New Zealand Navy Support Vessel Grounds & Sinks off Samoa, All Onboard Rescued

Posted on by October 6, 2024

HMNZS Manawanui, a multi-role offshore support vessel commissioned in the Royal New Zealand Navy, ran aground while surveying a reef off the island of Upolu in Samoa on Saturday night local time. The ship subsequently caught fire before capsizing and sinking.

All 75 people on board were evacuated onto lifeboats and rescued early on Sunday, New Zealand’s Defence Force said in a statement. Officials said the cause of the grounding was unknown and will be investigated.

The reef being mapped had not been surveyed since 1987. The vessel is the first New Zealand naval vessel to be unintentionally sunk since the Second World War and the first to be lost in peacetime.

Continue reading →

Tentative Agreement Ends ILA Port Strike After 3 Days

Posted on by October 3, 2024

The longshoremen’s strike appears to have ended with a tentative agreement on wages. This afternoon, the ILA and the USMX released a joint statement:

The International Longshoremen’s Association and the United States Maritime Alliance, Ltd. have reached a tentative agreement on wages and have agreed to extend the Master Contract until January 15, 2025 to return to the bargaining table to negotiate all other outstanding issues. Effective immediately, all current job actions will cease and all work covered by the Master Contract will resume.

Continue reading →

Day 2 of ILA Port Strike & the Maritime Origin of the Term “Strike”

Posted on by October 2, 2024

We are now in day 2 of the first International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) strike in almost 50 years. The ILA represents 45,000 dockworkers at 36 ports from Maine to Texas on the East and Gulf coasts of the United States. The strike is over wages and the use of automation on the docks.

The two sides are attempting to negotiate a six-year master contract between ILA port workers employed in container and roll-on/roll-off operations, and the US Maritime Alliance, known as USMX, representing shipping firms, port associations, and marine terminal operators.

More than a third of US exports and imports could be affected by the strike, hitting the nation’s economic growth to the tune of at least $4.5bn each week of the strike, according to Grace Zemmer, an associate US economist at Oxford Economics, though others have estimated the economic hit could be higher, according to the BBC.

Labor actions have a long history in the maritime trades. The first recorded use of the word “strike” to describe a labor protest dates to April of 1768 when sailors in the Port of Sunderland in Great Britain announced that they would “strike the topsails” of merchant ships to prevent them from sailing unless wages were increased. The ship owners subsequently agreed to their demands.

Continue reading →

Yacht Builder’s Rogue Lawyer Fired After Filing €222 Million Suit Against Bayesian Crew & Widow

Posted on by September 23, 2024

The initial reports were bizarre. On Friday, Tommaso Bertuccelli, a lawyer who works with The Italian Sea Group (TISG), the builder of the superyacht Bayesian that sank at anchor in August off Sicily, killing Mike Lynch and six other passengers, filed a €222 million ($244 million) lawsuit against Lynch’s widow and crewmembers of the ship, citing reputational damage.

Immediately after the sinking,  Giovanni Costantino, CEO of TISG, described the vessel as “unsinkable” and claimed that a series of “indescribable, unreasonable errors” by the crew led to the shipwreck.

The lawsuit filed on Friday by Bertuccelli alleges that TISG has already lost business due to the sinking, including a well-known fashion house that retracted plans to launch its branding on the company’s yachts.

Continue reading →

Update: SS United States Docking Dispute in Philadelphia Heads to Mediation

Posted on by September 15, 2024

We recently posted about a tentative deal to sell the historic ocean liner SS United States to be sunk to create the world’s largest artificial reef, off the coast of Destin-Fort Walton Beach, FL in the Gulf of Mexico.  That deal is now in jeopardy as the battle between the non-profit SS United States Conservancy and the operator of Pier 82, Penn Warehousing, took a new turn throwing the fate of the ship back in the hands of the US District Court.

CBS News reports that a federal magistrate judge will oversee mediation between SS United States Conservancy, the operators of Pier 82 in Philadelphia and officials from Okaloosa County, Florida, a judge ruled in a virtual hearing Friday.

In a hearing on Zoom on Friday morning, the federal judge said this is the best option going forward.

Continue reading →

USS New Jersey, First Coed Submarine, Commissioned

Posted on by September 14, 2024

The US Navy commissioned its first-ever coed submarine, the Virginia-class attack submarine USS New Jersey, at a ceremony at Naval Weapons Station Earle in Middletown, NJ.

The US Navy has allowed women to serve on US Navy submarines for more than a decade. In 2010, Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates lifted the ban on females serving aboard US submarines. A year later, the first female officers began reporting for duty on Ohio-class ballistic missile submarines.

What sets the USS New Jersey apart is that it is the first of its kind to be designed from the keel up with specific modifications for gender integration.

Continue reading →

Gotham Whale Fundraiser Whale Watch, Saturday, September 21st

Posted on by September 12, 2024

How many whales and other marine mammals frequent the waters adjoining the New York Metropolitan Region? At last count, at least 400, which was news to me. This is according to Gotham Whale, the area’s preeminent civic organization that tracks, studies, and advocates for our marine mammal neighbors.

If you would like to learn more, while enjoying food, dessert, and craft beer, plus 3 hours of whale watching, Jersey Shore Whale Watch is hosting a Gotham Whale fundraiser and cruise from Belmar, NJ on Saturday, September 21st. Tickets are $75/person, which includes an afterparty at the dock and a Gotham Whale t-shirt. You can buy tickets here or scan the QR code below.

Continue reading →

On the 23rd Anniversary of 9/11, Remembering the Great New York Boatlift

Posted on by September 11, 2024

An updated repost. There is a line from a Paul Simon song, “These are the days of miracle and wonder.” One might not think to apply that lyric to the events of 9/11, 23 years ago today. Yet for at least part of that strange and horrible day, they fit.

The great New York boatlift was part of the “miracle and wonder.” The wholly unplanned boatlift was the spontaneous maritime evacuation of an estimated 500,000 people trapped in Lower Manhattan in less than 10 hours. The boatlift has been under-reported by the media, which is all the more reason to remember the mariners of New York who stepped up to perform what has been called the largest sea rescue in history.

Continue reading →

Candela’s Electric Hydrofoil Ferries to Fly in Sweden & Saudi Arabia

Posted on by September 5, 2024

Three years ago, we posted about all-electric hydrofoil runabouts designed and built by Candela that succeeded in combining high speed with substantial range. Bloomberg referred to the company as “Sweden’s Tesla of the Sea” for challenging the conventional internal-combustion-powered leisure-craft industry.

At the time Candela offered 25′ and 28″ runabouts. The firm was also developing a 30-passenger electric foiling commuter ferry. This fall, the first such ferry, the model P-12, will enter service in Stockholm, traveling between City Hall and the suburb of Ekerö.

The Candela P-12 can cruise at a destination-to-destination speed of 30 knots. Because the ferry flies on foils and is powered by batteries, it is almost silent, creates virtually no wake, and has a cost per passenger mile of only 10% of traditional diesel ferries.  The P-12 uses up to 80% less energy than traditional diesel ferries.

Continue reading →

Animal Rights Groups Say Hvaldimir, the Beluga “Spy” Whale, Was Shot

Posted on by September 4, 2024

Animal rights groups on Wednesday said gunfire killed a beluga whale nicknamed Hvaldimir, which became famous in Norway after its unusual harness sparked suspicions the creature was trained by Russia as a spy.

The organizations NOAH and One Whale said they had filed a complaint with Norwegian police asking them to open a “criminal investigation.”

He was found dead on Saturday in a bay on Norway’s south-western coast.

Continue reading →

Sailing Cargo Ship Anemos Arrives in New York Harbor

Posted on by September 3, 2024

The sailing cargo ship Anemos arrived in New York harbor today, completing her maiden transatlantic voyage, her holds filled with over 1,000 tonnes of French cargo. The 266-foot vessel completed the voyage in 15 days, sailing at an average speed of just under 10 knots.

Anemos is the first in a series of eight sailing cargo vessels under construction or on order for TransOceanic Wind Transport (TOWT.) The small ship took two years to build, drawing on advanced sail technology from ocean racing.  

Anemos benefits from French expertise in this demanding field. Multiple French manufacturers and designers contributed to the ship’s design, said French shipbuilder Piriou. The hull was built at Piriou’s Romania yard, then transferred to Concarneau, France for outfitting. 

Continue reading →

The Strange & Tragic Saga of Hvaldimir, the Beluga “Spy” Whale

Posted on by September 1, 2024

Hvaldimir, the beluga “spy” whale has died. The Norwegian public broadcaster NRK reported that the whale’s body was found floating in the Risavika Bay in southern Norway on Saturday by a father and son who were fishing.

The beluga, whose nickname was a combination of the Norwegian word for whale – hval – and the first name of the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, was lifted out of the water by crane and taken to a nearby harbor, where experts will examine it.

In the Spring of 2019, fishermen off the coast of Norway near Hammerfest, encountered a beluga whale wearing a harness inscribed with the label “Equipment of St. Petersburg.” After being freed from the harness, the whale remained in the area and appeared to enjoy interacting with humans. Researchers think the beluga may have been a Russian spy in training.

Continue reading →

Historic Ocean Liner SS United States in Deal to be Sunk as Artificial Reef

Posted on by August 31, 2024

After decades of working to save the historic ocean liner SS United States, the SS United States Conservancy has made the difficult choice to sell the old liner to be sunk to create the world’s largest artificial reef, off the coast of Destin-Fort Walton Beach in the Gulf of Mexico.

According to Okaloosa County, FL documents, the Tourist Development Department is requesting approval for a budget allocation of up to $9 million for the acquisition, remediation, transport, and deployment of the SS United States. This project also includes plans for a land-based museum dedicated to the ship according to getthecoast.com.

The SS United States, a 990-foot vessel launched in 1952, still holds the Blue Riband for the fastest transatlantic crossing by an ocean liner. Currently docked in Philadelphia, the ship faced legal challenges when a federal judge ruled on June 14, 2024, that it must vacate its location within 90 days. 

Continue reading →

STS Leeuwin Dismasted, Crew Injured After Being Struck at Dock by Container Ship

Posted on by August 30, 2024

At about 6:15 this morning, local time, the Maersk Shekou, a 332 meter, 8,814 TEU container ship struck and dismasted the STS Leeuwin II berthed at Victoria Quay in Fremantle, Australia’s inner harbor. The container ship also hit the nearby WA Maritime Museum.

Two crew members standing night watch on board the Leeuwin suffered injuries and were taken to a local hospital. Their injuries were described as significant but not life-threatening.

Fremantle Ports said the allision damaged the sailing boat’s masts and superstructure, but the hull appeared to not have sustained major damage.

Continue reading →

American Archeologist Dies in Reenactment of Viking Voyage

Posted on by August 29, 2024

A crew of 6 adventurers set sail on a 500-nautical-mile voyage in the North Sea from Tvøroyri on the Faroe Islands bound for Trondheim, Norway aboard Naddoddur, a 33′ long Faroese Viking ship replica. The voyage, expected to take 3-5 days, ended in tragedy last Tuesday when the craft capsized in high seas near Norway’s dreaded Stad Peninsula. American archeologist Karla Dana drowned. The remaining five, one Faroese and four Swiss nationals, were rescued from a liferaft.  

The voyage referred to as “The “Legendary Viking Voyage,” was organized by Sail2North Expeditions and was attempting to recreate Viking travel between Norway and the Faroe Islands.

Naddoddur was named after Naddodd, a 9th-century Norse Viking credited with the discovery of Iceland. He was also one of the earliest settlers on the Faroe Islands. 

Continue reading →

Meet ‘Eve’ the DNA-Collecting Robotic Fish

Posted on by August 28, 2024

A fascinating article by CNN about a robotic fish named “Eve” that swings its silicone tail side to side, as it glides fluidly through Lake Zurich’s chilly water, where it is being tested by SURF-eDNA. The student-led group has spent the past two years building a school of soft robotic fish – of which Eve is the latest.

“By making Eve look like a fish, we are able to be minimally invasive into the ecosystem that we’re surveying,” master’s student Dennis Baumann told CNN, adding that the biomimetic design should prevent other fish or sea life from being startled by her presence. “We can mix, we can mingle in the ecosystem,” he added.

Eve’s ability to camouflage itself as a fish isn’t its only utility. The autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) is also equipped with a camera to film underwater, and sonar, which when paired with an algorithm, allows it to avoid obstacles.

Continue reading →

Backlash in Barcelona — Protests Planned Against ‘Elitist’ America’s Cup

Posted on by August 26, 2024

With preliminary races of the Louis Vuitton 37th America’s Cup now underway in Barcelona, Spain, the famous sailing competition is facing the storm of over-tourism protests that have swept across much of Europe, as well as, many tourist hotspots across the globe. 

The Guardian reports that according to its supporters, the America’s Cup will bring in €1bn to Barcelona, create 19,000 jobs and, by the time the last sail is furled on 20 October, have attracted an extra 2.5 million visitors to the city.

The ultimate sporting competition for the super-rich marks the latest attempt by the Spanish city to attract “quality rather than quantity” tourism.

Continue reading →

Update : Bayesian Tragedy — Manslaughter Investigation, “Unsinkable,” & Many Question Unanswered

Posted on by August 24, 2024

Five days ago, the 56-meter-long sailing yacht Bayesian sank at anchor off Sicily in extreme weather. Fifteen people on board were rescued and seven died, including British tech tycoon Mike Lynch and his 18-year-old daughter, Hannah.

This morning Italian prosecutors said that they have opened an investigation into culpable shipwreck and manslaughter over the deaths in the yacht’s sinking. They stressed, however, that the investigation was in its initial stages and they were not currently looking at anyone specifically.

Contrary to initial reports that suggested the vessel may have sunk because of a waterspout, the authorities now say the most likely cause was a localized, powerful wind known as a downburst.

Continue reading →

Workers ‘Treated Like Slaves’ on Scottish Trawlers

Posted on by August 21, 2024

A BBC investigation has revealed that dozens of workers from around the world may have been trafficked into the UK to work for a small family-owned Scottish fishing firm.

Thirty-five men from the Philippines, Ghana, India, and Sri Lanka were recognized as victims of modern slavery by the Home Office after being referred to it between 2012 and 2020.

The workers were employed by TN Trawlers and its sister companies, owned by the Nicholson family, based in the small town of Annan on the southern coast of Scotland.

Continue reading →

Did S/Y Bayesian’s Design Contribute to its Catastrophic Sinking?

Posted on by August 20, 2024

The 56-meter-long sailing yacht Bayesian sank at anchor of Sicily in extreme weather early Monday morning, with the loss of one dead and six missing. Among the missing are British tech tycoon Mike Lynch and his 18-year-old daughter, Hannah.

Following the sinking, the most common question asked was “How could a well-found yacht of that size be knocked down and sink, even in the high winds and a reported waterspout that were present at the time of the tragedy?”

Was the yacht simply overwhelmed by the weather or was there some aspect of the design or operation of the yacht that made it vulnerable? The immediate answer is that it is just too soon to tell.

Continue reading →