Update: Indonesia Captures Shipwreck Thieves

Posted on by May 12, 2017

CHUAN HONG 68 Photo: timbo2 from shipspotting.com

In February, we posted about the strange disappearance of entire wrecks of Dutch and Japanese ships sunk off the coast of Indonesia during World War II. It was believed that grab dredgers might have literally picked the ships apart for the scrap value of their steel, bronze and copper.

Now, the Indonesian and Malaysian authorities have arrested the 8,000 gt Chinese grab dredger Chuan Hong 68 on charges of illegally scavenging wrecks, including from sunken warships as well as sunken commercial vessels. The Chuan Hong 68 had been arrested by the Indonesian authorities on April 20, but two days later the vessel escaped to Malaysian waters where she was detained again by the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency.

Continue reading →

Irish Beach Reappears Almost Overnight After Being Washed Away 33 Years Ago

Posted on by May 10, 2017

Dooagh Beach, before and After Photo: ACHILL ISLAND TOURIST OFFICE/SEAN MOLLOY

The lost beach of Achill Island has returned after being gone for 33 years. Achill Island’s Dooagh Beach was a sand-covered strand until the summer of 1984 when a series of storms washed all the sand away, leaving a bare and rocky shore. Now, strong northerly winds and tides, over a period eight to ten days, have carried tons of sand and shells to the shore, restoring beach to its previous sandy glory.  

Achill Island in County Mayo, off the west coast of Ireland, is country’s the largest island, at roughly 57 square miles. With a population of under 3,000, the economy relies primarily on tourism. The return of Dooagh Beach has already triggered a flood of tourists.

Continue reading →

Pioneering Spirit — Removing North Sea Oil Rigs

Posted on by May 9, 2017

The oil fields beneath the North Sea are running out of oil. As there is less oil to pump, costs rise per tonne of oil delivered from the now aging offshore platforms. A decline in oil prices only makes the economics of these rigs worse and yet they cannot be simply shut down and abandoned.  Under a 15-nation protocol called the “Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the North East Atlantic,” known simply as OSPAR,  the rigs must be removed and taken ashore for scrapping. To dump them at sea or allow them to decay in place would risk serious environmental damage. But how does one dismantle an offshore rig that can weigh anywhere from 100,000 to 300,000 tonnes of steel?  And there are a lot of them. According to the BBC:

There are currently 470 oil or gas rigs and 3,000 pipelines in need of decommissioning – and 5,000 wells that need plugging with cement to depths of thousands of metres. The topsides weigh typically in the tens of thousands of tonnes – with, for example, Shell’s Brent Delta platform’s topside weighing in at a cool 24,000 tonnes.

One tool for this massive task is the Pioneering Spirit (formerly Pieter Schelte), the largest construction vessel ever built. The ship has a gross tonnage of 403,342 GT, a breadth of 123.75 m/406 ft and a full load displacement of 900,000 metric tons. The ship is a dynamically positioned catamaran designed to install or decommission offshore platforms and to lay pipe.

Continue reading →

Will Whistleblower Rewards & Huge Fines End Cruise Line “Culture of Crime?”

Posted on by May 8, 2017

For one Scottish ship’s engineer doing the right thing paid off. In 2013, Christopher Keays risked his entire career when he turned whistleblower shortly after taking a job as a junior engineer on board the cruise ship, Caribbean Princess. At the end of last month, he was awarded by US courts $1 million for his role in exposing Princess Cruise Line’s illegal polluting.  

Keays found that oily waste was being dumped by the Caribbean Princess into UK water waters using a “magic pipe.” “Magic pipes” are piping and valves which allow unscrupulous engineers to discretely divert oily waste overboard without being treated. They are highly illegal, but also incredibly difficult to spot except by an engineer who knows the ship’s engine room very well. Keays spotted the magic pipe. The easiest and safest thing to do would have been to just keep his mouth shut. Instead, the young engineer secretly took photographs and recorded video footage of key equipment with his cell phone. He then reported what he had found to the UK’s Maritime and Coastguard Agency. 

Continue reading →

Do We Really Need a Flying Jet-Ski?

Posted on by May 6, 2017

Last week there was considerable media attention to a new “flying car” developed by a start-up called Kitty Hawk, which is funded in part by Google’s Larry Page, as well as Uber and Airbus.  The only problem, at least to my eyes, was that the “car” was not a car. The demonstration was over a lake and the flying craft had pontoons instead of wheels. If it put down on dry land it would not be mobile.  It did remind me of something, but what? Something noisy, probably dangerous and largely pointless. That’s it — a flying jet-ski! Whether we really need a flying car is one issue but do we really need a flying jet-ski?

The newest flying car is backed by Larry Page

DNA Study Suggests Women Were on Franklin Expedition, Or Maybe Not

Posted on by May 5, 2017

Researchers have published the results of their analysis of DNA from 24 individuals who died on the ill-fated Franklin Northwest Passage Expedition.  Surprisingly, four of the 24 individuals appear to be European women, based on DNA markers. Were there women in the Franklin expedition? Perhaps, but likely not.

Franklin’s expedition set off on the  H.M.S. Erebus and the H.M.S. Terror in 1845 heading to Arctic Canada to look for the fabled route between the Atlantic and the Pacific. By 1846, Franklin and his 129 crew members were iced in. Though the expedition was stocked with enough food to last for several years, none of officers or crew on the expedition survived. 

Continue reading →

Captain and the Masseuse Escaped by Jetski — Lawsuit Over Sinking of Quest 1

Posted on by May 4, 2017

For affluent surfers, the ultimate escape is to take a luxury charter boat to surf perfect waves on distant islands. The Mentawai Islands of Indonesia are just such islands and the Quest 1 was just such a boat. Or it was until the night of July 21, 2015 when the Quest 1’s engine room flooded and it quickly sank while on an expedition in the Mentawai.  Fortunately, the eight guests and five crew were all rescued safely. Now, however, the passengers on the doomed charter boat are suing Rip Curl, the owner of the Quest 1, claiming, among other things, that the boat’s captain and masseuse fled together on a jet ski abandoning them in the Indian Ocean. 

The 21 meter long Quest 1 was considered to be legendary for scouting exotic surfing locales and for helping to develop the Mentawai Islands as a surfing destination. The boat also appeared in several surfing movies.  

Continue reading →

The Tragic Sinking of the SS Cap Arcona, 5,000 Concentration Camp Prisoners Killed

Posted on by May 3, 2017

SS Cap Arcona in 1927

On this day, 72 years ago, May 3, 1945, the German liner SS Cap Arcona, serving as a prison ship, was sunk by Royal Air Force  fighter bombers in the Baltic Sea. Almost 5,000 prisoners from Nazi concentration camps who were being transported aboard the ship, were killed. Tragically, the attack took place as the war was ending. It was three days after Hitler’s suicide and only one day before the unconditional surrender of the German troops in northwestern Germany. Also attacked were the prison ships Thielbek and Deutschland. All the prisoners and crew were saved on the Deutschland, but an 2,000 additional prisoners died on the Thielbek.

Continue reading →

Surfer Found Alive 13 Miles Off UK Coast After 32 Hours at Sea

Posted on by May 2, 2017

A surfer, who had been swept out to sea while surfing off the Argyll coast of Scotland, was rescued by the Belfast Coast Guard after 32 hours at sea. Matthew Bryce, 22, was reported missing by his family when he failed to return from a surfing trip on Sunday afternoon.

As reported by the Independent: Police Scotland and the coastguard launched a large-scale search, with rescue teams from Campbeltown, Southend, Gigha, Tarbert and Port Ellen involved.

The 22-year-old was eventually found by a search and rescue helicopter at around 7.30pm on Monday, drifting 13 miles from the Argyll coast. Mr Bryce, from Glasgow, was taken to Belfast Hospital for treatment for hypothermia.

Dawn Petrie, from the Belfast coastguard operations centre, said: “He’d been in the water for some 30 hours when the helicopter was delighted to spot him.  Continue reading →

Viking Ship Draken Harald Hårfagre Seeks Maintenance Volunteers at Mystic, CT

Posted on by May 1, 2017

Next weekend, the Viking Ship Draken Harald Hårfagre is seeking volunteers to help maintain the ship before it sets sails again this summer. Or as they put it, “Spring is here, and the Viking Ship Draken Harald Hårfagre needs some extra love before summer!”  The Draken, the largest replica Viking ship ever built, spent last winter laid up at the Mystic Seaport Museum in Mystic, CT after completing an epic trans-Atlantic voyage.  The Draken Harald Hårfagre is 114 feet, with a beam of 27 feet, displacing seventy tons, with a 3,200 square foot sail of pure silk. Helping to maintain the ship is a great way to get up close and personal with this treasure of living maritime history.

From the Draken Harald Hårfagre Facebook page:

Continue reading →

Opening Oysters with a Marlinspike at the Deltaville Oyster Roast

Posted on by April 30, 2017

In the past year and a half, I have spent far more time in a boatyard in Deltaville, VA on the Rappahannock River than I would have imagined or intended. While I have not necessarily had great luck with repairs in the boatyard along the Rappahannock, I will say that I do love Rappahannock oysters.

Continue reading →

Chummy Rich – Maine Boat Builder

Posted on by April 16, 2017

Here is a fascinating video showing the construction of a traditional cruiser built by a master boat builder and his crew. Chummy Rich is a fifth generation boat builder from Bernard, Maine. Like his forebears going back to the 1800’s, he is a master of the craft of building wooden boats. In this thirty minute film, Chummy, with his one of a kind Downeast narrative, takes us from lofting to launching as he and his crew from Bass Harbor Boat build the 28 foot wooden cabin cruiser Andromeda. The film was written by Gunner Hansen, with the music scored by Bob Bowman. Narration by Joe Marshall. It was filmed, produced and edited by Dobbs Productions with support from the Tremont Historical Society.

Chummy Rich: Maine Boat Builder

The Hyper-Sub — Speedboat & Submarine

Posted on by April 28, 2017

The most common response to the Hyper-Sub is that it looks like something from a James Bond movie. The decidedly strange hybrid craft is a high-speed long-range speedboat which can also turn into a submarine. The craft has a capacity for only five people but boasts speeds of 40 knots and has a range on the surface of 500 miles. Submerged, it can dive to 250 feet. Reportedly, the US Marines are very interested in the Hyper-Sub. No doubt, it would also make a fun toy for a mogul who dreams of pretending to be James Bond.

Will Combi Dock 1 Take Windjammer Peking Home to Hamburg?

Posted on by April 27, 2017

Photo: Will Van Dorp

In early April, the Hamburger Abendblatt newspaper reported that the heavy-lift ship Combi Dock 1 will carry windjammer Peking home to Germany to restored in its original home-port of Hamburg for restoration. Last Friday, Will Van Dorp posted photos on his Tugster blog of the arrival of Combi Dock 1 in New York harbor.  The Peking‘s departure may be imminently on the horizon. 

Peking was built in 1911 at the Blohm & Voss shipyard in Hamburg for the German ship owner, F. Laeisz, one of the famous Flying P Liners, which were among the last of the great sailing ships to round Cape Horn carrying cargo. The windjammer was a museum ship at New York’s South Street Seaport fro over 40 years and left the Seaport last September. In the mean time she has been in Caddell Dry Dock in Staten Island being made ready for the voyage to Hamburg. The German government is reported to have set aside 26 million Euros for the transportation and restoration of the historic ship.

Continue reading →

In Newfoundland’s Iceberg Alley, Bergs Threaten Ships & Attract Torusits

Posted on by April 25, 2017

Hundreds of icebergs have drifted into major shipping lanes off Newfoundland, forcing ships to go far out of their way to steer clear of the massive ice mountains.

“It’s the only place in the world where icebergs intersect in a major shipping lane like that,” Gabrielle McGrath, commander of the United States Coast Guard International Ice Patrol, told the Star.com from her office in New London, Conn. “The ships are having to go out of their way to get around that iceberg limit … so it’s taking them a lot longer to get across the Atlantic.”

Continue reading →

Sloop Clearwater Sailing to Washington to Fight for Clean Water

Posted on by April 22, 2017

The sloop Clearwater has been sailing since 1969, spreading a message of caring for the environment and for restoring clean water to our rivers, streams and oceans. Now that clean water is again under attack by the new administration, the replica Hudson River sloop will be sailing to Washington DC with an expected arrival of June 18.  

The mission of the sail is to carry a “cargo of concern” felt by New Yorkers and Americans alike for clean water and science-based federal water policy. The Clearwater will be joined by representatives of various environmental groups and state, county and local officials as they carry their message to the nation’s capital.

The non-profit organization which built the Clearwater was founded by activist and folks singer Pete Seeger and his wife Toshi Seeger. The Seegers and the Clearwater organization played a pivotal role in the passage of the Clean Water Act of 1972. The Clean Water Act (CWA) is still the primary federal law in the United States governing water pollution.

From the Clearwater website:

The Hudson River Sloop Clearwater is sailing to our nation’s capital to deliver a message from our members and supporters- in the Hudson Valley and across the country- that we… Continue reading →

NYC’s South Street Seaport Museum Kicks off 50th Year!

Posted on by April 24, 2017

New York can be a tough town. Despite rough and tumble struggles over real estate, the vagaries of city politics, economic downturns, and not the least, being struck head-on my a monster hurricane which sent a 10′ storm surge through its buildings, the South Street Seaport Museum has not only survived, but is thriving. They have recently completed an incredible restoration of the 1885 windjammer Wavertree, the largest iron sailing vessel afloat, and are rebuilding their shore-side exhibits.  And this Saturday, April 29th, the South Street Seaport is celebrating the beginning of its second 50 years with a community celebration from 11am to 5pm.

Continue reading →

Happy 85th Birthday Schooner Brilliant!

Posted on by April 22, 2017

Happy birthday to Mystic Seaport‘s schooner Brilliant! On April 23, 1932, the 61′ schooner was launched from the yard of Henry B. Nevins at City Island, New York. Now 85 years later, she is still sailing and still a beauty.

She was built for Walter Barnum, who raced her extensively.  In World War II, she served as an anti-submarine picket boat. She was donated to the Mystic Seaport Museum, in 1953, where she has served as an offshore classroom for the the museum’s education programs.

Sailing aboard Brilliant, people of all ages have the opportunity to learn about sailing on one of the finest wooden schooners ever built. Since she was donated to the museum, Brilliant has sailed the equivalent of five times around the earth, with more than 9,000 students setting her sails and steering her course. WoodenBoat Magazine described Brilliant as one of the 100 most beautiful classic boats in existence and as “one of the best maintained and sailed classic yachts in the country — if not the world.”

Songs of Snug Harbor Sailors Release Concert

Posted on by April 22, 2017

If you are near New York harbor tomorrow and have the chance, head on over to the The Noble Maritime Collection at the Snug Harbor Cultural Center between 2 PM and 5 PM tomorrow, April 22, for a free concert celebrating the release of a new CD, “Songs of the Snug Harbor Sailors,” featuring Liverpool’s own Hughie Jones, with Bob Wright, Bob Conroy, Frank Woerner, Frank Hendricks, Houseboat Jimmie Visone, Chrissie Jones, and Jan Christensen. Copies of the CD, and others, will be available for sale. Unfortunately, I will be away, but it should be a great concert with wonderful performers. Don’t miss it if you have the chance.