Bluenose II Sets Sail At Last

Posted on by June 15, 2015

bluenoseIIMillions over budget and years behind schedule, the Canadian schooner Bluenose II finally set sail last week from Lunenberg, Nova Scotia on a training sail. Bluenose II  is owned by the government of Nova Scotia and will serve as a sailing ambassador for the province. While notionally a restoration and repair of the schooner Bluenose II built in 1963, the schooner is essentially new construction with new a keel, frames and planking and more modern scantlings. Originally budgeted at $14 million, the final cost will be over $20 million and may rise further. A $5 million claim with the shipyard has yet to be adjudicated. The new schooner is a near replica of the famous Nova Scotia fishing schooner Bluenose, built in 1921, which won a series of fishing schooner races in the 1920s and 1930s.  Images of the schooner Bluenose have appeared on a Canadian stamp as well as on the current Nova Scotia licence plate and on the Canadian dime.

Bluenose II raises sail as captain readies vessel for service

Vampire Lampreys Falling From the Sky in Alaska?

Posted on by June 14, 2015
Arctic Lamprey, Yukon River near Kaltag. (Randy Brown/USFWS)

Arctic Lamprey, Yukon River near Kaltag. (Randy Brown/USFWS)

The headlines are great. CBS News reports: Terrifying “vampire fish” falling from the sky in Alaska.  Huffington Post chimes in: Hellacious Eel-Like Fish Are Dropping From The Sky In Alaska. The Washington Post offered, Why these mysterious, blood-sucking fish fell from the Alaskan sky.

It seems that live arctic lampreys were found on shore in Fairbanks Alaska, having apparently fallen from the sky. A rain of live fish is strange enough, but lampreys, over a foot long, look like something out a horror movie. They have a sucker-like mouth with five rows of teeth which they use to attach themselves to larger fish and other marine animals.

How these strange fish happen to fall from the sky?  Alaska Department of Fish and Game information officer Nancy Sisinyak says that gulls likely picked up the fish in the nearby Chena River and then dropped them from their mouths mid-flight over the town.  “When the fish wiggles free, and the bill scrapes the gills off the fish, it leaves a V-shape on either side,” Sisinyak said.

And how may fish have fallen from the sky? A grand total of four lampreys have been found ashore so far.

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Tall Ship Kruzenshtern Rams Icelandic Coast Guard Vessels

Posted on by June 13, 2015

The Russian Sail Training Ship Kruzenshtern was maneuvering to depart the old harbor in Reykjavík, Iceland, yesterday, when she rammed two of the largest Icelandic Coast Guard vessels, Týr and Thor. Both ships suffered damage, although well above the waterline. There are no reports on damage to the Kruzenshtern.

STV “Kruzenshtern” collision in Reykjavik

The collision from a different angle.

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Alaric Bond’s The Scent of Corruption — (The Fighting Sail Series Book 7)

Posted on by June 12, 2015

scentofcorruptionAlaric Bond’s latest novel, The Scent of Corruption, the seventh in the Fighting Sail series, is now available on Kindle and will soon be available in print. A great read.

About the novel:  Summer, 1803: the uneasy peace with France is over, and Britain has once more been plunged into the turmoil of war. After a spell on the beach, Sir Richard Banks is appointed to HMS Prometheus, a seventy-four gun line-of-battleship which an eager Admiralty loses no time in ordering to sea. The ship is fresh from a major re-fit, but Banks has spent the last year with his wife and young family: will he prove himself worthy of such a powerful vessel, and can he rely on his officers to support him?

With excitement both aboard ship and ashore, gripping sea battles, a daring rescue and intense personal intrigue, The Scent of Corruption is a non-stop nautical thriller in the best traditions of the genre.

l’Hermione Greeted by Fireworks at Mount Vernon

Posted on by June 14, 2015

hermionefireworks1The French frigate l‘Hermione was greeted by a dramatic fireworks display on its arrival at Mount Vernon, Virginia, George Washington’s plantation home. In 1780, the original frigate L’Hermione, carried the 23 year old Gilbert du Motier, better known as the Marquis de Lafayette, to America with the secret news that France was committing 5,500 men and five frigates to help George Washington and his forces in the revolution against Great Britain. Over the course of the war, Washington and Lafayette developed a close relationship. It is often said that Washington saw in Lafayette the son he never had, which gave the arrival of Lafayette’s frigate at George Washington’s home at Mount Vernon a special significance. To see more of the photographs by NinjaPix, click here.

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In Transatlantic Race, Can Dorade Repeat the Magic of 84 Years Ago?

Posted on by June 10, 2015
Photo: Billy Black

Photo: Billy Black

Toward the end of June, the 52′ yawl Dorade will be joining 40 other yachts to race 2,800 nautical miles in the Transatlantic Race 2015, which starts in Newport, R.I., and finishes off the southwestern coast of England. This is not the first time Dorade has competed in this race. In the 1939 Transatlantic Race, when the boat was just a year old, Dorade was the first boat to finish and the race’s overall champion on corrected time.  This year, Dorade‘s owners, Pam Levy and Matt Brooksshe, will see if the grand old yacht can win it again.

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The Great New Jersey Shore Tsunami, That Wasn’t

Posted on by June 9, 2015

njtsunami

It looked like a tsunami rolling in from the Atlantic toward the beach at Sea Girt on the Jersey Shore.  Except that it wasn’t rolling in. It just hung there.  It wasn’t a tsunami. It was merely a beautiful if somewhat threatening fog bank.  The National Weather Service later released their own explanation of the fog.

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Happy World Oceans Day, For What It’s Worth

Posted on by June 8, 2015

Google_underwater_Street_ViewHappy World Oceans Day. June 8th has been celebrated, unofficially, as World Oceans Day since 1992, and has been officially recognized by the United Nations since 2008. This year the theme is “Healthy Oceans. Healthy Planet.”

What does World Ocean Day mean, from a practical perspective? Probably not too much. It feels like another marketing campaign focused on “awareness” rather than substance or policy. Unfortunately, the sponsoring organization has not fully abandoned their past “Wear blue, tell two” campaign, where to celebrate WOD, you were directed to wear blue clothes and tell two friends or colleagues about the importance of the world’s oceans.  One useful initiative this year is the “Better Bag Challenge” which recommends not accepting disposable plastic bags for a year. The “Challenge” is buried in a poorly coded, virtually graphics free web site, so I doubt many will see it in any case.

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l’Hermione Arrives in Yorktown

Posted on by June 6, 2015

In 1780, the French frigate, l’Hermione carried the Marquis de Lafayette to America with the news of French support for the American revolution. Now a replica l’Hermione has arrived in Yorktown, VA, the first of twelve ports that the frigate will visit on her reeanctment of her namesake’s historic voyage.

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l‘Hermione arrive à Yorktown, le souvenir de La Fayette à bord

Two Great Hidden Harbor Tours — “Made in Brooklyn” & “Family Fun Day”

Posted on by June 5, 2015

hhtours1If you are near New York harbor, the Working Harbor Committee Hidden Harbor Tours® has two great new tours coming up — “Made in Brooklyn” on Thursday, June 11th, and a “Family Fun Day Boat Tour” on Saturday, June 20th.

“Made in Brooklyn” — Join Working Harbor Committee for a tour of Brooklyn waterfront industry, past and present. From Newtown Creek through Sunset Park, the 8 miles of Brooklyn shore facing the Harbor’s Upper Bay were once filled with manufacturing, shipping, and commerce. Highlights include Brooklyn Navy Yard, the city’s new waterfront recycling facility at Gowanus Bay, and the working rail-to-barge connection at Brooklyn Army Terminal. The tour is narrated by Newtown Creek Alliance Historian Mitch Waxman and Captain Margaret Flanagan, Maritime Operations, Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance. The 2-hour boat tour departs at 6:00pm sharp. Boarding begins at 5:30pm.  Click here for tickets.

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Moving Lighthouses on Martha’s Vineyard & Block Island

Posted on by June 3, 2015

gayheadlight1Recently, Gay Head lighthouse on Martha’s Vineyard, off the coast of Massachusetts, was very carefully jacked up and moved 135 feet inland, far enough away from the crumbling red clay cliffs of Gay Head to prevent it toppling into the ocean.  The lighthouse should be reopened to the public by sometime in July.  There has been a lighthouse on Gay Head since 1799. The current lighthouse dates from 1856. There is a video of the move after the page break.

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Yangtze River Tragedy — 14 Survivors, 444 Dead or Missing, Far More Questions Than Answers

Posted on by June 4, 2015

orientalstar2Was MV Dong Fang Zhi Xing (Oriental Star) unsafe and unstable or was she just at the wrong place at the wrong time? Should the captain have anchored, as did several other ships on the river, when he received warning of bad weather, or would the ship have capsized at anchor or underway when hit by the tornado? As the Chinese come to terms with the greatest nautical tragedy in decades, there are far more questions than answers.

The official Xinhua News Agency is reporting that only 14 had been rescued, and more than 70 confirmed dead, of the 458 aboard the ill-fated passenger ship that capsized in the Yangtze River on Monday night. The captain, Zhang Shunwen, along with the chief engineer, was one of the few survivors.  He has been detained by the police for questioning.

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The Secret Opera — Opera Cabaret on the Cutter Lilac, June 4th

Posted on by June 3, 2015

secretopera1If you are in the area tomorrow night, June 4th, be sure to stop by the Cutter Lilac at Pier 25 at N.Moore at West Streets on the Hudson River in Manhattan, for Opera Cabaret performed by The Secret Opera between 7 and 8:30 PM.  The performance is free and open to the public.

What is The Secret Opera, one well might ask? George Grella of New York Classical Review describes them as “one of the small, imaginative opera companies rapidly proliferating in New York City. They are nimble, make the most of limited resources, and present talented singers and new works that are outside the physical and financial scope of the Metropolitan Opera.”  The Secret Opera — Opera Cabaret is part of the Lilac Arts Series.

America’s only surviving steam-powered lighthouse tender, the former Coast Guard Cutter Lilac is operated as a museum by the non-profit Lilac Preservation Project.

Frigate l’Hermione Arrives Off the Virginia Capes

Posted on by June 3, 2015
hermioneAB

U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Michael Sandberg

The French frigate l’Hermoine arrived off the Virginia Capes yesterday where she was greeted by the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Mitscher. l’Hermoine is scheduled to visit Yorktown, Va. on June 5 on her twelve port East Coast tour.  The ship is a replica of the frigate l’Hermione which carried the Marquis de Lafayette to America 1780 with the news of French support for the American revolution.

l’Hermione arrived on the American coast very close site of the Battle of the Capes (also known as the Battle of the Chesapeake) of 1781 in which a French fleet commanded by Rear Admiral François Joseph Paul, the Comte de Grasse, defeated a Royal Navy fleet commanded by Rear Admiral Sir Thomas Graves. The French victory at helped to ensure the victory of American and French forces in the Seige of Yorktown.