Navigating to the Moon — Remembering the Apollo Sextant

Posted on by July 21, 2019

Commander Lovell using the sextant, Apollo 8

Sailors have navigated by the stars since the dawn of time. Now, fifty years after Neil Armstrong first set foot on the Moon in the Apollo 11 mission, we shouldn’t forget that even the Apollo astronauts relied on sextants to navigate to the Moon and back. Not only did a sextant help to get to the moon, but Astronaut Jim Lovell’s use of a sextant would be instrumental in saving the crippled Apollo 13 in 1970.

The Apollo sextant was a modern update of device that sailors have used for centuries. It played a key role in the three-part navigation system in the Apollo program. Much of the navigation was performed using ground-based radar. When that was not available, an inertial guidance system was used. The inertial guidance system tended to drift however and needed to be corrected periodically. To do so, the astronauts used a scanning telescope and a sextant to take star sights. These sights were used to correct the inertial guidance system and to confirm the accuracy of the ground-based navigation system. The sextant was also considered to be a backup against the possibility that the Russians would attempt to jam radio transmissions between Mission Control and the Apollo spacecraft. 

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The Ferris Ghost Fleet of Mallows Bay

Posted on by July 20, 2019

Ferris steamship

A world war was raging and German U-boats were sinking merchant ships faster than they could be built, so the United States government decided to build an emergency fleet of standardized ships. The goal was to build the ships quickly and cheaply to counter the submarine threat.

If the year was 1941, this might be the story of the Liberty ships. Instead, the year was 1917 during the First World War and the US Emergency Fleet Corporation (EFC) set out to contract for the construction of 703 wooden cargo steamships to supplement its slowly growing fleet of steel cargo ships. Several similar designs were ultimately built but the standard design was Theodore Ferris’ type 1001 design. They were 3 islander ships, 82.2 meters long (270′) 13.7 meters wide (45′). They had triple-expansion steam engines and were capable of cruising at 10 knots.

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USS Eagle 56 — Last Navy Warship Sunk by U-Boat in WWII Found off Maine

Posted on by July 19, 2019

On April 23rd, 1945, the patrol boat USS Eagle 56 was towing targets for US Navy bomber exercises off the coast of Maine. At about noon, there was an explosion around amidships which broke the patrol boat in half.  Of the crew of 62, only 13 survived.  The sinking was originally blamed on a boiler explosion. It would take the Navy until 2001 to conclude that Eagle 56 had been sunk by the German submarine U-853.  USS Eagle 56 was the last US warship sunk by a German submarine in World War II.

Exactly where the patrol boat sank remained a mystery, until this week when Garry Kozak, a specialist in undersea searches, announced that his team had found the Eagle 56  in 300 feet of water off Cape Elizabeth on the Maine coast. 

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Mallows Bay ‘Ghost Fleet’ Made a National Marine Sanctuary

Posted on by July 18, 2019

Photo: MARYLAND DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES/MARINE ROBOTICS & REMOTE SENSING, DUKE UNIVERSITY

Forty miles south of Washington, D.C., close to Nanjemoy, Maryland is a fleet of ghost ships — the wrecks of hundreds of ships in Mallows Bay, a shallow bay on the Potomac River. It is considered to be the largest shipwreck fleet in the Western Hemisphere. Some of the wrecks date back to the Civil War and some are of recent vintage. Most are wooden cargo ships built for World War I, which sailed directly from shipyards to layup without ever seeing service.

Over the years, the wrecks of these ships have become home to fish, osprey, bats, beavers, waterfowl and a variety of vegetation. Now, if all goes well, the fleet will become part of the Mallows Bay-Potomac River National Marine Sanctuary, the first national marine sanctuary designated since 2000.

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50th Transpacific Race — Pyewacket Rescues OEX Crew After Rudder Failure

Posted on by July 17, 2019

OEX in better days

At around 2AM on Monday, OEX, a Santa Cruz 70, owned by John Sangmeister, suffered a catastrophic rudder failure while sailing in the 50th Transpacific Yacht Race. Sangmeister reported that the lower rudder bearing had blown off and the rudder was “can-opening” the bottom of the boat. 

OEX began to sink about 200 miles off the coast. Fortunately, Pyewacket , an Andrews 70, was within two-miles of OEX and heard the distress call. Pyewacket sailed to the sinking yacht and picked up the 9 person crew from liferafts as OEX slipped beneath the Pacific. No injuries were reported. Pyewacket, owned by Roy Disney, abandoned the race and sailed back to San Diego, arriving early Tuesday. 

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MSC Gayane Freed on Bond, Sailing for the Netherlands

Posted on by July 16, 2019

MSC Gayane – Photo: HHM / Dietmar Hasenpusch

Last week, US Customs and Border Patrol seized the container ship MSC Gayane, following the seizure of 18,000 kilograms of cocaine, worth an estimated $1.3 billion, by Federal agents while at the dock in the Port of Philadelphia in late June. Now, the ship has sailed for Rotterdam, the scheduled next port of call after Philadelphia. 

American Shipper reports that William McSwain, the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, announced via Twitter on Friday that his office secured $10 million in cash and a $40 million surety bond from the owner and operator of the MSC Gayane in exchange for its temporary release pending a final resolution of a lawsuit involving the ship.

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Dramatic Video of Coast Guard Boarding Drug-Running Submersible

Posted on by July 14, 2019

Here is an amazing short video of the US Coast Guard overtaking and boarding a drug-running submersible. A Coast Guardsman is seen leaping aboard the submersible while underway and forcing the hatch open to apprehend the smugglers. The capture took place in the Eastern Pacific by the USCG Cutter Munro. The smuggling craft was carrying 17,000 pounds of cocaine with an estimated street value of $232 million.

The video shows not only the incredible courage and skill required to board the moving submersible but also how difficult these specialized smuggling craft are to spot while underway in the ocean. 

Watch: U.S. Coast Guard Crew Leaps Onto Drug Smuggling Vessel

The Flying AC75s — Genius, Folly or Both?

Posted on by July 10, 2019

The new design for the AC75s is an engineering marvel. Nevertheless, I am having an argument with myself whether they are works of genius or folly. More specifically whether carbon fiber and foils will have any practical application to real-world sailing or if they are just rich men’s do-dads. While I argue with myself, here are two videos discussing how these amazing creations actually fly.

How the new AC75 will fly

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The 8,850 Kilometer Great Atlantic Sargassum Belt — From the Gulf to West Africa

Posted on by July 10, 2019

Floating mats of Sargassum seaweed in the center of the North Atlantic were first reported by Christopher Columbus in the 15th century. These mats, although abundant, have, until recently, been limited and scattered.  In recent years that has changed dramatically. A new study by Mengqiu Wang and her colleagues from the University of South Florida, published in the journal Science, documents the formation of a massive mat of Sargassum seaweed stretching from West Africa to the Gulf of Mexico. 

Last summer, the floating mat formed an 8850-kilometer-long belt of the brown buoyant seaweed, estimated to weight more than 20 million tons. The growth of what the authors of the study refer to as the Great Atlantic Sargassum Belt has been recorded by satellite imagery showing a dramatic increase in the size of the floating seaweed mats over the past 20 years. The researchers say that this Sargassum belt represents the world’s largest macroalgal bloom and that such recurrent blooms may become the new normal. 

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NYC City of Water Day 2019 — Free Fun at the Waterfront

Posted on by July 12, 2019

If you are near New York harbor on Saturday, July 13th, stop by the South Street Seaport, Piers 16 and 17, from 10AM to 4PM, to help celebrate City of Water Day 2019. In its 12th year, City of Water Day is a free harbor-wide day organized by the Waterfront Alliance in partnership with the South Street Seaport Museum, among others. 

The Con Edison Cardboard Kayak Race will return to Lower Manhattan and free PortNYC Boat Tours on all kinds of vessels, from tall ships to tugboats, will be offered from homeport docks throughout New York City.

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Update: Who Owns MSC Gayane? Does it Matter?

Posted on by July 11, 2019

Recently, we posted about the MSC Gayane, the container ship seized on Monday by US Customs following a $1.3 billion cocaine bust last month in Philadelphia. We said that the ship was not owned by Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) but by a shipping fund controlled by JP Morgan. We based this on a Fairplay article from October reporting the sale of the ship from SinOceanic.

Today, however, Captain C Allport commented that according to Equasis, the ship was sold by SinOceanic to MSC in October. Likewise, ship management responsibilities were taken over by MSC at about the same time. The source for this information on Equasis is listed as IHS Maritime.

On the other hand, the Wall Street Journal identifies the MSC Gayane as being owned by J.P. Morgan Asset Management and chartered to MSC. 

Who owns the MSC Gayane?  Right now, reliable sources say either MSC or JP Morgan.  Which is correct? Good question.

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Mary Day Wins 43rd Annual Great Schooner Race

Posted on by July 10, 2019

On July 5, in a very close race, the schooner Mary Day won the 43rd Annual Great Schooner Race.  Fourteen schooners sailed in Penobscot Bay from Gilkey Harbor in Islesboro to the finish line at the Rockland Breakwater Lighthouse in the race sponsored by the Maine Windjammer Association. 

The first to cross the finish line was the schooner Columbia, a modern steel replica of the 1923 A.J. Story-built schooner. The 141′ LOD Columbia had a 20-minute handicap over the 90′ LOD Mary Day. Mary Day finished the race 19 minutes and 16 seconds after the Columbia and was awarded the Great Schooner Race Cutty Sark Award, on corrected time.

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Container Ship MSC Gayane Seized by Feds Following $1.3 B Cocaine Bust

Posted on by July 10, 2019

MSC Gayane – Photo: HHM / Dietmar Hasenpusch

Yesterday, US Customs seized the 9,962 TEU container ship MSC Gayane.  The MSC Gayane was the ship on which 18,000 kilograms of cocaine, worth an estimated $1.3 billion, was seized by Federal agents while at the dock in the Port of Philadelphia in late June. From the US Customs press release: 

“The MSC Gayane is the largest vessel seized in U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s 230-year history and follows the record seizure of almost 20-tons of cocaine discovered on the vessel,” said Casey Durst, CBP’s Director of Field Operations in Baltimore. “Seizing a vessel of this size is an unusual enforcement action for CBP, but is indicative of the serious consequences associated with an alleged conspiracy by crewmembers and others to smuggle a record load of dangerous drugs through the United States.  This action serves as a reminder for all shipping lines and vessel masters of their responsibilities under U.S. and international law to implement and enforce stringent security measures to prevent smuggling attempts such as this.”

“A seizure of a vessel this massive is complicated and unprecedented – but it is appropriate because the circumstances here are also unprecedented.  We found nearly 20 tons of cocaine hidden on this ship,” said U.S. Attorney McSwain. “When a vessel brings such an outrageous amount of deadly drugs into Philadelphia waters, my Office and our agency partners will pursue the most severe consequences possible against all involved parties in order to protect our district – and our country.”

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Update: Jubilee Sailing Trust Crisis Averted — £1M Raised in Five Days

Posted on by July 8, 2019

The financial crisis that threatened to shut down the Jubilee Sailing Trust (JST) has been averted. The sailing charity says that its emergency fundraising appeal raised more than £1m in five days. The charity had warned that if it did not raise the funds by Friday, July 5th, it could be forced to shut down. 

On a JST press release, Duncan Souster, CEO of the Jubilee Sailing Trust, said:

“The response to our emergency appeal has been absolutely amazing. Well over 3,500 people from across the world have already contributed in excess of £1,000,000 and funds continue to come in. From difficult circumstances, this extremely generous support has given our work a much brighter future. We are so grateful to everyone who has supported our campaign, both with messages of encouragement and also donations. It has been great to hear from so many people who have been positively impacted by our work across our forty decades of operation. It has reinvigorated the JST family and reinforced the importance of our mission, and why it must continue.”

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Yeast from the Sydney Cove –World’s Oldest Beer Brought Back to Life?

Posted on by July 7, 2019

The yeast from a 220-year-old bottle of beer found in a shipwreck off the coast of Tasmania has been used to brew what is being described as the “world’s oldest surviving beer.” This is similar to the claims made for 170-year old beer found in a shipwreck off the Åland Islands of Sweden. It appears that the Tasmanian beer may be older, but does raise an obvious question — isn’t there more to beer than yeast? 

The 500-year-old German beer purity law, Das Reinheitsgebot, initially included only hops, barley, water for making beer. The understanding of yeast and fermentation only came later. In the case of the Åland Island beer, there was at least an attempt to recreate the proper blend of other ingredients. The new/old Tasmanian beers seems to be based strictly on the very old yeast. As a home-brewer myself, I can testify that while yeast is important, hops and barley define the beer. 

Beer-making quibbles aside, there is a fascinating, if somewhat grim story, behind the beer, as reported by the Courier: Continue reading →

Columbia & Pea Islands for Sale for $13 Million

Posted on by July 3, 2019

Looking for a private island getaway within a reasonable commuting distance of New York City? Columbia (ex-Little Pea) and Pea Island are for sale. The two islands are in the western end of Long Island Sound and 10-minutes by boat from New Rochelle, NY.  Pea Island is roughly 2 acres and is undeveloped while Columbia Island is around an acre with a landscaped house. Columbia’s land area varies with the tides.  

The current owner, Dr. Albert Sutton, bought Columbia Island for one million dollars in 2007 and subsequently bought Pea Island, 400 yards away, for $450,000. Dr. Sutton spent an additional $8 million over more than a decade, building a 5,625 square foot, 4 bedroom, 2 bath off-the-grid residence on Columbia. As reported by the NYTimes, Dr. Sutton spent only one night on the island. And now, he has put Columbia and Pea Island up for sale for $13 million. If you should have the cash burning a hole in your pocket, be aware that the property taxes on the island are also listed at $42,885/year.

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Chantey Sing Aboard Windjammer Wavertree at South Street Seaport

Posted on by July 3, 2019

If you are around New York harbor on Sunday, there is a wonderful opportunity to hear and join in singing sea chanteys as they were meant to be sung, onboard a windjammer. The chantey sing will aboard the restored 1885 built flagship of the seaport, Wavertree, at Pier 16 at the South Street Seaport Museum in lower Manhattan at 2PM on Sunday, July 7th. Specially discounted tickets are available. Click here to learn more.

If you can’t make this Sunday’s event, there will also be chantey sings on the first Sunday in August and September on the Wavertree as well.

Joseph Hewes – First “Secretary of the Navy” and Signer of the Declaration of Independence

Posted on by May 12, 2022

Happy 4th of July to all.  Here is lightly updated repost appropriate for the day.

On July 4th, Americans celebrate the signing of the Declaration of Independence from Great Britain in 1776.  Joseph Hewes was one of the lesser-known signatories to the Declaration. He was born in New Jersey, prospered as a merchant in Philadelphia and then moved to North Carolina. He represented North Carolina in the Continental Congress and in 1776 was appointed the chairman of the naval committee.

Americans have had a  tendency throughout our history to glorify the “founding fathers,” often rewriting history in the process.  Rather than viewing the founders as complex individuals with virtues and vices, they are often mythologized as all-purpose role models.  Joseph Hewes is either beneficiary or victim, depending on how you look at it, of this sort of mythologizing.
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Fire on Russian Spy Sub AS-12 “Losharik” Kills 14

Posted on by July 3, 2019

On July 2, Russia’s Defense Ministry announced that a fire had broken out on a research submarine killing 14 sailors while the ship was operating in Russia’s territorial waters in the Barents Sea. Russian authorities declined to further identify the submarine, but various Russian sources have identified the sub as the AS-12 (also known as the Losharik), a nuclear-powered unarmed vessel capable of deep sea missions. The fire is believed to have broken out on Monday.  The fire was extinguished and the submarine was reported to have been towed to the port of Severomorsk, home of the Russian Navy’s Northern Fleet’s headquarters.

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Japan Returns to Commercial Whaling, More or Less

Posted on by July 2, 2019

Japan has withdrawn from the International Whaling Commission, and the Japanese whaling fleet has abandoned their so-called “research whaling” to resume commercial whaling for the first time in 31 years. That is the bad news.

There is another way to look at the story, whoever. Japan has withdrawn from Antarctic whaling, is limiting new commercial whaling to Japanese territorial waters and is reducing the number of whales killed by 30 – 75%, depending on how you do the math.

Previously, Japan had allowed roughly 900 whales to be taken in “research whaling.” They often came in with far fewer whales. The last season of research whaling yielded 333 whales.  The new commercial whaling quotas will allow 227 whales to be killed. So, while the resumption of commercial whaling is not good news, the Japanese will be killing fewer whales in a more restricted area, reflecting the continued decline in Japanese whaling overall. 

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