In March we posted about the birthday of Claude Choules, the last combat veteran of World War I. He has now died in Perth, Australia at age 110.
Last WWI combat veteran Claude Choules dies aged 110
The world’s last known combat veteran of World War I, Claude Choules, has died in Australia aged 110.
Known to his comrades as Chuckles, British-born Mr Choules joined the Royal Navy at 15 and went on to serve on HMS Revenge.
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Linda Collison’s new book Surgeon’s Mate, the second book in the her Patricia MacPherson nautical series, was recently been released. Astrodene’s Historic Naval Fiction interviewed Linda Collison about her new book, which we are reposting with permission. We reviewed Collison’s previous book, Star Crossed, here, and have been looking forward to her latest.
We will be posting a review of Surgeon’s Mate next week. In the mean time, check out Astrodene’s Historic Naval Fiction May Newsletter.
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My first thought was if that is a remora there must be quite a shark out there someplace. Obviously a different type of remora. The Remora 6000 is a Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) that can operate at depths up to 6,000 meters. It recently retrieved the black box (which is actually orange) from the wreckage of Air France Flight 447 which crashed into the Atlantic June 1, 2009 en route from Rio de Janeiro to Paris, killing all 228 people aboard.
Last week the Navy relieved the commanding officers – Commander Jay Wylie of the guided missle destroyer, USS Momsen; Commander Etta Jones of the amphibious transport dock ship, USS Ponce; and Captain Donald Hornbeck in command of Destroyer Squadron 1. The Navy has not fired ten commanders so far this year. In 2010 the Navy dismissed 17 ship commanders.
Captain William Kidd
The notorious pirate Captain William Kidd was executed three hundred and ten years ago this month, yet is far from forgotten. A new exhibit is opening on May 20th at the Museum of London Dockyards – Pirates: The Captain Kidd Story. Also the wreck of the Quedagh Merchant, abandoned by Captain Kidd, is being dedicated as a “Living Museum of the Sea” by Indiana University and the government of the Dominican Republic.
Museum of London Docklands to host new Pirate exhibition
The exhibition, which is timed to coincide with Kidd’s execution on 23 May 1701 in Wapping, will explore the myths and mysteries surrounding common perceptions of pirates.
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A well done video providing an interesting perspective on sail training.
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Last week we posted that the Ohio River may be too high to allow the running of the Great Steamboat Race on May 4th. The river has just kept rising. Tonight the Army Corps of Engineers will blow up a Mississippi River levee, flooding farms in southern Missouri to save a flood-threatened Illinois town upstream near the junction of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers. A legal challenge by the Missouri attorney general to stop the destruction of the levee failed Sunday, allowing the Corp to proceed with the plan.
Record-breaking floods force engineers to blow up Mississippi River levee
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US naval special forces commandos are called SEALs, referring to their ability to operate at SEa, in the Air and on Land. Yesterday Navy SEALs were called upon to capture or kill Osama Bin Laden who was hiding in a mansion in Abbottabad, a garrison city of 100,000 about 65 miles north of Islamabad, Pakistan. In an operation reported to be carried out by 20-25 Navy SEALs, Bin Laden was killed after a forty minute firefight. Bin Laden’s body was subsequently buried at sea from the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson.
Osama Bin Laden Killed By Navy SEALs in Firefight
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May 2nd is International Scurvy Awareness Day! The festivities appear to be sponsored by a group calling itself Lime Strong. I am not sure whether this is an individual or a marketing arm for lime growers. Whichever it may be, we are happy to support scurvy awareness.
Photos : Veendam Eng.Dept
In early January we posted about Holland America Lines’ MS Veendam hitting a Southern Ocean storm, encountering waves of over 30 meters and winds of 70 knots. At the time there was no reported to the ship or injuries to passengers or crew. That report, as least as far as the ship is concerned, was premature. Maasmond Maritime recently posted photos of the MS Veendam receiving a new “nose” in Bahamas Shipyard after been damaged during heavy seas near the Falklands.
The first of May is traditionally called May Day and is related to the Celtic festival of Beltane and the Germanic festival of Walpurgis Night. The English have been known to break out in fits of Morris Dancing around May Day. In many countries May Day is celebrated as International Workers Day or Labor Day.
Mayday as a distress call over radio is much newer. The Mayday callsign was originated in 1923 by Frederick Stanley Mockford (1897–1962). A senior radio officer at Croydon Airport in London, Mockford was asked to think of a word that would indicate distress and would easily be understood by all pilots and ground staff in an emergency. Since much of the traffic at the time was between Croydon and Le Bourget Airport in Paris, he proposed the word “Mayday” from the French m’aider. “Venez m’aider” means “come help me.”
Divers from Deep Blue Marine have located a wreck site off the Dominican Republic believed to date back to the 1500s and have uncovered a treasure of silver coins and jade figurines.
A chance encounter with a fisherman has led one team of treasure hunters to discover what they believe is the oldest shipwreck in the Caribbean.
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The US Coast Guard has updated its regulations, increasing the average weight per passenger for stability and loading calculations of tour and charter boats from 160 pounds to 185 pounds.
Lard ahoy! Coast Guard estimates average weight of cruise passengers has gone up by 25lbs to 185lbs
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Photo: RK8776 Noreast.com
An update to a story that we have been following. The 50′ schooner Le Papillon came ashore on a beach on Fire Island, northeast of New York harbor, at the beginning of April. Just as it looked like the schooner would be swallowed up by the shifting sands, some folks with a large backhoe and what looks like an earth mover, secured chains to the stricken vessel and draggedher off the beach. Fortunately the schooner is built of steel. It is hard to judge how much damage has been done but the vessel is no longer in danger of being swallowed up by the Fire Island’s sands.
Thanks to Will van Dorp at the tugster blog for keeping track of Le Papillon’s saga and to RK8776 at Noreast.com’s Saltwater Fishing Discussion board for taking the photographs as the schooner was hauled up from the sand. Click here and scroll down to see the photos.
Beginning today and running for two weekends, April 29 – May , and May 7-8, the Liverpool Sea Shanty Festival will return boisterous songs to the docks on the Merseyside. Singers from New York and the Netherlands will be joining in.
Sounds of the golden age of sail return to docks in Liverpool Shanty Festival
Clipper City
In January we posted that the Hudson River Park Trust was seeking proposals to dock historic vessels on the newly refurbished Pier 25 in the Hudson River off Tribecca. Earlier this month the the Hudson River Park Trust announced that the 1907 Tug Pegasus, the 1933 lighthouse tender Lilac and the 1984 tall ship Clipper City, a historic replica, had been selected to be the first vessels to dock at the pier.
Three historic ships find a home at a Tribeca pier
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The Greek-owned 75,000 tonne bulk carrier, MV Oliva, ran aground on March 16th on Nightingale Island, a 4 square kilometer island in the Tristan da Cuhna archipelago in the South Atlantic. The resulting oil spill threatened nearly half of the world population of endangered Northern Rockhopper penguins. Three thousand six hundred penguins were admitted to a “rehab centre” on Tristan da Cunha after the oil spill. Recently, the first 24 penguins were released from the center back into the wild.
First Tristan penguins released from ‘rehab’
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A group in Beaufort, SC is bidding on acquiring the Cruiser Olympia.
Beaufort group bids on century-old ship
A Beaufort organization is bidding to become the next home of the ship Commodore George Dewey used as his flagship at the Battle of Manila Bay that gutted the Spanish fleet in 1898, helping cement America’s role as an emerging 20th century global power.
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On April 28, 1947, a six-man expedition led by Thor Heyerdahl sailed from Callao, Peru aboard a balsa wood raft named the Kon-Tiki on a 101-day journey across the Pacific Ocean to Polynesia. Heyerdahl’s book, Kon-Tiki: Across the Pacific by Raft, was an international best seller and the documentary, Kon Tiki, which was directed by Heyerdahl, won an Academy Award in 1951. The Kon-Tiki raft is on display in the Kon-Tiki Museum in Oslo.
Kon-Tiki Trip Ends on Pacific Reef; Party Safe After 4,000-Mile Drift
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Hailing from Florida, I am a huge fan of brown pelicans. I was therefore very pleased to hear that after several years where brown pelicans on the West Coast of the US have been mysteriously dying off, this year the flocks of pelicans have been unprecedentedly large.
Two years ago the headlines were dire – “California Brown Pelicans in Peril,” and “Mystery Malady Strikes California Brown Pelicans.” The pelicans appear to have recovered with a vengence. And no one quite understands why.