In Iceland, It’s No Longer Legal to Kill Basques On Sight

Posted on by October 30, 2019

Basque whaling ship

I recently came back from a voyage on a small ship along the west coast of Iceland. One of the highlights of the trip were stops in ports in the Westfjords, an isolated peninsula in the northwest of the island.

One of the nice things about Iceland is the very low violent crime rate. Yearly murders in the country of 360,000 typically range from zero to around five. The average is about 1.8. That is the total number of yearly murders, not the per capita figure. Against this backdrop, I was surprised to learn of a law on the books in the Westfjords, which was only repealed in 2015, that allowed the killing on sight of any Basque found in the region. The law dates back to 1615 and relates to the last documented massacre in Icelandic history.

Continue reading →

Replica Santa Maria (No, Not a Pirate Ship) Runs Aground in NY Harbor

Posted on by October 29, 2019

Why is it that virtually any ship with square sails and masts is referred to by the media as a “pirate ship?” Yesterday, a replica of the Nao Santa Maria, the ship that carried Columbus across the Atlantic on his first voyage, ran aground in New York harbor off Brooklyn.  A dozen or so news outlets all ran a variation of the same headline — “Replica Pirate Ship Runs Aground in NY Harbor.” 

To be fair the blame may lie primarily with the New York Special Ops which tweeted:  Ahoy! Low tide helps stop a pirate invasion. A replica pirate ship ran aground while navigating the New York Harbor this afternoon. #NYPD Harbor Charlie will be keeping a watchful eye on the uninjured pirates as they wait for the incoming tide to go on their way.  

Continue reading →

Testing SeaBubbles on the River Seine

Posted on by October 28, 2019

We recently posted about the proposed testing of an amphibious electric flying car on the Hudson River, which may or may not be a good idea. On the other side of the Atlantic on the River Seine, tests are ongoing of a technology that looks far more feasible — the SeaBubble, an all-electric hydrofoil taxi, that promises to operate with zero emissions, zero noise, and zero wake. 

The SeaBubbles are referred to in French as taxis volants, “flying taxis”. The egg-shaped pods will rise up on hydrofoils 20″ above the surface and will travel at an approved speed of 25 kilometers per hour. Each SeaBubble can carry four passengers, and once approved, will be able to be ordered on an app like land taxis, shared bikes or other forms of transport. This is the third round of testing and if all goes well, they hope to begin operations in the Spring of 2020.

SeaBubbles is a startup created by Alain Thébault and Anders Bringdal in 2016. They claim to offer the only zero-impact transportation ecosystem available today. Their goal is to be operating in 50 waterfront cities within five years.

New ‘Sea Bubbles’ tests on the Seine ahead of commercial use

Happy Birthday to Galveston’s Tall Ship Elissa

Posted on by October 28, 2019

One hundred and forty-two years ago today on October 27th, 1877, the three-masted iron-hulled merchant sailing ship Elissa was launched in Aberdeen, Scotland. She is now a museum ship at the Texas Seaport Museum. In honor of her birthday, here is a repost of a video by Mike Headley of the Elissa on her yearly sail.

SAILING ON THE ELISSA

Sea Level Rising in the Chesapeake Bay & Beyond — Fox Island & the US Naval Academy

Posted on by October 28, 2019

Climate change deniers can choose to ignore the overwhelming scientific consensus of man-made climate change all they want. How long they will continue to deny the evidence before their own eyes? Two immediate examples — Fox Island and the US Naval Academy.

For 40 years, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation has run educational programs on Fox Island, an island between the Tangier and Pocomoke sounds. This is the last year, however. Rising sea levels have effectively washed the island away.

Continue reading →

Seventy Five Years Ago Today — Battle off Samar, a Victory Against All Odds

Posted on by April 3, 2021

The Battle of Leyte Gulf was fought seventy-five years ago this week between the US and Australian navies and the Imperial Japanese Navy.  It was the largest naval battle of World War II and by some standards the largest naval battle in history. Fought between October 23-26, 1944, it was actually a series of battles that spanned over more than 100,000 square miles of sea and involved more than 800 ships and 1,800 aircraft. The battle of Leyte Gulf was a major allied victory and effectively destroyed the Imperial Japanese Navy as a fighting force.

The Battle off Samar, fought on October 25, 1942, seventy-five years ago today, saved the landings at Leyte Gulf from likely destruction. The powerful US Navy 3rd fleet had been lured north by a decoy Japanese force, leaving the Leyte landing beaches protected only by three small escort carrier task forces designated by their call signs, Taffy 1, 2 and 3.

Continue reading →

USS Gerald R. Ford Deployment and the SecNav’s Promise

Posted on by October 24, 2019

Back in January, Richard V. Spencer, Secretary of the Navy, made a promise to President Trump that the advanced weapons elevators on the new carrier USS Gerald R. Ford would be operational by the end of the summer or the president should fire him. The new carrier, costing $13 billion dollars, the most expensive warship ever built, cannot operate in combat without the electromagnetically powered elevators that carry munitions from the ship’s magazine to the hangar.

Without functional elevators, Rep. Elaine Luria (D-Va.), a Navy veteran, recently described the new carrier as a “$13-billion nuclear-powered floating berthing barge.”

Continue reading →

Oyster Apocalypse –Louisiana Oyster Harvest Wiped Out by Flooding

Posted on by October 23, 2019

Acme Oyster House has been a New Orleans icon since 1910. My first memory of oysters on the half shell was slurping down a dozen at Acme more than a half-century ago. So, I was alarmed to read that Acme has, at least temporarily, stopped serving raw oysters because they cannot get enough local oysters.

“If we can’t get Louisiana oysters, we’re not going to serve raw oysters at all,” Acme CEO Paul Rotner said.

“Every oyster we get in, we’re directing them to the grill so we can at least keep that product available,” he said. “And I’m not sure how long we can even keep doing that.”

The Louisiana oyster crop has been devastated by this spring’s record flooding from the Mississippi River. Continue reading →

Researchers Locate Akagi — Second Japanese Carrier Sunk at Midway in WWII

Posted on by October 23, 2019

The RV Petrel has located the wreckage of the Japanese aircraft carrier Akagi, sunk in the Battle of Midway in June 1942. The ship is the second of two sunken Japanese carriers that the Petrel has located two days apart. They had previously located the carrier Kaga. The Akagi and the Kaga were two of four large carriers sunk in the battle, which was considered a turning point in the Pacific conflict in WWII.  Both carriers had participated in the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.   

The Akagi was found in the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument, sitting upright in a debris field, in nearly 18,000 feet of water, or almost 3 nautical miles deep, more than 1,300 miles northwest of Pearl Harbor.

Researchers Discover Second Long-Lost Japanese Warship From World War II Battle Of Midway

Trafalgar Day Repost: Conrad on Nelson at Trafalgar — What if the Wind Had Shifted?

Posted on by October 21, 2019

Joseph Conrad

A repost from 2010 in honor of Trafalgar Day, commemorating Nelson’s great victory over the combined French and Spanish fleets on this day in 1805.  I have always been struck that of all the commentary I have read on the famous battle, 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 which we all take for granted?

The final essay in Joseph Conrad’s wonderful, if somewhat odd book, The Mirror of the Sea,  is entitled “The Heroic Age.” It starts out rather disappointingly as a paean to Nelson. There is nothing wrong with praising Nelson, except that everyone does it, so another bit of hagiography doesn’t necessarily add  anything new.

Then, well into the essay,  Conrad does something rather remarkable.  He wonders what would have happened if the wind had shifted on that morning of the 21st of October.
Continue reading →

The Story of Bug Light — the Rise, Fall and Resurrection

Posted on by October 19, 2019

The Long Beach Bar Light was built in 1871 as a “screwpile” lighthouse on the North Fork of Eastern Long Island, off Orient, New York. Because a screwpile lighthouse is a lighthouse that stands on thin piles that are screwed into a sandy bottom, many thought the lighthouse looked like a water bug, earning it the nickname “Bug Light.” 

It wasn’t a screwpile lighthouse for long, however.  The winter ice threatened to rip out the piles and so a breakwater was built around the base of the lighthouse foundation which was later additionally reinforced with a concrete caisson.

Continue reading →

Lowell’s Boat Shop — Oldest Continuously Operated Boat Shop & Still Making Dories

Posted on by October 19, 2019

When Simeon Lowell moved his boat-building business to Amesbury, Massachusetts in 1793, I wonder whether he could have possibly imagined that the boat shop would still be producing boats, dories, and skiffs 226 years later. Lowell’s Boat Shop is the oldest continuously operating boat shop in the United States and is recognized as the birthplace of the legendary Banks fishing dory. Here is a short video that looks at the history and the legacy of Lowell and his dories.

Lowell’s Boat Shop – Dedicated to Craft

Paul Allen’s RV Petrel Locates Wreck of WWII Japanese Carrier Kaga

Posted on by October 18, 2019

Japanese Carrier Kaga

Paul Allen, the billionaire co-founder of Microsoft, died almost exactly a year ago.  Nevertheless, his passion for underwater archeology lives on in the operation of the Research Vessel Petrel, which is fully funded by Allen’s estate. The ship’s mission is to explore historically significant wrecks at challenging depths and conditions. A precondition set by Allen is for discovered wrecks to be respected as war graves and their locations kept secret but known only to national governments and museums.

Their latest find is the wreckage of the Japanese aircraft carrier Kaga which was sunk in the Battle of Midway in June of 1942. Kaga was one of four large Japanese carriers sunk during the battle. Kaga had taken part in the Pearl Harbor raid of December 1941. 

The crew of the RV Petrel located the wreck sitting upright 5,400 meters (almost 3 nautical miles) below the surface.

Wreck of Imperial Japanese Navy Carrier Kaga

Update: USCGC Acushnet For Sale Again

Posted on by October 17, 2019

The strange saga of the USCGC Acushnet continues. Back in 2011, Acushnet, the oldest serving cutter in the U.S. Coast Guard was put up for sale. She was purchased by a con-man named Vernon Officer who bought the cutter using someone else’s money.  The cutter was subsequently abandoned and Mr. Officer was imprisoned for cheating an elderly widow out of her life savings. The cutter, however, has been cared for and is reportedly in reasonably good shape. She is currently for sale for $250,000.

Continue reading →

Update: Larry Page’s Kitty Hawk Seeks to Test Flying Cars in New York Harbor

Posted on by October 16, 2019

Two years ago, we posted about an all-electric “flying car” which was actually more of a single passenger seaplane, as it took off and landed on the water. The startup named Kitty Hawk has major funding from Larry Page, the billionaire co-founder of Google. Now Kitty Hawk is seeking to test their updated version of the craft in New York Harbor. Whether or not this is a good idea remains to be seen.

Jersey Digs reports that the company filed plans with the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) in connection with a proposal to bring its Flyer aircraft to Jersey City’s Hudson River waterfront. Continue reading →