The Strange New World of Single-handed Racing – Alex Thomson Vendée Globe Week 4 Highlights

Posted on by December 15, 2012

In 1969 in the Sunday Times Golden Globe Race, the first non-stop, single-handed, round-the-world yacht race, there was considerable concern for Robin Knox Johnson whose radio had malfunctioned off New Zealand.  Four months later, he was able to make contact with a British tanker using his signal lamp, letting the world know that he was OK.  Knox-Johnston was the only competitor to complete the race and went to be declared the winner.

How times have changed. The video below features the Week 4 highlights of Alex Thomson sailing the Open 60 Hugo Boss in the waters South of the Cape of Good Hope in the Vendée Globe single-handed around the world race.  Thomson is currently in fifth place in the highly competitive race and has reported speeds of over 30 knots which he describes as “terrifying and stressful.”  In addition to sailing to avoid icebergs, he also managed to appear live on BBC Breakfast, a morning television news program, where among other things he chatted about football scores.  Thomson suggests that those who wish to keep up wit the latest on his race should follow him on Twitter @AlexThomson99.

Unintended Consequences – HMAS Adelaide Scuttled & Cases of the Bends Hit Record Highs

Posted on by December 8, 2012

The transition from warship to artificial reef did not go smoothly for the HMAS Adelaide.  Now roughly 100 feet below the surface, the popularity of the reefed ship has created new problems – a dramatic increase in the cases of the bends.

In 2008, the Australian guided missile frigate, HMAS Adelaide, was decommissioned.  In 2009, plans were underway to sink the ship as an artificial reef off New South Wales.  This was delayed by opposition from environmental groups which claimed that the ship still contained toxic materials. After lawsuits, mediation and further removal of wiring and insulation from the ship, HMAS Adelaide was finally scuttled on April 13, 2011 off Avoca Beach, New South Wales, in 32 metres (105 ft) of water.  Now, medical experts are reporting a record high number of divers in New South Whales suffering from decompression sickness, often referred to as the bends, due to diving on the wreck.

DIVING SICKNESS RISES AFTER NAVAL SHIP SINKS

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The Battle of Plattsburgh and Pearl Harbor

Posted on by December 7, 2012

USS Macdonough (DD-351)

It seems to me that history is all about connections. Lawrence Gooley, writing in the Adirondack Almanack, notes how many ships present at the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, were named in remembrance of those who fought at the Battle of Plattsburgh of September 11, 1814. Of the thirty US destroyers at Pearl Harbor, five were named after officers or vessels which fought at Plattsburg. These were the USS Allen, Aylwin, Cassin,  Henley, and the Macdonough. Another three ships at Pearl Harbor, which had been built as destroyers but were converted to minelayers, were also named after vessels at Plattsburgh, the Gamble, Montgomery, and Preble.   Of the eight ships, only the USS Cassin was heavily damaged, and was initially considered lost but was rebuilt by February 5, 1944.  During the attack on Pearl Harbor, USS Macdonough downed one of the Japanese attack planes before heading out to sea to join others in the search for the Japanese task force.

The Battle of Plattsburgh in 1814 denied the British control of Lake Champlain. The lack of the lake as a supply line resulted in the turning back of an invading British army of 11,000 men, intent on redrawing the map of the fledgling United States.  Thanks to Steve Philips for passing along the Adirondack Almanack article.

Hono­lulu after Pearl Harbor: A Report Published for the First Time, 71 Years Later

Posted on by December 7, 2012

In December of 1941, Betty McIntosh was a reporter for the Honolulu Star Bulletin. On December 7th, when the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii was attacked, she was sent out by her editors to report from a “women’s point of view.”  The article she wrote went unpublished, however, because her editors thought that it was “too graphic” and would disturb her women readers. The article went unpublished for 71 years until the Washington Post finally published it yesterday.  Ms. McIntosh went on to work as a spy for the ISS and the CIA. She is now 97 and still writing.

Hono­lulu after Pearl Harbor: A report published for the first time, 71 years later

Maritime Shipbuilding on CBC’s Land & Sea

Posted on by December 6, 2012

The CBC’s Land & Sea is without question the favorite television program that I have never watched on television. While I cannot get Canadian broadcasting on my television, Land & Sea fortunately also puts their programming on-line. We have previously posted about their programs “Nova Scotia Schooners” and “Rumrunners.”

This Sunday, December 9th at noon, Land and Sea is featuring “Shipbuilding in the Maritimes” a half hour documentary that focuses on the once-thriving shipbuilding centers in Atlantic Canada were once the most vibrant, productive, and profitable shipbuilding region in the world. Click here to learn more.

Maritime Shipbuilding

Five Dead, Six Missing After Car Carrier Baltic Ace Sinks in Collision

Posted on by December 15, 2012

Following the sinking last night of the car carrier Baltic Ace, the bodies of five sailors have been recovered.  Six of the crew are missing and presumed dead in the icy waters of the North Sea. The 485-foot long Bahamain-flagged   car carrier, Baltic Ace, collided with the container ship  Corvus J,  on Wednesday night  65 km (40 nautical miles) off the coast of the southern Netherlands.  Of the 24 sailors aboard the Baltic Ace, thirteen were rescued, eleven by helicopter and two by ships participating in the rescue.  No injuries were reported in twelve crew on the 134-meter (440-foot) long Cypriot flagged, Corvus J,  which was seriously damaged but not in danger of sinking.  The Baltic Ace is reported to have been carrying 1,400 cars.

VesselFinder.com has posted an AIS track of the collision:

EXCLUSIVE VIDEO: The collision between BALTIC ACE and CORVUS J [AIS Historical Data]

Car Carrier Baltic Ace Sinks After Collision with Container Ship Corvus J in Shipping Lanes Off Rotterdam

Posted on by December 5, 2012

Baltic Ace

The car carrier, Baltic Ace, is reported to have collided with the container ship, Corvus J, this evening in crowded shipping lanes around 60 miles off the coast of Rotterdam.  The Baltic Ace is believed to have sunk. Her crew of 24 took to life rafts and rescue operations are underway. There is no word yet on casualties. The Cyrus J is reported to be badly damaged but not in danger of sinking.

The BBC reports: The Baltic Ace was sailing under a Bahamas flag. It was transporting cars from Zeebrugge in Belgium to Finland when it collided with the Cyprus-registered container ship, the Corvus J, sailing from Grangemouth in Scotland to the Belgian port of Antwerp.

The shipping lane where the accident happened is one of the busiest in the North Sea, close to the entrance to Rotterdam port, which is Europe’s busiest.

Joan Druett Review: Hell Around the Horn by Rick Spilman

Posted on by December 5, 2012

Joan Druett, award winning maritime historian and novelist, recently reviewed Hell Around the Horn for Historic Naval Fiction.

Those Gallant Seamen Get their Story Told at Last

Ringing with authenticity, this nail-biter is a tale of battling wind and weather to sail from the Atlantic to the Pacific via the most dreaded landmark in the sailor’s lexicon, Cape Horn.

Stories of ships in the Age of Sail are usually told from the quarterdeck, and the fight is against other ships. Rick Spilman’s novel, by contrast, revisits the windjammer era when men fought the elements with just rope and canvas, using muscle and willpower to get a freight to a destination. In the tradition of old salts who once wrote hugely popular stories of life under sail — men like “Shalimar” (F. C. Hendry), Captain F. Coffin, Jan de Hartog and Alexander Bone — “Hell Around the Horn” tells it like it was for the ordinary people who lived unthinkably dangerous lives at sea, from the point of view of the foc’sle and the half-deck, as well as the cabin.

Based on real events, this is the story of one captain’s struggle to get his ship to port, with just his seafaring knowledge and his increasingly weary crew to help, and with the added problem of a bloodyminded mate. A detail I particularly liked was that he had his wife and family with him. Spilman reveals her experiences through her letters, which are as convincingly written as the rest of the book.

Thoroughly recommended to all salt water souls, armchair sailors in particular.

Port Strike Ends & How Containerization Shaped the Modern World

Posted on by December 15, 2012

Photo: Associated Press/Nick Ut

The eight day port strike on the West Coast is over, thank goodness. On November 27th, a group of 450 clerks in the port of Los Angeles/Long Beach, who had worked without a contract for over two years, walked out.   In solidarity with the clerks, 10,000 longshoremen also walked off the job, shutting down 10 of the port’s 14 container terminals, in one of the busiest traffic seasons of the year.

As reported by ABC News: “Los Angeles and Long Beach account for about 40 percent of all container cargo shipped to the United States, most of it from Asia. Several billion dollars worth of goods have been left to sit on the docks. More than 90 percent of toys sold in stores is made in China and other Asian nations.”  Oddly enough, the strike was not over money.  Including benefits, the clerks are paid around $165,000 per year.  The issue that caused the strike was related to potential outsourcing of some clerical positions.

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Tension Rising in the South China Sea – Chinese Threatens to Board Ships, India and Vietnam Respond

Posted on by December 5, 2012

Tensions are rising in the South China Sea, where at least a half dozen nations are asserting a jumble of overlapping claims of sovereignty, fishing and mineral rights.  China is now ramping up their claims by announcing that as of January 1st of next year, authorities in the Chinese province of Hainan will board and seize control of foreign ships which they consider to have violated China’s expansive claim of territorial waters in the South China Sea. Surin Pitsuwan, secretary-general of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), said the Chinese plan was a “very serious turn of events”.

India and Vietnam have both responded by threatening to deploy naval patrols to protect their vessels operating in the contested region.  Vietnam has complained of Chinese interference with oil exploration operations and fishing. Vietnam has announced marine patrols of their own in the disputed waters which will begin on January 25th. India’s Navy chief Admiral D K Joshi  has also announced that India will deploy naval assets to protect its interests in the region.

The Next Global Hotspot to Worry About

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The Hurricane Sandy Pollution Response Unified Command Tackles the John B. Caddell

Posted on by December 3, 2012


I have great admiration for those whose successfully navigate the rocks and shoals of the bureaucracy in order to get anything done around New York harbor. A Coast Guard press release brought this to mind. The US Coast Guard is working with at least eight other agencies to develop a plan to remove the John B. Caddell, a 700 gross ton water tanker, that washed up on Front Street, in Staten Island, NY during Hurricane Sandy.

The Coast Guard is working with the Army Corps of Engineers, the New York City Office of Emergency Management, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, New York State Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Services, New York Department of Environmental Conservation, New York City Sheriff’s Department, Joint Field Office Queens, Federal Emergency Management Agency, Environmental Protection Agency and Oil Spill Response Organizations to remove the tanker and to develop a solution to eliminate the pollution threat.

Unified Command developing plan for John B. Caddell removal

So far the owner of the ship has not been identified which has complicated its removal. Thanks to Dave Shirlaw on the MARHST-L list for pointing out the press release.

Will the South Street Seaport Sink Post-Sandy?

Posted on by December 2, 2012

The news this week from the South Street Seaport Museum was good. The Museum’s Bowne Stationers has reopened its doors after being flooded by Superstorm Sandy.  There had been serious concern that the 19th century type and letterpress equipment  might be seriously damaged or destroyed by the flood. A small army of volunteers, however, successfully dried and cleaned the type and have cleaned and restocked the store so that it can reopen. Much of the rest of the South Street Seaport Museum remains closed,but they are working toward reopening as soon as possible.

Other news was not as good.  Real estate executives are speculating whether the major flooding damage will sink the seaport, at least economically if not literally.  The concern is that the repairs and renovations will be so extensive and take so long to complete that the tourists will move on to other areas in the city.  If the tourists no longer come to the shopping areas at South Street, the consequences for the seaport museum could be dire as well.

Long road to recovery for South Street Seaport

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HMS Bounty Tribute Wall Calendar 2013

Posted on by December 5, 2012

Amy Mullen has a done a beautiful job producing a 2013 wall calendar in tribute to HMS Bounty.   The photos in the  17″x11″ wall calendar were taken by current or former crew of the ship on her adventures and have the location of the photo denoted. The proceeds of the calendar sales go to support the 2012 surviving crew of the HMS Bounty and families of two lost at sea when the historic tall ship sunk off the coast of North Carolina in Hurricane Sandy.
Amy writes: I sailed on the HMS Bounty in 2010 from from Bridgeport, CT around Nova Scotia and up the St. Lawrence Seaway through the Great Lakes to Duluth, Minnesota. These were the most life changing months I have ever experienced and I am so grateful and have thought of the ship every day since 🙂

HMS Bounty Tribute Wall Calendar

Fireboat John J. Harvey – 2012 Fall Benefit, Sunday December 2, Pier 66 on the Hudson River

Posted on by December 5, 2012

About a month ago, we posted about the Fireboat John J. Harvey – 2012 Fall Benefit which was originally scheduled for October 22nd.  Superstorm Sandy’s arrival the next day, however  made rescheduling necessary.  It is on again, this Sunday, December 2nd, and it sounds like a great time.  The full day benefit for the historic Fireboat John J. Harvey will be held aboard the Historic Lightship Frying Pan on Pier 66 (26th and the Hudson River) in New York.

Special guests include Rosanne Cash and the Queen of the Meatpacking District, Florent Morellet.

There is a ‘family fun’ segment from 3pm to 5pm, and the cocktail party is from 5pm to 7pm. Bid on silent auction items, including 2 gorgeous museum quality prints of Harvey engine room artifacts from esteemed photographer Jean Miele, unique mosaics by artist Judy Negron, gift certificates from a host of wonderful restaurants including the extraordinary ’2nd Floor on Clinton’, a Diane Von Furstenberg bag favored by Beyonce, Jennifer Lopez, and Jennifer Beal and more – come to the benefit and help the Harvey win the matching Federal Grant!!

Click here to learn more and buy tickets: John J Harvey Fundraiser

Coal Ash, Earmarks and the SS Badger – National Treasure or Environmental Menace?

Posted on by December 12, 2012

Photo: Mark Hoffman

The SS Badger is a 410-foot long coal-fired passenger and vehicle ferry operating in Lake Michigan on a four hour shuttle service between Ludington, Michigan, and Manitowoc, Wisconsin. She began sailing in 1953 and is the last coal-fired passenger vessel operating on the Great Lakes. To her admirers, she is a national treasure, while to her detractors, she is an environmental menace that dumps more than 4 tons of toxic coal ash into Lake Michigan daily.  The Badger has been operating on an EPA waiver since 2008  that allows it to continue dumping ash. That waiver runs out  on December 19, 2012.

As reported by the New York Times, the supporters of the Badger have managed to get language to allow her to continue operation indefinitely included in a bill to continue funding the US Coast Guard.

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Single-Handing Minus One – The Strange Voyage of the Bela Bartok

Posted on by December 5, 2012

Here is a wonderful story from Cruising World’s Editor’s Log about the very strange voyage of the 31-foot cruising sailboat, Bela Bartok.

Derk Wolmuth was sailing Bela Bartok in last summer’s Singlehanded TransPac race between San Francisco and Kaua’i, Hawaii when he suffered a life-threatening bout of septic shock and couldn’t continue in the race. He deployed his EPIRB and was rescued by a passing ship, bound for California, about 450 miles short of the finish line. Remarkably, he had the presence of mind to lower the main sail, trim the boat’s jib and set wind-vane self-steering to hold a course for Hawaii, so as Derk was carried east on the cargo ship, the Bela Bartok continued sailing south-west.

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Photo of Iceberg That Sank the Titanic Up for Sale

Posted on by November 27, 2012

No one aboard the Titanic took a photograph of the iceberg that sank the famous ship in 1912, but two sailors made sketches of the berg, which had a distinctly elliptical shape. It so happens that two days before, what appears to be the same iceberg was photographed by Captain W.F. Wood of S.S. Etonian as they, unlike the Titanic,  passed the berg without hitting it. That photograph is coming up for auction, along with 400 articles of Titanic memorabilia by RR Auction. Bidding opens Dec. 13. The photo of the iceberg is expected to go for $8,000 to $10,000. Thanks to Dave Shirlaw on the Marine History list for pointing it out.

Photo of Iceberg That Sank the Titanic Up for Sale

J-15 Fighter Jet Lands and Takes Off from China’s First Aircraft Carrier Liaoning

Posted on by December 15, 2012

At the end of last September, the New York Times quoted un-named “Chinese and other military experts”  regarding the Liaoning, the first Chinese aircraft carrier to go into service, that “China does not have planes capable of landing on the carrier and so far training for such landings has been carried out on land.”  That is no longer the case, as the Chinese released video over the weekend of a J-15,  Flying Shark, fighter jet landing and taking off on the carrier.  Thanks to Alaric Bond for contributing to the post.

China lands J-15 jet on Liaoning aircraft carrier

China Aircraft Carrier Completes Successful Test