The Sinking of the SS Edmund Fitzgerald 48 Years Ago — the Unsolved Mystery

Posted on by November 10, 2023

SS Edmund Fitzgerald, an American Great Lakes ore carrier, sank 48 years ago today, on November 10, 1975, in a storm on Lake Superior. The crew of 29 was lost when the freighter, loaded with 26,000 tons of iron ore pellets, sank in 530 feet of water, about 15 nautical from Whitefish Bay. Exactly why and how the bulk carrier sank remains a mystery to this day. An updated repost.

The wreckage of the ship was located within days. The bow section was upright some distance from the stern which was upside down on the bottom. Roughly 200 feet of vessel around midships was missing.

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Cruise Ship Spirit of Discovery in the Bay of Biscay — Passengers Feared for Theirs Lives, 100 Injured

Posted on by November 10, 2023

A disturbing account of the Saga Cruises’ ship Spirit of Discovery that was caught in severe weather in the Bay of Biscay in which 100 passengers were injured. Five are reported to have been seriously injured.

BBC reports that the ship departed for a 14-day cruise around the Canary Islands on 24 October with about 1,000 people on board.

A decision was made to return to the UK early due to worsening weather, but on Saturday the vessel encountered a storm in the Bay of Biscay – where ships often encounter notoriously rough seas.

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Pod of Dolphins Lead a Lost Humpback Whale Mother and Calf to Safety

Posted on by November 6, 2023

A wonderful story from Robyn White writing for Newsweek.

 A pod of dolphins led a whale and her calf back to their migration route after they became lost and distressed, a heartwarming video shows. The albino mother humpback whale was found by the Dolphin Discovery Centre, near Bunbury’s Back Beach in Western Australia, after a few beachgoers noticed her in “distress.”

The whale—which had a dark front and a snowy-white back body—was at first mistaken for an orca by witnesses. But when the Dolphin Discovery Centre took a closer look, it realized it was an albino humpback whale, the Bunbury-based nonprofit said in a Facebook post. Continue reading →

Update — El Nino Drought Results in Further Shipping Cuts to Panama Canal Transits

Posted on by November 2, 2023

In August, we posted Panamax Meets Pana-Drought — Drought Restrictions In Canal Cause Delays and 200 Ship Backlog. A record drought associated with the naturally occurring El Nino climate pattern has resulted in one of the country’s driest years in over 70 years. In July, the Panama Canal Authority (ACP) reduced the average daily transit capacity in the canal to 32 vessels per day from 38.

Now, transit slots will be cut to 25 per day starting November 3 and will be gradually reduced further over the next three months to 18 slots on February 1, The cuts are anticipated to only worsen supply chain shortages. The Panama Canal handles an estimated 5 percent of seaborne trade.

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From Norse Mythology: Naglfar, Ship of the Dead, Made Entirely From Fingernails and Toenails

Posted on by November 1, 2023

Naglfar and Fenrir on the Tullstorp Runestone in Scania, Sweden

A second post suitable for Halloween week. In Norse mythology, there were two great ships. Skidbladnir, was a ship that could carry Odin and his followers in Asgard, which also could be folded into a cloth that would fit in a pocket when not in use.

An even larger ship, indeed the largest ship in the world, was the fearsome Naglfar, a ship built entirely from the untrimmed fingernails and toenails of the dead. According to the poem Völuspá, the ship will be sailed from Muspelheim (the land of fire) by the two jötnar (giants), Hrym, and Loki. It will carry the army of the dead to Ragnarök, the final climactic battle between Odin and his gods and the giants that will result in the end of the world of gods and men.

The story of Naglfar may have inspired or been inspired by the Scandinavian practices of preparing the dead before burial. This preparation included the trimming of hair, fingernails, and toenails. By ensuring that their deceased loved ones did not have untrimmed nails, they would not contribute to the construction of Naglfar and thus would help to delay the end of the world.

Which Sail Assist Technology is Best — Airbus Trying Both Flettner Rotors & Suction Sails

Posted on by October 31, 2023

Of the various wind assist technologies available for commercial shipping, which is the most cost-efficient? It is likely, too soon to tell. AIrbus is reported to be trying two different approaches — retrofitting one existing ship with suction sails and building three new ships with Flettner rotors.

Last month we posted that the French shipping company Louis Dreyfus Armateurs working with Airbus, which charters one of its ships, will install Bound4Blue suction sails on a ro/ro cargo vessel as a test of the technology, the first-ever fixed suction sail installation on a ro/ro. The suction sails will be installed on the Ville de Bordeaux ahead of a six-month performance monitoring period starting in early 2024.

Last week, Airbus announced that it is again partnering with Louis Dreyfus Armateurs to build three new ro/ros featuring low emissions dual fuel capabilities and wind assist technologies. These ships will feature six Flettner rotors per ship in addition to two dual-fuel engines. The engines will run on either marine diesel or e-methanol. Additionally, routing software will optimize the vessels’ journey across the Atlantic, maximizing wind propulsion and avoiding drag caused by adverse ocean conditions.

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The Mystery Women of the Oseberg Viking Ship

Posted on by October 30, 2023

Here is a post suitable for Halloween. It is not a ghost story but rather the tale of two mysterious skeletons found in a Viking ship discovered in a large burial mound at the Oseberg farm near Tønsberg in Vestfold og Telemark county, Norway. The ship itself, dating back to the early 800s AD, is among the best-preserved vessels to have survived from the Viking era. As beautiful and fascinating as the ship is, what is truly intriguing are the remains of the two individuals laid to rest inside the ship.

Ship burials were reserved for the most powerful and wealthiest of the elites of their time. But rather than finding that the Oseberg ship was the burial place of a king or mighty warlord, DNA studies revealed that the partial skeletons in the ship were the remains of two women. The elder is believed to have been roughly 80 when she died, while the younger woman must have been around 40. The women were found together in one bed.

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Update: Sailing Past the Future Stad Ship Tunnel on MS Trollfjord

Posted on by October 29, 2023

This afternoon, sailing south from Ålesund bound for Haugesund, on Hurtigruten’s MS Trollfjord, I noticed something unusual. The ship was pitching and rolling. The motion was gentle but evident. On the previous twelve or so days of the voyage to the North Cape from Bergen and back south, the ship had spent most of the time weaving its way through the archipelago of islands that shield the coast from the worst of the weather on the North Sea and the Norwegian Sea.

The ship was rolling because we were rounding the Stad peninsula, which is also referred to as the West Cape, the westerly most and most exposed point of land on the Norwegian coast.

Within a few years, ships like the MS Trollfjord will no longer have to round the Stad peninsula in rough weather. Norway is now scheduled to begin construction in 2024 of the world’s largest ship tunnel to create a bypass for ocean-going ships, as well as coastal ferries, freighters, and fishing vessels. The tunnel will be 1,700 meters long by 50 meters high and 37 meters wide and is expected to cost more than 2.7bn kroner ($325m). Final cost estimates will be developed by 2024. The tunnel is expected to be completed around 2030.

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Collision Between Two Cargo Ships Off Germany Leaves One Dead, Two Rescued and Four Missing

Posted on by October 24, 2023

Around 5 am about 14 miles southwest of the island of Heligoland, Germany, the British bulk carrier Verity sank after colliding with the Bahamian-flagged bulk carrier Polesie. Of the Verity‘s crew of seven, two were rescued, one has died and four remain missing. The ship had been from Bremen to the English town of Immingham with a cargo of steel.

The Polesie was sailing from Hamburg to La Coruna in Spain with a crew of 22, none of whom were reported to be injured. The 38,056 DWT Polesie is roughly ten times larger than the 3,360 DWT Verity, measured by cargo capacity.

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Who First Devised the Arctic Circle?

Posted on by October 23, 2023

We recently crossed the Arctic Circle on a Norwegian voyage on the Hurtigruten MS Trollfjord.  The crossing brought to mind the question — who first devised this imaginary line at 66° 34′ N latitude? My first guess would have been the early Norse settlers in Scandinavia, which is wholly the wrong answer. The right answer, apparently, was the ancient Greeks.

Norwegian explorer and diplomat Fridtjof Nansen explains in his book, In Northern Mists; Arctic Exploration in Early Times. 

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Updated Repost on Trafalgar Day Plus One : Conrad on Nelson — What if the Wind Had Shifted?

Posted on by October 22, 2023

I am currently traveling, so I managed to miss Trafalgar Day. Here is an updated repost in honor of Nelson’s great victory over the combined French and Spanish fleets a day ago on October 21, in 1805.

There is a tendency to accept history as inevitable, to accept the events of the past as virtually preordained, and to forget that small changes in circumstances could have had major impacts on critical historical outcomes.

I have always been struck that of all the commentary I have read on the Battle of Trafalgar Joseph Conrad is the only writer I am aware of to have asked one simple question — what if the wind had changed? How would a wind shift have altered the history that we all take for granted?

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Wreckage of WWII British Submarine HMS Thistle Believed to Have Been Found Off Norway

Posted on by October 21, 2023

The Institute of Maritime Research announced recently that the wreckage of the World War II British submarine HMS Thistle has probably been discovered outside Rogaland, Norway, after more than 80 years on the seabed.

In the Spring of 2023, the wreckage of an unknown submarine was discovered during a research cruise on the RV G.O. Sars, conducted through the MAREANO program, which maps the biology and geology of the seabed.

After some research, the submarine was determined to be British and to be either HMS Oxley or HMS Thistle. The Oxley was sunk just before World War II and the Thistle during the conflict. A subsequent research cruise in October 2023, determined that the wreckage was almost certainly that of the Thistle.

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Berge Bulk Launches 21st Century “Windjammer” with 4 WindWings

Posted on by October 18, 2023

In a press release on Tuesday, Berge Bulk, one the world’s leading dry bulk ship owners, announced the launch of its 211,153 DWT Newcastlemax bulker, Berge Olympus, with four retrofitted BARTech WindWings by Yara Marine Technologies. The WindWings installation is part of Berge Bulk’s ambition to become carbon neutral by 2025 and marks the Berge Olympus as the world’s most powerful sailing cargo ship.

With four WindWings installed, each possessing an aerodynamic span of 37.5 meters height and 20 meters width, the Berge Olympus will save 6 tonnes or approximately 20% of fuel per day on an average worldwide route and, in the process, reduce CO2 emissions by approximately 19.5 tonnes per day. With these fuel savings and CO2 reductions, Berge Bulk is evaluating the potential of installing WindWings on more of its vessels that trade on routes with favorable wind conditions.

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Historic Schooner Victory Chimes Arrives in New York For Likely Conversion to Floating Restaurant

Posted on by October 16, 2023

Victory Chimes Arrives at Pier 25 Photo: Mary Habstritt

Last Wednesday, the 123-year-old Victory Chimes was towed past the Rockland Harbor breakwater, in all likelihood, ending her long and storied carrier as a commercial sailing vessel. This Saturday, she arrived at Pier 25 in Manhattan on the Hudson River, where she is expected to be converted into a floating restaurant.  

In May, the three-masted, gaff-rigged schooner was sold at auction to Miles and Alex Pincus. The Pincus brothers currently operate the seasonal bars and restaurants Grand Banks on the Sherman Zwicker, a 142′ long wooden auxiliary fishing schooner docked in Manhattan on the Hudson River, and the Pilot, an oyster bar on the Brooklyn waterfront on the ex-Highlander Sea, originally christened Pilot, a gaff-rigged topsail schooner built in 1924.

The 128′ long Victory Chimes is the last surviving Chesapeake ram schooner. She is a US National Historic Landmark and is represented on the Maine State Quarter, originally minted in 2003. 

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Happy Birthday US Navy – Whenever and Wherever the Date and Place May be

Posted on by October 13, 2023

Today, October 13th, is celebrated as the birthday of the United States Navy, not to be confused with Navy Day which was once celebrated on October 27th.  The current “birthday” may have more to do with bragging rights than real birthdays. An updated repost.

Over the years, the founding of the Navy has been celebrated on various dates — the most common being either March 27th, the day in 1794 when the Congress authorized the construction of five frigates, or April 30th, the day in 1798 when the Navy Department was first established.
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150-Year-Old Alligator Reef Light in Florida Keys Shines Again

Posted on by October 11, 2023

After sitting dark for a decade, Alligator Reef Light in the Florida Keys is shining again. An Islamorada community group is spending $6 million to restore and preserve the 150-year-old lighthouse. The group turned on its new solar-powered lights last Saturday.

In 1822, the  U.S. Navy schooner Alligator, part of the U. S. Navy Anti-Piracy Squadron that had been established in Key West, went aground on a reef southeast of Upper Matecumbe Key in the Florida Keys. In 1873, a lighthouse was built just north of Alligator Reef, named after the ill-fated schooner. It was automated in 1963 and was last operational in July 2014, when it was replaced by a 16′ steel structure with a less powerful light located adjacent to it.  

On February 1, 2019, it was announced that the lighthouse would be given away freely to any government agencies, educational agencies, non-profit corporations, or any community development organizations who wanted to use it for “educational, park, recreational, cultural or historic preservation purposes.”

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Tragedy on the Schooner Grace Bailey — Main Mast Breaks, Killing 1 & Injuring 3

Posted on by October 10, 2023

The schooner Grace Bailey, built in 1882, was returning from a four-day Fall Foliage cruise on Monday morning, when an upper section of the main mast broke and fell to the deck, killing one passenger and injuring three others.  Thirty-three people were on board the schooner, which was about 1 mile (1.6 kilometers) east of Rockland harbor, Maine, the Coast Guard said.

Dr. Emily Mecklenburg, 40, of Rockland, was declared dead when she was brought ashore by a Coast Guard boat following the accident. The Maine Medical Examiner’s Office in Augusta said a cause of death has not yet been determined.

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Footprints in the Sand on Columbus Day — When Did Humans First Arrive in the Americas?

Posted on by October 9, 2023

Ancient human footprints from White Sands. Photo: national Parks Service

Like millions of other children, I was taught that Christopher Columbus discovered America in 1492.  Then when I was seven years old, the site of the Norse settlement at L’Anse aux Meadows, Newfoundland was discovered and I learned that Columbus was not only not the first, or even the first European, to discover the Americas.

All of this raises the question of the meaning of “discovery.”  The two American continents had been populated for thousands of years when the Norse and Columbus stepped ashore for the first time.  Who were the first humans to “discover” America? When did they arrive and by what means? The answers are still emerging, but they appear to have been sailors who arrived by boat.

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Bound4Blue Suction Sails to be Installed on Chemical Tanker & Ro/Ro

Posted on by October 6, 2023

Recently, it was announced that Bound4Blue’s eSAIL® suction sails will be installed on an Odfjell chemical tanker and a ro/ro for Louis Dreyfus Armateurs.

The technology goes by various names. When developed for Jacques-Ives Cousteau’s research vessel, Alcyone, it was referred to as a turbosail. The Dutch firm eConowind‘s version is called a ventfoil. And Bound4Blue eSAIL®  are termed suction sails. 

Whatever you call it, the designs are fixed airfoil-shaped spars with an internal fan that uses boundary layer suction to generate thrust. The suction system helps the airflow to re-adhere to the sail, generating additional lift, reducing the load on the ship’s main engines, and delivering savings in fuel consumption and CO2 emissions.

Odfjell chemical tanker

Odfjell will install four eSAIL® suction sails on a chemical tanker.

“Since 2020, we have been studying sail technologies as a potential energy efficiency measure for our fleet, and we are excited to now take the next step by partnering with bound4blue to implement their pioneering eSAIL® system on one of our chemical tankers,” said Jan Opedal, Manager Projects at Odfjell. “This technology has significant potential to reduce emissions by harvesting the energy on the ship itself and transforming it directly into a forward thrust.” 

Louis Dreyfus Armateurs Ro/Ro

French shipping company Louis Dreyfus Armateurs working with Airbus, which charters one of its ships, will install Bound4Blue suction sails on a ro/ro cargo vessel as a test of the technology, the first-ever fixed suction sail installation on a ro/ro.

The three 72-foot-high suction sails will be fitted aboard the Ville de Bordeaux, a 19-year-old Ro-Ro built in 2004 and operating for Airbus transporting A320 aircraft subassemblies from Europe to Mobile, Alabama for final assembly. The vessel registered in France is 506 feet in length and 5,200 dwt.

“We at Airbus have been studying wind-assisted technologies as a potential energy source for our maritime operations for many years,” said Nicolas Chrétien, Head of Sustainability & Environment at Airbus. “This technology looks promising and we are eager to start testing it in real conditions by the end of the year.”

The suction sails will be installed on the Ville de Bordeaux ahead of a six-month performance monitoring period starting in early 2024.

Bound4Blue asserts that the technology creates as much as six to seven times more lift than a conventional rigid sail.

Odfjell to Install Suction Sails on a Chemical Tanker

Coast Guard Rescues 12 From M/V Bonnie G, Aground off U.S. Virgin Islands

Posted on by October 5, 2023

Yesterday the USCG issued a press release: A Coast Guard boat crew rescued 12 people, Wednesday morning, after they were forced to abandon the M/V Bonnie G that was taking on water and ran aground just south of the airport in St. Thomas.

All 12 persons aboard the Bonnie G, a 195-foot Vanuatu-flagged “ro-ro” cargo vessel, are safe and no injuries have been reported to the Coast Guard. 

Coast Guard watchstanders in Sector San Juan received VHF marine radio communication from the Bonnie G at 3:41 a.m., Wednesday, reporting the vessel was taking on water in the engine room and that the people onboard were abandoning ship onto two life rafts and a lifeboat.

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