A Glimmer of Hope for the Historic Falls of Clyde?

Posted on by October 2, 2016

Things look grim for the 1878 sailing ship Falls of Clyde, the last surviving iron-hulled, four-masted full-rigged ship, and the only remaining sail-driven oil tanker.  There is still a glimmer of hope that she can be saved, but time is running out. Recently, a campaign has gotten underway to return the ship to Scotland where it was built 138 years ago.

On Friday, an administrative hearing upheld the State of Hawaii’s Department of Transportation’s right to take control of the ship from its current owners, the nonprofit Friends of the Falls of Clyde. In June, the DOT revoked the ship’s permit to moor at Pier 7 in Honolulu harbor and then impounded the ship in August. The Friends of the Falls of Clyde has owned the ship for the last eight years but has not raised the necessary funds to drydock her, as the first step in ship’s restoration. The concern now is that the State of Hawaii may choose to scrap or sink the Falls of Clyde.

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Street Signs of the Times — Peking, Gone But Not Forgotten

Posted on by October 1, 2016

pekingstreetsignThe windjammer Peking has left the South Street Seaport for the last time.  Nevertheless, the grand old windjammer has left her mark, both on those who cared for the beautiful, if decrepit, Flying P liner, and also on the street signs of the Seaport District.

I was walking toward the Pier 17 to see the Peking for the last time, when I glanced up at a street sign. And there was the Peking, or at least an image of the iconic ship, on a street sign on John Street. I do not know how many times I have walked these streets without noticing and yet there it was. As soon as I saw the first sign, I started seeing the image of the Peking at every street corner, on Nassau, and Cliff, and Pearl, and Water Street.  All across the Seaport District, the image of the Peking still graces the street signs. Even though she is no long alongside the dock, she lingers awhile longer for those who take a moment to glance up at the street signs.

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Black Moon on the Rise

Posted on by September 30, 2016

8_moonphaseswWe have posted before about the blue moon, which is the name given to the second full moon appearing in any given month. Tonight, September 30th in the Western hemisphere, there will occur the darker version of the blue moon — a black moon. A black moon is whenever there are two new moons in a given month. This black moon will officially occur on Friday, Sept. 30, at 8:11 p.m. Eastern Time (5:11 p.m. Pacific Time).

Don’t rush outside to see it, the new moon is the moon phase where the moon is entirely in the earth’s shadow, so it is dark. There is literally nothing to see.  Black moons are moderately rare, occurring about once every 32 months.

For those in the Eastern hemisphere, the new moon will rise on October 1, making it the first new moon rather than the second. Rather than encountering a black moon in September, those in Asia, Japan, Australia or New Zealand will have a black moon on October 31, which happens to be Halloween. That should make for an even slightly spookier evening.

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Nathan Carman’s Strange & Tragic Voyage — Rescued After 8 Days at Sea

Posted on by September 29, 2016
Chicken Pox

Chicken Pox

On Monday, Nathan Carmen, 22, was rescued 115 nautical miles from Martha’s Vineyard in the Atlantic Ocean by the Chinese freighter Lucky Orient. He had spent eight days in a life raft after his 32′ center cockpit aluminum boat sank suddenly while on a fishing trip. His mother, Linda Carman, 54, who was also on the boat when it sank, is presumed to have drowned.

On September 17th, Nathan and his mother set off from the Ram Point marina in Point Judith, RI on a fishing trip in a boat named Chicken Pox. He said that they were fishing for tuna roughly 100 miles offshore in the area known as Block Canyon.  He said he heard a strange noise in the engine compartment and saw water in the boat, which sank quickly. He managed to get into the life raft, whereas his mother did not. There was no distress call. When the mother and son were reported missing, the Coast Guard began a search covering some 60,000 square miles but found nothing and gave up after six days. Two days later, Nathan Carmen’s raft was spotted by the Lucky Orient.

Up to this point, the story sounds like just another needless tragedy on the water. But, it takes a strange turn. Continue reading →

Cruise Ships vs Gondolas — the Continuing Battle of Venice Lagoon

Posted on by June 3, 2019

veniceprotestOver the weekend, protesters, in a flotilla of small boats, including Venetian gondolas, attempted to block the passage of cruise ships, including one owned by Thomson, through the Venice lagoon.  The battle between local residents and environmentalists and the cruise industry has been going on for years.  Critics claim that the ships are too large to call on Venice and bring pollution and increased congestion to the ancient city.  During peak season some 30,000 day-tripping cruise ship passengers disembark in Venice every day, which locals claim is ruining their city.

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Miami Marlins Pitcher Jose Fernandez Dies in Boating Accident

Posted on by September 26, 2016

miamijettyboatOn Sunday morning, some time around 3AM, a 32′ powerboat slammed into the rocks at high speed at the Governor’s Cut jetty off South Beach, Miami, FL. The three men aboard, including Miami Marlins ace pitcher Jose Fernandez, 24, were all killed. Fernandez was considered to be a rising star in Major League baseball.

What happened? The accident investigation is only beginning but several factors appear to have contributed to the tragedy. Based on photographs, the boat struck the jetty at full speed. The accident happened at night. Although the channel was well marked by lighted buoys, the rock jetty was unlit. The night was clear and the waves were not high.

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Welcome Home Wavertree !

Posted on by September 25, 2016

wavertreepioneertugsmall1Yesterday the 1885 windjammer Wavertree returned home to New York’s South Street Seaport after a $13 million, sixteen month restoration in Caddell Drydock in Staten Island. She was escorted home by the 1885 schooner Pioneer, the 1893 schooner Lettie G Howard and the 1931 fireboat John J. Harvey.

The Wavertree, an full-rigged iron-hulled windjammer, has been a museum ship in at New York’s South Street Seaport Museum since 1969. She is one of the largest iron-hulled sailing ship afloat. Wavertree was built at Southampton, England in 1885 for R.W. Leyland & Company of Liverpool.

Here is a short video of her return to the seaport.

Welcome Home Wavertree

St. Helena Islanders May Sue over New £285m Airport — Too Windy for Planes to Land

Posted on by September 24, 2016

rmssthelena1Last June we posted about the new airport on St. Helena. The airport was meant to allow commercial airlines to land on St. Helena, bringing tourists and commerce to the beautiful but rocky and remote island in the South Atlantic. The British government spent £285m to build the airport, which was supposed to open in May of this year.  There was and is only one problem. The runway is too windy for commercial airliners to land. Specifically, there is too much wind shear on the northerly approach.

Now, the island’s residents are threatening to sue the government of Great Britain for compensation related to the so-far unusable airport. St Helena is a British Overseas Territory.

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More LCS Failures but CNO Says “Everything on Track”

Posted on by September 23, 2016

ssmontgomery2Recently, the USS Montgomery, an Independence Class Littoral Combat Ship (LCS), established a new record. The ship broke down, suffering two unrelated engine failures only three days after being commissioned.  The previous record had been set by the USS Milwaukee, a Freedom Class LCS, which suffered a total engine failure twenty days after commissioning. Unlike the Milwaukee, which required a tow to return to port, the Montgomery was able to limp into port under its own power.

This was the third LCS in three weeks to suffer major engine problems and the fifth within a year.  We recently posted that the three Freedom Class LCS in service, each had suffered a major breakdown in the last year, achieving an unenviable 100% failure rate. The Independence Class is not far behind. Two weeks prior to the problems on the Montgomery, the Independence Class USS Coronado broke down on its first deployment. Overall of the seven LCS in service, only two have not suffered a major failure within the last year.

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Seventeen Fathoms Deep: The Saga of the Submarine S-4 Disaster by Joseph A. Williams — a Review

Posted on by September 22, 2016

seventeenfathomsOn the afternoon of December 17th, 1927, the US Navy submarine S-4 was surfacing near Provincetown, MA, when it was run down by US Coast Guard destroyer Pauling, sending the submarine to the bottom. Joseph William’s latest book, “Seventeen Fathoms Deep: The Saga of the Submarine S-4 Disaster,” is a gripping account of the US Navy divers and salvors who raced against time and the weather in a vain attempt to save at least some of the 40 men trapped inside the sunken submarine.

When word was received of the sinking, the Falcon, a minesweeper converted to a rescue and salvage ship, was dispatched from the Navy submarine base at New London, CT. Falcon was the only Navy ship equipped to support divers with the compressors, winches and a decompression chamber. Independently, the best Navy divers and salvage experts were sent to Provincetown from all over the East coast.

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Underway in the Engine Room on the Liberty Ship SS John W. Brown

Posted on by September 20, 2016

johnbrowndockLast Sunday, I had the opportunity to spend a little time in the engine room of the Liberty ship, SS John W. Brown. The ship, normally based in Baltimore, was visiting New York and offered a full day “Living History Cruise.”

One of the most interesting aspects of this fascinating ship is the 2,500 horsepower triple expansion reciprocating steam engine. Liberty ships were one of the first mass-produced ships. Built during World II, the goal was to build cargo ships faster than German submarines could sink them. The US built 2,710 Liberty ships in 18 shipyards around the United States, by far the largest series of ships to be built of the same design in history. Each ship was built in an average of 44 days. The problem was that steam turbine power plants, particularly the reduction gears, could not be built fast enough to keep up with Liberty ship construction. The triple expansion steam engines installed in the ships were obsolete when the Liberty ships were built, but they could be built quickly, were reliable, and relatively easy to maintain.  The engine on the John Brown is a beauty to behold, a blend of machinery and living sculpture.

Liberty Ship S.S. John W. Brown, Underway in the Engine Room

Why I’m Not a Pirate — A Sailor’s Perspective

Posted on by September 19, 2016

nopirateSome people choose to celebrate today as “Talk Like Pirate Day.”  They may walk around with funny hats, eye patches and/or plastic swords saying “Aargh” or “Shiver me timbers” or some other sort of nonsense. I have never quite understood the appeal of the Disney-fied glorification of 17th century murderers and rapists.

As someone who has spent most of my life involved in shipping, I am also aware that piracy is not an artifact of centuries past. Merchant seamen are still brutalized by pirates to this day. Also, the Disney pirate fetish merely spreads ignorance. Every ship with a traditional appearance is now being called a “pirate ship” by the media and many of the public. Recently,  wrote an essay in the Bangor Daily News titled, Why I’m Not a Pirate, which begins:

I may spend almost every waking moment on a boat, and much of my travel has been carried out on the backs of waves and under the influence of the wind, but I am not a pirate. I have no interest in pirates other than to avoid them, and I certainly don’t want to talk or act like one. The mythical pirates of lore, simply stated, have been glorified beyond recognition so that most of the general population now correlates any form of nautical undertaking akin to that of Jack Sparrow. Continue reading →

Mystic Seaport, Scavaging Ship’s Timbers From Hurricanes & Happenstance

Posted on by September 18, 2016

mystictimberIn 2009, we posted about how thousands of trees downed by Hurricane Ike in Galveston, TX proved to be a literal and figurative windfall for Mystic Seaport in rebuilding the historic whaling ship, Charles W. Morgan.  Of the 40,000 trees killed by the storm, there were a large numbers of live oaks, a tree widely used in early American shipbuilding. Mystic was able to source 176 tons of the live oak timber.  Since then Mystic has continued to work with municipalities and private land owners to source scare shipbuilding timber downed by hurricanes and severe weather. Here is a video of Mystic’s search for timber.

The Search for Timber: Wood Sourcing at Mystic Seaport