sinking in the Houston Ship Channel. A stuffed rag and backup pump reportedly kept her afloat. Battleship Texas saved from near-sinking.
And on the other side of the Gulf today in Tampa the 742-foot Sophie Oldendorff’s self-unloading gear caught fire and took 100 firemen in 24 trucks and one fireboat four hours to get under control. Blaze on freighter at Port of Tampa finally under control
Yesterday was the 100th anniversary of Captain Scott‘s departure from Cardiff on his ill-fated expedition to reach the South Pole. The tall ship Stavros S Niarchos sailed across Cardiff Bay, reenacting the departure of Scott’s ship, the Terra Nova. The Royal Navy’s HMS Scott also participated in the ceremony. Click on the link below for a video. See also our previous post: The Saga of Robert Falcon Scott – Complex and Controversial
photo: Christina Sun
This August 26th will be the one hundredth anniversary of Mother Teresa‘s birth. The Empire State Building in New York City changes its lighting for major holidays and special events. The Catholic League has requested that the building be lit blue and white in honor of Mother Teresa’s hundredth birthday, but the building managers declined citing policy against “lighting for religious figures or requests by religions and religious organizations.” Outrage has ensued. Now the USS Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum has announced that they will be lighting the Intrepid in honor of Mother Teresa. Has no one noticed the irony of lighting a warship in honor of a champion of non-violence?
Zeb Tilton was a legendary schooner captain from Martha’s Vineyard. “Zeb-Schooner Life,” a documentary of his life and times is being screened tonight at 6:30 by the National Maritime Historical Society at the Hendrick Hudson Free Library in Montrose, NY. Commentary will be provided by Peter Stanford, President Emeritus of the NMHS. The documentary was produced by Detrick Lawrence Productions of Edgartown, MA, based on the book , Zeb, Celebrated Schooner Captain of Martha’s Vineyard, by Polly Burroughs. The film includes historic footage and photographs of Tilton and of his iconic schooner the Alice S. Wentworth.
When on a cruise vacation, I can imagine nothing less relaxing than worrying that the cruise line vacation planner might have given your home address to thieves, who were breaking into your house as you waited in line for the midnight buffet on the cruise ship.
Bethsaida Sandoval, a vacation planner for Royal Caribbean, has been charged supplying her husband with passenger information which he then used to burglarize their homes while the passengers were on vacation. Ms. Sandoval and her husband, John Lopez, have been each charged with 20 counts of burglary and one count of racketeering. She is no longer employed by Royal Caribbean.
Royal Caribbean employee accused of burglarizing customers’ homes while they were on cruises
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Frank Dye was a small boat cruiser who became something of a legend following his sea voyages in his 16′ Wayfarer open dinghy.
Frank Dye, who died on May 16 aged 82, was a cult figure among small-boat sailors for undertaking numerous voyages in his open 15ft 10in wooden Wayfarer dinghy Wanderer; these included passages from Scotland to Iceland and across the North Sea to Norway, and featured mountainous seas, gales up to Force 11 and numerous capsizes and broken masts.
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One hundred and six years ago today, June 15th, 1904, the Paddle Steamer General Slocum caught fire in the East River and burned killing an estimated 1,021 of the 1,342 people on board. The steamer was carrying members of St. Mark’s Evangelical Lutheran Church to a church picnic. It was the greatest loss of life in one event in New York City prior to the attacks of September 11, 2001.
Reg White, boatbuilder, sailor, and Olympic Gold Medal winner died of a heart attack on May 27, 2010, at age 74. He had just finished an sailboat race in Brightlingsea, UK.
Sailor and builder of revolutionary multihull boats whose international racing successes included a gold medal at the 1976 Olympics
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Last week, one of my favorite tall ships, the Portuguese Sail Training Ship Sagres visited San Diego, California. This weekend, on the Gulf Coast in Pascagoula, Mississippi, the US Navy christened the USS San Diego, a San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock ship. Not to be too critical of the grey-stack line, but the Portuguese Navy has the better looking ship.
Late last month, the secret was revealed – when Bob Ballard discovered the Titanic in 1985, he was actually on a secret mission to find two sunken US submarines, the USS Thresher and USS Scorpion, both of which had sunk in the Atlantic in the 1960s. Only after his team located and surveyed the two missing subs was he allowed to search for the Titanic, leaving only a twelve day window to located the sunken passenger liner.
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Titanic search was cover for secret Cold War subs mission
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Yukon protects Klondike shipwreck site
Just months after a team of archeologists revealed their discovery of a historic Klondike shipwreck in waters north of Whitehorse, the Yukon government has declared the sunken A.J. Goddard sternwheeler a historic site symbolizing the “sense of adventure” that gripped North America at the height of the 1890s gold rush.
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It is such a relief that we never really have to worry about the very wealthy among us running out of places to spend their money. Here may be but the latests example of where those with more money than sense can drop a seizable sum. The Strand Craft 122 promises to be a super yacht with a super car. Each 38 meter mega-yacht comes with a matching custom automobile.
M-V Ile de la Reunion Photo: Marc Thierry
The French fishing vessel, Ile de Reunion, plucked Abby Sunderland from her damaged sailboat on Sunday, 2,000 nautical miles off western Australia.
The SS Robin, built in 1890, is the last remaining steam coaster in the world. She will soon be moved to a custom built pontoon barge which will support the old ship and serves as space for a floating museum. The pontoon recently arrived in Lowestoft in the UK. The SS Robin is expected to be lifted onto the pontoon on June 28th. Thanks to Alaric Bond for the heads up.
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Wild Eyes, Abby Sunderland's dismasted sailboat
Rough weather is reported to be delaying the French fishing boat that is on its way to rescue Abby Sunderland. Her sailboat, Wild Eyes, has been dismasted but has not lost its keel as was earlier reported. A photograph of the boat, taken by the spotter plane that located her, has been released.
Today is the 100th anniversary of the birth of Jacques Cousteau. It is hard to overstate Cousteau’s influence as an inventor, writer, filmmaker, explorer and ecologist. His first book, the Silent World, written with Frédéric Dumas in 1953, was a memoir which describes how Cousteau and Émile Gagnan designed, built and tested the aqua-lung in 1943. It was an immediate best seller and is still in print, having been published in 22 languages and selling over 5 million copies. The documentary, Silent World, based on the book, co-directed by Cousteau and Louis Malle, earned Cousteau the first of his two Academy Awards. In his lifetime Cousteau would go on to write over 50 books and to produce more than 120 television documentaries. Jacques Cousteau died on 25 June 1997 at age 87.
Most of films and television programs were shot from the RV Calypso, a converted Royal Navy minesweeper. The ship was accidentally rammed by a barge in Singapore in 1996 and sank. In honor of the centennial of Cousteau’s birth, the Cousteau Society has announced that the restored Calypso will sail again.
A 25 foot long baby humpback whale washed ashore on Jones Beach, on Long Island, New York yesterday morning. There were no immediate signs of injury. A necropsy will be performed today to determine what killed the whale. In April, another baby humpback died when it was stranded on a beach in East Hampton, Long Island.
Abby Sunderland has been contacted by rescuers who report that she is alive and uninjured aboard her sailboat Wild Eyes in the Indian Ocean. The sail boat is afloat but has been variously reported as having been dis-masted and to have lost its keel. The boat is said to be adrift in ocean waves which have been reported to be over 30 feet. Three rescue ships are on their way to her reported position. The first is expected to arrive in roughly 24 hours.
Teenage round-the-world sailor Abby Sunderland found alive
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Abby Sunderland
The story is still developing, but there are serious concerns for the 16 year old solo sailor.
Abby Sunderland Feared Lost at Sea
Abby Sunderland, 16, who is attempting to become the youngest sailor ever to circumnavigate the globe, was feared lost at sea today after her crew lost contact with her boat.
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