Graving Dock Flooding Damages USNS Miguel Keith at General Dynamics NASSCO

Posted on by July 14, 2018

Oops. Last Wednesday, the graving dock at the General Dynamics NASSCO yard in San Diego, CA flooded after the dock gate at least partially collapsed. The ship under construction in the graving dock, the USNS Miguel Keith, floated off the docking blocks while also flooding the ship through cuts in its hull. No one was injured and there is no estimate of damage to the ship which was expected to be delivered in August of 2019.

A graving dock is a type of drydock built as a narrow basin closed by gates or by a caisson, into which a vessel may be floated and the water pumped out, leaving the vessel supported on blocks.  The graving dock at the NASSCO yard is the 1,000-foot long and 174-foot wide.

The USNS Miguel Keith is the third Expeditionary Sea Base built for the US Navy. The two Navy Expeditionary Sea Bases now in service are the USNS Lewis B. Puller (T-ESB 3) and the Hershel “Woody” Williams (ESB 4). 

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HMS Victory’s Fore Topsail From Trafalgar to be Unfurled at Portsmouth

Posted on by July 12, 2018

On July 21, the fore topsail set on HMS Victory at the Battle of Trafalgar of 1805 will go on display in all its perforated glory. The sail has 90 shot holes and will be displayed for a limited time over the summer at the Portsmouth Historic Dockyard. The sail’s area is 3,618 feet, equivalent to the size of two tennis courts.

Matthew Sheldon, Director of Heritage at the NMRN, said: ‘HMS Victory, Nelson and the Battle of Trafalgar are key to our history. The sail is an amazing object, scarred by battle and, like HMS Victory herself, a proud survivor of an iconic battle. ‘But it is also a vast handmade object from Georgian times that required great skill and knowledge to create. Seeing it is a real treat.’

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Orcas of the Salish Sea are Dying

Posted on by July 12, 2018

The resident orcas of the Salish Sea are dying. They now number only 75, a 30-year-low. They are being starved as their primary prey, the Chinook, or king salmon, are dying off. They are also being poisoned by pollutants in their waters and hurt by noise pollution from ships and boats. For the last three years, not one calf has been born to the three orca pods in the Salish Sea  They have been listed as endangered in both the U.S. and Canada since 2005, but little has been done to reverse their steady decline.

There are three distinct groups of orcas, also known as killer whales, on the coast of the Pacific Northwest. Two groups of orcas referred to as residents, eat almost exclusively fish and return to the same areas immediately along the coast year after year. They are divided into Northern and Southern groups.

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Viking Ship Draken Harald Hårfagre — East Coast Tour 2018 Underway

Posted on by July 11, 2018

The Draken Harald Hårfagre, the largest Viking longship built in modern times, has begun its summer tour of the East Coast of the United States.  After departing from Mystic Seaport on July 9th, it is now bound for Boothbay Harbor, Maine. Only the first three ports of call have been announced as follows:

  • Boothbay Harbor, ME — July 13-15
  • Plymouth, MA — July 17-20
  • Rockland, ME — July 22-25

An additional eleven port calls will be announced. Draken Harald Hårfagre will be returning to Mystic Seaport in October. 

Politician Campaigning by Yacht Rescued by Coast Guard

Posted on by July 10, 2018

At one point in her long and storied career, the 1885 built, 131-foot schooner yacht Coronet was owned by a rather dodgy religious group which called itself “The Kingdom.” The group was led by Frank Sandford who circumnavigated the globe on the yacht in 1905. What was odd about the voyage was that no one ever went ashore. Instead, Sanford claimed to “subdue the world for Christ” through prayer and by sounding brass instruments as they passed by the various continents. He was not notably successful and on a subsequent voyage, several of his crew died of scurvy. The Coronet, however, has survived and is now being restored by the IYRS School of Technology and Trades in Newport, Rhode Island.  

A recent event not too far from Newport reminded me of the story of the Coronet and the sounding of brass offshore.  Joe Trillo, an ex-Republican state legislator is running for governor as an independent in Rhode Island this year. His campaign style is almost as unusual as Frank Sandford’s on the Coronet. He is campaigning by yacht and had rather a rocky weekend. 

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Heritage Wins Honors in Maine’s 42nd Annual Great Schooner Race

Posted on by July 9, 2018

Photo: Maine Windjammer Association

On July 6th, 11 schooners raced from Gilkey Harbor in Islesboro, Maine on Penobscot Bay to the finish line at the Rockland Breakwater Lighthouse in the 42nd Annual Great Schooner Race, sponsored by the Maine Windjammer Association.  The race honors, as reported by Village Soup–Knox, went to:
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Trump Cancels Protection of Whales and Sea Turtles Proposed by Fishing Industry

Posted on by July 8, 2018

The Trump administration announced that it would cancel a rule designed to protect whales and turtles, which was first implemented in 2016, at the request of the fishing industry. The rule helped limit the number of endangered whales and turtles ensnared in fishing nets and had been recommended by the 14-member Pacific Fishery Management Council, which manages fisheries in California, Oregon, and Washington, in 2015. The rule applies only to the 20 gill-net fishing vessels still operating on the West Coast. The measure protected endangered fin, humpback, and sperm whales; short-finned pilot whales and common bottlenose dolphins; as well as endangered leatherback sea turtles, loggerhead sea turtles, olive ridley sea turtles and green sea turtles. The Trump administration has declared that the protection is unnecessary. 

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Spanish Divers Find Wreck of World War II Submarine U-966

Posted on by July 7, 2018

In June, three Spanish divers located the wreck of the German World War II submarine U-966 near the coast of Galicia in north-west Spain. The BBC reports that the submarine’s wreckage is spread widely in a very rocky area where rough weather often makes diving impossible. The debris was photographed at a depth of 24-26m (79-85ft). One of the divers, naval historian Yago Abilleira, said they had found the wreckage near Estaca de Bares. They are not revealing the exact location, as it is a war grave.

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The Monkey Fist’s Nasty Cousin — the Slungshot

Posted on by July 7, 2018

I recently learned the slungshot, not to be confused with a slingshot. The slungshot is a monkey’s fist’s nasty cousin.

As most are probably aware, a monkey’s fist is a knot, shaped like a ball (or a fist), used to provide weight to the end of a heaving line. Typically one end of a moderately heavy line is tied into a monkey’s fist while the other end is finished in an eye splice. The monkey fist knot is often tied around a stone or a piece of lead or iron to give it additional weight. A light heaving line is tied to the eye splice and the monkey’s fist is thrown from a ship or boat to a line handler on the dock as the ship or boat is approaching. The heaving line is then attached to a heavier hawser. 

A monkey’s fist is a practical, as well as an attractive bit of marlinspike seamanship. These days, they often appear as decorative knots on keychains and jewelry.

But then what is a slungshot?  Continue reading →

SS Great Britain Returns to Bristol, 48 Years Ago Today

Posted on by July 5, 2018

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Forty-eight years ago today, 100,000 people who lined the banks of the River Avon in Bristol as the SS Great Britain returned to her birthplace. In the intervening years, the rusting hulk has been meticulously restored to her former glory and now rests in the drydock where she was built. As a museum ship, she is visited by between 150,000 and 200,000 visitors annually.  For Throw-Back-Thursday, here is an updated post from 2016 about the grand old ship, followed by a video about her return to Bristol in 1970.

In the spring of 2016, I visited the museum ship SS Great Britain, in Bristol, UK.  When she was launched in 1843, the iron-hulled luxury passenger steamship SS Great Britain was described as “the greatest experiment since the Creation.”

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Stopping Plastic Bags Before They Reach the Oceans

Posted on by July 3, 2018

The best way to combat plastic pollution in the oceans is to stop the plastic before it gets there.

We have been posting about the ever-growing garbage patches in the world’s oceans for the better part of a decade. The posts are beginning to have a certain sameness. Things are getting worse. The garbage patches trapped in the ocean gyres are getting growing larger. Six years ago, the Eastern Pacific Garbage Patch was a wide as the Continental United States. Whales are dying from ingesting plastic.  Record levels of microplastics are being found in Arctic ice.  A popular dive spot near Bali is turned into a “sea of trash” by plastic bags. And on and on and on.

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Kayaking Through the Engine Room of MV E Evangelia

Posted on by July 2, 2018

The MV Empire Strength, a 7,355 GRT refrigerated cargo ship, was built by Harland and Wolff in 1942.  In her long career, she had seven owners and four names. When she was purchased by a Greek owner in 1965, she was renamed, MV E Evangelia.  Her sailing days ended when she ran aground in 1968 in the Black Sea on the coast of Romania near the seaside resort of Costinești. With her back broken, she was declared a constructive total loss and abandoned. Now the wreck is a local attraction.

The video below captures a kayaker who paddles through an opening into the shell into the engine room. The first diesel engine is probably a generator while the six-cylinder main engine towers above the paddler in the background. The video has a slightly otherworldly quality, like images from a video game or a steampunk dream.  Continue reading →

Diving the USS Oriskany — the Great Carrier Reef on Florida Panhandle Shipwreck Trail

Posted on by July 2, 2018

USS Oriskany is an Essex-class aircraft carrier completed after World War II. She served in both the Korean and the Vietnam wars. In 2006, the almost 900′ long  ship became the world’s largest artificial reef after being sunk 22 miles south of Pensacola in more than 200 feet of water, as part of the Florida Panhandle Shipwreck Trail. Nicknamed the “Great Carrier Reef.” The top of the ship is within 80 feet of the surface and there are considerable portions of the ship in less than 100 feet of water, making them accessible to both sport and advanced divers. Here a video of diving on the Might O, the Great Carrier Reef. Continue reading →

Testing the SeaBubble Fly-By-Wire Control System

Posted on by June 29, 2018

A year and a half ago we posted about SeaBubbles — foiling electric water taxis. The idea to develop a five-person water taxi comes from Alain Thébault, the designer and skipper of record-breaking ocean-going hydrofoil Hydroptère. The distance from an idea to implementation, however, can be considerable. The SeaBubbles feature fully submerged foils which require a sophisticated control system for the craft to remain stable. The SeaBubble team are attempting to achieve a ride as smooth as a car on a well-paved road by using an advanced fly-by-wire control system. Fly-by-wire is a term used in aeronautics to describe a semiautomatic computer-regulated system for controlling the flight of an aircraft. While the SeaBubbles will not take off, they will be flying on foils. Here is a short video about the SeaBubble fly-by-wire system. Continue reading →