The Mystery of the Superyacht Scheherazade — Who is the Owner?

Posted on by March 8, 2022

As Western governments scrabble to identify the luxury yachts of sanctioned Russian oligarchs, the ownership of Scheherazade, a 495′ long superyacht, docked in Marina di Carrara, a small Italian town on the Tuscan coast, remains a mystery. Valued at $700 million dollars and almost as long as an Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer, Scheherazade is one of the 14th largest superyachts and is alone in that no likely owner has been publicly identified.

The New York Times observes that determining the ownership of assets that the wealthy want to keep hidden is difficult, especially without a warrant, because they are often zealously guarded by private bankers and lawyers and tucked away in opaque shell companies in offshore secrecy havens. The Scheherazade is flagged in the Cayman Islands and its owner, Bielor Assets Ltd., is registered in the Marshall Islands. The yacht’s management company is also registered in the Cayman Islands.

So while clearly a billionaire’s yacht, Italian authorities are asking, which billionaire? Continue reading →

Women’s History Month: Remembering Raye Montague, Barrier-Shattering Navy Ship Designer

Posted on by March 7, 2022

In honor of both Women’s History Month and last month’s  Black History Month, an updated repost about the barrier-shattering naval engineer Raye Montague, who died at the age of 83 in 2018.

At the age of 7, she was inspired to become an engineer after she toured a captured World War II German submarine with her grandmother.  As an African-American girl, however, she was told that becoming an engineer was simply not an option.

Thirty years later, Raye Montague became the first person to use a computer program to rapidly develop a preliminary ship design for the U.S. Navy. The design process had previously taken the Navy two years. Montague completed the preliminary design of the Oliver Hazard Perry Class frigate in less than 19 hours. Her accomplishment revolutionized the way the Navy designs ships and submarines. 

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Women’s History Month — Honoring Winnie Breegle, WWII WAVE and Code Talker at 100

Posted on by March 6, 2022

During Women’s History Month, it is a good time to honor Winnie Breegle who celebrated her 100th birthday last month. She served in World War II as a WAVE (Woman Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service) cryptographer and a Navajo code talker, who didn’t happen to be a Navajo. An updated repost.

In 1941, Winnie Breegle, a 21-year-old farm girl from Ohio taught Latin, Spanish and English in high school, and women with such backgrounds were highly sought for work as coders. When she enlisted in the Navy, she was trained as a cryptographer.

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End Plastic Pollution — UN Agreement to Draft Treaty to Limit Plastics on Land and Sea

Posted on by March 5, 2022

Last week, representatives from 175 nations agreed to begin writing a global treaty that would restrict the explosive growth of plastic pollution on land and sea. The agreement commits nations to work on a broad and legally binding treaty that would not only aim to improve recycling and clean up the world’s plastic waste, but would also include curbs on plastics production itself.

World leaders have until 2024 to agree on the terms of the plastic pollution treaty, including which elements will be legally binding and how the deal will be financed.

Scientists say plastics cause harm throughout their life cycle, releasing toxic as well as planet-warming greenhouse gases during production, landfill and incineration. Plastics, which are manufactured from fossil fuels, caused 4.5 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions in 2015, one recent study estimated, more than all of the world’s airplanes combined.

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Stuck in the Ice, Searching for Shackleton’s Endurance

Posted on by March 4, 2022

In early February, the Endurance22 expedition set off from Cape Town, South Africa for Antarctica’s Weddell Sea aboard the icebreaking research ship, SA Agulhas II. Their objective is to locate, survey, and film the wreck of Endurance, Ernest Shackleton’s ship that sank after being crushed in Antarctic pack ice in 1915. Last week, history briefly repeated itself. As they approached the location where the Endurance was lost, SA Agulhas II became stuck in the ice after the mercury dipped to -10C. 

Fortunately, using the ship’s power, assisted by a deck crane that swung a fuel container back and forth to rock the ship, the crew was able to free the SA Agulhas II after several hours.

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France & Germany Seize Oligarchs’ Yachts, Others Flee Sanctions

Posted on by March 3, 2022

The net of sanctions is tightening around the superyachts owned by Russian oligarchs. Yesterday, Germany seized the 512-foot yacht Dilbar, valued at nearly $600 million, owned by Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov, who faces European Union sanctions over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Forbes reported. The yacht has been in the Hamburg shipyards of German shipbuilding firm Blohm+Voss since late October for a refitting job.

Today, the French seized the 289-foot yacht Amore Vero belonging to Rosneft boss Igor Sechin as it tried to leave the Mediterranean port of La Ciotat in a breach of EU sanctions on Russian oligarchs, Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said.

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Update: After Burning For Two Weeks, Car Carrier Felicity Ace Sinks Off Azores

Posted on by March 2, 2022

Photo: Portuguese navy

The car carrier Felicity Ace, carrying upwards of 4,000 vehicles, including more than 1,000 Porsches and 200 Bentleys, caught fire in the Atlantic off the Azores on February 16. After almost two weeks ablaze, the fire appeared to be under control. The ship was still quite hot, but smoke no longer billowed from the cargo decks. Then, yesterday morning, while under tow by the salvage tug Bear, the 650-foot-long car carrier capsized and sank.

The Portuguese navy said in a statement, “This morning, during the towing process, which had begun on Feb. 24, the ship ‘Felicity Ace’ lost stability and sank some 25 nautical miles outside of the limits of Portugal’s exclusive economic zone, in an area with a depth of about [9,842 feet].”

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UK and Major Container Ship Lines Ban Russian Cargo and Ships Over Ukrainian Invasion

Posted on by March 1, 2022

The impact of Russian sanctions is spreading across the shipping industry. Yesterday, Britain announced that Russian ships would be banned from UK ports as part of a new package of sanctions against Russia.

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said that he has written to all U.K. ports and asked them “not to provide access” to any Russian ship.

“Given Putin’s action in Ukraine I’ve made clear these vessels are NOT welcome here with prohibiting legislation to follow,” he said.

European Union countries are considering a ban on Russian ships entering the bloc’s ports, aiming to tighten sea restrictions after a halt on air traffic, European officials say, a step that would further hamper Russia’s commercial shipments.

This morning, container shipping giant Maersk announced on Twitter:

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Ukrainian Engineer Attempts to Sink Oligarch’s Yacht — “My Boss is a Criminal”

Posted on by February 28, 2022

Taras Ostapchuk (left) and Lady Anastasia (right), which belongs to Mijeev (inset right) (Twitter)

A Ukrainian marine engineer was detained after attempting to sink the Lady Anastasia, a 48-meter-long $7 million superyacht owned by Russian oligarch and arms tycoon, Alexander Mijeev. The attempt took place on Saturday at Port Adriano in Mallorca.

The 55-year-old engineer, Taras Ostapchuk, had worked on the yacht for close to a decade and felt compelled to act after seeing a video of a Russian cruise missile partially destroying an apartment block resembling his own in Kyiv. His employer and the yacht’s owner, Mijeev, 61, is the CEO of Rosoboronexport, the weapons export arm of Russia’s state-owned defense conglomerate Rostec. Ostapchuk believes that the missile was manufactured by Rostec.

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Black History Month: Whaling Ship Captain William Thomas Shorey, the Black Ahab

Posted on by February 27, 2022

Over nearly three centuries of whaling, some 175,000 men went to sea in 2,700 ships. Of the 2,500 masters who captained whaling ships, at least 63 were men of color. Many of the 63 sailed from the US East Coast, including Absalom Boston, Paul Cuffee, William A. Martin, and Collins A. Stevenson, among others. Here is a revised repost about a black whaling shipmaster from the West Coast in last days of the whale fisheries, Captain William Shorey. 

Captain William Thomas Shorey, who was affectionately nicknamed “Black Ahab” by his crew, was born in Barbados in 1859 and ran away to sea as a young man. He learned navigation from a British ship captain and became a ship’s officer by the age of 21. After only a decade at sea, he rose to command whaling ships sailing out of San Francisco.

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France Seizes Russian Ro/Ro Baltic Leader in English Channel Over Sanctions

Posted on by February 26, 2022

France seized a Russian-flagged ro/ro cargo ship, Baltic Leader, on Saturday, in the English Channel, in accordance with recent sanctions put in place following the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The ship was bound for St. Petersburg, Russia, but was diverted to the port of Boulogne-sur-Mer in northern France between 3 a.m. and 4 a.m. (0200-0300 GMT), Captain Veronique Magnin of the French Maritime Prefecture told Reuters.

The vessel was “strongly suspected of being linked to Russian interests targeted by the sanctions,” she said.

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Three Merchant Ships Hit by Russian Bombs & Missiles Near Ukrainian Port of Odessa

Posted on by February 25, 2022

Reuters is reporting that Russian warships shelled Millennial Spirit, a Moldovan-flagged chemical tanker, and Namura Queen, a Panamanian-flagged cargo ship due to load grain near Odessa port in the Black Sea on Friday, one day after Russia began a full-scale invasion of Ukraine.  A total of three non-military vessels have now been hit since the start of the invasion. On Thursday, the Turkish-owned Yasa Jupiter cargo ship was struck off Odessa.

Ukraine’s infrastructure ministry said that the Millennial Spirit was carrying 600 tonnes of diesel at the time of the attack from a Russian military ship.

Earlier on Friday Moldova’s naval agency said the crew of the Millennial Spirit was Russian and that two of them had been seriously injured.
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Black History Month Repost: Paul Cuffe — African-American Captain, Ship Owner & Shipbuilder

Posted on by March 25, 2022

During Black History Month, it is worthwhile to remember early African-American shipmasters. Who was the first? That is hard to say. Paul Cuffe is a good candidate.  An updated repost.

Paul Cuffee was born on Cuttyhunk Island, MA on January 17, 1759, the seventh of ten children of Kofi or Cuffee Slocum and Ruth Moses. His father, a freed black man, was a member of the Ashanti people of Ghana. His mother was a Native American of the Wampanoag Nation of Martha’s Vineyard. Cuffee Slocum was a skilled carpenter, farmer, and fisherman, who taught himself to read and write. In 1766, Cuffee Slocum was able to purchase a 116-acre farm in Westport, Massachusetts.

Paul Cuffee went to sea at 16 on whalers and merchant ships, where he learned navigation. During the American Revolution, his ship was captured by the British and Cuffee was imprisoned for three months in 1776 in New York. He returned home to Massachusetts and in 1779 built an open boat which he used to run the British blockade, bringing trade goods to Nantucket and ports on the Massachusetts coast.

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Black History Month — John Henry Turpin : Pioneer, Survivor, and Overlooked Hero

Posted on by February 23, 2022

John Henry Turpin was one of the first Black Chief Petty Officers to serve in the United States Navy. He was also a survivor of two naval disasters — the catastrophic explosions of the USS Maine in 1898, and USS Bennington in 1905.  He was one of 12 sailors nominated for the Medal of Honor for their efforts in rescuing their fellow crew members on the Bennington.

Turpin was born in Long Branch, NJ in 1876. He enlisted in the Navy at age 20, as a Messman, one of the only positions available to Black sailors at the time. 

Almost two years later, on February 15, 1898, Turpin was serving in the mess hall of the USS Maine at anchor in Havana Harbor, Cuba when it mysteriously blew up. He was picked up from the waters of the harbor along with 89 other crew members. They were the only survivors of the explosion out of 350 total crew.

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Black History Month — Remembering the Golden Thirteen

Posted on by February 22, 2022

Twelve of the Golden Thirteen

The Golden Thirteen, a wonderful bit of history from the Naval History and Heritage Command:

In January 1944, there were nearly 100,000 Black Sailors in the United States Navy, but none were officers. That would change when a group of sixteen Black enlisted men were assembled at Recruit Training Center, Great Lakes, in Illinois for officer training that month.

The odds were initially stacked against them as there was still a strong sentiment within the Navy that African Americans could not succeed as officers. The normal officer training course was sixteen weeks, however, these men were expected to complete it in eight – a move that they believed was an attempt to set them up for failure.

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Update: Fire on Car Carrier Felicity Ace, Adrift Off Azores, Burning Out

Posted on by February 21, 2022

Reuters is reporting that the fire, which swept through the car carrier Felicity Ace carrying thousands of luxury cars, leaving it adrift off Portugal’s Azores islands has lost its intensity, probably because there is little left to burn, a port official said.

The Felicity Ace, carrying around 4,000 vehicles including Porsches, Audis, and Bentleys, some electric with lithium-ion batteries, caught fire in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean on Wednesday.

“The fire has subsided in recent hours,” João Mendes Cabeças, captain of the nearest port in the Azorean island of Faial, told Lusa news agency, saying there was probably little combustible material left to burn.

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Black History Month — First Black Liberty Ship Captain, Hugh Mulzac, Says No To Jim Crow

Posted on by February 20, 2022

Hugh Mulzak served as the first Black Liberty ship captain in World War II. When offered the command, he refused to sail with a segregated crew. An updated repost in honor of Black History Month.

Born in 1886 on Union Island in Saint Vincent Grenadines, he went to sea at 21 and served on British, Norwegian, and American sail and steam-powered ships. After studying at the Swansea Nautical College in South Wales, he earned a mate’s license in 1910. He served as a deck officer on four ships during World War I.

In 1918, he became a naturalized US citizen and in 1920 sat for his Master’s license, earning a perfect score on the test. Despite his experience and qualifications, he was generally only able to find work aboard American ships as a messman or cook. Mulzak has been described as “the most over-qualified ship’s cook in maritime history.”

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Twelve Missing After Euroferry Olympia Catches Fire Near Corfu

Posted on by February 19, 2022

This has been a bad week for shipboard fires. The car carrier Felicity Ace caught fire Wednesday in the Atlantic, off the Azores, and is still burning and adrift, awaiting salvage tugs. Fortunately, the 22 person crew was evacuated safely.

Yesterday, a blaze swept through the Euroferry Olympia, a ferry sailing from Greece to Italy. Reuters reports that of the 241 passengers and 51 crew on board when the fire broke out, 12 people are still missing. Rescue vessels moved most of the 280 people who were rescued to the nearby island of Corfu.

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Black History Month Repost — William Tillman and the Privateer Jefferson Davis

Posted on by February 18, 2022

A repost in honor of Black History Month. 

William Tillman was one of the first black heroes of the American Civil War. He was not a soldier but rather a 27-year-old  cook-steward on the schooner S.J. Waring.  On July 7, 1861, the schooner was captured by the Confederate privateer Jefferson Davis while about 150 miles from Sandy Hook, New York.  Captain Smith, the master of the S.J. Waring was taken aboard the Jefferson Davis, and a five-man prize crew was put aboard the schooner, with orders to sail her to a Southern port where the ship and her cargo would be sold.

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Car Carrier Felicity Ace on Fire and Adrift in the Atlantic

Posted on by February 17, 2022

The car carrier Felicity Ace caught fire yesterday in the Atlantic Ocean, 90 miles southwest of the Azores. The Portuguese Navy and four merchant ships in the area responded to the car carrier’s distress call. The crew of 22 were all safely evacuated and transported by helicopter to Faial island. The ship is now adrift and on fire, awaiting salvage tugs. No details are currently available as to the cause of the fire, other than that it broke out one of the ship’s cargo decks.

The Felicity Ace had departed from the port in Emden, Germany on February 10, carrying vehicles from a number of Volkswagen Auto Group brands, including Porsche, Bentley, Audi, and VW. The ship was originally expected to arrive at Davisville, Rhode Island on the morning of February 23.

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