Bulk Carrier Swanland Sinks off North Wales – Two Crew Rescued & Five Missing

Posted on by November 27, 2011

Photo: Athena Pictures

Update: Prince William co-piloted the Sea King helicopter which rescued two crew from the sinking Swanland.   Prince William serves with RAF Valley in north Wales.

The bulk carrier Swanland is reported to have sunk this morning off north  Wales in heavy weather.  Two of the crew of eight have been rescued, one body has been recovered and five crew members are still missing. The Swanland was carrying a cargo of 3,000 tonnes of limestone when it sank between 20 and 30 miles north-west of the Lleyn peninsula.

One crewman recovered and five missing after sinking of cargo ship

In August of last year, the Swanland narrowly avoided grounding on Lizard Point, Cornwall following an engine failure.  The Maritime and Coastguard Agency’s emergency towing vessel, Anglian Princess, towed the ship to safety into Falmouth.

Cargo ship Swanland saved from Lizard Point grounding

Thanks to Alaric Bond for pointing out the story.

Olga Bloom – Founder of Bargemusic

Posted on by November 26, 2011

Olga Bloom, far right in 2004 Photo:Nan Melville for The New York Times

We were saddened to learn of the death of Olga Bloom, who died on Thanksgiving Day at the age of 92. Thirty five years ago, Ms. Bloom, a violinist and violist, founded Bargemusic, a floating concert hall moored on the Brooklyn waterfront on a converted coffee barge built in 1899.  A memorial concert in honor of Ms. Bloom is being  planned.

Olga Bloom, Violinist and Violist Who Created Bargemusic, Dies at 92
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Bombs Along the Rhine – Drought Exposing WWII Unexploded Munitions

Posted on by November 26, 2011

Bomb disposal experts blow up an incendiary bomb near Cologne Photo: DPA

A near record drought has lowered the water levels on the Rhine River, Europe’s most important inland maritime waterway, by five feet below average, stopping many ships and barges from trading.  In several locations, river levels have fallen to one hundred year lows.  To add to the difficulties, unexploded munitions from World War II have been exposed by the falling waters.  Bomb disposal experts detonated an incendiary bomb found near Koln and are evaluating how to dispose of a larger bomb  found lying in 16 inches of water near Koblenz.  A hand grenade was also recently found on the river bank near Bonn.

War bombs cause chaos on Rhine

Win for Cook Inlet Beluga Whales – Judge Rejects Removal from Endangered List

Posted on by November 24, 2011

Photo: AP Photo/Ted S. Warren

The beluga whale population in Alaska’s Cook Inlet has been declining since the 1980s.  Hunting by Alaska Natives killed nearly half the remaining 650 whales in only four years between 1994 and 1998. Native hunting of the belugas has since been banned. Despite the decade long ban, the beluga whale populations have not rebounded.   Recently, the State of Alaska filed a lawsuit to have the beluga’s removed from the Endangered Species List, arguing that continued protection would hinder commercial fishing, oil and gas exploration, and tourism, and could affect operations at Alaska military installations.  Judge Royce C. Lambeth of U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., rejected the lawsuit.

“When the best available science predicts that a recently enacted ban on subsistence hunting will reverse the abrupt depletion of a species, a decade without any noticeable recovery in the species population should raise a concern that the true cause of its decline has not been fully addressed,” Lambeth wrote.

Judge upholds Cook Inlet belugas as endangered

The Typical Powerboat is Not Seaworthy

Posted on by November 25, 2011

Last year, I went to the New York Boat Show, held yearly at the Javits Center in Manhattan. I found the visit to be frankly depressing. The endless rows of cookie cutter power boats, that often seemed as tall as they were long, was disheartening, to say the least.  The amount of fuel these ugly ducklings would burn is bad enough, but more than anything, I was struck with the hope that many of these towering craft might never leave the dock, as they looked downright dangerous.

I recently came across yacht designer Tad Roberts‘ blog, Low Tide.  He has posted a refreshingly straight-forward persepctive on the lack of seaworthiness of so many of today’s production powerboats:

THE TYPICAL POWERBOAT IS NOT SEAWORTHY 
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USCG Cutter Mohawk to become Reef off Sanibel Isalnd, FL

Posted on by November 25, 2011

The World War II era US Coast Guard Cutter Mohawk is scheduled to be  scuttled in 2012, 16 miles off the coast of Sanibel Island, FL in the Gulf of Mexico to serve as an artificial reef.

Veteran’s Memorial Reef planned off coast of Sanibel
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Brinacle – The Icy Underwater Finger of Death

Posted on by November 24, 2011

A BBC camera crew has videoed a “brinicle,” a bizarre underwater “icicle of death” in Antarctica.

‘Brinicle’ ice finger of death filmed in Antarctic

With timelapse cameras, specialists recorded salt water being excluded from the sea ice and sinking.  The temperature of this sinking brine, which was well below 0C, caused the water to freeze in an icy sheath around it.  Where the so-called “brinicle” met the sea bed, a web of ice formed that froze everything it touched, including sea urchins and starfish. The unusual phenomenon was filmed for the first time by cameramen Hugh Miller and Doug Anderson for the BBC One series “Frozen Planet.”

BBC Nature: ‘Brinicle’ ice finger of death filmed in Antarctic

Thanks to Irwin Bryan for passing the story along.

Update: MV Rena – Unloading Containers & Little Blue Penguins Released

Posted on by November 24, 2011

The clean-up continues on the MV Rena which ran  hard aground on Astrolabe Reef near Tauranga, New Zealand on October 5, 2011.

The remaining oil has been pumped off and efforts are beginning to remove the container cargo from the stricken ship.  Roughly forty containers have been lifted from the ship with a container capacity of over 3,000 boxes.  Progress made on removing Rena containers

Forty nine Little Blue Penguins oiled in the spill from the MV Rena were recently released, after being rescued by emergency response teams from the International Bird Rescue, organised by Massey University’s New Zealand Wildlife Health Centre.

Little Blue Penguins released back into wild in New Zealand
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Whale Skeletons in a Chilean Desert

Posted on by November 23, 2011

At least 75 whale skeletons, believed to be more than two millions years old, were recently unearthed in the Atacama Desert in Chile, a kilometer away from the ocean.  The find is believed to be the best preserved graveyard of pre-historic whales in the world. Of the 75 skeletons found, more than 20 are perfectly intact. Researchers speculate that there could be many more skeletons not yet discovered. Most of the fossils are baleen whales which measure about 25 feet long. The whale bones were discovered during a project to widen Pan American Highway, or Route 5, Chile’s main north-south road.

Mysterious mass whale graveyard unearthed in the Chilean desert
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Volvo Open 70s – Too Fast & Too Furious?

Posted on by November 23, 2011

Mar Mostro Photo: Puma

The Volvo Ocean 70 is the latest and greatest ocean racer.  With their carbon fiber hulls, towering rigs and canting keels, they sail faster than the wind and as a class are the fastest monohulls ever built. Based on the ongoing Volvo Ocean Race, however, the question arises, are they simply too fast and too furious to survive on the ocean?  Two of the six competitors started coming apart within the first 24 hours of the race. On Monday, the Puma yacht, Mar Mostro, lost her mast over the side in winds reported to be somewhat over twenty knots.  To have lost half the fleet  within a fortnight on the first leg of a nine month race is worrisome.  (The fleet will be reassembled, literally and figuratively, for the second leg.  The two early drop outs are traveling by ship to Cape Town and Mar Mostro is limping in under a jury rig.)
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British Tall Ship Youth Trust Plans Sale of the Stavros S Niarchos

Posted on by November 22, 2011

Stavros S Niarchos - For Sale

The British Tall Ship Youth Trust has published a new development plan detailing some significant changes in the organization, including the planned sale of the one remaining tall ship owned by the Trust, the Stavros S Niarchos. In September of last year the Trust sold the brig Prince William to the Pakistan Navy.  The Trust plans to sell the Stavros S Niarchos sometime over the next several years and to acquire a smaller tall ship which should cost less  to operate. Until a buyer is found, the Trust plans on continuing to operate the Stavros S Niarchos. The Tall Ship Youth Trust also operates four 22 meter Challenger yachts and one 19 meter sailing catamaran.
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Puma Yacht Mar Mostro Dismasted, Half of Volvo Fleet Out of Race

Posted on by November 22, 2011

Havoc continues in the Volvo Ocean Race, an around-the-world race which bills itself as ” the world’s toughest sailing event.”  Three of the six boats to attempt the first leg of the race have withdrawn.  Two of the six boat fleet withdrew from the race within 24 hours of the start  after suffering rigging failure or hull damage.  Now, only 17 days into the nine month race, the Puma yacht Mar Mostro, was dismasted  and has withdrawn from the first leg of the competition.  The yacht was roughly 2,300 miles from Cape Town, South Africa, the finish line for the first leg of the race, when its mast went over the side in winds above 20 knots and high seas.  There were no reported injuries to the crew of eleven.  Sails have been set on the remaining 15′ mast stub and the boat is now sailing for the island of Tristan de Cuhna.
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Celebrities and the Titanic – Then and Now

Posted on by November 21, 2011

When the RMS Titanic sank on April 15, 1912,  a number of those who died were celebrities of their day, including the American millionaires John Jacob Astor IV and Benjamin Guggenheim.  Canadian railroad president Charles Melville Hays and Isidor Straus, American owner of the Macy’s department store also died in the sinking.  Several survivors became celebrities simply because they survived. Margaret Brown, an American socialite, would become famous as the “Unsinkable Molly Brown,” inspiring a Broadway musical and a movie by the same name.

Now as we approach the centennial of the ship’s sinking, celebrities are venturing back to the Titanic.
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Lady Maryland Dry Docking

Posted on by November 20, 2011

The schooner Lady Maryland is being dry docked at Chase’s Wharf in Fells Point to replace rotted sections of the stem and to refasten the hull as necessary. The docking and repairs are expected to take around four months and to cost around $180,000. The 25 year old pungy schooner is the flagship of the Living Classrooms Foundation, a Baltimore-Washington based non-profit educational organization that runs shipboard programs for kids in the Chesapeake and along the East Coast and the Great Lakes. Their maritime programs have instructed a a quarter-million students with lessons about the environment and the region’s maritime heritage.  Click here for a video of the dry docking.  Thanks to Ed Weglein for passing the story along.

Living Classrooms schooner to undergo repairs

 

Submarine Saturday – British Submarine Delay Concerns, HMS Astute Fires Harpoons & German Fuel Cell Sub

Posted on by November 19, 2011

A report by Britain’s National Audit Office revealed that the Ministry of Defense is concerned that recent budget cuts have put the country at risk due to a shortage of modern attack submarines.   The National Audit Office said delays to the new Astute class would leave the Navy without sufficient submarines for operations over part of the next decade while adding £200 million to the cost of the programme. Submarine delay due to budget cuts ‘puts Britain’s security at risk’
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Tough Times in the Tanker Markets – General Maritime Bankruptcy and Continued Overcapacity

Posted on by November 19, 2011

Last month we posted that tanker charter rates  were at the lowest they have been in 14 years and that the number of large tankers in lay up was approaching levels similar to those during the slump in the 1980′s.  This week, the tough times in the tanker markets claimed a high profile victim as General Maritime Corporation filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.  General Maritime operates a fleet of 7 VLCC, 11 Suezmax , 10 Aframax, 2 Panamax, and 4 Handysize tankers and once had a $5.3bn market capitalization.
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1864 Lake Erie Shipwreck of the Brigantine Sultan – “Pirates and Other Hearty Seafaring Folk”

Posted on by November 18, 2011

Recently, divers from Cleveland Underwater Explorers, Inc. discovered the wreck of the brigantine Sultan, which sank in September 1864 in Lake Erie in 45 feet of water.  The ship is in quite good shape.

Beyond the discovery itself being interesting, I can’t help but be amused by the reporting.  The brigantine is described by the writer as a “double-masted, solid wood structure, … a favorite among both pirates and other hearty seafaring folk.”   If  the ship had been a “solid wood structure,”  the loading of cargo would have been very difficult but it would have been much harder to sink.  Most “seafaring folk” are reasonably “hearty,” I suppose, even if the Great Lakes is not well known for pirates.  Roaring Dan Seavey is the only Great Lakes pirate that I am familiar with, but he came along after the Sultan sank.  Nevertheless, the reporter does deserve points for effort. Thanks to Phil Leon for passing the article along.

Explorers Find Buried Historical Treasure in Lake Erie

New Documentary on Thames Sailing Barges – Red Sails

Posted on by November 17, 2011

The Thames sailing barge was a remarkably efficient cargo carrier that lasted well into the 20th century before being replaced by diesel trucks. We have followed the rebuilding and the relaunching of the Thames sailing barge Cambria, which was the last British registered vessel to carry a commercial cargo under sail alone, retiring only in 1970.  Thanks to Søren Nielsen and Doug Mills on Facebook for pointing out a new documentary about Thames sailing barges – Red Sails by Countrywide Productions.  Additional clips from the documentary are available on their website.

Red Sails – The Trailer (Thames Sailing barges)

[iframe: width=”560″ height=”315″ src=”http://www.youtube.com/embed/UBT_zOC0V0c” frameborder=”0″ allowfullscreen]

USS George HW Bush – New $6 Billion Aircraft Carrier Without Working Toilets

Posted on by November 20, 2011

The USS George HW Bush, the tenth of the Nimitz class, is the US Navy’s newest aircraft carrier.  It cost $6.2 billion to build and is powered by two nuclear reactors which can develop 260,000 shaft horsepower.  The carrier can carry 90 fixed winged aircracft and helicopters. The ship’s crew numbers 3,200 with an additional 2,400 serving in the air wing.  The one thing that the ship does not have, apparently, is working toilets.

Since it deployed in May, the new carrier has suffered from widespread plumbing failures, which, at times, rendered the entire ship without a single working head.   With remarkable understatement, the crew has complained that the lack of toilets has “affected their morale, health and job performance.”   The problem has been ongoing for six months. The Navy is blaming the sailors, who are blaming the design of the vacuum toilet system.

Carrier Bush suffers widespread toilet outages
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Star of India – Still Sailing

Posted on by November 15, 2011

The Maritime Museum of San Diego brags that the Star of India is the oldest active sailing ship in the world. This weekend they demonstrated how they can make that claim. The Star of India, built at Ramsey Shipyard in the Isle of Man in 1863, went sailing this weekend, along with HMS Surprise and the Californian.  At 148, the old lady is looking mighty fine.

Oldest Active Sailing Ship Sets Sail