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.
Photo : Bas de Blok
Some times all it takes is a photo to demonstrate how much things have changed and what has stayed the same.
I recall as a boy watching jack-up rigs being put into operation off the coast of Texas in the Gulf of Mexico in the earlier days of the offshore oil industry. Recently, I saw a photo of the jack-up rig GMS Endeavour on the North Sea installing the first wind turbine at the Sheringham Shoal windfarm. Jack-up rigs, once primarily used for shallow water oil drilling, are now installing and servicing wind turbines. The wind farm will generate enough power for approximately 220,000 average UK homes.
The energy source has changed but we still need energy from the sea.
What could possibly be a better venue for a sea chantey festival than the deck of a restored 1863-built iron windjammer? The Maritime Museum of San Diego is holding its “Sea Shanty Festival 2011” on the deck of the Star of India on July 24th. They have some great talent lined up and the Star of India will be a magnificent stage.
Twenty five years ago, the US Navy contracted to build two fleet oilers, the USNS Bejanmin Isherwood and the USNS Henry Eckford. The Navy spent at least $300 million dollars on their construction. Due to shipyard defaults and various legal wranglings, the ships were never completed and never went into service. Now both ships are on their way to the scrap yards, having never spent a single day in operation.
These are not high-tech warships. They are simple oil tankers, specifically Henry J. Kaiser Class Fleet Replenishment Oilers, of which 16 had already been built. Militarily contracting is notoriously wasteful, but this may set a new low.
Two never-finished Navy ships head to scrap heap
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In July 1945, the Dutch submarine O-19 ran hard aground on Ladd Reef in the South China Sea deep in enemy waters. The Gato class submarine USS Cod was sent to rescue the Dutch sub. After two days of attempting to free the stricken sub, the Dutch crew of 56 was taken aboard the USS Cod and the the O-19 was destroyed with torpedoes and fire from the Cod‘s deck guns to prevent it from falling into Japanese hands.
Yesterday in Cleveland, Ohio, the USS Cod‘s deck guns were fired again to commemorate the anniversary of the only international submarine-to-submarine rescue in history.