Draken Harald Hårfagre, a Broken Mast and Why They Didn’t Row to Port

Posted on by August 3, 2014
Photo: Ian Leask

Photo: Ian Leask

In early July, the 114-foot long  Draken Harald Hårfagre, the largest Viking replica ever built, was sailing across the North Sea,  from Haugesund in Norway.  Three days out, in high seas, the ship’s mast failed and went over the side.  No one was injured. The ship diverted to Lerwick where it arrived safely.  Given the nature of Viking sailing rigs, which have to be relatively light in order to be raised and lowered, the original Vikings must have had to deal with similar dismastings fairly often.

The modern day re-enactors, however did not row to shore. Michael Grey at Lloyd’s commented on a BBC 4 interview with the ship’s captain: Continue reading →

Vacuuming New York’s Blue Whale

Posted on by August 2, 2014

My favorite place in New York’s American Museum of Natural History is the Milstein Hall of Ocean Life, where a 94 foot long blue whale appears to be swimming through space.  The whale is a 21,000-pound fiberglass model of a female blue whale found in 1925 off the southern tip of South America.  The whale was installed in 1969. Every year the whale is cleaned using a special vacuum cleaner.  This year the cleaning process was streamed live over the internet.  In case you missed it, here is a two minute summary of the two to three day cleaning job.

Whale model gets a cleaning | AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY NY

Update: The 18th Century World Trade Center Ship May Have Been Built Near Philadelhia

Posted on by August 1, 2014

Four years ago, workers excavating at the new World Trade Center site in lower Manhattan uncovered the remains of an 18th century wooden merchant ship. The ship was found 20 feet below street level,  is roughly 30 feet in length and was probably buried intentionally as land fill.  It was found in an area outside that which had been previously excavated for the original World Trade Center complex and appears to have remained undisturbed since it was buried in the late 1700s.

Now a new report has been published in the Tree Ring Society journal Tree Ring Research which dates the ship and gives an indication where it was built. Much of the “news” in the report dates back to 2011, when Scientific American reported that Dr. Neil Pederson and a team from the Columbia University’s Lamont–Doherty Earth Observatory had determined that “the ship was likely built in 1773 in a small shipyard on the outskirts of a major metropolitan center.” The new report, of which Dr. Pederson is one of the authors, now identifies the “major metropolitan center” as probably Philadelphia. Additionally, the ship appears to have been built from the same kind of white oak trees used to build parts of Independence Hall, where the Declaration of Independence and U.S. Constitution were signed.

Origins of Mysterious World Trade Center Ship Revealed

Vibro Vulnificus — Flesh-Eating Bacteria Far More Dangerous Than Sharks

Posted on by July 31, 2014
Vibrio vulnificus (CDC/James Gathany)

Vibrio vulnificus (CDC/James Gathany)

Is it safe to go into the water? Officials with the Florida Department of Health are warning that vibro vulnificus, a flesh eating bacteria, poses a threat to those who eat uncooked seafood or go into the state ocean water with cuts or open wounds. Those with compromised immune systems are at the greatest risk of infection.  Vibrio vulnificus is a bacterium found in all  warm coastal waters of the United States.  This year, 12 cases have been identified by health officials, including 3 fatalities.  In 2013, Florida reported 41 cases and 11 deaths from the bacteria.

To put this into context, there were no fatal shark attacks in Florida in 2013.  The last reported shark fatality in the state was in 2005.  In the more than 130 years between 1882 and 2013, there have been a total of 11 confirmed deaths from shark attacks in the state of Florida, as compared to 11 deaths from vibro vulnificus infection in the year 2013, alone.  Vibro vulnificus is many times more dangerous than sharks.

Continue reading →

Bumbling Boaters Reveal Huge Security Flaws at New York Airports

Posted on by August 10, 2014

072714kayakThe Port Authority of New York and New Jersey reportedly spent more than $100 million on a Perimeter Intrusion Detection System, which was intended to protect the local airports from terrorist attack. (Some sources put the cost at $300 million.) How well is it working? Not so well.  Lost kayakers, amorous drunken power boaters and jet skiers out of gas have all managed to blunder through the security system wholly undetected at the two city airports located on the water.

Last weekend, two kayakers went kayaking on Jamaica Bay at night in a double kayak. They capsized, lost a paddle, and got confused at to where they were. They used their one remaining paddle to make their way to the closest land they could see, which happened to be the end of New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport’s Runway 4L. The airport’s perimeter detection system didn’t notice their arrival. The two walked until they found maintenance workers and asked for help.

Continue reading →

Schooner Ernestina Will Sail Again — Private Donors Contribute $2.8 Million

Posted on by July 29, 2014

ernestina1Great news, for a change.  The historic schooner Ernestina, ex-Effie M. Morrissey  will sail again. Private donors, Bob Hildreth and Gerry Lenfest, have committed to contribute $2.8 million to the restoration of the historic schooner.   The new donations more than match the State of Massachusetts’ $2.5 million contribution to the project.  The Schooner Ernestina-Morrissey Association has also raised more than $100,000 toward its goal of $1 million to help in the multi-year refurbishment of the schooner.  Boston philanthropist Bob Hildreth, a founder and vice-president of SEMA, has promised to donate $1 million, while media entrepreneur and philanthropist, Gerry Lenfest, who has had an interest in the ship since a childhood acquaintance with Capt. Bob Bartlett, has committed $1.8 million.

The schooner Ernestina, Ex. Effie M.Morrissey, was built in 1894 at the James and Tarr Shipyard for the Gloucester fishing fleet. Under Captain Bob Bartlett she sailed to within 600 miles of the North Pole, and later brought immigrants to the U.S. under the power of sail. Returned to the US in 1982 as a gift from the newly independent Cape Verdean people, she sailed as an educator until 2005.  She is currently designated by the United States Department of the Interior as a National Historic Landmark as part of the New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park. She is also the State Ship of Massachusetts.

Ernestina Will Sail Again

Continue reading →

From Dazzle Ships to Dazzle Faces — Camouflage Meant to Confuse

Posted on by July 28, 2014
Dazzle Ships

Dazzle Ships

Dazzle Faces

Dazzle Faces

We recently posted “The Dazzle Ships, Then and Now,” about the use of wild geometric patterns painted on ships, which do nothing to hide the ship, but are/were meant to confuse enemy weapons targeting.  Recently, the artist, designer, and entrepreneur, Adam Harvey, created computer vision dazzle, or CV dazzle, designed to fool increasingly sophisticated computer facial recognition software.  Developed as a student at NYU’s Interactive Telecommunications Program, Harvey’s CV dazzle uses make-up and hair to disrupt the computer algorithms used to identify faces.  He explains the rationale in the New York Times from last December — Face to Anti-Face.

Continue reading →

The Demise of Ocean Classroom Foundation

Posted on by July 27, 2014

10065561_H13332127-250x250Ocean Classroom Foundation, a non-profit organization based in Maine, has run educational programs for students aboard schooners for almost 20 years.  Sadly, it will be closing down at the end of the summer; it’s three schooners will be put up for sale at auction. As reported by The Bangor Daily News and the Portland Press Herald, the organization had too much debt, too little cash flow, and two schooners out of service for maintenance and repair.

Continue reading →

HMS London Shipwreck — Glimpsing a 300 Year Old Disaster

Posted on by December 5, 2017
CGI reconstruction of the 'London' wreck © Touch Productions

CGI reconstruction of the ‘London’ wreck
© Touch Productions

In 1665, HMS London, a 64-gun second-rate ship of the line of the English Royal Navy, exploded in the Thames Estuary off Southend.  Recent dives on the wreck have recovered a wide range of artifacts and remains.  As reported by the BBC:  A project spokesman said: “The artefacts we can recover may be similar in scope to those… from the Mary Rose, but 120 years later in date.”  The Mary Rose saw 34 years of service before it sank while leading an attack on a French invasion fleet in 1545. Around 19,000 artefacts were found on board after it was raised from the seabed of the Solent in 1982.

According to Samuel Pepys, 300 of the London’s crew were killed while 24 were blown clear and survived, including one woman.  In 2005, during preparatory work for the London Gateway Port development in Thurrock, Essex, the London was rediscovered.  The wreck was placed on English Heritage’s ‘Heritage at Risk’ Register in 2005,  due to the ship being exposed by shifting sediment levels on the sea bed.

Continue reading →

Schooner Virginia Cuts Season Short, Will Be Put Up For Sale

Posted on by July 25, 2014

Schooner23The bad news just keeps coming.  The Virginia Maritime Heritage Foundation has announced that the schooner Virginia will be suspending the remainder of her 2014 season and will be returned to Hampton Roads in August, where she will be put up for sale.  The Virginia has gone in and out of lay-up for several years over financial problems. In a press release, the Foundation states that the “revenue from operations and other sources has proven inadequate to support her current operating model and the resources required to sail the vessel appear to be unsustainable over the long term. Accordingly, the sale of the vessel appears to be the most prudent decision at this time.”

Continue reading →

Ocean Classroom’s Spirit of Massachusetts, Harvey Gamage, & Westward to be Auctioned

Posted on by July 25, 2014
Harvey Gamage

Harvey Gamage

The rumors had been dire for some time and now they appear to be confirmed.  Marlinspike Magazine is reporting that  the Ocean Classroom Foundation‘s three vessels, the schooners Spirit of Massachusetts, Harvey Gamage, & Westward will be auctioned.  As reported by Marlinspike:

All three vessels are said to be in rough shape, particularly SPIRIT, which is currently unrigged and out of the water at Portland Yacht Services. GAMAGE was in service this past winter, but is reportedly not cleared to sail until more work has been done. The steel-hulled WESTWARD, formerly operated by SEA, has not sailed in some time.

Continue reading →

New Dory for Tall Ship Gazela

Posted on by July 24, 2014

dorygazela1Tall ship Gazela Primeiro, the official tall ship of Philadelphia, carried 30 dories when it fished the Grand Banks of the Atlantic Ocean. A dory is a small wooden boat used by a solo fisherman who tended a long line with many hooks in the quest for cod. When Gazela came to Philadelphia at the end of its nearly 70 year fishing career there were still 6 dories on board.. Over the last 43 years those dories have deteriorated to where there was only one original dory left in very sad condition.

To enhance Gazela’s role as a 113 year old living museum teaching ecology and the preservation of natural resources it is important to show how fishing was done in the days of the long line where only the larger fish were taken, one at a time, in a way that preserved the fishstock. So in 2011, Tony Souza of Ottsville, PA, a volunteer member of the Gazela crew decided to build a new dory in his home workshop. Dory, ‘37’, joined the ship in May 2011 and has been with the ship on its visits to ports on the east coast ranging from Norfolk, VA to Nova Scotia.

Continue reading →

What is the Bloop? Giant Sea Monster or Calving Ice Shelf?

Posted on by July 24, 2014

In 2009, we posted about the “bloop.”   What is the “bloop,” you well may ask?  The “bloop” was an mysterious ultra-low frequency underwater sound detected by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) several times during the summer of 1997.

NOAA was using an acoustic hydrophone array in the Pacific ocean originally developed by the US Navy to track Russian submarines.  The ”bloop” was heard on multiple sensors over a range greater than 5,000 km.  The sound appeared to be somewhere around 50° S 100° W (in the Pacific of the southwest coat of South American).  Scientists agreed that the bloop matches the audio profile of a living animal, but no known animal could have produced the sound.  Also given the range across which the sound was heard, any animal that created such a sound would have to be significantly larger than a blue whale, the largest creature ever know to have lived on the planet.  Was the bloop caused by a giant sea monster?

A more recent theory is somewhat more prosaic.  NOAA now thinks that the “bloop” may have been the massive calving of an ice shelf.  The video explains.

What Is the Bloop?

Final Voyage of the Costa Concordia

Posted on by July 23, 2014

The Costa Concordia has begun her final voyage from the Tuscan island of Giglio to the scrapyard in Genoa, Italy, the port city where the ill-fated cruise ship was built.  The ship sank and partially capsized in January 2012 after striking a reef. Thirty two passengers and crew died. Read more here. Thanks to David for contributing to this post.

Celebration in Giglio as Costa Concordia heads for scrapheap

Update: Sewol Ferry Disaster — Ferry Owner Yoo Byung-eun Found Dead

Posted on by July 22, 2014
Yoo Byung-eun

Yoo Byung-eun

Last April, we posted about the capsizing and sinking of the South Korean ro/ro ferry Sewol with the loss of over 300, dead and missing.  Yoo Byung-eun, the effective owner and manager of Chonghaejin Marine Company, which operated the ferry, had been the subject of the country’s largest man-hunt since a Korean court issued an arrest warrant for him in May, on charges of embezzlement, breach of trust and tax evasion. That man-hunt ended with the announcement today that a body found on June 12 by a farmer in an apricot orchard in Suncheon, had finally been identified by DNA testing as Mr. Yoo.

The sinking of the ferry Sewol  was tragically typical of similar ferry losses. The vessel appears to have been poorly loaded, sailed with inadequate stability and with cargo not properly secured. When the ferry began to capsize  the captain was slow to respond, the crew failed to deploy life rafts and also instructed passengers to stay in the cabin — all actions that are believed to have dramatically increased the death rate.

If the ferry tragedy was typical, the ferry’s owner was not. Continue reading →

PortSide’s “Heavy Metal” Fundraising Sale!

Posted on by July 21, 2014

mwheavymetalPortSide New York, the organization behind the historic tanker Mary A. Whalen,  is having an amazing marine hardware fundraising sale.  From their press release:

If you think a full-sized bollard makes the perfect doorstop, or that a collection of shackles is the centerpiece your table is lacking, or you just need turnbuckles (you know who you are), we have an event for you!

PortSide NewYork has three tractor-trailers filled with industrial marine objects, and everything must go. Bring cash or credit card, and haul away your favorite or much-needed marine items – just make sure to top up the air in your tires.

Continue reading →

Isabelle Autissier: Lessons from the Sea

Posted on by July 20, 2014

Isabelle Autissier is a French sailor who has sailed around the world four times. In this TED talk, she shares some of what she has learned about life and living from the sailing the world’s oceans. She speaks of the importance of observing, understanding, and adapting to what nature gives, rather than trying to overpower the forces of the natural world.  Definitely worth watching.

Isabelle Autissier: Lessons from the Sea

LaSalle’s Freeze-Dried Shipwreck La Belle on the Move

Posted on by July 19, 2014

b-650x487Two years ago we posted about how a team of scientists at the Texas A&M University Center for Maritime Archaeology and Conservation were using freeze-drying to preserve large sections of French explorer’s Robert LaSalle’s flagship, La Belle, which sank in Matagorda Bay in 1686.  Now, the preserved sections of the ship are being moved from their labs in Bryan, TX to the Bullock Texas State History Museum, in Austin, TX.

In 1995, archaeologists discovered the wreckage of La Belle.  The lower portion of the hull had been preserved from decay by being covered in mud.  Excavating the hull risked immediate damage once the waterlogged timbers were exposed to the air. The team at Texas A& M used the biggest freeze-drying machine on the continent devoted to archaeology to prevent the three hundred year old wood from shrinking and cracking.

Continue reading →

“No Ordinary Women” — Reality TV and the Hyping of the Volvo Ocean Race

Posted on by July 18, 2014

A few days ago, a trailer was posted on the internet for a four part documentary television series called, “No Ordinary Women.”   The voice over for the trailer begins, “‘No Ordinary Women’ is the story about eleven women ready to do something that has never been done before. They will sail around the world in the Volvo Ocean Race, the toughest race there is.”

The only problem is that the voice-over implies that eleven women sailing around the world in the Volvo Ocean Race is “something that has never been done before.”  The same theme has been picked up in other media sources. The Telegraph comments: “Ladies first: for the first time the Volvo Ocean race will have an all-female crew.” It makes for good copy, but simply isn’t true. The eleven women sailing for TeamSCA will be the third boat in the race with an all female crew.

Trailer “No ordinary women” – About Team SCA and their road towards the Volvo Ocean Race 2014-15

Continue reading →

Crow’s Nests : Part 2 — Floki, Ravens and Fighting Tops

Posted on by July 18, 2014
Stamp commemorating Floki and his ravens

Stamp commemorating Floki and his ravens

The crows nest, as a shelter for the lookout on whaling ships sailing the icy waters of the Arctic, was by all indications, invented by Captain William Scoresby around 1807.  (See yesterday’s post:  Crow’s Nests : Part 1 — Melville & Captain Scoresby.)  Nevertheless, many claim that the crow’s nest dates back much further.  According to the “Origins of Naval Terminology” page on the America’s Navy website, the crow’s nest can be traced back to the Vikings.  Their entry “crow’s nest” reads:

The raven, or crow, was an essential part of the Vikings’ navigation equipment. These land-lubbing birds were carried on aboard to help the ship’s navigator determine where the closest land lay when weather prevented sighting the shore. In cases of poor visibility, a crow was released and the navigator plotted a course corresponding to the bird’s flight path because the crow invariably headed towards land.

The Norsemen carried the birds in a cage secured to the top of the mast. Later on, as ships grew and the lookout stood his watch in a tub located high on the main mast, the name “crow’s nest” was given to this tub. While today’s Navy still uses lookouts in addition to radars, etc., the crow’s nest is a thing of the past.

Continue reading →