USS Slater in dazzle camouflage
In April we posted about the drydocking of USS Slater, the last World War II destroyer escort still afloat in the United States, at Caddell Dry Dock in Staten Island. Yesterday, her repairs completed, newly cleaned, and painted, she returned to her home port, up the Hudson in Albany, NY. Her new paint job is dazzling. Literally. She has been repainted in the “dazzle” camouflage scheme that she wore in service in 1945.
Photo: Weeki Wachee
I have recently discovered that mermaids are indeed real, well, after a fashion, though not in the sense suggested by cheesy fake documentaries shown on the Discovery Channel. There is a small cadre of women who perform as mermaids and models professionally. It is certainly one of the more unusual jobs, though no doubt providing steadier work than scuba-diving Santas, which does tend to be highly seasonal.
Well before the billionaire’s AC72 catamarans were rising up on foils to race in the America’s Cup, nimble Moth dinghies were flying on hydrofoils around the buoys. I will admit to being fascinated by the foiling Moths, although they appear to be rather challenging to sail. Perhaps beyond my capabilities. The Moths are light and relatively simple, while still being a wonder of design, engineering and fabrication. Here is a wonderful video by Onne van der Wal of a recent Moth regatta in Newport on Narragansett Bay, RI.
2014 11th Hour Cup – Moth Racing in Newport, Rhode Island
2014 11th Hour Cup – Moth Racing in Newport, Rhode Island from Onne van der Wal on Vimeo.
Photo: Ray Alley
Migaloo, the white humpback whale has been spotted making his way up Australia’s Queensland’s coast on his annual migration to warmer waters. Migaloo was first seen in 1991 and is believed to be around 28 years old and is one of a few albino humpback whales ever observed. This is the 23rd consecutive year Migaloo has been spotted on the Australia’s eastern seaboard. As whales go, Migiloo is something of a rock star. Fans track his yearly migration. He has several websites devoted to him and as well as a Twitter account and multiple Facebook pages.
This year there is increased concern that Migaloo’s albinism may have made the humpback susceptible to skin cancer. Continue reading
In recent years, there has been a significant increase in the number of whales off New York harbor. In 2011, researchers from Cornell recorded the sounds of fin whale, blue whale, humpback whale, minke whale, sei whale, and the North Atlantic right whale using an array of hydrophones off Long Island and New York harbor. The downside of increased whale activity is that the harbor has also seen an increase in the number of whales struck and killed by ships. Earlier this spring, we saw two dead whales carried into the harbor on the bows of ships in less than a month. On the positive side New Yorkers are able to watch humpbacks feeding just a mile of New York City beaches.
In 2010, we posted about a shipwreck in the Baltic, off the Åland Islands of Sweden, in which 30 bottles of champagne and 5 bottles of beer were found intact in the wreckage. In 2011, two bottles of the champagne were sold at auction for 54,000 euros ($78,400.) Now, the Aland brewery, Stallhagen, has recreated the beer based on an analysis conducted by the Technical Research Centre of Finland (VTT) of the original beer in the shipwreck. Wild yeast from the original brew was been used the in the new beer which is dubbed Stallhagen Historic Beer 1842. Don’t look for it in your local stores. It is being produced in a limited run and will be for sale only on Viking Line cruise ships.
Photo: Mystic Seaport
In January 1841, the Hillman Brothers shipyard on the Acushnet River in New Bedford, MA delivered a new whaleship, the Charles W. Morgan. Yesterday, the Charles W. Morgan, the only surviving wooden whaling ship, sailed back into New Bedford, where she was built more than 170 years ago. She was last in New Bedford in 1941 before being moved to Mystic Seaport Museum. The historic ship has undergone a five year major rebuilding at the seaport museum. The Morgan will be open for visitors in New Bedford starting Saturday.
In her 80 years of active service more than 1,000 sailors of all nationalities brought home 54,483 barrels of sperm and whale oil and 152,934 pounds of whalebone.
New Bedford Celebrates Return Of World’s Only Remaining Wooden Whaleship
No, they are not Imperial Walkers
Today, June 25th, is the IMO sponsored International Day of the Seafarer. This celebration is intended to increase the awareness of the indispensable services rendered to all of us by the 1.5 million seafarers who deliver more than 12 billion tonnes of goods yearly, comprising 90% of all world trade. Without seafarers, the world as we know it simply could not exist. The problem is that shipping is literally an offshore industry. Unless, something bad happens, ships, and the seafarers who sail them, are largely invisible to the general public.
Great video of climbing to the royal yard on the Charles W. Morgan.
If you are having a lousy Monday, here is a reminder that things could always be worse. Below is a video of $24 million yacht, 102′ long, M/V Polar Bear, which caught fire last Thursday in Chula Vista, near San Diego, CA. The cause of the fire has yet to be determined, but there are reports that a welder was working aboard just before the blaze broke out. The yacht reportedly took five years to build and has been in service for only three years. The owner, understandably, is described as “devastated.”
Yesterday, a group of admirers gathered in Bow, England to celebrate the life and work of Cecily Fox Smith. She was a Victorian poet best remembered for her poems about ships and sailors in the last days of the age of sail. She wrote more than 600 poems which were published in more than two dozen volumes. The March 27, 1915 edition of the Spectator magazine reviewed her book “Sailortown” saying, “No one, not even Mr. Masefield, has written finer sea ballads or come closer to the heart of those who go down to the great waters.” AlPoetry.com has a wonderful collection of her work available online.
In recent years, her work has seen a revival as her poems have inspired musicians to write music to her verses. Over 70 of her poems have been adapted as songs. Here are two examples:
What is the best way to celebrate sailing? My first response is to say, go sailing. Sailing, seems to me, to be its own celebration. There is that moment when everything falls into balance — when the force of the wind on the sails, the lift of water flowing across the keel, the drag of the eddies boiling off the hull — when you can feel the perfect equilibrium of all the forces of the sea and sky in the gentle tug on the tiller or wheel. That instant is, for me at least, the perfect celebration of sailing.
OK, enough rhapsodizing. My thoughts were triggered by an organization and a series of events referred to as Summer Sailstice. What is Summer Sailstice? According to its website, it is “a worldwide celebration of sailing on the weekend closest to the summer solstice – this year the solstice falls on a Saturday, June 21, 2014!” OK. Perhaps I am being more dim than usual, but that still doesn’t quite answer the question. Digging a bit deeper I find that, “Summer Sailstice was founded in February 2001 by John Arndt, as the global, annual celebration of sailing held on the summer solstice.
I wish that I had been sent to a summer camp aboard a historic schooner when I was a kid. Growing up in Texas, I remember summer camps notable for scrub mesquite trees, cactus and snakes, only some of which were poisonous. But I digress. This summer the 1928 Delaware Bay Oyster Schooner, AJ Meerwald will be offering a variety of sailing camp programs for children between the ages of 10 and 17. These programs range from one-day “Sailor For A Day Camp” to 5-day, 4-night shipboard experiences in their “Maritime Camp.” Click here to learn more.
I will admit that it was news to me that the Hawaiian Airlines Liberty Challenge hosted by New York Outrigger is the largest outrigger regatta on the East Coast. Over 400 athletes from around the world are participating. According to the New York Outrigger website, “since 1997, the Liberty Challenge has grown to become one of the most prestigious outrigger canoe races in the world. The race is unique among world outrigger regattas as it takes place in a bustling urban harbor.
Last month we posted that the Sailing School Vessel Spirit of South Carolina was finally going to auction. For the last several years, the schooner been owned by TD Bank. Yesterday, the 140′ wooden schooner was sold at auction for $440,000 to two Charleston businessmen, Tommy Baker and Michael Bennett. In the short term, the new owners say that they will keep the schooner in Charleston, while they work out their longer term plans for the vessel. The schooner was constructed between 2001 and 2007 at a cost of $4 million dollars.
In the last decade, ten people off Western Australia have been attacked and killed by sharks. All of the deaths have been attributed to attacks by great white sharks. Earlier this year, the government of Australia set out on a trial program to “cull” dangerous sharks, targeting, in particular, great whites. The initial results were not encouraging.
In 2006, President George W. Bush created three marine national monuments in the Pacific Ocean. Today, President Obama announced the dramatic expansion of these marine preserves to form the world’s largest marine sanctuary. Under the proposal, the Pacific Remote Island Marine National Monument would grow from almost 87,000 square miles to nearly 782,000 square miles — all of it adjacent to seven islands and atolls controlled by the United States. The sanctuary covers a broad swath of the central Pacific Ocean and will be off-limits to fishing, energy exploration and other activities. The proposal is slated to go into effect later this year and could double the area of the ocean globally that is fully protected.
“I’m going to use my authority to protect some of our nation’s most precious marine landscapes,” Obama said in a video to participants at a State Department conference, adding that while the ocean is being degraded, “We cannot afford to let that happen. That’s why the United States is leading the fight to protect our oceans.”
The days around the summer solstice will be a busy time on the Hudson River. We recently posted about the North River Historic Ship Festival on the Hudson River Park’s Pier 25 in Lower Manhattan from Friday, June 20 to Tuesday June 24.
Roughly 50 miles upriver at Croton Point Park in Croton-On-Hudson, NY, on June 21-22, the Clearwater Great Hudson River Revival will be celebrating the Hudson River with music, food, crafts and sailing on the sloop Clearwater or schooner Mystic Whaler. TheClearwater Festival is the country’s oldest and largest music and environmental festival, bringing together major musical acts and Clearwater’s own brand of green activism.
Sponger photo: Hugh Pearson/Naturepl.com
While it was long thought that only humans made and used tools, we now know that a variety of apes and monkeys are toolmakers. Elephants, crows, sea otters and octopus have also been observed making tools. Now, we can add dolphins to the list.
Recently, scientists discovered Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins in Shark Bay off the coast of Australia apparently use tools. They carry sponges on their snouts which may help protect their sensitive beaks from sharp rocks and other hazards as they probe the seafloor for food. Scientists report that more than 60 percent of all female dolphins practice sponging, and up to half of all males born to “spongers” in one part of the bay grow up to become spongers themselves. The scientists also discovered that the sponger and non-sponger dolphins had dramatically different diets. The sponging dolphins apparently have access to different foods than the non-spongers.
Two wonderful videos by Mystic Seaport Museum of the whaler Charles W. Morgan under sail, preparing for her 38th voyage.