There is a certain irony that a sailing ship would have to be taken out of service because its engine did not meet current emission standards, but such was the case with the Lady Washington, the Official Ship of the State of Washington. She ran afoul of tough new California pollution regulations. She is now, however, back in service, with a new cleaner engine as well as a new foremast. The Lady Washington should be rejoining the Hawaiian Chieftain on April 10th.
A deficiency of vitamin C from green leafy vegetables caused the dreaded sailor’s sickness scurvy. A vertical garden installed on the Plastiki, which sailed this week on its 3-month voyage across the Pacific, may provide fresh greens for the six person crew while at sea.
Thanks to Your Garden Show for pointing out their video:
Maine man creates huge online ship database
Thousands of ships over hundreds of years have navigated the rolling waters of Maine’s Penobscot River across the street from Jon Johansen’s home.
Inspired by that history, Johansen set about documenting every ship ever built along the shores of the state’s largest river. What started as a modest endeavor has turned into a gargantuan undertaking: Johansen is attempting to create a database of virtually every vessel built in the United States.
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SS Wimmera
It appears that the wreck of the SS Wimmera, an Australian passenger ship sunk by a mine north of New Zealand in 1918 has been located.
A fascinating post from the Lawyers, Guns and Money blog. Thanks to Andy from the Maritime Texas blog for passing it along. The bottom line seems to be that piracy is an expensive business and may be progressively less profitable as ship operators make hijacking more difficult and as the international navies get more aggressive in arresting pirates and sinking motherships.
Mass surrender of Nazi U-boats documented in new book
For 65 years residents of a remote Scottish village have paid heed to the wartime warning that “loose lips sink ships”.
The surrender of German submarines in Loch Eriboll in Sutherland was one of the strangest episodes at the end of World War II. Locals were sworn to secrecy and it has often been assumed that only “two or three” crews gave themselves up in the sheltered inlet.
But a new book marking the 65th anniversary of the incident reveals that no fewer than 33 U-boat commanders surrendered in the space of 12 days in the 10-mile long loch.
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The Isle of Wight based charity, the Little Brig Sailing Trust, now has the bragging rights of owning a fleet of the world’s smallest tall ships. (Actually they have only two ships, so perhaps they could also claim the smallest fleet of the smallest tall ships.)
The two 9 meter brigs, the Bob Allen and the Caroline Allen, are designed to introduce sailors as young as ten to the fun and challenges of sailing a square rigged “tall ship.” The small tall-ships cost less to build, operate and crew than larger vessels. They are also incredibly cute. The brigs were designed by British naval architect Colin Mudie. Thanks to Tom Russell of the Tall Ship & Traditional Sail Professionals Linked-In group for pointing it out.
l’Hydroptère, a hydrofoil trimaran, is the fastest sailing vessel on the water. Last November, it sailed at an average speed of 50.17 knots over one nautical mile. l’Hydroptère also holds the speed record of 51.36 knots over 500 meters.
Now the l’Hydroptère team is working to develop an ocean going version of the hydrofoil tri with the goal of sailing around the world in 40 days. The plan is to build two boats, l’Hydroptère.ch, a scaled down version of a new design to be used for testing and development, followed by the full sized, l’Hydroptère maxi.
Last July, we posted a video of the Fisherman’s Friends singing the chantey ‘South Australia.’ The group is made up of ten crab and lobster fishermen and their friends who live within half a nautical mile of each other in fishing village of Port Isaac in Cornwall. They have recently signed an album deal – said to be worth £1m – with Universal Music. Universal Music also represents Lady Gaga and Amy Winehouse. I wonder if there is any cross marketing potential. Perhaps Amy and Lady G could perform with Fisherman’s Friends? Several chanties come immediately to mind. Spanish Ladies, Liverpool Judies and perhaps Whiskey in the Jar might be good fits. Thanks to Alaric Bond for passing the article along.
The norovirus has hit the Celebrity Mercury with a vengeance. The Mercury returned to its home port of Charleston today, a day early, and the next cruise will be delayed by two days for an extensive top-to-bottom cleaning and sanitizing of the ship. This will be the third time in three cruises that the ship has been taken out of service for cleaning.
More than 20% of passengers on Celebrity cruise ship are sick
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The death of Eustace at the Battle of Sandwich
The Oxford Dictionary of National Bi0graphies features an intriguing character from history today – Eustace the Monk, a Benedictine monk from the 13th century who was also a sea captain, a mercenary and a pirate. Quite a resume. A romance biography written about Eustace around 1225 by an unknown poet from Picardy, is said to have influenced the medieval myths of Robin Hood.
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Lila-Lou, a yacht design firm, has developed an intriguing concept design, the Ankida, with integrates sails, masts and keel. Whether their design is feasible and seaworthy remains to be seen, but the animation of their new design is fascinating.
A sunken British frigate rumored to be carrying gold to pay the troops? Sounds a lot like the HMS Hussar which sunk in New York in 1780. This more recent discovery is the British storeship Prince, which sank in the Black Sea in a heavy storm in 1854 during the Crimean War. Like the Hussar, the rumors of gold are likely no more than rumors. The HMS Prince has been often confused with the steamer Black Prince. The steamer did carry gold, while there is no record that the Prince ever did.
Storm-sunken “treasure ship” found in Ukraine
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Death of a Coast Guard Legend – Lieutenant Herbert M. Collins Crosses the Bar
A Coast Guard Legend passed away yesterday. Lieutenant Herbert M. Collins, USCG (RET), the last survivor of the legendary Pea Island Life Saving Station, passed away due to complications from cancer. Here is the message that Admiral Allen sent out to notify the field.
Subj: Death of a distinguished CG Veteran
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I will admit to being easily amused, but I found this to be very funny. For those with more money than sense, here is a “couture superyacht” designed by a fashion designer. I would worry that it might be more fashionable than seaworthy but it does look rather conventional overall. (As a naval architect, I promise that I will never, ever design clothes.)
Couture superyacht brings high fashion to the high seas
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Commander Drysdale
Last January we posted about the the HMS Superb, a British nuclear submarine, which in 2008 crashed into a massive stone pinnacle under the Red Sea. (See Submarines Navigating Badly.) Now the commander and two other officers have been severely reprimanded by a Royal Navy court martial. Apparently all concerned just misread the chart.
Commander of submarine in crash misread chart, court martial told
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Last December we posted about Katie Spotz’s attempt to row across the Atlantic alone. Yesterday she arrived in Georgetown, Guyana, in South America, after 70 days 5 hours 22 minutes in the Atlantic. Spotz, 22, is now the youngest person to cross an ocean in a rowboat, and the first American to row solo from mainland to mainland.
One salty dog, indeed. Thanks to David Hayes for passing the article along.
Dog skeleton from Mary Rose displayed in Portsmouth
A dog which sailed aboard the Mary Rose ship 465 years ago is to take up residence in the Mary Rose Museum at the Portsmouth Historic Dockyard.
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Some call today Pi day, as the first three digits of the date (3.14) are the first three digits of the constant pi used to calculate the circumference and area of a circle. Which makes it a good day to raise a toast to Hakudo Maru.
By Japanese naming convention, merchant and private ship names end in the word “Maru,” meaning circle. There are several explanations for this convention, including that ships were thought of as floating castles and maru represents the defensive “circles” that protected the castle. Another explanation is that the suffix honors, Hakudo Maru, the celestial being in Japanese mythology who is said to have come to Earth 5000 years ago and taught humans how to build ships. A toast to Hokudo Maru.
My favorite explanation is that maru represents the hope that the ship leaves port, travels the world, and returns safely to home port, representing the complete circle of a successful voyage.
The 58 year old, SS United States, built at Newport News, may be at risk of being scrapped but it now appears that the MV Doulos, the world’s oldest ocean-going passenger vessel, may not be making a trip to the breakers yard any time soon. Her days as a passenger vessel are over but she was recently sold to a Singapore-based buyer permanently berth the ship and use it as a floating multiuse facility that could include a restaurant and a retail component. The MV Doulos was built as the SS Medina in 1914 by Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company for the Mallory Steamship Company. In recent years she has been owned by the German charity Gute Bücher für Alle (English: Good Books for All), and was used as a floating bookshop.
At 95 years old, Newport News-built MV Doulos again avoids scrapyard