Black History Month Repost — William Tillman and the Privateer Jefferson Davis

Posted on by February 8, 2024

An updated repost in honor of Black History Month. 

William Tillman was one of the first black heroes of the American Civil War. He was not a soldier but rather a 27-year-old  cook-steward on the schooner S.J. Waring.  On July 7, 1861, the schooner was captured by the Confederate privateer Jefferson Davis while about 150 miles from Sandy Hook, New York.  Captain Smith, the master of the S.J. Waring was taken aboard the Jefferson Davis, and a five-man prize crew was put aboard the schooner, with orders to sail her to a Southern port where the ship and her cargo would be sold.

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Japan Captivated by Escape of Orcas Trapped in Drift Ice Off Hokkaido, as Annual Dolphin Slaughter Continues

Posted on by February 8, 2024

The good news is that a pod of orcas trapped by drift ice in waters off Japan’s northern island of Hokkaido appears to have successfully escaped.

Earlier this week, drone footage showed the pod of around a dozen orcas trapped by drift ice, The animals packed closely together and sticking their heads out of the water to breathe.

BBC reports that the footage was also shown on Japanese TV, prompting a wave of public concern for the animals this week and calls for government assistance. One environmental group even petitioned the Japanese government to deploy an icebreaker to help free the trapped orcas.

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British Antarctic Survey Testing Drone Plane to Survey Unmapped Regions of the Southern Continent

Posted on by February 6, 2024

Photo: Windracers & British Antarctic Survey

This week, a team arrived at Rothera Research Station, on Adelaide Island to the west of the Antarctic Peninsula, ready to start testing the new Windracers ULTRA autonomous drone in Antarctica. If successful, the new drone platform could represent a major addition to the British Antarctic Survey’s scientific capability on the frozen continent – offering the potential to do more science at a lower cost, with a lower carbon footprint than traditional crewed aviation.

Designed for extreme environments, the Windracers ULTRA UAV (uncrewed aerial vehicle) is a fully autonomous, twin-engine, 10-metre fixed-winged aircraft, capable of carrying 100 kg of cargo or sensors up to 1000 km. Incorporating a high level of redundancy, the ULTRA can continue to fly even if one of the engines or components is damaged or fails, and has been designed to be fixed in the field with a minimal number of parts.

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Black History Month — John Henry Turpin : Pioneer, Survivor, and Overlooked Hero

Posted on by February 5, 2024

An updated repost in honor of Black History Month. 

John Henry Turpin was one of the first Black Chief Petty Officers to serve in the United States Navy. He was also a survivor of two naval disasters — the catastrophic explosions of the USS Maine in 1898, and USS Bennington in 1905.  He was one of 12 sailors nominated for the Medal of Honor for their efforts in rescuing their fellow crew members on the Bennington.

Turpin was born in Long Branch, NJ in 1876. He enlisted in the Navy at age 20, as a messman, one of the only positions available to Black sailors at the time. 

Almost two years later, on February 15, 1898, Turpin was serving in the mess hall of the USS Maine at anchor in Havana Harbor, Cuba when it mysteriously blew up. He was picked up from the waters of the harbor along with 89 other crew members. They were the only survivors of the explosion out of 350 total crew.

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Black History Month Repost — Harriet Tubman & the Great Combahee Ferry Raid

Posted on by February 2, 2024

Born a slave, Harriet Tubman escaped from enslavement and became a leading “conductor” on the “Underground Railroad” which helped slaves escape from bondage in the South to freedom in the North and in Canada, prior to the Civil War.  

Nicknamed “Moses,” she is said to have made more than nineteen trips back into the slave-holding South to rescue an estimated 70 of the enslaved.

Tubman’s greatest rescue mission, however, came when she planned and helped lead a Union riverboat raid at Combahee Ferry in South Carolina on the second of June, 1863, freeing over 720 slaves.

In honor both of Harriet Tubman and Black History Month, here is an updated repost about the Great Combahee Ferry Raid.

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Ukrainian Sea Drones Sink Russian Missile Corvette Ivanovets

Posted on by February 1, 2024

The Defense Blog reports that a Ukrainian drone attack on a Russian missile corvette Ivanovets appears to have caused a massive explosion in Kyiv’s largest strike against Russia’s navy since December.

The Ukrainian Defense Intelligence Directorate (GUR) has released footage capturing the destruction of the Russian Tarantul-III class missile corvette Ivanovets of the Black Sea Fleet at anchor in Donuzlav Lake in Crimea.

“This operation became possible with the support of the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine and the United24 platform. The enemy’s vessel was stationed in Donuzlav Lake in temporarily occupied Crimea. As a result of multiple direct hits to the Russian ship’s hull, it sustained damages incompatible with further navigation – Ivanovets listed aft and sank,” stated GUR.
 
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Update: Final Disposal of FSO Safer Stopped by Houthi Crisis in Red Sea

Posted on by January 31, 2024

The current shipping crisis in the Red Sea, precipitated by Houthi drone and missile attacks, has stopped the final disposal of the decrepit FSO Safer, a floating oil storage and offloading vessel, moored in the Red Sea north of the Yemeni city of Al Hudaydah.

Fortunately, the over one million barrels of oil once stored in the ship, which would have been an ecological disaster if spilled, had been transferred to another tanker by the United Nations by August of 2023, only a few months before the outbreak of the current hostilities.

The final part of the clean-up — the removal of the 48-year-old decaying tanker to be scrapped has had to be put on hold due to the increased risk and resulting increased costs of operating in the region.      

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Mysterious 19th Century Shipwreck Washes up on Newfoundland Beach

Posted on by January 30, 2024

Gordon Blackmore was out hunting seabirds early in the morning on Cape Ray beach on the southwestern tip of Newfoundland, Canada when he saw the capsized wreck of a large wooden ship that had washed ashore in shallow water.

Neil Burgess, president of the Shipwreck Preservation Society of Newfoundland and Labrador, suspects the ship was freed by a combination of coastal erosion and the force of post-tropical storm Fiona, which destroyed homes in the region last year.

Large ocean swells last week may finally have nudged the wreck free, pushing it towards the shore, he told the CBC.

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Drone Capture of First Ever Video of Newborn Great White Shark?

Posted on by January 29, 2024

Screen capture: The Malibu Artist/Carlos Gauna

Carlos Gauna is a filmmaker and professional photographer based in Southern California who has shot an impressive portfolio of drone videos of sharks for his YouTube channel TheMalibuArtist.

On July 9, 2023, Carlos captured some truly remarkable video and photos of a very small pale white shark swimming not quite half a kilometer off the coast of Carpinteria, CA.

He had already seen large great white sharks in the area but this small shark was unlike anything he had ever seen.

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Icon of the Seas, World’s Largest Cruise Ship Sets Sail, Raising Concerns Over Methane Emissions

Posted on by January 28, 2024

On Saturday, the world’s largest cruise ship, Royal Caribbean’s Icon of the Seas, set sail from Miami on its maiden voyage. The nearly 1,200-foot-long and 250,800 gross-ton behemoth can accommodate close to 8,000 passengers across 20 decks.

The ship is the first Royal Caribbean vessel to be powered by liquefied natural gas (LNG), which the company claims sets a new standard for sustainability with the use of energy-efficient technology designed to minimize the ship’s carbon footprint and move closer to the company’s goal of introducing a net-zero ship by 2035.

That being said, environmental groups say methane leakage from the ship’s engines is an unacceptable risk to the climate because of its short-term harmful effects. (Natural gas is predominantly made up of methane.) 

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On Holocaust Remembrance Day — MS St. Louis and the “Voyage of the Damned”

Posted on by January 27, 2024

On Holocaust Remembrance Day, an updated repost, remembering the tragic voyage of the German passenger liner St. Louis in 1939. The ship carried 908 Jewish refugees fleeing from Nazi Germany.

The ship and its passengers departed from Hamburg but were denied entry to Cuba, the United States, and Canada. Finally, the ship turned around and returned to Europe. Despite the US government’s refusal to accept the refugees, private Jewish aid groups in the United States did manage to place most of the refugees in Belgium, France, and Holland, to avoid returning them to Nazi Germany. Tragically, many were later captured when the Nazis invaded. Two-hundred-and-fifty-four of the refugees are believed to have died in the German death camps.

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Clipper Ship City of Adelaide Director Peter Christopher Awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia

Posted on by January 26, 2024

Congratulations to Clipper Ship City of Adelaide Director Peter Christopher, on being awarded the  Medal of the Order of Australia for his services to Maritime History.

Peter Christopher convened the first meeting of Adelaide volunteers to save the City of Adelaide in July 2000 and worked tirelessly since in the preservation and restoration of this important piece of maritime history.  His vision and dedication continue to be a driving force in the planned Seaport Village project at Dock 2, Port Adelaide.

Peter Christopher is also the author of 7 books on shipwrecks and riverboats, and co-author of another 2. Continue reading →

Iran Close to Commissioning Converted Container Ship As Drone Carrier

Posted on by January 25, 2024

Reports suggest that Iran is close to commissioning a drone carrier Shahid Bagheri, based on a converted container ship, previously named Sarvin. The converted ship features a 170 m runway, capable of accommodating the take-off and landing of a large fleet of fixed-wing long-range drones. The ship is also reported to be able to carry 30 Ashura-class fast patrol boats.

The Shahid Bagheri /ex-Sarvin was delivered from Hyundai Heavy Industries in 2000 as a 3,280 TEU container ship. It was converted to a drone carrier at the ISOICO shipyard west of Bandar Abbas and is now controlled by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy (IRGCN.)

The Iranians claim that the converted ship is intended for defense.  The semi-official Fars news agency described the vessel as a “mobile naval city” capable of “ensuring the security of Iran’s trade lines, as well as the rights of Iranian sailors and fishermen in the high seas.” 

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Extreme Waves Slam US Army Base in Marshall Islands

Posted on by January 24, 2024

Last Saturday, January 20, a series of massive storm-driven waves struck the island of Roi-Namur in the Marshall Islands causing considerable flooding and damage to the US Army Garrison Kwajalein Atoll (USAG–KA).  

A video circulating on social media showed water smashing into a dining facility at USAG–KA as a series of unexpected waves surged across the low-lying island.

The island of Roi-Namur is the second-largest island of the Kwajalein Atoll in the Republic of the Marshall Islands. The US Army facility supports the US Space and Missile Defense Command’s Ronald Reagan Ballistic Missile Defense Test Site (RTS). RTS serves as a space and missile defense test range for the Department of Defense.

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Record Number of Manatees Counted At Florida’s Blue Spring State Park

Posted on by January 23, 2024

Encouraging news! Following a devastating record year of manatee deaths in 2021, a​ record number of manatees was counted at Central Florida’s Blue Spring State Park on Sunday. Staff there counted 932 on Sunday, which is nearly 200 more than their previous record of 736 that was counted on New Year’s Day this year. 

In 2021, 1,101 manatee deaths were recorded in Florida, far higher than any other year on record. The deaths represented almost 15 percent of the state’s total manatee population. The manatees died primarily of starvation. For nourishment, manatees rely mainly on sea grass, beds of which have been smothered by pollutants along with outbreaks of toxic algae blooms intensified by climate change.

In 2022 and 2023, Florida saw a resurgence of the growth of sea grass, supported by an emergency manatee feeding program by Florida wildlife officials.

Manatee deaths dropped to 800 in 2022 and 555 in 2023. Continue reading →

World’s Largest Iceberg, A23a, Eroding & Melting Rapidly as it Drifts into Warmer Water

Posted on by January 22, 2024

In 1986, a massive iceberg, more than three times larger than New York City, calved off West Antarctica’s Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf and immediately grounded on the floor of the Weddell Sea, where it remained stuck for almost four decades.

In November, the iceberg, designated A23a, broke free from the sea bottom and began drifting on the Antarctic Circumpolar Current into “iceberg alley”. Satellite images showed the berg, weighing nearly a trillion metric tonnes, drifting quickly past the northern tip of the Antarctic Peninsula, aided by strong winds and currents.

The iceberg, which some scientists are referring to as a “megaberg,” is currently the world’s largest and among the world’s oldest icebergs. As it drifts, it is being eroded by waves and is melting in the relatively warmer waters of the Southern Ocean. The impact of the waves has carved huge arches and caves in the 400-meter-high walls of the iceberg.

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British Minehunters Collide — HMS Chiddingfold Backs Into HMS Bangor

Posted on by January 21, 2024

UK Royal Navy minehunter HMS Chiddingfold collided with HMS Bangor while maneuvering in Bahrain harbor on January 18th. No one was reported to be injured but Bangor was seriously damaged, with a large hole ripped in its fiberglass hull.

Both ships are specialist minesweeper vessels, part of the UK’s long-standing presence in the Gulf.

“We are aware of an incident concerning two minehunters alongside in Bahrain. There are no casualties as a result of this incident and it would be inappropriate to comment further whilst investigations are ongoing,” a spokesperson for the Ministry of Defence told the BBC.

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Herlaugshagen, Scandinavia’s Oldest Ship Burial Mound and the Missing Ship

Posted on by January 18, 2024

A new analysis has concluded that a large, grassy hill in Norway known as the Herlaugshagen burial mound was likely the site of a pre-Viking ship burial. What is fascinating is that the site was excavated three times during the late 18th century and no one found the ship within the mound. 

The Herlaug mound, on the island of Leka in Central Norway, has a diameter of over 60 meters and is one of the largest burial mounds in the country. In the prior excavations, artifacts were discovered including a kind of wall, iron nails, a bronze cauldron, animal bones, and a seated skeleton with a sword. 

The skeleton, notionally identified as King Herlaug, was put on display for a time at Trondheim Katedralskole. Unfortunately, the skeleton and artifacts related to the Herlaugshagen mound disappeared sometime during the 1920s. 

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Commander of Submarine USS Georgia Relieved of Duty Due to ‘Loss of Confidence’

Posted on by January 17, 2024

The Ohio-class guided-missile submarine USS Georgia returns to its homeport at Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay, Georgia, after a 790-day forward-deployment. (U.S. Navy photo by Chief Mass Communication Specialist Ashley Berumen)

The US Navy announced in a statement that on January 12, 2024, Commander, Submarine Group Ten, Rear Adm. Thomas “T.R.” Buchanan, relieved Capt. Geoffry Patterson as commanding officer of USS Georgia (SSGN 729) Blue Crew due to loss of confidence in his ability to command.

The USS Georgia is homeported at King’s Bay, Georgia. According to data from the Camden County Sheriff’s Office, where King’s Bay is located, Patterson was arrested in the early hours of Jan. 9 on charges including driving under the influence and improper lane change, reports Military.com.  According to the sheriff’s website, Patterson was released on bond after a payment of more than $1,800.

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Houthi Missiles Hit Bulk Carriers Off Yemen; US Retaliatory Air Strikes Continue

Posted on by January 16, 2024

Houthi anti-ship missiles struck two more commercial ships in the Red Sea off Yemen in the last two days. There were no reports of injuries on either ship.

On Tuesday, the Greek-owned 57,000 DWT bulk carrier MT Zografia with 24 crew was sailing in ballast from Vietnam to Israel when it was struck by a missile. It is said to have suffered only minor damage.

The day before, US Central Command (CENTCOM) issued a statement: On Jan. 15 at approximately 4 p.m. (Sanaa time), Iranian-backed Houthi militants fired an anti-ship ballistic missile from Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen and struck the M/V Gibraltar Eagle, a Marshall Islands-flagged, U.S.-owned and operated container ship. The ship has reported no injuries or significant damage and is continuing its journey.

(Despite the CENTCOM characterization of the ship as a container ship, the M/V Gibraltar Eagle is a 64,000 DWT bulk carrier.)

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