Great news. The Sloop Providence, replica of the American Revolutionary sloop of the same name is sailing again after being laid up for 3 1/2 years. She was purchased last year from the City of Providence by boat builder and captain Thorpe Leeson. The current Sloop Providence dates back to 1976 and has been used in two of the ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ movies. Over the weekends she was sailed from Providence to Newport, Rhode Island and was open for tours on Sunday at Bowen’s Wharf. The new owners plan to employ the sloop on charters and educational missions.
Oopps. In what is being described as a “school-boy error” the British Ministry of Defence posted a report on-line which revealed secret information about the UK’s nuclear powered submarines. The sensitive material was “redacted” by turning the background black, so that the text was not readable. The text was not removed, however, so that anyone who cut and pasted the text to another document could read, copy or distribute the “secret” information. The MOD was unaware of the breach until it was pointed out by a journalist.
Internet mistake reveals UK nuclear submarine secrets
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New York and Philadelphia are major ports and centers of art and culture. By all rights both should be home for major and successful seaport museums. Sadly that is not the case. Last month we posted about the Independence Seaport Museum in Philadelphia putting the Cruiser Olympia up for sale. After years of neglect, museum mismanagement and corruption (a former museum president is now serving hard time in Federal prison for fraud and tax evasion), the museum lacks the money to repair the historic ship or even to scrap her. Now, the financially troubled South Street Seaport in New York is looking to get rid of its historic vessels on a temporary or permanent basis.
Sixty years ago today, the Royal Navy submarine HMS Affray sailed on a simulated war mission called “Exercise Spring Train” and never returned. Despite an extensive search by 24 ships from four nations, the sunken submarine was not found until June 14, 1951. The cause of the sinking has never been determined. Relatives of the 75 men lost on the submarine are planning to pay their respects on the 60th anniversary of the disaster.
HMS Affray submarine disaster to be marked off Alderney
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On a cold and rainy April day here on the banks of the Hudson River, it is nice to consider sunnier climes. An interview with the Maho Noborisaka, Second Mate on the Tall Ship Soren Larsen.
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Haynes Manuals are well known as practical guides aimed at automobile enthusiastic and mechanics. They have also branched out into manuals for domestic appliances, personal computers, digital photography, model railways, men, babies, sex, and women. Reportedly the last four categories are tongue in cheek but have been popular sellers, nevertheless. A new Haynes Manual has just been released for the RMS Titanic, being perhaps the first manual ever published for a sunken ship.
100 years too late: Somerset firm’s guide to the Titanic
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Ninety nine years ago today, the RMS Titanic sank after striking an iceberg in the North Atlantic with the loss of 1,517 passengers and crew. The sinking of the Titanic had a major impact on ship operations. The first International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) was adopted in 1914 as a direct response to the sinking. The International Ice Patrol and AMVER also trace their beginnings to the Titanic disaster.
In the almost 100 years since the sinking, however, the Titanic has moved from being a maritime tragedy to becoming a cultural icon. The subject of hundreds of books and over twenty movies, the Titanic is also the basis of “Museum/Attractions” in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee in the Great Smokey Mountains and in Branson, Missouri. In some respects, the actual sinking seems a backdrop to the movies and books. “Earlier this month a sketch of Kate Winslet, used in the Hollywood blockbuster Titanic, was auctioned off for more than $16,000 in the US.” In the next year’s run-up to the centennial of the sinking, the number of Titanic memorial events will only increase, including a memorial cruise on the MS Balmoral.
On April 14, 1945, the German submarine U-1206, on its first war patrol, had its mission go down the toilet. U-1206 “was one of the late war boats fitted with the new deepwater high-pressure toilets which allowed them to be used while running at depth. Flushing these toilets was extremely complicated and special technicians were trained to operate them.” When Captain Karl-Adolf Schlitt used the toilet, he had problems making it work. He called an engineer who turned the wrong valve, causing flooding which reached the battery compartment, releasing chlorine gas, forcing the sub to surface. Only ten miles off the coast of Scotland they were spotted by British planes, which killed crew on deck and damaged the submarine. Captain Schlitt set scuttling charges and sank the submarine.
April 14, 1945: Tweaky Toilet Costs Skipper His Sub
Thanks to Phil Leon for passing on this wonderful bit of history.
Rodents have always been a problem on ships, but things seem to be getting out of control. Last week we posted (somewhat facetiously) of a rodent problem on the Tall Ship Elissa after a rather large mouse named Minnie stopped by for a visit. Now we hear of rats aboard the USS Massachusetts in Battleship Cove. (The rats are far fluffier and cuter than the wharf rats in these parts.)
Next week, April 16-24, during spring break for many school kids, Battleship Cove is hosting “Hunt the Rats” on USS MASSACHUSETTS. From their website: Ten adorable fluffy rats, disguised as members of the ship’s crew, have snuck on board and hidden themselves around the ship so it’ll take all your rat-hunting skills to find them all. Discover where the mischievous rodents have escaped to and be entered into a prize drawing. Great fun for the entire family! A video of the press conference announcing the hunt:
Battleship Cove The Rats Have Escaped
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Peter Stanford, a founder of the Seaport Museum. (National Maritime Historical Society)
Peter Stanford and Robert Ferraro, two of the founders of the financially troubled South Street Seaport Museum in New York City, spoke to museum volunteers on Saturday. They presented their vision of how the museum could be saved and revived.
Seaport Museum Founders Offer New Plan to Keep Institution Afloat
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I can imagine a couple of bird watchers who become excited when they sight puffins on Pembrokeshire’s Ramsey Island. There haven’t been puffins on the island since the 1890s when they were killed off by rats. The rats are gone now, but the only puffins on the island are plastic decoys, installed on the cliffs in hopes of luring real puffins back to their former home. Apparently the use of plastic decoys has been successful on other islands, so the folks on Ramsey are hoping that their plastic puffins will do as well.
In March of last year we posted about the attempts to scuttle HMAS Adelaide as an artificial reef off New South Wales. (See HMAS Adelaide – A Hard Ship to Sink ) “She was scheduled to be scuttled … but an environmental action group has managed to stop the scuttling over concerns regarding possible PCBs in her electrical wiring and lead paint on the ship. This is notwithstanding that there was never any reported lead paint used on the ship and that tests performed on behalf of the Australian government showed no evidence of PCBs.” After transiting the courts, HMAS Adelaide was finally sunk. It is hoped that the wreck will become an artificial reef that will generate millions of dollars in revenue for New South Wales. The scuttling was delayed for one final time by a pod of dolphins who were coaxed out of the area before the scuttling charges were set off.
HMAS Adelaide Scuttling / Sinking
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Thanks to Alaric Bond for passing the news along.
The US Navy keeps trying to find new and different ways to blow things up. Last December it demonstrated an electromagnetic railgun potentially capable of hitting a target 100 miles away. Recently, it has used a a solid-state laser, aboard the USS Paul Foster, to set a small board on fire over a mile away while both vessels were under way.
Video: Navy Laser Sets Ship on Fire
Thanks to Irwin Bryan and Phil Leon for passing the article along.
Photograph: Stephen Nessen
It is amazing what you can see passing through New York harbor. Those awake in the hours before dawn this morning may have seen a highway bridge under tow down the East River around the Battery and across the Hudson River to Jersey City. It was the Willis Avenue Bridge which has spanned the Harlem River for 110 years once carrying 70,000 vehicles daily between upper Manhattan and the South Bronx. The old bridge has been replaced by a new prefabricated bridge. Plans are for the old steel to be cut up and recycled and the concrete to be used for fill.
For those in the area this looks like fun. The Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum and MLive.com are sponsoring a two-night stay for two in the restored 1923 U.S. Coast Guard crews quarters at Whitefish Point in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Also included is a tour of the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum, a video presentation on the history of the Edmund Fitzgerald and a one-year membership into the shipwreck society. The deadline to enter is 5 p.m. Friday, April 15. Winners will be chosen by random drawing.
Thanks to Phil Leon for passing the word along.
One hundred and eleven years ago today the US Navy accepted its first successful submarine, the USS Holland. The previous November, in New York harbor, the Holland passed the Navy’s tests. She ran for one mile underwater, surfaced, fired a torpedo then dove again and returned underwater to her starting point. Chief Engineer John Lowe, U. S. N. who observed the trials, wrote: “I report my belief, after full examination, that the Holland is a successful and veritable submarine torpedo-boat, capable of making a veritable attack upon the enemy unseen and undetectable, and that, therefore, she is an engine of warfare of terrible potency which the government must necessarily adopt into its service.”
Great footage of the Lynx from TheSailingChannel.TV
Hundreds of dead dolphins and sea turtles are washing ashore on the beaches of the Gulf of Mexico. No one knows exactly what is killing them though many point to the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill of a year ago. In the mean time, BP is spending roughly $100 million in advertising to “clean up” its image.
Dolphin Deaths Designated An ‘Unusual Mortality Event’
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Reports now indicate that Ryan Donovan, 22, a sailor on HMS Astute, burst into the submarine control room and opened fire with an SA80 assault rifle yesterday, killing the ship’s weapons engineering officer, Lt. Cmdr. Ian Molyneux, 36, and wounding a second officer, Lieutenant Commander Chris Hodge. The shooting took place during a tour of the submarine by the Southhampton City Council. The leader of the Southampton Council, Royston Smith, reportedly wrestled the rifle away from the shooter. Southhampton Mayor, Carol Cunio, said she helped stanch blood flowing from Lieutenant Commander Hodge, who had been shot below the ribs on his right side. Lieutenant Commander Hodge is reported to be stable condition.
Senior officer killed in UK nuclear sub shooting
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After dabbling with space ships, Richard Branson has turned to the deep oceans. The Virgin Oceanic team will be diving to the deepest ocean depths in a one man submarine designed by Graham Hawkes. The submarine has an operating depth of 37,000ft (7 miles) and is capable of operating for 24hrs unaided. Its top speed is around 3 knots.
The Life Aquatic with Richard Branson
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Thanks to Alaric Bond for passing the article along.