Bouchard Files for Bankruptcy, Looking Back at Captain Fred and the Attack on Black Tom

Posted on by October 8, 2020

Captain Frederick Bouchard

Bouchard Transportation recently filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The 102-year-old Long Island petroleum barge operator has been struggling over the last several years, involved financial shortfalls and a string of accidents, including a fatal explosion in 2017. 

Rather than focusing on what may be the end of the nation’s largest independently-owned ocean-going petroleum barge company, on this “throwback Thursday” we will take a look back at the company’s origins and to Captain Frederick Bouchard’s heroism during the worst attack on New York harbor prior to 9/11.

At around 2 a.m. on Sunday morning, July 30, 1916, New York harbor exploded. German saboteurs blew up high explosives at the Black Tom terminal in Jersey City. Black Tom was one of the largest munitions terminals in the country, storing and shipping millions of tons of ammunition and high explosives to the French and the British, who were in the second year of what was then called the “Great War” against Germany and its allies.

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On the Hip — Working Harbor Committee Virtual Gala on October 20th

Posted on by October 4, 2020

Like so many other organizations, the Working Harbor Committee has had to rethink its annual gala, which raises funds for the organization and honors leaders in the Working Waterfront. This year the gala will be virtual on Tuesday, October 20, 2020, from 6:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.

The Working Harbor Committee will be honoring Captain John J. DeCruz, President of the United New York Sandy Hook Pilots, and Captain Brendan L. Foley, President of the United New Jersey Sandy Hook Pilots. The Sandy Hook pilots help container ships bring food and other essential goods into New York Harbor.

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Some See Irony in Pandemic During Mayflower Anniversary

Posted on by October 7, 2020

On the upcoming 400th anniversary of the arrival of the Pilgrims on the Mayflower, the ongoing pandemic has seriously disrupted plans for the commemoration. The replica ship Mayflower II has returned to its homeport in Plymouth, MA, after completing an $11 million refit at the Mystic Seaport Museum’s duPont Preservation Shipyard. But, the art exhibits, festivals, lectures, and regattas planned to celebrate the anniversary have all been scaled back, put on hold, or canceled altogether. 

The Boston Globe reports that some find irony in the coincidence of the pandemic with the anniversary. They note that historian Elizabeth Fenn finds a certain perverse poetry in that.
“The irony obviously runs quite deep,” says Fenn, a history professor at the University of Colorado Boulder who has studied disease in Colonial America. “Novel infections did MOST of the dirty work of colonization.”

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USS Cobia — Wisconsin Maritime Museum’s Sub BnB

Posted on by October 5, 2020

USS Cobia was launched in 1943 and made six patrols during World War II. The submarine was brought to Manitowoc in 1970. Photo: Wisconsin Maritime Museum.

An interesting bit of news from the Sea History Today, the National Maritime Historical Society’s newsletter. One of the more popular programs at the Wisconsin Maritime Museum (WMM) in Manitowoc involves arranging for youth groups to spend the night in the museum’s WWII-era submarine, Cobia. Over the past 23 years, about 60,000 people—mostly scout groups—have spent the night in the submarine, which has been painstakingly restored. The program was so popular that many groups booked a year or more in advance. The program was so successful that WMW even considered expanding it to include AirBnB lodgings for adults.

Then the pandemic struck. WMM had to close its doors temporarily, and limitations on in-person group activities put an end to youth overnights in Cobia, bringing an estimated shortfall of $100,000 in revenue traditionally generated by them.

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Jeanne Baret, the First Woman to Circumnavigate the Globe

Posted on by October 4, 2020

Jeanne Baret Google Doodle from July 27, 2020

Jeanne Baret is believed to be the first woman ever to circumnavigate the globe. Born in 1740 to a poor family in the Burgundy region of France, Baret became skilled in identifying local plants. While in her early 20s, she became a housekeeper for Philibert Commerson, a practicing physician and amateur naturalist. After the death of Commerson’s wife, she and Baret developed a more personal relationship. Baret is believed to have had a son by Commerson.

In 1766, Commerson joined Louis Antoine de Bougainville’s scientific expedition circumnavigating the world. As the expedition botanist, Commerson was allowed to bring along an assistant. He chose Baret, although as it was illegal to bring a woman aboard a French naval ship, Jeanne Baret dressed as a man and signed aboard as Jean Baret.

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Review: My Octopus Teacher, on Netflix

Posted on by October 1, 2020

Octopuses are often referred to as being akin to space aliens. With three hearts, nine brains, and blue blood, they are so different from us that they could be from another planet. They are also highly intelligent. While other intelligent creatures, from humans to orca whales, tend to be long-lived and to live in communities of others of their kind, the octopus has a relatively short life span and is not particularly social.  They are indeed mysterious and otherworldly.

This is an overly long introduction to a fascinating new documentary, My Octopus Teacher, on Netflix about a filmmaker and free diver, who developed a relationship with an octopus living in a kelp forest off Cape Town, South Africa. Craig Foster spent a year following and developing a bond with the octopus, observing the octopus for most of its life. The remarkable thing is that once the octopus determines that the man with a mask and snorkel is not a threat, the octopus becomes almost as curious about Foster as Foster is about the cephalopod. 

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Spain Seizes 30 Tonnes of Hashish in 4 Sailboats

Posted on by October 2, 2020

Barrons reports that Spanish police seized more than 30 tonnes of hashish, worth an estimated 63 million euros, stashed onboard four sailboats in what is described as its biggest-ever bust of such drugs at sea.

The four boats were intercepted in the Atlantic as part of a four-day operation which resulted in the arrest of nine people of Bulgarian and Russian origin, a police statement said.

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Politics Over Safety? White House Overrules C.D.C. on Cruise Ship Ban

Posted on by October 1, 2020

The cruise ship industry effectively shut down in the middle of last March due to outbreaks of the coronavirus on several ships. The Center for Disease Control (C.D.C.) has issued a series of “No-Sail Orders” which have kept the ships in port ever since. 

Now the New York Times is reporting that the White House has blocked a new order from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to keep cruise ships docked until mid-February, a step that would have displeased the politically powerful tourism industry in the crucial swing state of Florida.

The current “No Sail” policy is set to expire on Wednesday. Dr. Robert R. Redfield, the director of the C.D.C., had recommended the extension, worried that cruise ships could become viral hot spots, as they did at the beginning of the pandemic.

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Vanport, Liberty Ships, and Jim Crow Shipyards

Posted on by September 30, 2020

Vanport Flood 1948

In recent protests in Portland, the white nationalist group Proud Boys assembled on the edge of town in Delta Park, while, close by, Black Lives Matters counter-protestors gathered, on the other side of the highway, in a section of the park referred to as Vanport. Although little is left beyond the name, Vanport is part of the history of the struggle for racial justice that still resonates in Portland and so much of the nation today.

Built in just 110 days in 1942, Vanport was a housing project meant to provide shelter for 40,000 shipyard workers, who came to Portland to work in the three nearby Kaiser shipyards, building  Liberty and Victory ships, as well as aircraft carriers, tankers, and landing ships, to support the war effort. Kaiser’s Northwest shipyards produced 752 ships during the war years and Vanport soon became the second-largest city in Oregon.

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New From Old Salt Press — Angel’s Share: A Story from the World of The Astreya Trilogy

Posted on by September 29, 2020

The second of two wonderful books recently released by Old Salt Press. Today we are spotlighting Angel’s Share: A Story from the World of The Astreya Trilogy by Seymour Hamilton. About the book:

Angel, a very old man who once was a Man of the Sea, recalls his boyhood and how he helped five men, a dozen widows and their young children, all led by the charismatic Abner, reach safety at an abandoned Fort, where they hope to escape the breakdown of society in a community guided by hope, faith, loyalty, and peace. Among the children is a girl with sea-bright eyes, and her little sister. More than twenty years later, Angel returns in his own ship to find out how they all fared. Unexpectedly, he triggers murderous violence that threatens to destroy the little community and Angel with it.

Angel’s Share takes place in the world of The Astreya Trilogy. It is the story Able told about his part in the formation of Matris to Astreya and Lindey when they returned from the Village.

New From Old Salt Press — Lone Escort by Alaric Bond (The Fighting Sail Series Book 13)

Posted on by September 29, 2020

There are two wonderful new books from Old Salt Press. Today we spotlight Lone Escort by Alaric Bond, the thirteenth book of his “Fighting Sail” series.  About the book:

The North Atlantic in spring is a perilous place and, with a valuable convoy to protect, HMS Tenacious has a tough job ahead. But she is fresh from refit, fully manned and seemingly up to the task; the only factor likely to invite defeat is her captain.

With breathtaking naval action, strong personal dynamics, and a mass of historical detail, Lone Escort is a nautical thriller of the first order.

Bond consistently delivers rousing naval adventures, vividly seen through the eyes of the seamen as well as those in command on the quarterdeck. A superb storyteller, he weaves suspenseful scenarios, which move like smoke and oakum from one plight to the next. Quarterdeck Magazine.

The River Thames 1963 & the London Gateway — Glimpses of a Cargo Revolution

Posted on by September 27, 2020

Here are two short videos that provide a glimpse at the revolution in cargo shipping in the UK (and the world) over the last half-century. The first video, “Look at Life – Report on a River – The River Thames – 1963,” captures a moment in time just before containerization changed everything. The second video shows the huge, largely automated container terminal London Gateway. The contrast between the port facilities shown on the two videos, separated in time by over 50 years, could not be more dramatic.

A recurring question raised by the narrator of the 1963 video was whether the London docks would be able to expand and adapt to the rise in world trade. The answer turned out to be “no.” Today the London docks have been described as “little more than a garnish of maritime nostalgia on riverside real estate.” What they could not have known in 1963 was that four years later, SeaLand Services would open the first UK container terminal in Felixstowe, approximately 90 miles northeast of London. Today, the Port of Felixstowe handles over 40% of containerized traffic in the UK.

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SS Ayrfield — From Wreck to Mangrove Forest

Posted on by September 26, 2020

The steam collier SS Ayrfield was 61 years old. Formally called the Corrimal, the 1,140-tonne ship, ran coal between Newcastle and Sydney before serving as a transport ship for Australia during World War II. After the war, she operated again as a collier between Newcastle and Miller’s terminal in Blackwattle Bay. By 1972, she had reached the end of her useful life and was sent to a scrapyard in Homebush Bay, near Sydney, Australia, to be broken up.

The ship arrived just as the scrap market collapsed and the yard closed. Part of her hull was cut away but her scrapping was interrupted. She settled into the mudflats of the bay, to rust slowly away, a tired relic of another time.

Then something remarkable happened. Mangrove trees took residence in her hull. Before long a veritable forest sprouted from the rusting wreckage. Locals called the ship affectionately, the “Floating Forest”, although the adjective “floating” is more fanciful than literal. 

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Were Polynesian Sailors the Ancestors of Native Americans?

Posted on by September 25, 2020

Genetic analysis of modern descendants shows that sailors from the Pacific Islands arrived in the Americas long before Europeans arrived. The question is how long?

A recent study suggests Polynesians and Native Americans made contact some 800 years ago, well before Europeans arrived in North America.

The DNA testing of a member of the Blackfoot tribe in Montona, however, suggests a far earlier interaction. When Darrell “Dusty” Crawford had his DNA tested last year by CRI Genetics, the company traced his line back 55 generations with a 99 percent accuracy rate. The company has never been able to trace anyone’s ancestry in the Americas as far back as Crawford’s DNA, they told him.

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Spain Bans Smaller Sailboats Following Damage From Orca Encounters

Posted on by September 25, 2020

Some sailors along Spain’s Galician coast must be saying “we’re gonna need a bigger boat.” There have been reports of up to 30 attacks by orcas directed at sailboats on the northwestern coast of Spain and Portugal.

Now, the Spanish Coast guard is banning boats under 15 meters (49 feet) long from taking to the sea for at least a week off about 90 km (56 miles) of the coast between Cape Piorino Grande and Point Estacas de Bares. The ban could be extended if the pods remain in the area.

Pods of orcas in the region have been ramming and biting boat hulls and rudders since at least  August 19. So far, no one has been killed or seriously injured although several boats have suffered damage to their steering gear or propellers and have had to be towed to safety.

Thanks to Virginia Jones for contributing to this post.

Russian Navy Corvette Collides with Refrigerated Ship in Fog Near Entrance to Baltic Sea

Posted on by September 23, 2020

The Danish Ministry of Defense has confirmed that the Russian Navy corvette, Kazanets, collided with the refrigerated cargo vessel, Ice Rose, in dense fog, near the Øresund Bridge, which spans the entrance to the Baltic.  

The Russian ship, a Parchim-class corvette, is reported to have been operating with this AIS turned off. The corvette is said to have suffered a hull breach above the waterline and to have proceeded under its own power toward the Baltiysk Naval Base, Kaliningrad Region, Russia.

The merchant ship, Ice Rose, is reported to have suffered significant damage and is anchored south of the Øresund Bridge awaiting a determination of seaworthiness. Ice Rose is a 14567 DWT ship carrying refrigerated containers. The ship is owned by Maestro Ship Management.

Thanks to Irwin Bryan for contributing to this post.

Around 270 Pilot Whales Stranded on Sandbar on West Coast of Tasmania

Posted on by September 22, 2020

Around 270 pilot whales have become stranded on a sandbar on the remote western coast of Tasmania. Rescuers in Australia say that at least a third of the whales have died and that more are dying. 

The BBC reports that rescuers from the Tasmanian Marine Conservation Program arrived late on Monday and found three groups of whales across Macquarie Heads – a remote tip of the island with limited vessel and road access.

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Lake George Rescue — The Kayaker and the Priests on a Floating Tiki Bar

Posted on by September 21, 2020

Here is the story of a very lucky kayaker saved by unexpected rescuers on Lake George. It seems a kayaker got into trouble and was rescued by a group of priests out for an afternoon excursion on a floating Tiki Bar. If you are not familiar with Lake George, the story sounds frankly weird. If you know a bit of the lake’s history, it all sort of makes sense.

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Old Three Toes — The Giant Penguin of Clearwater Beach, Florida

Posted on by September 20, 2020

This seems like a suitable post for a Sunday in 2020.

On a morning in February 1948, a local beachcomber was walking the beautiful white sand beach in Clearwater, FL, and was shocked to find large three-toed footprints in the sand coming out of the Gulf of Mexico. The tracks were large, 14 inches long and 11 inches wide, made a deep impression in the sand, and were widely spaced. Whatever made the tracks appeared to be heavy and very large. The tracks went on for close to two miles before returning to the water.

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Scientists Baffled by Orcas Ramming Sailboats, Grabbing Rudders

Posted on by September 20, 2020

Another 2020 story. Despite being dubbed killer whales, orcas in the wild have a long history of not attacking humans and rarely attacking boats. [Edited — see note at the end of the post.] (The situation with orcas in captivity is not as clear.) But, something very strange has been happening recently off the coast of Spain and Portugal. Pods of orcas have been reported to be ramming sailboats and often grabbing their rudders. The encounters have been reported from Gibraltar to Galacia and have caused significant damage, most often to the boat’s steering. Scientists are at a loss to explain the behavior.

The Guardian reports that in the last two months, from southern to northern Spain, sailors have sent distress calls after worrying encounters. Two boats lost part of their rudders, at least one crew member suffered bruising from the impact of the ramming, and several boats sustained serious damage. Continue reading →