Repost on the Winter Solstice — Shortest Day & Longest Shadows, or No Shadow At All

Posted on by December 6, 2024

Happy Winter Solstice to all! In the northern hemisphere, today is the shortest day and the longest night of the year. The sun is at its southernmost point of travel, over the imaginary circle on the globe we refer to as the Tropic of Capricorn. Today is also the day in which a person standing outside at noon in the northern hemisphere, outside of the tropics, would cast the longest shadow. If you are on the Tropic of Capricorn, however, at noon today, you would have no shadow at all. 

Reading an article in The Sailors’ Magazine and Seamen’s Friend, Volume 43, Issue 3, of  1871, got me thinking about shadows and the solstice. (I will admit that this is more than a touch odd.) It seems that at an 1871 gathering at the Chicago Academy of Sciences, a Rev. Mr. Miner, of Canada presented a paper called “The Snow Line” in which he observed, “Should a man start from the Tropic of Cancer at the winter solstice and walk 18 miles per day northward for six months, his shadow would remain nearly the same each day at noon.”  If instead of starting at the Tropic of Cancer one began at the Tropic of Capricorn, you might do away with your noon shadow altogether. 

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Over the Holidays & in the New Year, May Saint Nicholas Hold the Tiller

Posted on by December 7, 2024

An updated holiday season repost.

Saint Nicholas, long associated with Christmas and gift-giving, is also the patron saint of ships and sailors. The St. Nicholas Center notes: “Many ports, most notably in Greece, have icons of Nicholas, surrounded by ex-votos of small ships made of silver or carved of wood. Sailors returning safely from sea, place these in gratitude to St. Nicholas for protection received. In some places, sailors, instead of wishing one another luck, say, “May St. Nicholas hold the tiller.”

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Admiral Yi Sun-sin, Korea’s Greatest Military Hero

Posted on by December 16, 2024

Admiral Yi Sun-sin died 426 years ago today, in his final victory against the Japanese on behalf of the Joseon dynasty. He died of a gunshot wound at the Battle of Noryang on December 16, 1598, the closing battle of the Imjin War.

While the Japanese largely triumphed on shore in their twin invasions of Korea, Admiral Yi, in command of the Korean navy, cut Japanese supply lines and denied them access to the Yellow Sea. He wrote, “No invader from the sea can obtain final victory unless he can completely control the sea.” Despite winning nearly every land battle, the inability to supply their troops meant the Japanese invasion was doomed to fail.

Admiral Yi fought in at least 23 recorded naval engagements against the Japanese. In most of these battles, he was outnumbered and lacked the necessary supplies. He nonetheless won battle after battle. His most famous victory occurred at the Battle of Myeongnyang, where despite being outnumbered by 133 warships to 13, he managed to disable or destroy 31 Japanese warships without losing a single ship of his own. Indeed, Yi is credited with sinking over 780 Japanese ships during the war without losing a single ship under his command. In 14 of these 23 battles, not a single Japanese ship survived. Remarkably, when Yi took command of the Korean Navy, he had no formal naval training of any kind.

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Oil Spill in Kerch Strait After Russian Tankers Sink During Black Sea Storm

Posted on by December 15, 2024

Authorities in Russia have said two small Russian oil tankers sank or were seriously damaged in the Black Sea on Sunday, resulting in an oil spill in the Kerch Strait.  The two tankers, Volgoneft-212 and Volgoneft-239, each with cargo deadweights of approximately 4,200 tonnes and both reported to be over 50 years old, had crews of 15 and 14 people, respectively.

The Volgoneft-212 broke in half, its bow sinking, spilling its cargo of low-grade residual fuel oil, known as mazut.  Initial reports said that the Volgoneft-239 was disabled and adrift. Subsequently, the BBC quoted a statement by Russia’s federal sea and inland water transport agency, Rosmorrechflot, saying that the Volgoneft-239 had also sunk. Official statements did not provide details on the extent of the spill.

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HMS Victory, French Oak & the Ship of Theseus — Thoughts on Varied Lives of A Ship

Posted on by December 8, 2024

The BBC recently reported that HMS Victory, one of the most celebrated warships in British history, is being repaired using wood from France. The conservation work is part of a 10-year project titled The Big Repair, which will cost £40-£45m.

They commented that some have said Nelson “might have been shocked” by the use of wood from his old enemy, to which Andrew Baines, executive director of museum operations, said: “The Royal Navy has a long history of using timbers from across Europe and the world.”

Regardless of where the wood is being sourced, it has been 258 years since the ship was launched and 246 years since the ship was commissioned. How much of the original ship remains after over two centuries of active service, repairs, and rebuilding? Depending on which source one uses, estimates range from 17% to 20%. The new restoration work will no doubt reduce the percentage.

Is there a point at which HMS Victory is no longer the same ship whose decks were trod by Nelson at Trafalgar? Or will HMS Victory always be the same historic ship no matter how often she is restored and repaired?

These are not new questions. They were discussed by the Greek philosophers Heraclitus and Plato by c. 500–400 BC in a thought experiment called the Ship of Theseus.

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Humpback Whale Makes Epic Migration of at Least 7,000 N Miles Across Three Oceans

Posted on by December 11, 2024

The BBC reports that a humpback whale has made one of the longest and most unusual migrations ever recorded, possibly driven by climate change, scientists say.

It was seen in the Pacific Ocean off Colombia in 2017 and then popped up several years later near Zanzibar in the Indian Ocean—a distance of at least 7,000 nautical miles.

Scientists behind the research, published Wednesday in the journal Royal Society Open Science, suggest that the odyssey may be linked to climate change — which is affecting ocean conditions and depleting food stocks — or possibly a shift in mating strategies.

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USS Oklahoma Sailor John Auld Who Died in Pearl Harbor Attack Finally Buried in Albuquerque

Posted on by December 11, 2024

The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced on Thursday that US Navy Seaman 2nd Class John C. Auld, 23, of Newcastle, England, killed on the USS Oklahoma, during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor of 1941 has been identified.  He was buried last Friday, with full military honors in Fairview Memorial Park, Albuquerque, New Mexico.

DPAA accounted for his remains on Oct. 15, 2018, but was only recently made aware of Auld’s family receiving their full briefing on his identification, therefore, additional details on his identification were shared.

On Dec. 7, 1941, Auld was assigned to the battleship USS Oklahoma, which was moored at Ford Island, Pearl Harbor, when the ship was attacked by Japanese aircraft. The USS Oklahoma sustained multiple torpedo hits, which caused it to quickly capsize. The attack on the ship resulted in the deaths of 429 crewmen, including Auld.  Only 32 crewmembers from the Oklahoma survived.

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One Year After Pearl Harbor, the Sleeping Giant Awakes

Posted on by December 8, 2024

Japanese Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, who planned the attack on Pearl Harbor  reportedly wrote in his diary, “I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve.” Whether or not the Admiral actually penned those words is subject to debate, however, there is no doubt that the attack did awaken a sleeping giant — the industrial might of the United States.

On December 7, 1942, exactly one year after the attack on Pearl Harbor, American shipyards launched 25 ships, 15 for the US Navy, including the Essex Class aircraft carrier USS Bunker Hill and the 45,000-ton battleship USS New Jersey. The British Movietone newsreel below described the launchings on Pearl Harbor Day in 1942 as “only a fraction of Roosevelt’s mathematical certainty of the fate in store for Japan.”

Launching Of Aircraft Carrier Bunker Hill and Battleship New Jersey

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Radio Broadcasts Reporting Attack on Pearl Harbor 83 Years Ago Today

Posted on by December 6, 2024

An interrupted broadcast of a football game, a newsbreak during a performance by the New York Philharmonic, a weather report followed by an announcement from President Roosevelt that Japan had bombed Pearl Harbor. Reports of attacks on the Philippines. Here is a compilation of news reports from Sunday, December 7th, 1941, eighty-three years ago today.

Pearl Harbor Attacks – As It Happened – Radio Broadcasts

Remembering the Halifax Explosion of 1917 & the Boston Christmas Tree

Posted on by December 6, 2024

One hundred and seven years ago today, on the morning of December 6, 1917, the French freighter SS Mont-Blanc and the SS Imo, a Norwegian ship chartered to carry relief supplies to Belgium, collided in the Narrows, a strait connecting the upper Halifax Harbour to Bedford Basin. The collision at first seemed minor, the two ships hitting at only about a knot.

Nevertheless, a fire broke out aboard the Mont-Blanc, which was loaded with munitions and high explosives. The fire burned out of control and ignited the cargo, causing the largest man-made explosion the world had ever seen before the nuclear age.  Roughly 2,000 died and 9,000 were injured. Many thousands more were made homeless. Large sections of Halifax, Nova Scotia were leveled.  A tsunami created by the blast wiped out the community of Mi’kmaq First Nations people who had lived in Tuft’s Cove, on the harbor’s eastern shore.

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Update: Wisdom, the World’s Oldest Wild Bird, Lays a New Egg at 74

Posted on by December 5, 2024

Wisdom (left)

In March 2021, we posted about a Laysan albatross nicknamed Wisdom who, at the age of 70, had hatched a new chick. Wisdom is the oldest confirmed wild bird and the oldest banded bird in the world, having been first identified and banded on Midway Atoll in 1956 at about the age of five. 

Now at 74, Wisdom is still hale and hearty, returning each fall to Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge, having outlived most of her mates, and raised an estimated 30-40 chicks. Members of the species usually only live for 12-40 years.

Biologists report that the world’s oldest wild bird has laid another egg. She was recently filmed by the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) with her latest partner looking after the egg.

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Swedish Sailor Lost Overboard in ARC Ralley 2024

Posted on by December 4, 2024

Yesterday, the World Cruising Club (WCC) released a statement regarding a Swedish sailor lost overboard in the mid-Atlantic from the Volvo 70 racing yacht Ocean Breeze on Monday while sailing with the Atlantic Rally for Cruisers (ARC).

“It is with great sadness that World Cruising Club confirms that a 33-year-old sailor was lost overboard from yacht Ocean Breeze on Monday 2 December at 02:27 UTC. Next of kin have been informed and the other 14 crew onboard the yacht are safe.

“The search was coordinated by Marine Rescue Coordination Center (MRCC) Norfolk USA and involved Ocean Breeze, ARC yacht Leaps & Bounds 2 and motor vessel Project X. Air cover was not possible due to the distance of the incident from land.

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Northwest Pacific Orcas Wearing Dead Salmon Hats, Again

Posted on by December 2, 2024

Here is yet another story to remind us how little we understand about orcas, also known as killer whales. We are still scratching our heads over why Iberian orcas attack sailboats near Gibraltar or why orcas off South Africa attack and kill sharks, including great whites, and eat only their livers.

Now, it appears that orcas on the Northwest Pacific coast of North America have started wearing salmon hats again, bringing back a bizarre trend first described in the 1980s.

Live Science reports that scientists and whale watchers last month photographed a 32-year-old male orca known as J27 Blackberry in South Puget Sound and off Point No Point in Washington State swimming with dead fish on his head.
 
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Thanksgiving Repost — Whaling Ships, Sarah Josepha Hale, Mary’s Lamb & a Liberty Ship

Posted on by November 28, 2024

Happy Thanksgiving to those on this side of the pond and below the 49th parallel. (The Canadians celebrated the holiday in October.)

What do whaling ships, a child’s nursery rhyme, a female magazine editor, and Abraham Lincoln have to do with Thanksgiving? An updated repost.

Until the Civil War, Thanksgiving was a sporadically celebrated regional holiday.  Today, Thanksgiving is one of the central creation myths of the founding of the United States, although not universally admired. The story is based on an account of a one-time feast of thanksgiving in the Plymouth colony of Massachusetts during a period of atypically good relations with local tribes. 

The actual history of what happened in 1621 bears little resemblance to what most Americans are taught in grade school, historians say. There was likely no turkey served. There were no feathered headdresses worn. And, initially, there was no effort by the Pilgrims to invite the local Native American tribe to the feast they’d made possible.

Thanksgiving only became a national holiday in 1863.  Before the celebration spread across the country, Thanksgiving was most popular in New England. On 19th-century American whaling ships, which sailed from New England ports, they celebrated only the Fourth of July, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. Of the three holidays, Thanksgiving may have been the most popular. On Norfolk Island in the Pacific, they also celebrate Thanksgiving, the holiday brought to the island by visiting American whaling ships.

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Update: Egyptian Dive Boat Sinking — 5 Survivors Rescued After 30 Hours Trapped in Air Pocket

Posted on by November 27, 2024

After the Egyptian liveaboard dive boat, Sea Story, capsized and sank in heavy weather in the Red Sea early Monday morning, 28 of the 44 passengers and crew were rescued. On Tuesday, divers rescued five additional survivors trapped in air pockets for roughly 30 hours within the sunken boat.

The rescue divers also recovered four dead bodies from the boat. Seven passengers or crew remain missing.  

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