Death on the Historic Ketch Amicitia Caused by Bad Mast Repair?

Posted on by October 6, 2016

amicitiaGermany’s Federal Bureau of Maritime Casualty Investigation has released a preliminary report suggesting that a mast repair on the ketch Amicita may have been the cause of a fatal accident in which three male passengers were struck and killed by falling rigging on August 21th.

The ketch Amicita was built in 1889 and worked as a sailing cargo carrier. In the 90s, she was converted for passenger service. A German family of twelve had chartered the ketch with the captain and his wife, for a family vacation on the Wadden sea.  On a Sunday in the early afternoon, on the last day of their vacation, the main mast broke. The falling mast and rigging killed three men aged 19, 43 and 48.

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24th Annual North River Tugboat Race & Competition! Sunday, October 9th

Posted on by October 5, 2016

24thtugraceThe 24th Annual North River Tugboat Race & Competition was originally scheduled for Labor Day, but Tropical Storm Hermine interfered. The rescheduled event, sponsored by the Working Harbor Committee will be held on Sunday, October 9th from 9am-2pm at Pier 83, West 43rd Street and Hudson River Park, in New York City.  For those who wish to see the race up close and personal, there will be a Circle Line Spectator Boat. Click here for more information and tickets.

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Saltwater Brewery “Edible Six Pack Rings” Saving Marine Life

Posted on by June 2, 2017
ediblesixpack

Photo: We Believers

A craft brew beer company and an ad agency have come up with a brilliant solution to problem of plastic six pack rings. What is the problem with six pack rings, you might ask? The plastic rings that hold six cans of soda or beer together in a standard six pack are so common, they are barely noticeable, and yet every year millions of birds, fish and turtles get caught in the clear plastic after the rings are discard in rivers, bays, and oceans. And the problem is huge. Americans drank 6.3 gallons of beer and around 10 billion gallons of soda, roughly half of which was in cans.

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HMS Warrior — Saving the Last Wreck From Jutland

Posted on by October 3, 2016

hmswarriorjutlandOn August 24, 2016, an Anglo-Danish team found the wreck of armored cruiser HMS Warrior in the northern North Sea in 83 meters of water where it sank in 1916 following the Battle of Jutland in 1916. HMS Warrior is last wreck of the ships sunk during from the Battle of Jutland to be located. Now, the challenge is to protect the wreck of the Warrior and other ships from illegal metal scavengers who are believed to have pillaged up to half of the wrecks from the battle. Based on Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) video footage, (see below) HMS Warrior remains largely intact and untouched, overturned on the ocean floor.

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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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