New from Old Salt Press — HMS Prometheus by Alaric Bond

Posted on by December 15, 2015

hmsprometheusAlaric Bond’s new novel HMS Prometheus is the eighth book in his Fighting Sail Series. Here is a review by David Hayes from Historic Naval Fiction:

Following her action against the French (see The Scent of Corruption) HMS Prometheus is repaired at Gibraltar and sent into the Mediterranean to join Nelson’s fleet blockading Toulon. Damaged in an action she is soon heading back to Gibraltar taking a prize on the way. Repaired once again she heads back to Toulon but encounters a powerful French squadron.

There is plenty of action in the narrative with challenges and life changing consequences for Bond’s mixture of old, new and returning characters. A well-written plot with a good pace that is hard to put down.

Another excellent read from one of the best contemporary naval fiction authors. Highly recommended.

Ship Fires Shuts Houston Ship Channel — Another Day on the Congested Waterway

Posted on by December 15, 2015

The tanker Navigator Europa, moored outside the Targa LPG export terminal, caught fire today, shutting down a section of the Houston Ship Channel. The tanker is reported to be carrying ethylene, a chemical used in making plastic.  The cause of the fire is under investigation.  It was just another day on the very busy and highly congested waterway known for collisions, spills, and fires.  In October of this year, the channel was shut down by a tug and barge which partially sank in the channel.  In July, a collision between two barges caused a spill and a fire which shut down the channel. In March, Conti Peridot, a Liberian bulk carrier, and the Danish-flagged Carla Maersk, a chemical tanker, collided in the channel resulting in the spill of up to 216,000 barrels of methyl tert-butyl ether, or MTBE, a toxic chemical.

And on and on it goes. Continue reading →

Help Restore the Hudson Ferry Sloop Woody Guthrie

Posted on by December 13, 2015

The Beacon Sloop Club is raising money to restore the Hudson River ferry sloop, Woody Guthrie. G Since 1978, the sloop Woody Guthrie has given thousands of people their first experience on a sailboat and their first experience of the beauties of the Hudson River and the surrounding mountains from the vantage point of her deck, all for free, at no charge. The Woody Guthrie is a 46 foot gaff-rigged, traditional wooden sailboat similar in vintage to the Hudson River sloop Clearwater. Smaller than the sloops that sailed up and down the river, the Woody is a replica of a Hudson River Ferry Sloop, that ferried folks and cargo from one side of the river to the other.

The Beacon Sloop Club has raised $200,000 of the estimated $400,000 needed to do a complete restoration on the boat and needs your help in reaching the final $200,000.  Click here to help them reach their goal.

Where’s the Woody – Fundraising Video from Jodie Childers on Vimeo.

In the Heart of the Sea — A Movie Review

Posted on by December 13, 2015

Today I saw the movie, “In the Heart of the Sea,” directed by Ron Howard and somewhat loosely based on Nathaniel Philbrick’s  In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex.  How was it? The movie was disappointing. The cinemaphotography is wonderful and the computer graphics are also great. There is no shortage of computer generated storm waves, dolphins or sperm whales.  There are lots and lots of sperm whales, viewed from every possible angle and vantage point. The movie is available for viewing in 3D,  which I am sure would be very impressive if perhaps likely to induce motion sickness. (I opted to see the conventional projection.) The problem is that the story — the narrative and the characters — ended up feeling wholly contrived. The special effects are great while the storytelling is weak.  The movie is 121 minutes long but felt much longer.

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Remembering Mocha Dick, the Real Rogue White Whale Who Inspired Moby Dick

Posted on by December 11, 2015

Mocha DickToday in theaters in the US, the movie “In the Heart of the Sea” opens. It is based on Nathaniel Philbrick’s book, In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex.  (I will be reviewing the movie tomorrow.)  Melville’s masterpiece, Moby-Dick, was inspired, at least in part, by the sinking of the whaleship Essex by a sperm whale in 1820.  The fate of theEssex unquestionably supplied Melville with ending to his novel. Nevertheless, the core of Moby-Dick appears to have been inspired by another rogue white sperm whale, known for attacking whale boats and ships. Nicknamed Mocha Dick, he was often sighted near the island of Mocha, off southern Chile. Mocha Dick was said to have killed more than 30 men, and to have attacked and damaged 14 whaleboats and three whaling ships.

In May 1839 the Knickerbocker Magazine, a popular publication in New York City, published a lengthy article about Mocha Dick by Jeremiah N. Reynolds, an American journalist, and explorer. Reynolds would later publish a book-length version of his account.

MOCHA DICK: OR THE WHITE WHALE OF THE PACIFIC: A LEAF FROM A MANUSCRIPT JOURNAL.
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Buffet on the Beach — Coffee, Noodles, Wine and the 25 Missing Containers

Posted on by December 10, 2015

beachcoffeeThis week, the beach in Melbourne, Florida was suddenly covered with thousands of yellow and red cans and freeze-dried bricks of Cafe Bustelo brand espresso coffee. Yesterday, packages of Ramen noodles started washing ashore at nearby Port St.Lucie. In Fort Pierce, bags of wine were also reported to be washing in on the tide. Thus far, no cheese and crackers have been reported washing up on the local beaches. There have been reports of bags of soggy dog food and paper towels, however. The bounty may be the result of lost containers from the deck of a passing barge.

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John Lennon and the Voyage of the Megan Jaye

Posted on by December 9, 2015

lennonbermudaI recently came across a sea story, that, like the best sea stories, has been retold enough times so that the details tend to wander from one version to the other. This much appears to be true. Thirty-five years ago, John Lennon, of Beatles fame and one of the great songwriters of his era, was suffering from depression and writer’s block. Lennon, whose father and grandfather were sailors, chartered the sailboat Megan Jaye and sailed, with a crew of four, from Newport, Rhode Island to St George’s, Bermuda. The account of the trip first came to light when John Lennon’s log of the voyage went up for auction in 2006, where it sold for $8,500.

The voyage was rough. A few days out, they were hit by a storm and progressively the crew became incapacitated by seasickness.  As described in the auction catalog:

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USS Zumwalt, DDG 1000, Largest USN Destroyer on Sea Trials

Posted on by December 8, 2015

zumwalt2The USS Zumwalt, DDG 1000, the largest and most expensive destroyer ever built for the US Navy, headed down the Kennebeck River from Bath Iron Works, in Bath, Maine yesterday, on its way to sea trials in the open Atlantic. Depending on who you listen to, the ship is the design of the future, far more capable than other warships of its type in both firepower and stealth. On the other hand, many argue that the radical hull form is inherently unstable particularly after suffering battle damage. One critic claims that the new destroyer is already outdated. Who is right? Time and the sea will tell.

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The PBY Seaplanes of Pearl Harbor — Rare Images from 74 Years Later

Posted on by December 7, 2015

pby1Minutes before the beginning of the attack on the warships of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, Japanese Imperial Navy planes bombed the nearby U.S. Naval Air Station on the east coast of Oahu, destroying twenty-seven Catalina PBY seaplanes on the ground or moored on Kāne‛ohe Bay. Six others were damaged. The PBYs were a strategic target for the Japanese because the long-range patrol bombers could have potentially followed the Japanese planes back to their carriers. Last Thursday, NOAA and University of Hawaii archeologists released rare images of the wreck of a U.S. Navy Catalina PBY-5 seaplane where it rests in three large pieces at a depth of 30 feet in the murky waters of Kāne‛ohe Bay.

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Remembering the Halifax Explosion and the Boston Christmas Tree

Posted on by December 7, 2015

halifaxaftermathNinety-eight years ago today, on the morning of December 6, 1917, the French freighter SS Mont-Blanc collided with the SS Imo, a Norwegian ship chartered to carry relief supplies to Belgium, in the Narrows, a strait connecting the upper Halifax Harbour to Bedford Basin. The collision at first seemed minor, the two ship hitting at only about a knot. Nevertheless, a fire broke out aboard the Mont-Blanc, which was loaded with munitions and high explosives. The fire burned out of control and ignited the cargo, causing the largest man-made  explosion the world had ever seen prior to the nuclear age.  Roughly 2,000 died and 9,000 were injured. Many thousands more were made homeless. Large sections of Halifax were levelled.  A tsunami created by the blast wiped out the community of Mi’kmaq First Nations people who had lived in the Tuft’s Cove, on the harbor’s eastern shore.

Relief efforts began almost immediately from Eastern Canada and the United States but were impeded by a blizzard.  Boston authorities heard of the disaster by telegraph and sent a relief train around 10 pm. The blizzard delayed the train, which finally arrived in the early morning of December 8, and immediately began distributing food, water, and medical supplies. The train from Boston carried some of the first responders to the disaster.

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Over 30 Dead or Missing in Caspian Sea Drilling Rig Fire

Posted on by December 6, 2015

caspianrigfireThe state oil company SOCAR reports that over 30 are dead or missing after an Azeri drilling rig in the Caspian Sea caught fire yesterday. The fire started after a storm damaged a natural gas pipeline, causing the platform’s partial collapse. Rescue efforts have been hampered by the severity of the storm. One body has been recovered and 30 others are reported to be missing. 32 workers were evacuated safely from the rig. In a statement, SOCAR said that “The fire in the gas pipeline has not been completely extinguished and it has not been ruled out that it could spread to oil and gas wells near the platform…”

One worker killed, 30 missing after Azeri oil rig fire: government

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Colombia Announces Finding Galleon San José, the “Holy Grail of Ship Wrecks”

Posted on by December 5, 2015

Today, Colombia’s President Juan Manuel Santos announced that it has found the wreck of the galleon San José, what some have called the “holy grail of shipwrecks.”  He announced the discovery on Twitter.  In June of 1708, during the War of the Spanish Succession, in a battle with the British, the galleon San José blew up taking a cargo in gold and silver coins as well as a cache of emeralds and most of its crew to the bottom. The treasure has been estimated to be worth today somewhere between $4 billion to $17 billion.

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Draken Harald Hårfagre Looking for Trans-Atlantic Crew

Posted on by December 4, 2015

dragonharoldWe recently posted about the possibility of purchasing a custom Viking longship from the Viking Ship Museum in Roskilde, Denmark.  If that doesn’t fit your budget, or if you don’t want to have to line up thirty to one hundred able bodied Norseman to help row, here is an alternative. Draken Harald Hårfagre is looking for crew.

Draken Harald Hårfagre (Dragon Harald Fairhair, in English) is described as the largest and most authentic Viking warship since 1200 AD.  Built between 2010 and 2012 in Haugesund, Norway, the Viking longship is 115 feet long, 26 feet wide and is propelled by a single square sail or by 25 pairs of oars. In May of 2016, Draken Harald Hårfagre will sail from its home port in Norway across the North Atlantic Ocean to the shores of North America, by way of the Shetlands, the Faroe Islands, Iceland and Greenland. They are now taking applications for crew for the epic voyage. From their website:

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The Wonderfully Alien Octopus

Posted on by December 3, 2015
California two-spot octopus

California two-spot octopus

The octopus is a strange and amazing creature, the most intelligent and agile of all invertebrates. (In May, we posted How Does an Octopus Keep Track of Eight Arms?) Recently, scientists mapped the octopus genetic code and discovered that it is so strange that it could actually be termed “alien”.   As reported by the Irish Examiner: “The octopus appears to be utterly different from all other animals, even other molluscs, with its eight prehensile arms, its large brain and its clever problem-solving abilities,” said US researcher Dr Clifton Ragsdale, from the University of Chicago. 

“The late British zoologist Martin Wells said the octopus is an alien. In this sense, then, our paper describes the first sequenced genome from an alien.”

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Replica Viking Longship? Stop by the Gift Shop

Posted on by December 2, 2015

vikingshipLooking for the perfect holiday gift?  How about an authentic replica Viking longship?  A great way to impress the relatives or perhaps get together with 60 close friends to raid a neighboring village.  You either can hire a team of researchers and book time in a specialist boat yard or you can stop by the gift shop in the Viking Ship Museum in Roskilde, Denmark and place your order.

As reported by The Daily Mail: The Viking Ship Museum in Roskilde, Denmark, is now offering a number of Viking ships for sale, ranging from a ‘modest’ €33,000 (£27,000 and $72,000) to a slightly more expensive €400,000 (£325,000 and $545,000). The longboats are each individually crafted and allow you to experience the sea like the Norse warriors of old. The ships are meticulously built to mimic those used by the Vikings who inhabited Scandinavia from about 700 to 1100 AD.