On August 4, 1790, Alexander Hamilton founded the Revenue Cutter Service, the predecessor of the United States Coast Guard. The anniversary is celebrated in various ways around the United States. Portsmouth, VA will host a celebration today through Saturday. In Alaska, August has been proclaimed “United States Coast Guard Appreciation Month.” The National World War II Museum will also be celebrating the anniversary with a lecture by author Thomas P. Ostrom.
We just heard from the good folks at PortSide NewYork that the US Coast Guard barque Eagle will be open to the public for the first time ever in Brooklyn, beginning Friday afternoon and continuing Saturday and Sunday at Pier 7 at the foot of Atlantic Avenue. The ship is wrapping up its Summer Training Cruise which included visits to Waterford, Ireland; London, England; Reykjavik, Iceland; Halifax, Nova Scotia and Hamburg, Germany.
To celebrate the 75th anniversary of the Coast Guard Cutter Eagle and the 221st anniversary of the U.S. Coast Guard’s founding, the crew of the Eagle is also holding a photography contest for the best photo of the Coast Guard Cutter Eagle in New York. Go to The Eagle in New York photo contest to learn more.
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Photo: Jennifer Villamin
In June, we posted about Polynesian voyaging canoes of the “Te Mana o Te Moana” (Spirit of the Sea) expedition arriving in Hilo, Hawaii after sailing from New Zealand by way of the Marquesas and Tahiti. Yesterday, six of the vaka, traditional voyaging canoes, from several island nations sailed into San Francisco through the Golden Gate. Plans are shaping up for a a celebration of greeting to be held on Treasure Island this weekend. Thanks to Bonnie for pointing out their arrival.
On his YouTube channel, Hulton Clint identifies himself as “Ranzo, the YouTube Chanteyman.” Something over three years ago he began an ambitious You Tube undertaking : The “Shanties From the Seven Seas” project where he sings the chanteys from Stan Hugill’s classic book of the same name and records them as You Tube videos. He describes the project as:
A quasi-systematic project of recording examples of the sea chanteys (shanties) in Stan Hugill’s book of the same title. The text compendium contains “over 400 shanties,” and Hugill was one of the last living working chanteymen aboard merchant sailing vessels, who was largely responsible for keeping alive the know-how of chantey-singing after the days off sail had ended.
It has often been said that a chantey was worth ten hands on a rope. I say that nowadays a chantey is worth 1000 songs in an iPod.
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A well done video of Irish Naval Service fleet exercises.
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Thanks to Alaric Bond for pointing the video out.
The yachts leaving Southampton accompanied by HMS Illustrious. Credit BBC News
10 identical yachts have set sail from Southampton, England to compete in the 40,000-mile (64,500km) Clipper round-the-world race. Many of the crews volunteered as sailing novices, although all have since undertaken a comprehensive four stage training program before setting out on the year long journey. After calling at mainland Europe, the race continues across the Atlantic to South America, before heading for South Africa and on to Australasia. Singapore is the next stop, followed by China, then across the Pacific to California. Passing through the Panama Canal, the yachts will then call at New York, before making for Canada, and finally crossing to Europe once more.
The organisers, headed by renown yachtsman Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, are currently seeking crews for the next race, scheduled to start in 2013.
and you can follow the race progress at the official website:
Beautiful photography by Doug Mills of the The Great Schooner Race of 2011 in Penobscot Bay. It looks like they had a day of light air so the race may have been a touch on the slow side. Nevertheless the schooners are beautiful.
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The Maine Lobster Festival being held in Rockland from August 3rd to the 7th is described as “Five Days of Feasting and Fun on the Fabulous Coast of Maine!” “The festival promises “ the world’s greatest lobster cooker, 20,000 pounds of lobster, a sea goddess coronation, a big parade, top notch entertainment, an international crate race, fine art, talented crafts people and vendors, US Navy ship tours, cooking contests, marine tent and MORE?!” Wow.
There certainly seems to be a lot scheduled. New York may have its Mermaid Parade but Rockland has its Maine Lobster Festival Big Parade including the newly crowned Sea Goddess, all of the Sea Princesses and their Naval escorts, and King Neptune and his Court. Match that Coney Island! The theme for the 2011 parade is “Lobster-Palooza.” I am not sure exactly what that means, but it sounds like fun.
The pinky schooner Ardelle was launched recently from the historic Burnham Boatbuilding yard in Essex, MA. They used the traditional “Essex side-launch” technique, which, to my uninitiated eye, looks very odd. Nevertheless, it obviously is effective.
Thanks to Tom Russell at the Traditional Sail Professionals for pointing out the launching.
At a time when many maritime museums in the United States are struggling to just maintain their ships and indeed several are attempting to get rid of them, the Maritime Museum of San Diego is building a new historic replica, the San Salvador, Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo‘s flagship. In the 16th century, Cabrillo was the first European to navigate the coast of California. The replica San Salvador will be full-sized, fully functional, and historically accurate. The ship is being constructed at Spanish Landing in San Diego, California. Visitors are invited to watch the construction. Once finished the San Salvador will remain on exhibit as part of the Museum’s fleet of historic and replica ships and will travel along the California coast as an ambassador for San Diego.
San Salvador Replica Ship Under Construction on San Diego Bay
The Sail Power and Steam Museum of Rockland, Maine looks like a great little museum.
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Margaret Muir
I am a big fan of both Margaret Muir and Linda Collison. Both are marvelous writers – skilled story tellers whose writing about the Age of Sail has both an immediacy and an understated authenticity that draws the reader into their books. (Perhaps not surprisingly, both have sailed as crew on square rigged ships.) If you are not familiar with Muir or Collison check out our review of Muir’s Floating Gold and Collison’s Surgeon’s Mate and Star Crossed.
Linda Collison
Linda Collison recently talked with Margaret Muir about sailing, writing, Tasmania and goats. Reposted from Linda’s blog, Sea of Words, with permission.
A conversation with novelist and Tasmanian historian, Margaret Muir
Throughout our writing lives we’re inspired by other authors. I’ve recently had the pleasure of discovering Tasmanian novelist and historian, Margaret Muir.
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The American Sail Training Association is “rebranding.” They will now be known as Tall Ships America. Everything else will stay about the same. I have to admit, Tall Ships America does have a nice ring to it while ASTA sounded a bit too much like an insurance company.
TALL SHIPS AMERICA: The New Face of ASTA
We are proud to announce to our members, supporters and friends that we have adopted a new public identity: Tall Ships America. Our mission is unchanged, and just as we have done since 1973, Tall Ships America will encourage character building through sail training, promote sail training to the North American public and support education under sail.
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Tug Pegasus
The North River Historic Ship Society is hosting a four day Historic Ship Festival on July 28-31 to celebrate the the opening of the first historic ship pier in Hudson River Park in Tribeca, New York.
Festival at Pier 25 Features Free Ship Tours, River Trips, and more at Hudson River Park
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Congratulations are due to the Port of San Diego on several counts. Their video “Disabled Veterans Compete in VA Summer Sports Clinic on San Diego Bay” has won a Telly Award, competing against 11,000 other applicants. A second congratulation is order for the program the video documents. For the second year in a row the National Veterans Affairs Summer Sports Clinic has been hosted by the Port of San Diego. A truly inspiring event. The next National Veterans Summer Sports Clinic will also be held in San Diego from September 18th – 23rd.
Disabled Veterans Compete in VA Summer Sports Clinic on San Diego Bay
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Thanks to Urban M for pointing out the news on the Linked-In Traditional Sail Professionals group.
Last July, a barge pushed by the tug Caribbean Sea struck a disabled tourist “duck boat” at anchor in the Delaware River. Two tourists drowned in the collision. A report by the National Transportation Safety Board said the tug’s mate Matthew Devlin was on his mobile phone and laptop trying to deal with a serious family medical emergency a the time of the casualty. The mate has now agreed to plead guilty to a charge of “maritime manslaughter” and to the permanent revocation of his Coast Guard licence.
First mate’s mobile, laptop use results in ‘maritime manslaughter’ charge
Photo: Monika Graff for The New York Times
The timing could not have been worse. In the midst of a blistering heat wave in New York City, what has been described as a “catastrophic fire” at the North River Waste Water Treatment plant yesterday allowed millions of gallons of untreated sewage to be discharged from Manhattan into the Hudson and Harlem Rivers. Officials are warning New Yorkers and New Jersey residents on the harbor against swimming, fishing or launching boats in the Hudson and at four city beaches on Staten Island and in Brooklyn.
Photo: Neil Pederson, Lamont-Doherty, provided courtesy of LMDC
Last July, workers excavating at the new World Trade Center site in lower Manhattan uncovered the remains of an 18th century wooden merchant ship 20 feet below street level. See our previous posts – here and here. Now researchers have been able to identify where the ship was probably built, the trade she most likely served in, and how she met her end, all from careful examination of tree rings, ship worms and other artifacts found on the ship. A fascinating investigation.
Rings and Worms Tell the Tale of a Shipwreck Found at Ground Zero”
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Photo credit: www.guardian.co.uk
The United Kingdom consists of over six thousand islands, and one has just come on the market. Situated just off the coast of Wales near Cardiff, Sully Island is up for sale for £95,000 (roughly $150,000 USD). Once the haunt of pirates, the 14.5 acre island is set 400 metres from the coast, and only accesible for a few hours a day.
Photo: Maasmond Maritime
AllOnScale in Rotterdam builds around 1,000 ships a year. The ships are all rather small, however, ranging from around 20 cm to several meters. AllOnScale is a leading ship model maker specializing in the production of small series in scales from 1:300 to 1:2000. They also produce larger models and repair damaged models. Their approach to the ancient art of model making is relatively high tech, relying on 3D modeling and numerical controlled manufacturing techniques. Nevertheless, much of the work still is done by hand.