Women and Children First – Time Permitting

Posted on by April 16, 2010

Lusitania arriving New York on her maiden voyage

A new study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciencesconsiders the sinking of two well known ships, the Titanic and theLusitania,  and looks at who made it to the lifeboats and who was left behind.   Both had a similar number of passengers and a similar loss of life.   The big difference between the two ships appears to be the time they took to sink. The Lusitania took 18 minutes while the Titanic took almost three hours.  On the Lusitania a higher percentage of men made it to the lifeboats whereas women and children fared much better on the Titanic.   The implication is that where time was short, as on the the Lusitania, basic survival instincts took over in the scramble to the boats.   On the Titanic, where there was time to organize boarding, the old rule – women and children first, seems to have asserted itself.

How the Men Reacted as the Titanic and Lusitania Went Under

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Fine Arts in Boston – Ship Models

Posted on by April 17, 2010

USS Constitution

The first exhibit in the $500 expansion of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts new Art of the Americas Wing in currently being installed.   The first new exhibit –  ship models.  An excellent choice.   The new wing opens in November.  For those in the Boston area who would rather not wait, the USS Constitution Model Shipwright Guild’s Annual Model Ship Show – Models in the Spotlight runs through March 2oth at the USS Constitution Museum.

MFA Expansion Sets Sail With Exquisite Model Ships

Video of the Ship Models being installed

The Rise and Fall of a Female Captain Bligh?

Posted on by April 17, 2010

As a follow up to our previous post, (Cruelty on the Cowpens? Cruiser CO Relieved of Duty), a newly released report by the Navy Office of the  Inspector General details the charges of “cruelty and maltreatment” and their findings which resulted in Captain Holly Graf being relieved from duty as captain of the USS Cowpens.   As reported by Time Magazine:

The Rise and Fall of a Female Captain Bligh

Concordia Investigation Update

Posted on by April 17, 2010

In addition to the investigation underway by the Barbados Maritime Ship Registry on behalf of the government of Barbados, where the Concordia was registered, the Transportation Safety Board of Canada has decided to conduct its own independent investigation into the capsizing and sinking of the sail training ship.

Transportation board to probe sinking of Concordia

Class Afloat, owners of the Concordia say the 18-year-old brigantine was designed and tested to survive the sort of  knockdown that apparently sank her.

Tall ship passed stability testing, owners say
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11th Annual Ghost Ships Festival in Milwaukee on March 5th & 6th

Posted on by April 17, 2010

11th Annual Ghost Ships Festival 2010

The Ghost Ships Festival is Wisconsin’s largest trade show devoted to Scuba Diving and Great Lakes Maritime History. Exhibits, workshops, and presentations cover just about every aspect of Great Lakes maritime history and scuba diving.

Milwaukee’s Ghost Ships Festival

Thanks to Alaric Bond for the heads-up.

Huge wave kills 2 on cruise ship, Louis Majesty, in Mediterranean

Posted on by December 3, 2022

Louis Majesty

Huge wave kills 2 on cruise ship in Mediterranean

A 26-foot wave smashed into a cruise ship carrying nearly 2,000 people in the Mediterranean on Wednesday, smashing glass windshields and killing two passengers, according to officials and news reports.
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Scraping bids out for SS United States

Posted on by April 17, 2010

Yesterday we posted that the Independence Seaport Museum doesn’t have the money to support the upkeep of the USS Olympia nor does it have the money to dredge the channel to tow her away.  On the other side of the river the USS New Jersey Battleship Museum is also having financial troubles. Given the current troubles centered around the Delaware River it almost seems a shame to report that the SS United States, which has been sitting of at Pier 84 in South Philadelphia for the last fourteen years,  is now being inspected by scrap dealers.  Then again, she is a rusting, gutted shell.  Perhaps it is time to let the old lady go.    As reported in Maritime Matters:

SS UNITED STATES For Scrap?
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Persistent Sheen – After 60 Years Princess Kathleen Still Leaking Oil off Alaskan coast

Posted on by April 17, 2010

Sunken Canadian ship spewing oil off Alaskan coast: U.S. Coast Guard

A storied Canadian steamship that offered luxury cruises for decades along the British Columbia coast, then served a crucial role during the Second World War transporting troops, supplies and Jewish refugees is now adding an unfortunate chapter to its rich history: the polluting of a major Pacific Ocean inlet.
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Update: SS Olympia – Stuck in Philadelphia by Sandbars and Scandal

Posted on by April 17, 2010

Recently we posted that the Independence Seaport Museum is seeking a new owner for the USS Olympia which it cannot afford to support.  See Philly Museum Sends SOS to Care for Historic Ship.   Sadly it appears that not only can’t the museum afford to keep the Olympia at dockside, but that it can’t afford to move it either.

Historic ships steel-hulled ships should be drydocked for maintenance at least every twenty years. The Olympia has been in the water continuously for 56 years, since 1945.

Olympia needs $30m in repairs, new caretaker
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In the Wake of the Beagle – Stad Amsterdam arrives in Melbourne

Posted on by April 17, 2010
Stad Amsterdam arriving in Melbourne

Back in September we posted about a group of historians and naturalists, as well as a film crew for Dutch VPRO Television sailing on the Stad Amsterdam. The ship is retracing the voyage of HMS Beagle on the 150th anniversary of the publication of Darwin’s On the Origin of the Species.  See Retracing Darwin’s Journey – 150 Years Later.    The ship arrived in Sydney, Australia earlier this month and last week called at Melbourne.   Visit the project website here (in Dutch and English.)

NATO Destroyer Sinks Pirate Mother Ship off Somalia but Lets Pirates Go

Posted on by April 17, 2010

In the ongoing somewhat surreal operation against piracy off Somalia,  the HDMS Absalon, a Danish destroyer, sank a pirate “mother ship” but allowed the pirates to return to shore.   The official goal appears to be to “disrupt” rather than stop pirate activities.   Thus far the naval flotilla has proven itself a significant inconvenience to the Somali pirates but little more.   It appears that the nation states involved continue to lack the will to arrest and charge the pirates under international law.  A policy of  ”catch and release” works well for stocking trout streams but does little in stopping piracy in one of the most important shipping lanes in the world.

NATO warship sinks pirate ship off Somalia

Ocean Transportation – Beautifully Green or Murderously Dirty?

Posted on by April 17, 2010

Is a ship the “greenest”, most efficient means of transportation or is the dirtiest? It is easy to be confused about hoe clean or dirty ocean transportation may be  from reading the newspapers.

Transportation by water has always been the most efficient means of moving goods over distance.  At the turn of the 19th century the cost of transporting an item across the Atlantic by ship was roughly the same cost as moving it 30 miles inland.  With canals, railroads and highways, overland efficiency has improved, but, nevertheless, things haven’t changed so much.

A study by National Geographic on the transport of wines reflects this, as expressed by the carbon footprint of the shipment.  If you live in New York, a French wine, transported by ship, can have a carbon footprint of only an equivalent to only 0.3 pounds of CO2, whereas a California wine, transported overland by truck, has a carbon footprint of  4.4 pounds.

Ship or Truck Transport Makes All the Difference in Wine’s Carbon Footprint
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Circumnavigator Update – Jessica, Abby, and Dilip

Posted on by April 17, 2010

Jessica, Abby, & Dilip

Here is an update on the circumnavigation attempts under way by Jessica Watson, Abby Sunderland and Commander Dilip Donde.   The last name may not be as familiar as those of the blonde teenagers.  The 42 year old  Indian Navy Commander is on the last leg of his quest to be the first Indian to circumnavigate the globe singlehanded.   He recently stopped at Cape Town on his way to Mumbai, literally one ocean away from his destination.
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Run for the A.J. Meerwald

Posted on by April 17, 2010

The Port Norris Rotary presents the 13th annual “Run for the Schooner” a 5K run, walkathon & 1 mile fun run/walk on Saturday, April 10, 2010, to benefit the A.J. Meerwald, the official Tall Ship of the State of New Jersey.

To learn more call 856-785-2060, or visit the Bayshore Discovery Project .

The A.J. Meerwald is an authentically restored 1928 oyster schooner operated as a hands-on sailing classroom throughout the region as well as offering shore-based programs and events in her home port of Bivalve on the scenic Maurice River in Cumberland County.
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Maersk B Class Ships, World’s Fastest Container Ships, in Layup

Posted on by April 17, 2010

MAERSK BEAUMONT Photo: Hannes van Rijn http://www.marinetraffic.com

We have recently posted about the roller coaster ride that has been container ship design over the last few decades.  See Containerships – from Slow to Fast to Slow to Fast to Slow Again.  The smartest minds in the shipping industry have not been able to predict what the right speed for the box boats will be.  One example of this are the seven virtually new 4,000 TEU Maersk B Class ships designed to operate at 30 knots, all of which went almost directly into layup.    What a difference a couple of years makes – Maersk, which spent an estimated $350 million dollars to build these 30 knot ships, is now “slow steaming” much of its fleet at 12 to 14  knots. Financial Times had a recent article about the plight of the Maersk B Class Ships.
World’s fastest container ships mothballed
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Sea Shepherds Quit for the Season

Posted on by April 18, 2010

After having their toy racing boat, Ady Gil sunk in a collision with a whaling ship; after experiencing engine problems as well as having the registration of their converted whaler, the B0b Barker, pulled by the Togolese; after having the captain of the Ady Gil arrested when he boarded a Japanese whaler; and then after using the Steve Irwin to pelt the Japanese ships with crocodile bath toys, the Sea Shepherds have ended their season of harassment and are sailing for home. They have proclaimed it their “most successful” season yet.  And so another year of this dangerous farce comes to a  close.

Anti-whaling activists end Antarctic campaign

For the record, we also oppose Japanese whaling, but we do not support the vigilante violence of the Paul Watson and his bumbling seagoing circus.  Thanks to Captain D. Peter Boucher of the Nautical Log for the heads up

Philly Museum Sends SOS to Care for Historic Ship

Posted on by April 18, 2010

USS Olympia

Terrible news from Phildelphia.

Philadelphia maritime museum says it can’t afford to care for historic USS Olympia

A Philadelphia maritime museum says it can no longer afford to care for a historic ship that served in the Spanish-American War.
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Sailing Around The World With Solar

Posted on by April 18, 2010

The windjammers liked the higher latitudes where the winds are stronger. This solar craft will try to still as close to the equator as possible to maximize the sunshine.  The catamaran reminds me of something out of Star Trek, perhaps a Romulan transport ship.

Sailing Around The World With Solar
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Cutty Sark Restoration Turning into a Fiasco?

Posted on by April 22, 2012

After rosy announcements about the restoration of the Cutty Sark an article in the Telegraph has a very different view of the ongoing project.

Cutty Sark restoration turning into a fiasco

The restoration of the Cutty Sark is turning into a fiasco which could seriously damage or even destroy one of Britain’s most famous ships, it can be revealed.
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Heinz Stahlschmidt – the German Sailor Who Saved Bordeaux

Posted on by April 18, 2010

Heinz Stahlschmidt

Heinz Stahlschmidt, a renegade former member of Germany’s World War Two navy, who thwarted plans to wreck the French port of Bordeaux by retreating Nazi forces, has died at the age of 91, officials said.  Thanks to Andy Hall at the Maritime Texas Blog for pointing it out.

Renegade German war hero who saved French port dies

Heinz Stahlschmidt was serving as a petty officer in the Kriegsmarine when he was ordered to help prepare the destruction of the southwestern city’s port facilities as the Germans pulled out ahead of advancing allied troops.

Instead, he set off an explosion in the bunker holding detonators and time fuses for the planned demolition, preventing mass carnage in the port area and, according to some historians, possibly saving up to 3,500 lives.
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