Wasn’t That a Mighty Storm — Remembering the Deadly 1900 Galveston Hurricane

Posted on by September 8, 2015

galveston1900One hundred and fifteen years ago today, on September 8, 1900, the city of Galveston Texas was struck by what today would be classified as a Category 4 hurricane, with winds of 145 mph and a storm surge of 14 feet. Somewhere between 6,000 and 12,000 people died, making it the deadliest hurricane in US history.

The story of the Galveston Hurricane of 1900 lives on in music. The song “Wasn’t That a Mighty Storm” was first recorded in 1934 by a preacher named “Sin-Killer” Griffin for the Library of Congress by folk song collector, John A. Lomax. The song has also been recorded by Tom Rush, Emmylou Harris and James Taylor among others. A variation of the song, called “Wasn’t that a Mighty Day” was recorded by the Chad Mitchell trio and the Highwaymen. Sin-Killer Griffin sings below. Other versions after the page break.

Sin-Killer Griffin – Wasn’t That A Mighty Storm

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Schooners Columbia, American Eagle & Lettie G. Howard Race at Gloucester

Posted on by September 8, 2015

columbiaschooner1This weekend, the 31st Annual Gloucester Schooner Festival was held, culminating in the Mayor’s Cup Schooner Race.  The Esperanto Cup, representing the large schooners, was won by the schooner Columbia, built in 2014, a steel replica of the W. Starling Burgess designed schooner of the same name of 1923.  Columbia broke the winning streak of American Eagle, which came in second in the race. American Eagle, built in 1930 and owned and sailed by Captain John Foss, has won the cup eight times since 2001, including placing first for each of the last three years.  The South Street Seaport’s 1893 built Lettie G. Howard came in third. This is her first competition in the race since 2008.

The three schooners share a remarkably similar heritage. The oldest, Lettie G. Howard, is a Fredonia design schooner built in the Story shipyard in Essex, MA.  The schooner Fredonia of 1889 was designed by the well-known yacht designer Edward Burgess of Boston and would influence schooner design for the next several decades.

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French Bomber of Greenpeace’s Rainbow Warrior Apologizes 30 Years Later

Posted on by September 6, 2015

rainbowarriorOn July 10, 1985, agents of the French government planted mines and blew up Greenpeace‘s Rainbow Warrior  in the port of Auckland, New Zealand to prevent the ship to be used to protest a planned French nuclear test in Moruroa. Fernando Pereira, a photographer, drowned on the sinking ship.  Now, 30 years later, Jean-Luc Kister, the French commando who set the two limpet mines which sank the ship and killed Pereira, appeared on New Zealand TVNZ and apologized for his actions.

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Death on the Clipper Round the World Race

Posted on by September 5, 2015
Andrew Ashman

Andrew Ashman

Terrible news from the Clipper Round the World Race. On the fourth day of the race, Andrew Ashman, 49, a paramedic from Orpington, Kent was injured and died while reefing the main sail on the racing yacht IchorCoal  (CV21), approximately 120 nautical miles off the Portuguese coast, heading south towards Brazil in the first leg of the race. Andrew Ashman was an experienced sailor who had sailed since he was a teenager. Our sincere condolences to Mr. Ashman’s family and friends.

IchorCoal is one of twelve identical Clipper 70 yachts competing in the Clipper Round the World Race. The yacht has diverted to Portugal and is expected to arrive Sunday night. The Clipper Round the World Race is run using professional captains with amateur crews. This is the first fatality in the ten Clipper Round the World Race held over the past twenty years.

From the official statement:

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Sailing Supermaxi Comanche

Posted on by September 4, 2015

Last November we posted about the initials trials of Jim Clark and Kristy Hinze-Clark’s new 100’ carbon fiber speed-demon Comanche.  Intended to be the fastest monohull in the world, it lived up to that claim during this summer’s Transatlantic Race where Comanche set a new record by sailing 618.01 miles in a 24-hour period, averaging 25.75 knots, becoming the first monohull to break the 600-mile barrier. Here is a video of an interview with Ken Reid, captain of Comanche.

Sailing Comanche

A Question of Priorities — Icebreakers vs Aircraft Carriers

Posted on by September 3, 2015
polarstar

USCG Polar Star

Paradoxically, the decreasing polar ice cap has increased the need for icebreakers. As the ice diminishes, traffic has increased above the Arctic Circle, making the need for icebreaking to assist in transit or respond to emergencies ever more important.  On his recent trip to Alaska, President Obama called for building new icebreakers to meet that need.  The Coast Guard determined that it needs three heavy and three medium icebreakers to cover the U.S. anticipated needs in the Arctic and Antarctic.

Currently the US has only one heavy icebreaker, USCG Polar Star, and one medium icebreaker, USCG Healy,  in service.  In comparison, Russia has a fleet of 32 polar icebreakers. Finland has eight, Sweden has seven and Canada has six.

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In Praise of Galway Hookers

Posted on by September 2, 2015

galway hookerRecently, Travel + Leisure magazine rated Galway, Ireland the world’s friendliest city.  I wonder whether it has anything to do with the Galway hookers? But what is a Galway hooker? Is it:

  1. A Galway street-walker?
  2. A traditional single masted fishing boat?
  3. A craft beer that twice won medals as”Best Beer in Ireland”?
  4. A bar in New York’s West Village?

The answer is “yes.” Friendly though it may be, I am guessing that Galway is not well known for its street-walkers. Galway is, however, known for its traditional fishing boats called hookers. And yes, there is also a craft beer and at least one bar named after Galway hookers.

The Galway hooker was developed in Galway Bay off the west coast of Ireland.  It is identified by its sharp, clean entry, bluff bow, marked tumble-home and raked transom. Its sail plan consists of a single mast with a main sail and two foresails. Traditionally, the boat is black (being coated in pitch) and the sails are a dark red-brown. The image of a hooker is featured on the County Galway coat of arms. Now used as often for recreation as for fishing, the Galway Hooker Association schedules regular regattas.  A video by Mikeishing Ó Flatharta featuring the Galway hooker sailing fleet after the page break.

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Invasive Species Invade the Med Through the Suez Canal

Posted on by September 1, 2015

nomadjelly1In 1869, the Suez Canal changed the world of shipping.  By providing steamers a shortcut though the relatively less windy Mediterranean Sea as well as ensuring access to coaling stations, the canal destroyed the millennia long supremacy of sail. Now, the canal is providing another sort of shortcut, allowing invasive species from the Red Sea to swim into the Mediterranean.

This summer, swarms of stinging nomad jellyfish appeared on beaches in Israel and the Eastern Mediterranean. The nomad jellyfish began migrating through the canal in 1970s and continues to spread. The jellyfish is only one sign of a far greater problem. Other invasive species, native to the Pacific Ocean and Red Sea, have also made their way through the canal, including the marbled rabbitfish, two-spot cardinalfish, the devil firefish, the silver-cheeked toadfish, and striped eel catfish. Lacking natural predators, these invasive species are spreading rapidly, displacing indigenous sea life.

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Why Did the Greenwich Meridian Shift?

Posted on by August 31, 2015
prime meridians

Prime Meridian 1854, dotted by GPS solid

Recently, it was reported that the Prime Meridian, as marked at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, England, is off by 102 meters, over the length of an American football field. The Prime Meridian is the arbitrary line marking 0 degrees of longitude. All other longitude is notionally measured from the Prime Meridian. The Meridian was established by Sir George Airy in 1851 and now 164 years later, it appears that Airy got it wrong.  So how could this sort of mistake have been made? How did they catch it? Does this mean that all other lines of longitude are also off by over 100 meters?

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Clipper Round the World Race Starts

Posted on by August 30, 2015

Today, the Clipper Round The World Yacht Race began from St Katherine’s Docks, London.  Twelve teams are competing in the world’s longest ocean race of 40,000 nautical miles.  While the captains of the twelve boats are all professionals, the 700 crew members from 41 different countries are all amateurs, 40% of the whom never sailed prior to signing up for the race. The race is sailed roughly every two years.  This is the tenth race since the event was founded in 1996 by Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, who was the first person to sail solo non-stop around the world. Thanks to Phil Leon for contributing to this post.

COUNTDOWN CONTINUES TO CLIPPER ROUND THE WORLD RACE

The Soaring Body-Count of the Migrant Flood

Posted on by August 29, 2015
Photo: Sergey Ponomarev for The New York Times

Photo: Sergey Ponomarev for The New York Times

Wars in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria have been forcing upwards of 3,000 migrants a day from their homes. These desperate refugees often seek new lives in Western Europe, traveling by both land and sea. The most dangerous route is across the Mediterranean from northern Africa to Italy and Greece. We have posted a dozen times about the tragedy that has awaited too many of these migrants in overloaded boats and ships. The tragedies only continue.  Just last Thursday, two overloaded refugee boats, carrying an estimated 500 people, sank off Libya. Roughly 200 are missing and feared drowned. The UN says estimates that 2,400 migrants have died trying to cross the Mediterranean to Europe so far this year.  In 2014, over 3,400 died attempting to make the crossing.

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Quadrofoil Electric Hydrofoil Watercraft

Posted on by August 28, 2015

Quadrafoilq2I hate jet-skis. They are noisy, exhaust-spewing and dangerous. I am amazed that more people don’t get killed by running them into other boats or seawalls, or just by falling off. I recently came across a potential alternative to these noxious beasts — the Quadrafoil, the first all-electric hydrofoiling personal watercraft.  As reported by Gizmag:

The radically finned Quadrofoil is described as a hydrofoiling personal watercraft (PWC), but unlike other PWCs the Quadrofoil produces marginal noise pollution, zero emissions, and creates only the tiniest of waves. As a result, the company claims the quad-finned watercraft could in theory access more environmentally sensitive areas where noise and wave disturbances are prohibited. (Video after the page break.)

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The Newest Oldest Message in a Bottle

Posted on by August 27, 2015

oldestbottlepostcardIn 2014, we posted about a German fisherman who found a 101 year old message in a bottle. It was then the oldest message ever found in a bottle. Now, a bottle containing a message that was tossed overboard between 1904 and 1906, making it at least 109 years old, may take the title. The newest-oldest bottle washed up on the beach on the German island of Amrum, and was found by a Marianne Winkler, a retired postal worker on vacation with her husband Horst, in April of this year.

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Where is the North Korean Submarine Fleet?

Posted on by August 26, 2015
North Korean Sang-O submarine captured by South Korea in 1996.

North Korean Sang-O submarine captured by South Korea in 1996.

Something very strange has happened on the Korean peninsula.  More than 50 North Korean submarines — about 70% of the country’s known fleet — have reportedly left their bases and disappeared from South Korea’s military radar.  They also represent most of the North Korean Navy, which in addition to submarines, has relatively few surface combatants, roughly a half dozen frigates and an equal number of corvettes. What makes the deployment of the submarines even odder is that it coincides with a de-escalation of tensions between the two Koreas.  On Monday, the two countries announced a plan to lift the “semi-state of war” prompted by a land-mine explosion that injured two South Korean soldiers on August 4.  The two countries are technically at war, living under a cease-fire agreement since 1953.

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