Tim Severin and the Voyage of St. Brendan

Posted on by March 17, 2024

On St. Patrick’s Day, a repost about another Irish saint, St. Brendan the Navigator, and the adventurer who sought to replicate his epic voyage.

Who was the first European to sail to North America? According to Irish tradition, it was St. Brendan the Navigator in the 6th century, who is said to have set off with a small group of monks in a currach, an open boat built with a wooden frame covered with hides, on a 7-year voyage around the North Atlantic, that may have reached North America. If the story is true, St. Brendan reached the “New World” hundreds of years before the Norse and almost 900 years before Columbus.

There is no absolute evidence that St. Brendan ever reached North America, although many of the islands visited in the medieval accounts appear to be similar to features of the Hebrides, the Faroe Islands, and Iceland. In the 1970s, inveterate explorer Tim Severin decided to mount an expedition to see whether St. Brendan’s voyage was possible.

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“Mind the Light , Kate” — Remembering New York’s Robbins Reef Lighthouse Keeper Kate Walker

Posted on by March 16, 2024

An updated repost in honor of Women’s History Month. In 1886, lighthouse keeper John Walker’s last words to his wife Kate as he died from pneumonia, were “Mind the light, Kate.” Kate, then 38 with two teenage children, took his final wish to heart. She minded the light — from that day on, every single day, for more than three decades.

Though standing only 4’10” tall and weighing around 100 pounds, Katherine Walker served as the keeper of the Robbins Reef Lighthouse for 35 years, following the death of her husband. In addition to the arduous task of keeping the light burning, she also rowed across the choppy waters of Upper New York harbor, a mile each way, to take her two children to school on Staten Island, weather permitting. 

An immigrant from Germany, Kate met and married John Walker, who in 1883 was appointed keeper of the Robbins Reef Lighthouse. Kate found herself living on a reef inhabited solely by harbor seals. (Robbins Reef comes from the early Dutch name, “Robyns Rift,” or Seal Rocks.) 

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Women’s History Month — Adm. Lisa Franchetti Sworn in as the 33rd Chief of Naval Operations

Posted on by March 15, 2024

Adm. Lisa Franchetti was sworn in as the 33rd Chief of Naval Operations (CNO), the highest-ranking officer of the United States Navy, on Nov. 2, 2023.

Her confirmation made Franchetti not only the first woman to become the CNO and the first woman on the Joint Chiefs of Staff, but also the first CNO who was commissioned through the Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps (NROTC) program.

Franchetti, a native of Rochester, New York, was commissioned in 1985 through the NROTC program at Northwestern University, where she received a Bachelor of Science in Journalism. At the time, she had no idea she’d make history for the Navy.

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Pyxis Ocean, Sail-Assisted 80,000 DWT Bulk Carrier, Demonstrates Potential of Wind Power

Posted on by March 14, 2024

In August, we posted about the Pyxis Ocean, an 80,000 DWT bulk carrier, fitted with two WindWings®, a pioneering rigid wing technology, that had set sail on its maiden voyage from China to Brazil.

Now, six months later, Cargill announced the results of the test voyages of the Pyxis Ocean, underscoring the potential for wind-assisted propulsion technology in moving the shipping industry toward renewable energy use.

The MC Shipping Kamsarmax vessel retrofitted with two large solid wind sails developed by BAR Technologies – – achieved performance consistent with what was predicted, equivalent to an average of 3 tonnes of fuel per day.  The WindWings® were added to the six-year-old vessel with the aim of cutting fuel use by about 20% on the voyage, according to Jan Dieleman, president of Cargill Ocean Transportation, which chartered the Pyxis Ocean.

During optimal sailing conditions, the Pyxis Ocean achieved savings of more than 11t/day in fuel consumption, which translates to 41t/day less CO2e emitted well-to-wake, or a 37% emissions savings.

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Women’s History Month — Honoring Admiral “Amazing Grace” Hopper

Posted on by March 13, 2024

During Women’s History Month, it is good to remember and to honor Admiral Grace Hopper. Grace Hopper was a pioneering computer scientist and a United States Navy Rear Admiral. Hopper received a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in mathematics from Yale. She was nicknamed “Amazing Grace” and is often referred to as the “mother of computing.” An updated repost.

In October of 2020, the U.S. Naval Academy officially opened Hopper Hall, the academy’s new center for cybersecurity studies, named in her honor.  The cybersecurity facility is the first building named after a woman at the three main service academies.

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With Drones and Missiles, Ukraine Wreaks Havoc on Russian Black Sea Fleet & Gets Navy Commander Fired

Posted on by March 12, 2024

Drone camera footage of the attack on the Russian missile corvette Ivanovets

Ukraine is a nation without a navy and yet has succeeded in wreaking havoc on the Russian Black Sea Fleet using high-tech sea drones and anti-ship missiles. The Ukrainians have continued to sink Russian warships, as recently as last week, resulting in the dismissal of the commander-in-chief of the Russian Navy.  

As we noted in a post last August, when Russia annexed Crimea in 2014, at least 100 Ukrainian Navy vessels, representing 75% of the Ukrainian naval fleet, were captured by Russian forces. In the Russian invasion of 2022, much of the remaining fleet was destroyed or scuttled to prevent capture.

Lacking ships, the Ukranians have developed drones, including high-tech sea drones, to counter the Russian Black Sea Fleet, with remarkable success.  Fighting back against the Russian fleet has limited the Russian’s ability to launch cruise missiles from the Black Sea against Ukrainian civilian and military targets. Challenging Russia’s naval superiority also has helped create more favorable conditions for Ukrainian grain exports and other shipments from the country’s Black Sea ports. 

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Congratulations to Cole Brauer, First American Woman to Race Solo Around the World

Posted on by March 11, 2024

Congratulations to Cole Brauer, who finished second in the Global Solo Challenge, becoming the first American woman to race solo nonstop around the world, traveling roughly 28,000 miles, in her 40′ sailboat First Light. 

Brauer, at 29 years old, was also the youngest and only woman in the fleet of 16 competitors that set sail in October from A Coruna, Spain.  She arrived back in A Coruna last Thursday after a 130-day circumnavigation, rounding the three great capes.

Standing at 5’2″ and weighing 100 pounds, she faced a grueling race in which more than half of the competitors have dropped out, so far. 

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Remembering Susan Ahn Cuddy, First Female Asian American Officer, Gunnery Instructor in US Navy

Posted on by March 8, 2024

As March is Women’s History Month, it seems appropriate to remember the life and accomplishments of Susan Ahn Cuddy, a Korean American who would serve as the first female Asian-American officer in the US Navy and would also become the first female Navy gunnery instructor.

After leaving the Navy at the end of World War II, Cuddy also worked as an intelligence analyst and section chief at the National Security Agency and ran a think tank during the Cold War. She worked on top-secret projects for the Defense Department and supervised more than 300 scholars and experts in Russian affairs.

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Missile & Drone Barrage Escalates as Three Killed in Houthi Missile Attack in Gulf of Aden

Posted on by March 8, 2024

A Houthi missile attack killed three seafarers on M/V True Confidence, a Barbados-flagged, Liberian-owned, bulk carrier while transiting the Gulf of Aden on Wednesday, U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) said. The deaths are the first merchant mariner fatalities reported since the Iran-aligned Yemeni group began strikes against shipping in one of the world’s busiest trade lanes.

At least four other crew are reported to have been injured in the attack, which resulted in significant damage to the ship. The crew abandoned the ship and were assisted by coalition warships. 

CENTCOM reported that this was the fifth anti-ship ballistic missile (ASBM) fired by Houthis in a two-day period. Two of these ASBMs struck two shipping vessels – M/V MSC Sky II and M/V True Confidence – and one ASBM was shot down by USS Carney (DDG 64).  The Carney also shot down three suicide drones in the same attack.

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Women’s & Black History Months: Gladys West — Pioneer of GPS Technology

Posted on by March 7, 2024

In honor of both Women’s History Month and Black History Month, an updated repost about Gladys West.

From maps to apps to chartplotters, we all rely on GPS these days, sometimes whether we realize it or not. Ethan Siegel wrote in Forbes: Unbeknownst to most people, however, the science underlying this technology was primarily developed by two people: Albert Einstein, whose theories of special and general relativity both play an important role, and Gladys West, a still-living and largely unheralded Black woman whose scientific contributions enabled us to understand geodesy and the shape of the Earth well enough to make GPS technology possible.

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Battleship USS Texas Refloating in Drydock

Posted on by March 6, 2024

A drone video of the 110-year-old battleship USS Texas being refloated following repairs and refurbishment on the drydock at the Gulf Copper Shipyard in Galveston.  The Texas is the oldest remaining dreadnought battleship and only one of six surviving ships to have served in both World War I and World War II.

USS Texas Battleship Texas Refloating in Drydock

Women’s History Month — Remembering Winnie Breegle, WWII WAVE and Code Talker

Posted on by March 5, 2024

During Women’s History Month, it is a good time to honor Winnie Breegle who served in World War II as a WAVE (Woman Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service) cryptographer and a Navajo “Code Talker”, who didn’t happen to be a Navajo. Ms. Breegle passed away at the age of 100 on January 3, 2023. An updated repost.

In 1941, Winnie Breegle, a 21-year-old farm girl from Ohio taught Latin, Spanish, and English in high school, and women with such backgrounds were highly sought after for work as coders. When she enlisted in the Navy, she was trained as a cryptographer.

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When the Mail Arrives Late — Faroese Sweater Found in Parcel from 1807

Posted on by March 4, 2024

A red traditional Faroese knit sweater was recently found in a stash of 19th-century letters at the British National Archives in their Prize Papers collection. The sweater, or jumper in British parlance, handknitted in vibrantly colored fine wool, was intended for a woman in Denmark, but never reached its destination because the vessel on which it was shipped was seized by the British Navy during the Second Battle of Copenhagen.

On August 20, 1807, carpenter Niels C. Winther from Tórshavn in the Faroe Islands put a package aboard the ship Anne-Marie. The parcel was addressed to a Mr. P Ladsen in Copenhagen and included a letter, in Danish, that said, ‘my wife sends her regards, thank you for the pudding rice. She sends your fiancé this sweater and hopes that it is not displeasing to her.’ 

Mr. Ladsen’s fiancé never received the sweater. The Anne-Marie had sailed for Denmark with its captain Jurgen S Toxsvaerd unaware that war had broken out. She was targeted by HMS Defence off the coast of Norway on September 2, 1807, the day the British began bombarding Copenhagen. The British crew boarded the ship, imprisoned Toxsvaerd and his crew, and grabbed both the cargo and the ship’s mailbox.

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Solo Orca Attacks and Kills Great White Shark in Under Two Minutes Off South Africa

Posted on by March 3, 2024

Orcas attacking and killing sharks, even great white sharks, off the coast of South Africa is nothing new. A year ago, a pair of orcas killed 17 sharks in one day in South Africa’s Pearly Bay. More recently, scientists were stunned to observe video footage of a solitary orca hunting, killing, and eating the liver of a great white shark, in an “astonishing” attack that took place in less than two minutes. Scientists said it was “unprecedented” and showed the exceptional predatory skills of killer whales.

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Update: Bulker MV Rubymar Sinks After Being Struck by Houthi Missile Almost Two Weeks Ago

Posted on by March 2, 2024

On Sunday, February 18th, anti-ship ballistic missiles, launched by Houthi rebels from Yemen, struck the MV Rubymar, a  32,211 DWT, Belize-flagged, UK-owned, and Lebanese-operated bulk carrier in the Gulf of Aden near the Bab al-Mandab Strait. The attack caused sufficient damage that the crew was forced to abandon the ship.

Today, Yemen’s internationally recognized government said that the ship had sunk in the Red Sea on Friday night. They warned that the ship’s cargo of fertilizer could pose an “environmental catastrophe” to the waterway.

The MV Rubymar is the first vessel lost since the Houthis began targeting commercial shipping in November, forcing shipping firms to divert vessels to the longer, more expensive route around southern Africa.

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