Paul Cuffee, African-American Captain, Shipbuilder & Shipowner

Posted on by February 2, 2018

The Maritime Administration identifies Captain Hugh Mulzac as The First African-American Shipmaster. Mulzac was the captain of the Liberty ship Booker T. Washington in 1942. Without intending any disrespect to the memory of Captain Mulzac, he was not the first African American shipmaster, by a wide margin. Of the 2,500 masters who captained the American whaling ship fleet of the 18th and 19th centuries, at least 63 were men of color, for example. 

To find the first African-American shipmaster, you need to go back more than 200 years. Who was the first? That is hard to say. Paul Cuffe is a good candidate. 

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South Street Seaport Schooner Lettie G Howard Heading for Lake Erie

Posted on by February 1, 2018

The South Street Seaport Museum‘s historic Georges Banks fishing schooner Lettie G. Howard will be spending the next two summers in Lake Erie at the Erie Maritime Museum in a collaboration with the Flagship Niagara League. The schooner will be partnering with the Brig Niagara. Lettie G. Howard will offer day sails on Lake Erie from Erie, PA, while Niagara visits other ports during the 2018 and 2019 sailing seasons. 

“The Flagship Niagara League has been working toward this collaboration for three years; to finally see it come to fruition is just incredible. The collaboration with South Street Seaport Museum and with the schooner Lettie G. Howard, will give us the opportunity to expand our services while enhancing the visitor experience at the Erie Maritime Museum,” Executive Director Shawn Waskiewicz told YourErie.com.

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Panther John Gomez & the Legend of Gasparilla

Posted on by January 31, 2018

Panther John

Last weekend in Tampa, FL was the annual Gasparilla Pirate Festival.   The festival has been a yearly event for the better part of a century. It celebrates the life and times of the “Last Buccaneer,” the pirate Jose Gaspar, also known as Gasparilla, a Spanish Admiral turned brigand who seized over 400 ships between 1789 and 1821. His treasure, none of which has ever been found, is said to be buried all along the Gulf Coast.

Gasparilla’s exploits are legendary. Perhaps, mythological might be an even better description, as there is no evidence that Jose Gaspar ever existed. 

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Reviews for Evening Gray Morning Red on Pirates and Privateers Blog

Posted on by January 30, 2018

My latest novel, Evening Gray Morning Red, has received not one, but two, wonderful reviews on the Pirates and Privateers blog, by Cindy Vallar and Irwin Bryan, respectively. 

Excerpts from Cindy Vallar’s review: “Gripping nautical and historical fiction at its best… Spilman deftly brings the period, people, and situation to life in a way that a history can never achieve. … From first page to last, he whisks readers back in time to stand beside Thom and Johnny and experience all the emotions and intrigue they do. When the back cover closes, it’s like leaving good friends. You miss being with them, but the voyage was more exciting and fulfilling than you ever imagined. Highly recommended.” Click here to read the review in its entirety. 

An excerpt from Irwin Bryan’s review: “This novel is a well concocted tale from start to finish. As with his other books, when you read Evening Gray Morning Red, you’re captivated by this author’s rich descriptions and events and escape from your own thoughts and reality.” Click here to read the entire review.

Watch Out for the Super Blue Blood Moon!

Posted on by January 29, 2018

On Wednesday, much of the world will be able to watch a blue moon, a supermoon and a blood moon, all at once. A blue moon is a term for a second full moon in a given month. There was a full month on the first of January so the second on the 31st will be the blue moon, even if the pigmentation doesn’t actually change.

It so happens that the full moon will also be a supermoon, which is to say that the full moon will be at perigee — its closest approach to Earth in a single orbit — making it appear slightly larger and brighter.

But wait! There is more! On Wednesday, there will also be a total lunar eclipse. As the shadow of the earth crosses the face of the moon it will turn it an orange or red, which is why a lunar eclipse is often called a blood moon.  

So there you have it — a blue, super, blood moon. The last time the three events aligned was in 1982 and the next won’t occur until 2037.

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A Winter Taxi Across the Hudson River, or a Rickenbacker Doesn’t Float

Posted on by January 28, 2018

Recently, we posted about the times when New York harbor froze solid. While that is a very unusual occurrence in New York City, a bit farther up the Hudson River, the river freezing over is a yearly event. In the summertime, before the river was spanned by bridges, numerous ferries plied the waters allowing people and wheeled vehicles to cross the river. In the wintertime, things were more challenging when the ice kept the ferries tied to the docks. 

As long as the ice on the frozen river was thick and smooth enough people could walk across or even take horse-drawn sleighs. Things got a bit tricky when the ice was melting or just freezing, or when currents would break the ice into huge moving sheets and islands. 

Here is a story told by Richard Heppner in Hudson Valley One of Lloyd Plass and his ill-fated cross-Hudson Rickenbacker taxi service: 

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A Sideways Launch — Shipbuilding in Faversham, Kent

Posted on by January 27, 2018

A documentary about a shipyard in Faversham, Kent where over 1200 vessels were built and launched between 1916 and 1969. The narrowness of Faversham Creek was no barrier to the launching of such large ship. Vessels were simply launched sideways.

The film was directed and produced by Michael Maloney for Countrywide Productions. See cwideprods.co.uk for more information.

A Sideways Launch from Michael Maloney on Vimeo.

Guest Post by Robin Denny: The Five-Masted Full-Rigged Ship Preussen

Posted on by January 26, 2018

Preussen under full sail

We recently posted about the five-masted full-rigged cruise ship Royal Clipper, a modern sailing ship designed as an homage to the great five-masted windjammer Preussen. We are very pleased to have a guest post about the mighty windjammer by Robin Denny: 

With the Peking now back in her home port of Hamburg, perhaps it is opportune to mention another of the Flying P sailing ships, the great Preussen. A five-masted full-rigged ship, 482′ LOA, with square sails on all masts, she was one of the fastest sailing ships, matching the Clippers with speeds up to 20 knots.

Built in Geestemünde, Germany, she was launched in May, 1902 with her hull, masts, spars and rigging, both cable and rods, all being of steel. She proved to be a well found and weatherly, sailing, among other destinations, to Chile, Japan and New York, where most of New York turned out to welcome her.

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Clotilda & Cudjo Lewis — the Last Slave Ship & the Last Survivor

Posted on by January 25, 2018

On Tuesday, a reporter in Alabama announced that he believed that he had found the burned wreckage of the schooner Clotilda, the last vessel to carry slaves to the United States. The wreckage was exposed following a winter “bomb cyclone” weather front, which caused extremely low tides in the area, exposing the wreckage. There is no firm confirmation that the wreckage is that of the schooner Clotilda, but the location, dimensions, and condition of the wreck strongly suggest that the wreckage is the slave ship. Clotilda was a two-masted schooner, 86 feet long, 23 feet of beam, and had a copper-sheathed hull. The wreck was found on the Mobile River just off Twelvemile Island by Ben Raines of AL.com. 

The international slave trade had been illegal in the United States since 1807, but that didn’t stopped the slavers.  Local lore suggests that the voyage of the Clotilda began as a wager between Timothy Meaher, a wealthy Alabama ship and shipyard owner, and friends from New England, that he could smuggle slaves from Africa into the United States without being caught.

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Behold the Vampire Squid from Hell

Posted on by June 2, 2018

“Vampire Squid from Hell” sounds like a low budget horror movie from the 1950s.  It isn’t. It is a small cephalopod which lives in the deep oceans.

There are two important things that one should know about the species with the scientific nameVampyroteuthis infernalis, which means, literally, the “vampire squid from hell.”  The creature is not a vampire. Nor is it a squid. Despite the confused taxonomy, the vampire squid is a strange and wonderful creature in its own right.

The vampire squid is neither squid nor octopus but a more primitive form of cephalopod, virtually a living fossil,  dating back to a time before the squid and octopus split into separate orders.  The vampire squid is only about a foot long and lives in deep water in temperate oceans.  It is no bloodsucker. It eats “marine snow,” organic detritus drifting down from the upper layers of the water column.  Apparently, the creature’s jet-black to pale reddish body was the basis for the vampiric name. 

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Fifty Years Ago Today — North Korea Seizes USS Pueblo

Posted on by January 23, 2018

Fifty years ago today, on January 23, 1968, North Korea seized the U.S. Navy intelligence ship USS Pueblo while operating in international waters. One sailor was killed and 82 were taken prisoner. The Pueblo was commanded by Lloyd “Pete” Bucher. He and his crew were charged with spying on North Korea. Commander Bucher and his crew were released the following December after enduring 11 months of brutal captivity at the hands of the North Koreans. Pueblo is still listed as a commissioned U.S. Navy vessel — the only one held by a foreign nation. The ship is a now a tourist attraction in Pyongyang, North Korea.

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Lifesaving Drone Drops Inflatable Rescue Pod to Two Swimmers in Australia

Posted on by January 22, 2018

Amazon is currently testing using drones to deliver packages. Recently in Australia, lifeguards used a drone to deliver something far more vital than a package from an online retailer.  They successfully used a Little Ripper drone to drop a flotation rescue pod to two teenaged swimmers in danger of drowning in heavy surf on Lennox Head on the state’s Far North Coast.  From the  Surf Life Saving NSW press release: 

At about 11:30, two men were swimming in powerful surf conditions approximately a kilometre north of the patrolled area when a member of the public noticed that they were having difficulty in the 3 metre swell.

Lifeguard Supervisor Jai Sheridan, the 2017 NSW Lifeguard of the Year, was piloting the UAV at the time, immediately responded and was able to locate the swimmers within minutes of the initial alert.

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Collision in Volvo Ocean Race Kills Chinese Fisherman, Nine Others Rescued

Posted on by January 21, 2018

Around 30 NM from Hong Kong, the Volvo Ocean racer Vestas 11th Hour collided with a Chinese fishing vessel on Friday night around 1:20 a.m. local time, which resulted in the death of a Chinese fisherman. The Vestas 11th Hour Racing team issued a Mayday distress call, alerting the Hong Kong Marine Rescue Coordination Centre (HKMRCC). A nearby commercial vessel rescued nine of the crew from the fishing boat, while a tenth was taken to the hospital by helicopter after he was rescued from the water by the Vestas 11th Hour Racing crew. The medevaced crewman later died. None of the Vestas 11th Hour race team was injured in the collision.

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Longest Underwater Cave Identified in Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula

Posted on by January 19, 2018

Several years ago, my wife and I went snorkeling in the Dos Ojos cenote in Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula near Tulum.  A cenote is a deep, water-filled sinkhole in limestone, often connected to freshwater underwater caverns and tunnels. The limestone filtered water was crystal clear and we were able to swim between multiple cave chambers. Divers with scuba gear swam 60′ below us and provided the only means of judging the depth of the water. It was an amazing afternoon.

Dos Ojos, meaning “two eyes” because of its two sinkholes to the same connected underwater chambers, was thought to be connected to submerged caves extending 93 kilometers or 57.8 miles. Recently, however, researchers have discovered that the Dos Ojos cave system is, in fact, connected to a nearby cave system, Sac Actun, meaning White Cave. The combined cave network stretches for 216 miles, a world’s record. 

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