Hurricane Irene Breaks Up USS Arthur W Radford – Recently Sunken Artificial Reef

Posted on by October 8, 2011

USS Radford on her way to becoming an artificial reef

Just last August, the USS Arthur W. Radford, a Fletcher-class destroyer which served in the Gulf War, was sunk as an artificial reef in the Atlantic Ocean off Cape May, NJ. The 563-foot destroyer was the longest vessel ever sunk as an artificial reef on the Atlantic coast.

Recently local divers were shocked to find that Hurricane Irene apparently broke the sunken ship in two and carried the larger section over 200 feet from its original location.  Some are speculating that the hurricane damage may make the ship more interesting to sport divers.  Thanks to Dave Shirlaw of the Marine History List for pointing out the story.  And thanks to Reno Pankau Verstaendig for pointing out that I initially had the wrong destroyer!

Irene ripped USS Radford, sunk for a reef off Cape May

Fourth Annual Wooden Boat Festival at the Independence Seaport Museum

Posted on by October 7, 2011

Gazela

This Saturday the Fourth Annual Wooden Boat Festival will be held at the Independence Seaport Museum on the Delaware River in Philadelphia.   The festival will kick off with a Parade of Sail featuring the tall ships Gazela and AJ Meerwald as well as the Philadelphia Fire Department’s fire boat.

Wooden Boat Festival sails into Philadelphia
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Dock Dogs and Diving Horses

Posted on by May 11, 2015

Some new competitive sports are better than others. I am not sure how I feel about dock dogs competitions. Still it has to be an improvement over diving horses which were wildly popular in the US in the 1880s. Remarkably there is at least one diving horse still performing.  But first, from Time magazine: DockDogs: The Sport Where Canines Catch Big Air


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Oil Spill from MV Rena – A Small Leak or Looming Environmental Disaster ?

Posted on by October 6, 2011

Helicopter Spraying Dispersant on Oil Spilled from MV Rena Photo: Alan Gibson

Depending on what one reads, the oil spill associated with the grounding of the MV Rena on Astrolabe Reef off Tauranga, New Zealand is either a “small leak” or a “looming environmental disaster.”  Conceivably, depending on the integrity of the ship’s hull, both may be right.

The Herald Sun reports that “salvage company representatives had reported the leak and said it had been stopped with only a small amount going into the water,”  while the NZ Herald reports that the “ship is haemorrhaging oil into the sea off Tauranga.”  Radio New Zealand is reporting somewhere between the two other reports, noting that “Maritime New Zealand believes the fuel tanks are still intact and heavy fuel oil leaking from the vessel appears to be from pipes. It is not clear how much has leaked into the sea.”
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Putin and the “Discovery” of his Ancient Jars

Posted on by October 6, 2011

Putin and his jars

Nothing really surprising about this story but I do find it amusing.  In August, it was reported that Vladimir Putin,  the Prime Minister of Russia and novice scuba diver, just happened to “discover” two jars dating back to the sixth century BCE when scuba diving off the Taman Peninsula along the Russian coast. The media were, of course, in attendance.

Putin finds ancient jars while scuba diving
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MV Rena Aground on Astrolabe Reef off Tauranga, New Zealand

Posted on by December 28, 2020

The Liberian flagged container ship, MV Rena, ran aground on the Astrolabe Reef off Tauranga, New Zealand yesterday, flooding two cargo holds.   The ship is loaded with approximately 2,100 containers and has around 1,700 tonnes of heavy fuel.  There has been no spillage of the heavy fuel. Hydraulic oil was reported to have leaked and to have created a visible sheen on the water but was dissipating. The crew of 23 have remained aboard the ship. The ship has developed a 10 degree list but is stable on the reef.

Rena Grounding – Wednesday 5 October pm

The Strange and Tragic Delivery of the Russian Submarine Nerpa

Posted on by October 5, 2011

Next month, the Russian nuclear submarine, Nerpa, will be delivered to the Indian Navy, which has leased the submarine for a reported $900 million from the Russians for ten years with an option to buy.  The delivery of the new nuclear sub to India, which will be renamed INS Chakra, has been long, strange and ultimately tragic.
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HMT Lancastria Finally Honored – A “Secret Sacrifice” No Longer

Posted on by October 4, 2011

The evacuation of British troops and civilians from France in 1940 did not end with Dunkirk.   Several weeks later,   on June 17, 1940, the British Cunard liner Lancastria was loaded to capacity with troops and civilians off the French port of St. Nazaire, when she was struck by three direct hits from a German Junkers 88 bomber.  As many as 6,500 men, women and children were lost when the ship sank.  It was the worst maritime disaster in British history. The sinking claimed more lives than the combined losses of Titanic and Lusitania.  News of the disaster was covered up. Churchill said that, “The newspapers have got quite enough disaster for today, at least.”

Now 71 years after the sinking, the “silent sacrifice” of those aboard the Lancastria was finally acknowledged this weekend as a memorial to the victims was unveiled on the banks of the Clyde at the site of the the shipyard where the ship was built.

Victims of HMT Lancastria sinking honoured with memorial
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Brig Niagra Drydocking

Posted on by October 4, 2011

There is a certain magic to drydocks. They give you the ability to take in the whole ship in almost a single look and provide the one chance to get the bottom clean and whatever needs fixing below the waterline fixed.   Here is a short video of the Brig Niagra on dock at the Great Lakes Towing Shipyard in Cleveland, Ohio. Thanks to Irwin Bryan and Alaric Bond for passing along the news.

Grand old warship sails into Cleveland for a tuneup

Niagara dry docked in Cleveland for repairs

Salvage Plan for the MV Canadian Miner

Posted on by October 4, 2011

What is it about ships being towed to the scrap yard? The MT Phoenix under tow, on her way to the scrap yard last July broke her towing cable and drifted ashore on Salt Rocks in Sheffield Beach, South Africa.  She was only freed last month and was subsequently scuttled. Last June, the perhaps poorly named MV Wisdom was under tow to a scrap yard when she broke her cable and drifted ashore on Bandra beach, in suburban Mumbai.  And two weeks ago , the Canadian Miner, on her way to a scrap yard in Turkey, broke her tow line and ran aground  near Scatarie Island, off the coast of Cape Breton, Canada.  Mammoet Salvaging, a Dutch salvage company, has prepared a salvage plan and has presented it to Canadian authorities.

Salvage plan for stuck ship to be studied
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San Diego Red Tide Glows Neon Blue

Posted on by April 18, 2020

The surf in San Diego county has been putting on quite a light show on recent evenings. The shore has been hit by a bout of “red tide,”  a bloom of the dinoflagellate Lingulodinium polyedrum.  The bad news is that this dinoflagellate can be toxic to fish and shellfish. The good news is that it is wildly bio-luminescent turning the Pacific waves a soft neon blue as they break on the beach.  See our post about red tide in New York harbor around this time last year.

Red Tide – Bioluminescent San Diego, 2011

Thanks to Irwin Bryan for passing the story along.

Deadly Straits by R.E. McDermott – A Review

Posted on by October 3, 2011

For the sake of full disclosure, I am not a huge fans of thrillers, particularly thrillers involving ships. The plots often strike me as implausible and the descriptions of the ships and ship operations often border on the laughable. (Too often, they leap across the border.)

This is not the case however with R.E. McDermott’s Deadly Straits.  The book is a maritime thriller whose plot is disturbingly plausible. And unlike virtually every other thriller I have come across which features ships,  Deadly Straits consistently gets it right.  It is a thriller that even a thriller skeptic and ship geek can love.
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U. S. Coast Guard Cutter Acushnet, “Queen of the Fleet,” Now for Sale on EBay

Posted on by October 2, 2011

Last March we posted that the U. S. Coast Guard Cutter Acushnet,  the oldest commissioned Coast Guard cutter, was being sold in an online auction.   The ship was reportedly sold to an unidentified buyer.  The ship has now been put up for auction on EBay by “masterbushpilot0.”   The “Buy It Now” price has been set at $10,000,000. The current highest bid is $27,100 and the reserve price has not been met.  The auction ends in four days.

HISTORIC USCGC Acushnet Coast Guard Cutter / Diver Vessel UP FOR AUCTION

Disabled French Woman Kidnapped on Kenyan Coast and Taken to Somalia

Posted on by October 2, 2011

Marie Didieu's house at Ras Gitau on Manda Island. Photograph: Simon Maina/AFP/Getty Images

Marie Didieu, a disabled  66-year-old French woman, was kidnapped yesterday from her vacation home on Manda Island, part of the Lamu archipelago, not far from where a British tourist was killed and his wife abducted three weeks ago.  The kidnappers arrived and departed by speedboat early Saturday morning.  They were pursued by Kenyan naval craft but escaped to Somalia.
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Of Migaloo and the New White Calf

Posted on by October 1, 2011

Photo: WAYNE FEWINGS

About 14,000 humpback whales migrated between Australia and Antarctica each year. Among them is a white humpback, nicknamed Migaloo. Migaloo, or  “white fella” in an Aboriginal language, was first spotted in 1991 and may be the most popular humpback whale in the world, being the subject of several web sites (see also here and here) and having a Facebook page, (of course) as well as over a dozen Youtube videos.    The last official sighting of Migaloo was by a cargo ship crew on August 10 about 10km north of Pipon Island in Far North Queensland, according to the White Whale Research Centre.

Migaloo, who is often referred to as the “only all white humpback whale,” seems to have lost that title ths week as a new white humpback calf has been sighted off Queensland, Australia.  The white calf, believed to be just a few weeks old and as yet unnamed, was seen playing with a pod of dark humpbacks near Cid Harbour at the Whitsunday Island.  There is no way to know whether the calf is related to Migaloo without DNA testing.

White Whale spotted in North

Thanks to Irwin Bryan for passing the story along.

The Knockdown and Capsizing of the SV Concordia – the Official Report

Posted on by February 20, 2013

SV Concordia – Open Watertight Doors and Openings Highlighted in Red

We recently posted that Transportation Safety Board of Canada has concluded that poor training played a role in the knockdown and capsizing of SV Concordia.  The official Marine Investigation Report examines the events leading up to the capsize in some detail.  It is a fascinating report and well worth reading.

How did the ship sink?  Contrary to earlier accounts,  the Transportation Safety Board found no evidence of a microburst, a sudden and violent downdraft of wind that can  reach speed as high as 150 knots. There may have been downdrafts present in the squalls, but nevertheless, the winds in which the ship capsized were no stronger than winds the ship had previously encountered.
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Laura Dekker Turns 16 and Sets Sail Across the Indian Ocean

Posted on by September 30, 2011

Laura Dekker has celebrated her 16th birthday and has set sail from Darwin, Australia on a westerly course across the Indian Ocean bound for Africa.  Given the concern about piracy in the Indian Ocean, her exact route is being kept secret.   In 2009, teenage circumnavigator Zac Sunderland was shadowed by a boat which may have been pirates near the Cocos Keeling Islands, which may be along Ms. Dekker’s route.   In 2010, Zac’s sister Abby Sunderland’s boat was knocked down and dismasted in the Indian Ocean ending her attempt at solo circumnavigation. Ms. Sunderland attempted to transit the Indian Ocean in mid-Winter whereas  Ms. Dekker will be sailing in the southern hemisphere Spring.

Laura Dekker, 16, sets sail into piracy-plagued Indian Ocean

Thanks to Irwin Bryan for passing the story along.

The Original Social Networking – Harold Hackett and His Messages in Bottles

Posted on by September 30, 2011

Harold Hackett of Prince Edward Island started throwing bottles with messages inside into the Atlantic Ocean in 1996.   Since then he has cast 4,800 bottles into the sea and has received 3,100 responses.   He has received letters back from Africa, Russia, Holland, the UK, France, Scotland, Ireland, parts of New England, Florida, Norway and even the Bahamas.  His response rate may be better than the average “Friend” request rate on Facebook.  Click the link below for a BBC interview of Mr. Hackett.

Social networking in its oldest form

Report: Poor Training Caused SV Concordia Sinking

Posted on by September 29, 2011

In February 2010, the sail training ship Concordia sank off the coast of Brazil.  At the time, the captain said that the ship was hit by a “microburst,” also known as a white squall, a violet storm which struck the ship so rapidily that there was no time to react.  A report issued today by the Transportation Safety Board of Canada, however, blamed human error caused by poor training for the capsize and sinking of the ship.

Poor training standards to blame in SV Concordia sinking
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Happy Birthday to Admiral Lord Nelson and the Royal New Zealand Navy

Posted on by September 29, 2011

Two hundred and fifty three years ago today, Horatio Nelson was born in in Burnham Thorpe, Norfolk, the sixth of eleven children. He went to sea at 12 on a ship commanded by a maternal uncle.  He would become the greatest naval commander in British history, dying in 1805 at the battle of Trafalgar, his great victory, where the Royal Navy soundly defeated the combined fleets of the French and Spanish navies.

The Royal New Zealand Navy is also celebrating its 70th birthday.  On October 1, 1941, the  The New Zealand Division of the Royal Navy became the Royal New Zealand Navy.   The 70th Anniversary celebrations will include a visit to Wellington by ten navy ships. Festivities start today and run through Monday.  These will not be the only excitement in Wellington this weekend, however. The New Zealand All Blacks will be competing in a Rugby World Cup match against Canada. A  Festival of Carnivale  will also be taking place as will a “rural weekend” event  including sheep shearing, sheep dog trials, sheep racing and wood chopping.  Wow. A busy and eclectic weekend indeed.

Royal New Zealand Navy 70th Anniversary
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