China Hacks the Sea Dragon — Secret Plans of Anti-Ship Missile

Posted on by June 13, 2018

The Washington Post has reported that Chinese government hackers have broken into the computers of a Navy contractor, stealing more than 600 GB of highly sensitive data related to undersea warfare — including secret plans to develop a supersonic anti-ship missile for use on U.S. submarines by 2020. The stolen data includes, “signals and sensor data, submarine radio room information relating to cryptographic systems, and the Navy submarine development unit’s electronic warfare library.”  The data also includes plans to the Sea Dragon. 

What is the Sea Dragon? Continue reading →

Archipelago New York — a Modern Day Exploration, Book Talk, June 18th

Posted on by June 12, 2018

In 1614, Dutch sailor Adriaen Block explored the over 70 islands of the archipelago between the mouth of the Hudson and Fisher’s Island. Four hundred years later, photographer, videographer, and writer Thomas Halaczinsky, set off on his 30-foot sailboat, on a multi-year journey, covering 3,000-miles, to trace Block’s course across the watery world in the shadows of a mighty city and nearby seaways. The photographic and literary logbook of his journey has recently been published as Archipelago New York.  

On June 18th, at 6:00pm, there will be a party and book talk to celebrate the publication at Rizzoli Bookstore at 1133 Broadway, between 25th and 26th Street, in Manhattan. The illustrated book talk begins at 6:15 pm.

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Sea of Trash Near Bali, the Bad & the Slightly Less Bad News

Posted on by June 11, 2018

Manta Point is a popular dive spot off the southernmost shore of Nusa Penida Island, near Bali, Indonesia.  Divers are attracted by the large number of manta rays which congregate there. On March 3rd, a British diver, Rich Horner, found far more than mantas at Manta Point. He found himself swimming in a sea of plastic garbage. His video of swimming through the mass of debris and trash has gone viral.  It is disturbing to watch. The video is the bad news. The good news or perhaps the less bad news is that the video doesn’t tell the whole story. 

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US Navy Review Shows Failure in Basic Seamanship

Posted on by June 9, 2018

The deaths of 17 sailors in the separate collisions with merchant ships of the Arleigh Burke-class destroyers USS Fitzgerald and the USS John S. McCain has raised fundamental questions about the seamanship of US naval officers on the two ships, and by implication, the fleet as a whole. A three-month internal review conducted by senior U.S. surface fleet leaders of the seamanship and ship handling skills of new deck officers has yielded deeply concerning results.

The review found some or significant concerns with the ship-handling skills of nearly 85 percent of its junior officers, and that many struggled to react decisively to extricate their ship from danger when there was an immediate risk of collision, according to an internal message obtained by Defense News.

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Norfolk’s Harborfest, Slavery & Remembrance

Posted on by June 9, 2018

Norfolk’s forty-second annual Harborfest is now underway. It is described as the “largest, longest-running, free maritime festival in the nation.” This year there are seven traditional sailing vessels from Virginia and Maryland participating, including the Godspeed of Jamestown, Alliance of Yorktown, the Sultana of Chestertown, the Schooner Virginia of Norfolk, and Bonny Rover of Newport News.

Some, however, particularly African Americans in Norfolk, have long boycotted the festival based on the decades-old rumors that the nautical festival tacitly celebrates the slave trade. Festival organizers dismiss the rumors as an “urban legend.” Harborfest started 42 years ago when the Norwegian tall ship Christian Radich docked three blocks from Town Point in Norfolk and has grown since then.

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Project Natick — Microsoft Tests an Underwater Data-Center

Posted on by June 8, 2018

Although we speak of the internet as being in “the cloud,” an estimated 95 percent of internet communication is carried on cables on the bottom of the sea. Now Microsoft is exploring moving computer data centers beneath the sea, as well. Microsoft has recently dropped a 40-foot long data-center pod about 100 ft below the surface onto the seafloor off the coast from the European Marine Energy Centre in Orkney, north of Scotland. The pod is phase 2 of Project Natick. Microsoft previously dropped a slightly smaller 30-foot Natick pod off the coast of California in 2016 

Quartz reports: The logic is sound: Bringing data centers close to hubs of computing power benefits customers, enabling smoother web surfing or game playing by cutting down the back-and-forth between users and servers. Microsoft says nearly half the world’s population lives within 150 km (120 miles) of the ocean. And because oceans are uniformly cool below a certain depth, keeping the machines under the sea would cut down the cooling costs that make up a large chunk of the operating budget of data centers.

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Ben Lecomte Begins Attempt to Swim Across the Pacific

Posted on by June 7, 2018

French-born swimmer Ben Lecomte has set off on a 5,500-mile record attempt to swim across the Pacific Ocean from Japan to California. The 51-year-old professional distance swimmer will swim for eight hours a day for more than six months as he heads towards the US west coast. If he succeeds in his attempt, Lecomte will be the first person to swim across the Pacific.

The BBC reports: Preparations for the trip have taken more than six years, but Mr. Lecomte has been targeting the challenge for much longer.

In 1998, he made the first known solo trans-Atlantic swim covering 6,400km (4,000 miles) in 73 days. When he finally reached dry land in France, his first words were “never again”, but he was soon looking for a new challenge. Continue reading →

Remembering Andrew Jackson Higgins and the Higgins Boat on D-Day

Posted on by June 6, 2018

I am aware of only one man who was praised by both Eisenhower and Hitler. A repost on the anniversary of D-Day.

General Dwight David Eisenhower said that “Andrew Higgins … is the man who won the war for us. … If Higgins had not designed and built those LCVPs, we never could have landed over an open beach. The whole strategy of the war would have been different.”  Adolph Hitler referred to Andrew Higgins as the “new Noah,” though his admiration was more begrudging. On the 74th anniversary of the Normandy landings, better known as D-Day, it seems worthwhile to remember Andrew Higgins and the amazing Higgins boat.

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Waves of Rubbish Wash Up on Australian Beaches After 83 Containers Lost Overboard

Posted on by June 5, 2018

Last week, the YM Efficiency, a 4250 TEU container ship bound from Taiwan to Sydney, Australia lost 83 containers in heavy seas while 30km off the coast of Port Stephens. In addition to the containers lost overboard, 30 other containers were damaged. Now waves of rubbish are washing ashore on the pristine beaches of New South Wales. 

“There has been mountains and mountains of rubbish and debris washing in,” one volunteer involved in the clean-up, Julie Simms, told Nine News. “It is plastic, car parts, lolly wrappers, drink bottles – just plastic and more plastic.”

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USS Arizona Memorial At Pearl Harbor Closes Indefinitely

Posted on by June 4, 2018

The USS Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor has been closed indefinitely after serious structural cracks were discovered.  The memorial was built in 1962 and is positioned athwartship over the wreckage of the sunken battleship USS Arizona. The monument is only accessible by shuttle boats and averages over one million visitors per year. The National Park Service issued a statement:

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Missing Gongs and Bells Off Maine, USCG Asks Public for Help

Posted on by June 3, 2018

A certain number of brass bells and gongs from bell and gong buoys off the coast of Maine have turned up missing and the US Coast Guard has recently issued a press release asking the public’s help in identifying the thieves. The statement is a bit cryptic. It does not identify how many of what they describe as “brass sound signaling devices” have been stolen or from which buoys. (There is, however, a reward for information leading to the conviction of the thieves.) The press release goes on to say:

The brass gongs and bells were attached to buoys to help mariners navigate safely during times of reduced visibility. They play a vital role in the safe passage of ships and mariners.

It is thought the high-dollar devices are being stolen and sold to nautical novelty shops or scrap metal yards. Federal officials are working closely with local law enforcement, shops, and scrap yards to identify perpetrators and reclaim the missing property. Continue reading →

Almost Six Years After Superstorm Sandy, Sign from New Jersey Washes up on French Beach

Posted on by June 2, 2018

Recently, Hannes Frank was walking along Plage du Pin Sec, near Bordeaux and found a portion of a real estate sign which had washed ashore on the beach. The sign was worn and part of it was ripped away, but “Diane Turton Realtors 732-292-1400″ was still readable. Mr. Frank, a semi-retired software consultant who lives in Brussels, emailed Diane Turton Realtors, in New Jersey, saying “Hi, Just wanted to let you know that I found part of one of your signposts washed up on the beach near Bordeaux France pictures available if wanted. Not in the best shape after that crossing.”

It turns out that when Superstorm Sandy made landfall in October 2012, Diane Turton Realtors had one sign go missing. According to the New York Times, the missing sign was from a house for sale on Cedarcrest Drive, facing a narrow inlet called Debbie’s Creek in the Jersey Shore town of Brielle. The sign was 18 by 24 inches and about an inch thick and made of plastic composite. It disappeared along with the post it was mounted to and was never seen again. Until around May 14, 2018. On a beach in France, 3,595 miles away.

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On National Donut Day — Captain Gregory & the Birth of the Modern Donut

Posted on by June 1, 2018
Captain Hansen Gregory

Captain Hansen Gregory

Today is National Donut Day. I was not aware that such a day existed until I bought a cup of coffee at Dunkin Donuts this morning and was offered a free donut in honor of the day. (I did not refuse the offer.) 

Tangential events often remind me of sea stories and my free donut brought to mind Hansen Crockett Gregory, 1832-1921, a ship’s captain from Rockport, Maine, who is often said to be the inventor of the modern donut. Here is the “hole story.” (An updated repost from 2015.)

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Navy Observes 50th Anniversary of the Mysterious Loss of the Sub USS Scorpion

Posted on by May 31, 2018

Last week, the Navy marked the 50th anniversary of the loss of the Skipjack-class nuclear submarine USS Scorpion (SSN 589) in a private observance at the Scorpion Memorial on Norfolk Naval Station.  99 officers and crew died when the submarine sank on May 22, 1968, over 400 miles southwest of the Azores in more than 10,000 feet of water. Exactly how and why the Scorpion sank remains a mystery. 

After an extensive search, the wreckage of the submarine was located on Oct. 31, 1968, in more than 10,000 feet of water. Among the various hypotheses for why the submarine sank were a hydrogen explosion while charging batteries, the accidental activation or explosion of a torpedo, an attack by the Soviets, and even the malfunction of a trash disposal unit. A seven-panel naval board of inquiry concluded that “the certain cause of the loss of the Scorpion cannot be ascertained.”

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50 Million Years of Whale Animation in One Minute

Posted on by May 30, 2018

Slate recently featured an animation of 50 million years of whale evolution represented in one minute. The animation is the work of Jordan Collver, an illustrator and science communicator in the U.K. Collver used a series of illustrations to show the slow-changing morphology of the ancient quadruped Pakicetus, as millions of years of aquatic adaptation shapes the land mammal into the modern sperm whale. If you would like to slow things down a bit, a ten minute version of the animation is also available here.