Pirates Strike Ashore ? British Tourist David Tebbutt Killed and Wife Judith Kidnapped from Kenyan Resort

Photo: The Telegraph

British tourists, David and Judith Tebbutt,  arrived at Kiwayu Safari Village, an exclusive Kenyan resort, at 4PM, Saturday.  Between midnight and 4AM, a gang of armed men arrived by speedboat and stormed their beachfront villa.  David Tebbutt, 58, was killed and his wife Judith, 56, is believed to have been kidnapped by the gang, which fled north by boat in the direction of Somalia.

No group, thus far, has claimed responsibility for the attack. If the attack was made by Somali pirates it will be the first time that  they  have ventured ashore to kidnap their victims. It has also been suggested that  the attackers were from the Islamist group, Harakat al-Shabab al Mujahideen.  The government of Kenya has deployed helicopters, speed boats and a spotter plane to search for Judith Tebbutt but no sightings have been reported.

Pirates kill Brit David Tebbutt and kidnap wife
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Air Swimmers

Have you ever wanted to live in an aquarium?   I have friends who have been flooded recently, who may feel that they do and I strongly suspect that they do not recommend it. Here is an alternative which looks a lot more pleasant – Air Swimmers.

Air Swimmers

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An American Dunkirk – Evacuating Manhattan on 9/11

Ten years ago today, amidst the smoke, flames, and debris from the collapsed World Trade Center towers, an armada of tugs, ferries, launches and virtually every other craft available in New York harbor steamed toward the docks and seawalls of lower Manhattan to evacuate hundreds of thousands of commuters. The bridges and tunnels were closed. The only escape was by water.

No one was was in command. There was no single plan. (The New York City Emergency Response Center was buried in the rubble of the towers.) Nevertheless by nightfall almost half a million commuters had been evacuated by New York mariners who knew what they had to do and worked together to do it. It was one of the largest maritime evacuations in history.  See our post from two years ago:  Maritime Evacuation on 9/11 – An American Dunkirk

My wife was one of those commuters. After being trapped in her office building by the smoke, dust and debris for several hours, she heard that ferries were running on the East River from the foot of Wall Street. Wrapping a towel around her face, she walked with her colleagues down the block to find busy ferry terminal at Pier 11.   Ferry employees directed the still stunned passengers to the appropriate ferries running to Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island or New Jersey. No fares were collected. Everyone helped each other in boarding. Miraculously, my wife was home on the other bank of the Hudson by mid afternoon.

Here is an amazing video that captures the madness, wonder, determination and commonplace heroism of that Tuesday in September.  Thanks to Wojtek Wacowski for pointing it out.

BOATLIFT, An Untold Tale of 9/11 Resilience

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Ferry Disaster off Tanzania and Zanzibar

It is an all too common story, an overloaded and poorly maintained ferry in an impoverished nation capsizes, drowning many of its passengers.  It happens so often it that it is often not reported beyond the local press.  This morning at three AM local time, a ferry boat running between Zanzibar and Pemba, Tanzania sank after capsizing.  Update #2:  606 of the passengers have been rescued and 192 bodies have been recovered.  The ferry was reportedly loaded with twice the allowed weight of cargo. The ferry had an approved passenger capacity of 600 and was carrying close to 800 passengers.  This is the third ferry to capsize with a loss of life in the vicinity in the last year.

Ferry disaster in Zanzibar, Tanzania kills hundreds including tourists
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Keith Tantlinger – Father of the Container

If Malcom McLean was the father of containerization, then Keith Tantlinger, who died recently at the age of 92,  was the father of the shipping container. Tantlinger’s container designs spurred the containerization revolution that forever changed both shipping and world trade.

The idea of “containerizing” cargo had been around for a long time but no one had made it work. Two innovations developed by Keith Tantlinger made containerization practical.  He developed a container “corner casting” which is fitted on each of the four corners of the rectangular container.  The corner casting has holes on the top and sides which allowes a twist lock, a mechanical fitting which locks into the corner casting, allowing containers to be stacked securely one on top of the other. The corner casting also provided a means for dockside gantry canes to lock onto containers to load or unload them from ships.  Becausre the vertical loads were all transferred through the corning casting and corner pillars which support them, the container itself can be built light, allowing more cargo to be carried.
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Weekend Round Up Part 2 – Non Pirate Activites

For those of a non-piratical bent there is still a lot going on this weekend.

The Yonkers Riverfest 2011 will be held tomorrow just a bit up the river from New York City.    The schooner A.J. Meerwald  will be offering sails from Burlington NJ Sept this weekend.  The Kalmar Nyckel will also be offering sails at Penn’s Landing in Philadelphia.

The Portside NewYork  – The Maritime Role in New York on 9/11 multimedia exhibit will be open for viewing  on the historic buoy tender Liilac at Pier 25 from 1pm to 6pm this Saturday. I went to the opening last night and it is fantastic.

On Sunday, on the other coast, the the Santa Barbara Yacht Club is hosting a Charity Regatta to benefit the hospice program at Visiting Nurse & Hospice Care.

Piratical Weekend Round Up

The good folks in Eastport, Maine have seen fit to once again hold their annual Eastport Pirate Festival this weekend, featuring lots of fun activities including a lobster boat race. (Who knew pirates had lobster boats?)   The Treasure Coast Pirate Fest in historic downtown Stuart, Florida is also being held this weekend.  No lobster boats, but lots of food, music and other activities.   On the West Coast, the Toshiba Tall Ships Festival hosted by the Oceans Institute is being held this weekend at Dana Point.  Not strictly a “pirate festival” the tickets are being sold as “Pirate Adventure Passes.”  Children are invited to attend the “Friendly Pirate School! Watch as your child learns to talk like a pirate, walk like a pirate and sing like a pirate!
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Happy Birthday Captain Bligh !

On this day in 1754, William Bligh was born. Following the famous mutiny on HMS Bounty, his name would become synonymous with harsh discipline bordering on tyranny.   The mutiny on the Bounty would be only one of four mutinies that Bligh would live through before he retired as Vice Admiral.  He was captain of ships that mutinied in the fleet-wide mutinies at both Spithead and the Noire in 1797.  As the Governor of New South Wales, now Australia, he was arrested in the mutiny referred to as the “Rum Rebellion” in 1808.  In courts marshall which followed the mutinies, Bligh was always exonerated.

If the Bounty had merely sunk instead of mutinied, Bligh would likely be remembered as one of the greatest navigators of the age.  Following the mutiny, he sailed an overloaded 23′ open boat, with 18 loyal crew members, on a 47-day voyage across 3,618 nautical miles of the Pacific Ocean to Timor without charts or compass, equipped only with a quadrant and a pocket watch.   A recent biography by maritime historian Rob Mundle, Bligh, Master Mariner, makes the case that there is a “lot more about Captain Bligh than the Bounty, mutiny and convicts.”
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Don’t Shoot, We’re Republicans! – The Strange Saga of the USS Iowa and the “Willie D”

USS William D Porter

The news that the battleship USS Iowa has found a new home brings to mind the story of the battleship and the destroyer USS William D Porter, nicknamed the “Willie D.”   The USS Iowa served in World War II as the presidential shuttle in the Atlantic Fleet, moving President Roosevelt to and from the Tehran conference.  In November 1943, while the president was aboard the USS Iowa, the battleship came under attack by a live tordepo, accidentally launched from the USS William D Porter.  The Iowa was able to avoid the torpedo by taking evasive maneuvers.  From that day until she was sunk in June 1945, whenever the Willie D entered port or joined other Naval ships, she was often greeted with “Don’t shoot, we’re Republicans!”  (President Franklin Delano Roosevelt was, of course, a Democrat.)
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Museum of the City of New York to Take Over Seaport Museum with $2M Grant

Photo: DNAinfo/Julie Shapiro

The Seaport Museum of New York, better known as the South Street Seaport Museum, will be taken over by the Museum of the City of New York with starting funds of $2 million in the form of a grant from the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation.   The Seaport Museum has been effectively shut down since last February due to a major shortfall of funds.

A $2 Million Lifeline to Save Seaport Museum

Yet Another Reason Not to Smoke – Woman Falls Off Ferry While Lighting her Cigarette

A 23 year old woman reportedly fell overboard into the North Sea just after 8.30pm on Monday night from the Princess Seaways DFDS ferry bound from from Newcastle to Ijmuiden. The woman was reportedly lighting a cigarette at the rail when she fell. The ferry reversed course and successfully rescued the woman using the ferry’s rescue boats. She was subsequently airlifted by helicopter to to Scarborough Hospital before being released.  Yet another reason not to smoke.  Congratulations to the officers and crew of the Princess Seaways for their speed and professionalism in executing a successful night rescue at sea, which is no easy task.  Thanks to Alaric Bond for passing the news along.

Woman rescued from North Sea after falling from ferry

Update: Somali Pirates Free 7 Danes

Last February we posted that Somali pirates had hijacked a Danish sailboat with four adults and three children aboard.   Yesterday, the Danish Foreign Ministry announced seven Danish citizens, including a family with three children had been released. It has been reported that the pirates were paid a $3 million ransom on Tuesday.

Somali Pirates Free 7 Danes

Tourist Complains of Fish in the Harbor – Too Smelly & Disturbing to Children

Oh well. I guess there is nothing surprising about this news report.  It seems that David Copp, a tourist visiting  Ilfracombe Harbour, west of Bristol, in the UK, complained to the harbor-master that the fish being landed on the quayside had a “disgusting smell.”  Nor, for that matter, were the fish pleasent to look at.  As reported by the Telegraph, via Yahoo:

The 46-year-old was outraged that his children, aged seven and nine, had been forced to endure the sight of 12 crates of dead fish and crabs, piled up on the quayside.   Continue reading

MT Phoenix Finally Free from Salt Rocks, Sheffield Beach, South Africa

MT Phoenix on Sheffield Beach

The MT Phoenix, which has been hard aground and leaking oil on a South African beach, is finally free. This Saturday, two salvage tugs, Smit Amanda and Smit Siyanda, under the direction of the South African Maritime Safety Authority (SAMSA), successfully towed the ship into deep water.

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120 Year Old Sail Training Vessel, Leader, Dismasted off Portland Bill

The 120 year old ketch, Leader, was dismasted yesterday in force seven winds off Portland Bill, Dorset; losing her main mast, boom, sails and associated rigging.   An RNLI lifeboat was called to assist and successfully towed the Leader and her 16 crew to safety in Weymouth.  Aside from reports of seasickness, no one was injured.

Leader is operated by the Trinity Sailing Trust as a sail training vessel for young people.  She was built on the Dart river in the A.W.Gibbs boatyard at Galmpton in 1892 and is one of the last working sailing trawlers still afloat.

Drama on the high seas as crew of 120ft yacht are rescued after losing mast and rigging
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Waterford Tugboat Roundup Canceled

Ironically, the further inland from where Hurricane Irene made landfall in Brooklyn, the more damage and disruption the storm caused.  While the 19th Annual Great North River Tug Boat Race and Competition  went off without a hitch, the annual Waterford Tugboat Roundup scheduled for Sept. 9-11 at the Waterford Harbor on the Erie Canal has been cancelled due to storm damage from Tropical Storm Irene.

Waterford Tugboat Roundup canceled 
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Gloucester Schooner Festival 2011

While here in New York harbor, we were cheering on tug boats racing along belching black smoke, the good folks in Gloucester, Massachusetts were celebrating classic schooners.  The tug boat race was great fun, but I do so love schooners and the schooners at Gloucester put on quite a show. Video courtesy of  GoodMorningGloucester.com

Gloucester Schooner Festival 2011

Great North River Tug Boat Race 2011

The Hudson River as it enters New York harbor is still an unhealthy shade of brown from all the runoff from Hurricane Irene. Nevertheless it was a fine day to be on the river, especially to watch the 19th Annual Great North River Tug Boat Race.  A short video of the race.

Great North River Tug Boat Race 2011 

For photographs taken from shore check out Will’s tugster blog.