Book Review Wednesday — New From V.E. Ulett, Blackwell’s Paradise

Posted on by January 22, 2014

paradise_front_small2When I started this blog, I had intended it to be, at least in part, a book blog of works about ships and the sea.  Of late, however, I have been completely negligent in posting reviews.  I will attempt to get back on track.  V.E. Ulett’s recent novel,  Blackwell’s Paradise,  a sequel to her excellent Captain Blackwell’s Prize, seems like a great place to start.

We wrote in our review of her first book, that Captain Blackwell’s Prize falls equally well in the categories of nautical adventure and historical romance. It is the sort of novel that readers of C.S. Forester and Patrick O’Brian can enjoy along with fans of Jane Austen and Daphne du Maurier.   Ulett continues this balance between adventure and romance in Blackwell’s Paradise, with Captain James Blackwell and his wife, Mercedes, beginning on a Royal Navy frigate sailing on a mission to the Pacific and continuing somewhat unexpectedly on the Hawaiian islands.  In parallel stories, Ulett captures the wild life among battling Hawaiian kingdoms, as well as that of the early settlement of Honolulu, where fur traders, whalers and the naval ships of several nations, all compete for trade. Blackwell and Mercedes are well drawn and fascinating characters on both the familiar surroundings of a Royal Navy ship and the more exotic environs of the Sandwich Islands. Great fun. Highly recommended.  Available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and other on-line retailers.

Day of the Dolphin : Part 1 — Dolphins Steal the Show At Surfing Competition

Posted on by January 21, 2014

The two posts today present a jarring juxtaposition.  On the West Coast of the United States, dolphins steal the show at a surfing competition while in Japan fishermen are beginning the yearly slaughter of dolphins at Taiji Cove.  The beauty of the first only reinforces the horror of the second.  Tellingly, the dolphins playing in the surf appears to be getting more media coverage than the slaughter.

Over the weekend, a pod of dolphins joined in at a surfing competition in Santa Barabara, California. An estimated dozen or more dolphins rode the waves along with surfers at the 2014 Rincon Classic.

Dolphins Surfing In Santa Barbara: Dolphins steal the show at Santa Barbara surf competition

Day of the Dolphin : Part 2 — Dolphin Slaughter Begins in Japan’s Taiji Cove

Posted on by January 21, 2014
Tragedy at Taiji, photo from a past slaughter

Tragedy at Taiji, photo from a past slaughter

Despite domestic and international protest, the annual mass slaughter of bottlenose dolphins is underway in a cove near the Japanese village of  Taiji.  In 2010, The Cove, a documentary about the yearly slaughter, won the Academy Award last night for best feature documentary.  Since then, the level of protest around the world has risen dramatically, but the slaughter continues.

Annual Japanese Dolphin Slaughter Begins in Taiji Cove

Both US and British ambassadors have condemned the “drive killings”, where fishermen lead hundreds of the mammals to a cove in Taiji, in the western Wakayama prefecture, to select some to sell to marine parks. The rest are either released or killed for meat.

Continue reading →

Sailor Roger Pratt Killed in St. Lucia

Posted on by January 20, 2014
Roger & Margaret Pratt, Photo:Mirror

Roger & Margaret Pratt Photo: Mirror

Terrible news from St. Lucia.  Roger Pratt, 62, was killed while defending his wife from intruders on their Premier 41 sailboat, Magnetic Attraction, near the town of Vieux Fort on the island nation of St. Lucia in the eastern Caribbean.  The Daily Mail is reporting that Pratt was beaten and stabbed several times by the men who boarded the sail boat late Friday night.  Margaret Pratt was also injured in the attack. The BBC reports:

He said that officers heard that three armed men had boarded the boat, named the Magnetic Attraction, and attacked the couple before fleeing.

“Margaret went in search of her husband and found him floating in the nearby waters. Roger was retrieved and transported to St Jude Hospital via ambulance along with his wife. He was pronounced dead on arrival while Margaret was treated and discharged.”

Continue reading →

Spiraling Plankton Eddies Off the Australian Coast

Posted on by January 19, 2014

waswirl_amo_2013364_2While oceans in Northern latitudes are feeling the icy blast of winter, the antipodes are in the middle of a very hot summer.  Indeed, for Australia, there maybe too much of summer’s sun, as the continent suffers under a brutal heat wave.  The Southern oceans, at least, are in full bloom. Recently, NASA’s Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on its aqua satellite captured dramatic images of a plankton bloom swept up in a large ocean eddy.

Spiral of Plankton

As the close-up image shows, an eddy is outlined by a milky green phytoplankton bloom. Eddies are masses of water that typically spin off of larger currents and rotate in whirlpool-like fashion. They can stretch for hundreds of kilometers and last for months. As these water masses stir the ocean, they can draw nutrients up from the deep, fertilizing the surface waters to create blooms in the open ocean. Other times, they carry in nutrients spun off of other currents.

Thanks to Alaric Bond for passing the story along.

No, — Grog Dates to 1740, Not 3,000 Years to Ancient Norway!

Posted on by January 18, 2014
Admiral Vernon, "Old Grog"

Admiral Vernon, “Old Grog”

Recently there have been multiple articles in the press and across the Internet citing a recent study published in the Danish Journal of Archaeology (Dec. 23, 2013) which claims that grog was consumed in Norway as far back as 1,500 BC. (The article is available on-line, though not for free.  I chose not to spend the $172 to purchase the issue of the journal, so I am relying in the various reports of their findings.)  Physics.org is fairly typical: “The new biomolecular archaeological evidence provides concrete evidence for an early, widespread, and long-lived Nordic grog tradition, one with distinctive flavors and probable medicinal purposes…” Science 2.0 is similar with the addition of a pinch of snark: “Like most things, somewhere along the way the British navy has tried to take credit for it, so you often see it called a rum drink. Instead of being rum-based, ancient grog was a hybrid beverage made from whatever local ingredients they could turn into alcohol, including honey, bog cranberry, lingonberry, bog myrtle, yarrow, juniper, birch tree resin, wheat, barley rye — and sometimes even from grape wine imported from southern or central Europe.”

My only response to this is to say — no, no no.  I have no doubt, whatsoever, that ancient peoples found ways to get plastered with various concoctions which may have included fruit. Nevertheless, grog has a specific history and origin which dates back only to the 1740s.

Continue reading →

Were Hobbit’s Ancestors Ancient Sailors?

Posted on by January 17, 2014
The skull of the Hobbit, or Homo floresiensis. Photo: e_monk/Flickr

The skull of the Hobbit, or Homo floresiensis. Photo: e_monk/Flickr

For the land-bound, the sea is a boundary. For sailors, it is a path to other shores. But how long have humans been sailing? We can be reasonably sure that humans have been sailing in rafts, boats or ships for tens of thousands of years, based on artifacts found on islands far enough out to sea to make either walking or swimming impractical.  One unlikely group of now-extinct early humans may push the date of the first sailor back to one million years.

Homo floresiensis, Flores Man, is an extinct species of hominid discovered in 2003 on the island of Flores in Indonesia.  Because Flores Man stood at only about one meter or around three feet tall, the species has been nicknamed, hobbit.  The hobbits, apparently lived on Flores as recently as 12,000 years ago. Dating of stone tools suggests that the hobbits arrived on Flores roughly one million years ago. The unanswered question is, how did they get there?  Flores is, after all, an island.  Where the ancestors of the Hobbits the first sailors?  

Continue reading →

Tough Times for Tugs – Three Recent Casualties

Posted on by March 8, 2014

weeksbargeLife on a tugboat can be tough.  Tugs are small vessels with very big engines, with just enough buoyancy to stay afloat and upright. They generate great forces and move around vessels much, much larger than themselves in often challenging conditions.  A quick look at three tug casualties in the last few days. Fortunately there were no reported fatalities.

In the English Channel on Saturday morning, nine miles off the coast of Dungeness,  the general cargo vessel, Rickmers Dubai, cut between the tug boat Kingston and its tow, the crane bargeWalcon Wizard, resulting in all three vessels colliding.  The crane barge was reported to be seriously damaged but no crew injuries were reported. As a general rule, never, ever, cut between a tug and its tow. Three Vessels Collide in English Channel

Continue reading →

Piracy Worldwide Drops to Six Year Low, Somali Piracy Lowest Since 2004

Posted on by January 15, 2014

An-armed-Somali-pirate.-006Piracy off the coast of Somalia last year dropped to the lowest level since 2004. In 2012, Somali pirates hijacked 14 ships, whereas in 2013, they successfully hijacked two, both of which were released in a day’s time as a result of naval action.  Worldwide piracy is at a six year low.

The West coast of Africa was the one area where piracy got worse last year. Nigerian pirates venturing as far waters off Gabon, Ivory Coast and Togo, were linked with at least five of the region’s seven reported vessel hijackings last year. The region with the largest number of pirate attacks was Indonesia though these were characterized as  primarily “low-level opportunistic thefts.”

Continue reading →

New York City — Once The City of Ships

Posted on by April 23, 2014
narr-ship5

Ships on the East River — Once a City of Ships

Sometime during the Civil War, the poet Walt Whitman wrote a poem about New York City, titled “The City of Ships.” The first stanzas begin:

City of ships!
(O the black ships! O the fierce ships!
O the beautiful, sharp-bow’d steam-ships and sail-ships!)
City of the world! (for all races are here;
All the lands of the earth make contributions here;)
City of the sea! city of hurried and glittering tides!
City whose gleeful tides continually rush or recede, whirling in and
out, with eddies and foam!

For a period of roughly forty years from the opening of the Erie Canal to the end of the Civil War, New York City was one of the leading shipping centers of the world. The North Atlantic packet trade was dominated by New York ship owners, sailing fine packet ships built in New York ships yards. The Rainbow, the first extreme clipper ship, was built in New York, sliding into the East River from Manhattan’s Corlear’s Hook. The Young American, Sea Witch, Challenge, Comet and scores of others, which followed, would set records both for speed and profits. New York merchants earned vast fortunes in the China trade and the California clipper trade.  Many New York institutions, from Columbia University to the Metropolitan Museum of Art were funded by money made in silk, porcelain and the opium trade.   New York ship designers and builders Webb, Griffiths, Steers and others, were, for a time, the world’s finest, building ships powered by sail and steam. In the Civil War, Ericsson built the revolutionary battleship USS Monitor in just over 100 days in shipyards and engine works in Manhattan and across the East River in Greenpoint.

Continue reading →

Update: Paris Abandons Solo Circumnavigation Attempt After Rig Problems

Posted on by January 13, 2014

kiwspiritIn early December, we posted about Stanley Paris’ attempt at a solo circumnavigation in his 63′ Kiwi Spirit after suffering a variety failures to rigging and sails, Paris has decided to give up the attempt and sail for Cape Town.  Today, he posted the following message on his blog:

The Fears We Don’t Give Thought To

Continue reading →

Chasing Shackleton — Historical Reenactment Vs Reality TV

Posted on by January 13, 2014

Last Wednesday,  I watched Chasing Shackleton, a documentary about the  the Shackleton Epic Expedition led by Tim Jarvis which recreated Shackleton’s epic 800 mile lifeboat voyage in 1916 across the Southern Ocean from Elephant Island to South Georgia to seek help for his stranded crew.  (See our previous posts about the expedition here.) They attempted to reenact the voyage as accurately as possible by replicating the lifeboat, the clothes, the food and the navigational gear.  One unavoidable element was entirely new — the support boat and the documentary crew. The support boat was a requirement of the Antarctic authorities and the documentary was required by economics. There was no feasible way to fund the expedition without it.  The documentary crew apparently proved to be as challenging as the elements.

Chasing Shackleton – Chapter 1

Continue reading →

SSV Oliver Hazard Perry to Set Sail In 2014 — Adventure at Sea Berths Available

Posted on by January 12, 2014

ohpThere are great things going on in Rhode Island. When completed this year, the SSV Oliver Hazard Perry will be the first ocean-going full-rigged ship to be built in the U.S. in 100 years and the largest civilian sail training vessel in America.  With a sparred length of almost 200 feet, she will carry 14,000 square feet of sail on three masts. Based in Newport, SSV Oliver Hazard Perry will be Rhode Island’s official sailing education vessel and flagship non-profit maritime campus, offering experience-based, core learning opportunities to a diverse student population, including those with disabilities.

Seven weeks of Youth Adventure Summer Camp are already scheduled for July and August. The six day camps will accommodate 30-34 students between the ages of 13 -18. The ship’s itinerary for these sessions will include the historically rich ports of Newport, Nantucket, Boston, Portsmouth, NH and Greenport, NY. The ship will sail with a professional crew of 15.  

Continue reading →

Archimedes “Burning Mirrors” and London’s “Walkie Scorchie”

Posted on by January 11, 2014

burningmirrorOne of the great stories from ancient history is of Archimedes setting fire to Roman ships during the Siege of Syracuse, 214–212 BC, by using “burning mirrors”, mirrors that focused the rays of the sun and generated enough heat to set the attacking ships on fire.  There is considerable debate to this day whether the “burning mirrors” were possible or simply historical folklore. Archimedes “burning mirrors” came to my mind recently when reading about an office tower under construction in London which has been accidentally melting cars, frying eggs and starting fires in a manner that sounds remarkably like Archimedes “burning mirror” death ray.

Continue reading →

Monitor Lab at Mariner’s Museum Shut By Lack of Fed Funds

Posted on by January 16, 2014
USS Monitor 1862

USS Monitor 1862

For several years now, there has been a webcam of the 90,000 gallon treatment tank where the 120 ton wrought iron turret of the USS Monitor is being preserved by electrolysis and desalination.  After spending 111 years underwater, the turret will need to spend roughly another 15 years in the tank before it is stable enough to be displayed in the open air.  If you go to the webcam now, however, all you will see is a tarp over the tank.  A webcam for the tank where the ship’s  20-ton steam engine and steam condenser are being preserved is also tarped over.  The Monitor laboratory at the Mariner’s Museum in Newport News, Virginia has been shut down by a lack of Federal funding.  Fortunately, shutting down the 5,000 square foot Monitor laboratory does not impact the rest of the museum’s operations or displays.

Continue reading →

Gordon Bok: Hearth and Fire

Posted on by January 9, 2014

This has been a season of extreme weather. While Australia is suffering a record heat wave, the US and Europe have been battered by a series of ugly winter storms and frigid temperatures. Here is a song with an appropriate video for those of us in the northern hemisphere trying to keep warm. It is not strictly nautical though Gordon Bok has sung so many wonderful songs about boats, ships and the sea, that his music always seems to me to have a salty air.

Gordon Bok: Hearth and Fire

Hercules — A Winter Storm That Lived Up to Its Name

Posted on by January 9, 2014
Waves from Hercules hit Porthcawl harbour

Waves from Hercules hit Porthcawl harbour

I will admit to having mixed feelings about assigning names to winter storms. Hurricanes are momentous enough to be worthy of names, but most winter storms, nasty and dangerous though they may indeed be, don’t seem worth naming. I will admit however, that the recent Winter Storm Hercules lived up to its name.

When Winter Storm Hercules roared across the US mid-west and East Coast last week, it brought heavy snow and dangerous winds, leaving thousands without power and resulting in the deaths of at least 16 people. Parts of the North East saw two feet of snow fall.

When Hercules crossed the Atlantic it brought its own havoc to the coasts of Europe and the UK. Continue reading →

Strange Shaggy Dog Story — Dog Found in Tampa Bay Reported Missing Two Years Ago

Posted on by January 8, 2014
baby

Baby/Grace

OK, this is odd.  A few days after New Years, a fisherman spotted a small dog treading water several miles from shore in Tampa Bay, on the west coast of Florida.  The dog, which was wearing a red collar and a pink rhinestone name tag, which read “Baby,” appeared well cared for, and other than being cold after paddling in the 68 degree water for who knows how long, was healthy. The dog was implanted with a pet microchip, which when scanned revealed the dog owner’s name. The strange thing is that the dog was reported missing two years ago and the phone number associated with the name on the microchip.

How “Baby” ended up treading water two miles from shore in Tampa Bay, two years after being reported missing, remains a mystery. The dog’s current caretakers attempted to track down the original owner. After having no luck, the mystery dog was adopted by Kathy Klein of St. Petersburg, who renamed her Grace.

Dog found treading water was reported missing 2 years ago

Wind Shift Frees Cruise Ship and Icebreaker Trapped in Antarctic Ice

Posted on by January 8, 2014
MV Akademik Shokalskiy

MV Akademik Shokalskiy

What is more powerful than an icebreaker? The answer is: the wind. Following a wind shift, the expedition cruise ship, MV Akademik Shokalskiy, and Chinese icebreaker Xue Long or Snow Dragon have broken free from the pack ice off Antarctica. The wind, which had been packing the ice against the ships, shifted, opening paths to clear water.

The Akademik Shokalskiy became trapped in the ice in Commonwealth, Antarctica on Christmas Eve. The Snow Dragon was the largest of three icebreakers sent to free the stricken ship. While rescuing the 52 passengers, using its helicopter to shuttle passengers to the Australian icebreaker, Aurora Australis, the Chinese icebreaker also became stuck in the pack ice. The America heavy icebreaker, Polar Star, which had been on its way to assist the ice-bound ships has returned to its original mission, breaking ice to the McMurdo base in the Ross Sea.

Ships at a Distance

Posted on by January 7, 2014

zora-neale-hurstons-123rd-birthday-5830801295933440-hpToday is the 123rd anniversary of Zora Neale Hurston‘s birthday. She is being honored by Google with a graphic on the main search page. Hurston is considered to be one of the pre-eminent African-America writers of the 20th century. She did not really write about ships or the sea. Nevertheless, the opening lines from her best known novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God is a favorite of mine.

Ships at a distance have every man’s wish on board. For some they come in with the tide. For others they sail forever on the horizon, never out of sight, never landing until the Watcher turns his eyes away in resignation, his dreams mocked to death by Time.