Captain Kate McCue — First American Woman to Command a Large Cruise Ship

Posted on by July 14, 2015

kayemccueCongratulations to Captain Kate McCue. This August, she will take command of the Celebrity Summit, sailing from Bermuda from the East Coast.  She will be the first American woman to command a large cruise ship.  The Celebrity Summit is a 91,000-ton ship which can carry 2,158 passengers and 952 crew. Captain McCue, 37, previously sailed for Royal Caribbean Lines, Celebrity Cruises parent company. She is a graduate of California Maritime Academy.  Thanks to Mai Armstrong on the Working Harbor Committee blog for passing along the news.

In 2010, we posted about Inger Klein Olsen, the first female Cunard captain on the Queen Victoria.

Continuing Discomfort on Navy Hospital Ship USNS Comfort

Posted on by July 13, 2015


USNS COMFORT

We posted last April that the hospital ship USNS Comfort has deployed on Continuing Promise 2015, a five month mission to eleven nations in Central and South America and the Caribbean. Not all has gone well. On July 9, as reported by the Navy Times, the command senior chief of the medical facility on the hospital ship was fired after allegedly getting drunk and acting up at a reception for the president of Panama, according to a source familiar with the incident. Command Senior Chief Aurelio Ayala was reassigned to Military Sealift Command in Norfolk, Virginia, pending the outcome of the investigation.

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Belfast Tall Ship’s Festival

Posted on by July 12, 2015

Belfast hosted the Tall Ships Belfast 2015 from July 2-5. It sounds like a great success. As reported by the Belfast Telegraph: The fleet of 46 sailing vessels drew record crowds to Belfast, making it one of the biggest events to be staged in the province. During four fabulous days docked in Belfast one ship recorded its highest ever number of visitors. Brazilian vessel, Cisne Branco, had 32,000 visitors on board during its stay in Belfast, the highest number it has recorded anywhere in the world. Thanks to Irwin Bryan for passing along the news.

Captain John Newton & Amazing Grace — The Story Behind the Myth

Posted on by July 11, 2015

agmusicalA new musical is coming to Broadway this summer, which features a ship’s captain and stage sets with lots of ship’s rigging. It is based on the story of Captain John Newton and the song Amazing Grace.  The musical is described: AMAZING GRACE is a new original musical based on the awe-inspiring true story behind the world’s most beloved song. A captivating tale of romance, rebellion and redemption, this radiant production follows one man whose incredible journey ignited a historic wave of change.

The story of Captain Newton and the song Amazing Grace is quite remarkable. The problem is separating the myth from what actually happened.

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The Shantyman, A Kirkus Indie Book of the Month for August

Posted on by July 11, 2015

I am very pleased to learn that my latest novel, The Shantyman, is being featured as one of Kirkus’ Indie Books of the Month for August.

The Kirkus starred review from last June, called The Shantyman …a fabulously gripping sailor’s yarn.   The review also says:  With eloquent accuracy, Spilman’s novel captures the life of a 19th-century sailor…. A profound understanding of nautical terminology and procedure is also evident, yet the author is careful not to confuse readers who don’t know a “crojack” from a “spanker.” … Spilman’s colorful, well-researched novel will enthrall both sailing enthusiasts and landlubbers.

To read the whole review click here.

Gentleman’s Wager

Posted on by July 8, 2015

This is only marginally nautical, although it does begin and end on a beautiful sailboat. Mostly is it merely silly and yet it is kind of fun. A bit of over-the-top marketing for Johnny Walker Blue, it is a short film starring actors Jude Law and Giancarlo Giannini. And did I mention the beautiful sailboat?

‘The Gentleman’s Wager’

El Galeon Andalusia — Fascinating if Occasionally Anachronistic

Posted on by July 7, 2015

galeon1Today I went aboard El Galeon Andalusia, at South Street Seaport. The ship is billed as “a 170 foot, 495 ton, authentic wooden replica of a galleon that was part of Spain’s West Indies fleet.” It is a intriguing ship that has successfully sailed thousands of miles, including crossing the Atlantic. The original galleons, and the carracks that preceded them, were the ships that first girded the globe in 16th and 17th centuries. They changed the vast oceans from barriers to highways. For good and/or ill, these ships literally changed the course of the world’s civilizations.

The only problem with Galeon Andalusia is that the description “authentic wooden replica” promises a bit too much. The hull is primarily fiberglass, sheathed in wood above the waterline. There is nothing actually wrong with this. Fiberglass is far easier to maintain than a wooden hull. If the description merely becomes “authentic replica” things might be OK.

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Of Shark Attacks and Twitter Feeds

Posted on by July 6, 2015
Katharine The Shark

Katharine The Shark

Recently, sharks and the internet have begun to interact. On the Atlantic coast, shark researchers have been tagging great white sharks, allowing thousands of internet fans to watch their travels across the world’s oceans on the web.  On the other side of the globe, the Australian government has given over 300 sharks swimming off Western Australia their own Twitter feeds, in order to help limit fatal shark attacks.

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Four Hundred Years of Sailing Ships at the South Street Seaport

Posted on by July 5, 2015
Hermione wide

From left to right — masts of the Peking, l’Hermione and the masts of El Galeon

Last week provided a rare opportunity to glimpse over 400 years of sailing ship history in three ships, tied up almost side by side, at New York’s South Street Seaport. Berthed on the south side of Pier 15, El Galeon Andalucia is a replica of a 16th century Spanish galleon. On the north side of the pier was l’Hermione, a replica of an 18th century French Concorde class frigate. On Pier 17, the four-masted barque Peking, built in 1911, represents the culmination of sailing technology, before the world’s commercial sailing fleet was finally pushed aside by steam and motor ships.

What I find fascinating about the three ships is that while their designs are separated by centuries, the DNA of each is easily identifiable in the others.  In some respects, the three ships bracket the great European Age of Sail.

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Hermione — Lafayette Parade of Ships, New York Harbor July 4, 2105

Posted on by July 4, 2015

On a nearly windless, overcast and rainy morning, the French replica frigate l’Hermione led an impressive flotilla of every sort of craft from very large yachts to jet skis, from below the Verazzano Narrow’s Bridge through the inner harbor and up the North River. Here is a video I shot and edited of the parade.  I was a passenger on the lovely schooner Shearwater.

Hermione –Lafayette Parade of Ships , July 4th 2015

Cousteau’s Calypso — Abandoned and Rotting

Posted on by July 3, 2015
calypsoshed

Photo: Dmitry Kostyukov for The New York Times

Last March we posted “Will Prince Albert of Monaco Save Cousteau’s Calypso?”  sadly, the answer to the question appears to be, “no.”  Earlier in March, following  a long legal battle, a French court ruled, that Francine Cousteau, the second wife of the late Jacques Cousteau, owed €273,000 in shipyard bills and was required to remove the RV Calypso from a Brittany shipyard.  If she failed to do so the shipyard would be allowed to sell the 43 meter wooden research vessel. Shortly thereafter, rumors began to spread that Prince Albert II of Monaco might rescue the ship and bring it to the Oceanographic Museum of Monaco where Jacques Cousteau served as director for more than three decades, from 1957 to 1988.  These rumors appear to have been unfounded. The Calypso has not moved and appears to be in the first stages of being broken up. As reported by the New York Times:

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Gallery — l’Hermione at South Street Seaport

Posted on by July 2, 2015

On a hot and hazy afternoon, I stopped by l’Hermione, the replica French frigate docked at Pier 15 at South Street Seaport. A few photographs.

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l’Hermione at NYC’s South Street Seaport, Open to the Public Thursday

Posted on by July 1, 2015

hermionestatueThis morning, the replica French frigate l’Hermione arrived in New York harbor and was welcomed  by American and French officials, led by French Minister Ségolène Royal and Mayor of Rochefort Hervé Blanché at Pier 15  at the South Street Seaport on the East River. The ship is a replica of the frigate that carried the Marquis de Lafayette to America in 1780 with the news that France was committing to support George Washington and his forces in the revolution against Great Britain. l’Hermione will be open for the public for ship tours tomorrow and Friday, July 2-3, 2015 from 9:00 am – 4:00 pm.

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The Ballad of Preserved Fish

Posted on by June 28, 2015
Preserved Fish

Preserved Fish

Puritans were notorious for weird names.  Some first names are strangely long, such as “If-Christ-had-not-died-for-thee-thou-hadst-been-damned” or “Fight-the-good-fight-of-faith”.  Some names were short but just disturbingly odd. Fly-fornication, for example.  In 1766, Preserved Fish was born in Portsmouth, Rhode Island. His first name, Preserved, pronounced “pre-SER-vedd” is thought to be a shortening of “Preserved in Grace” or “Preserved from Sin.”

As a young man, Preserved shipped out on a whaling ship on a voyage to the Pacific. At 21, he became a whaling ship captain. When he came ashore, he became a successful merchant in first New Bedford and then New York City.  He founded the shipping firm,  Fish & Grinnell.  He later became one of the 28 brokers of the New York Exchange Board, which later became the New York Stock Exchange and also became a director of Bank of America.  He also served until his death as President of the Tradesman’s Bank.  His family, which remained prominent in New York, also gave rise to Hamilton Fish, governor, senator, and secretary of state, and Stuyvesant Fish, a notable railroad president.

Preserved Fish has not entirely been forgotten.  Singer/songwriter Ken Ficara immortalizes Preserved Fish with a song by the same name.  The lyrics are below.  Click here to listen to Ken singing his song.

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Droopy Duck — The Continuing Saga of the Philly Giant Rubber Duck

Posted on by June 27, 2015

brduckphillyThe 61′ high 11 ton inflatable Giant Rubber Deck, featured in the Philadelphia-Camden Tall Ships Festival 2015, had some problems in the “Parade of Ships” on Thursday.  The duck was being towed on a pontoon, which was found to have holes and was sinking, causing the duck to become unstable.  Initial reports said that the duck was undamaged but later accounts suggest that the duck was damaged and leaking and has been taken ashore repairs.  With luck, festival-goers will be so involved with incredible fleet of tall ships tied up along the banks of the Delaware River that they will not notice the absence. Thanks to Robert Rustchak of the Philadelphia Ship Preservation Guild and the tall ship Gazela, for passing along his sister-in-law’s photo of the droppy duck.

The Philly giant inflatable duck been the subject of some controversy. The Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman who created sculpture named “Spreading Joy Around the World” but universally known simply as “Rubber Duck,” is charging that the Philly duck is an “unauthorized rubber duck project.”   Various incarnations of the rubber duck have appeared at over 20 locations around the globe.

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LightSail — Sailing on the Light of the Sun

Posted on by June 24, 2015

This post is not quite nautical, but it does involving sailing. The Planetary Society, a non-government, nonprofit organization, is sending sailing ships out to explore space, sailing on the light of the sun.  The first prototype completed a generally successful test mission earlier this month. A larger 32 square meter LightSail is scheduled to be launched in 2016. The project is being funded by a Kickstarter campaign.