Scientists Studying Climate Change Rescued from Melting Ice

Posted on by June 11, 2013
Nuclearicebreakeryamal

Photo: ru.wikipedia.org/Wofratz/cc-by-sa 3.0

A group of 16 Russian scientists, monitoring climate change in the Arctic, encountered more than they had planned on. They had to be rescued when the ice beneath their station began to crack due to unusually warm weather. The Russian nuclear icebreaker Yamal reached the research station, off Canada, on Saturday, eight days after departing Murmansk.  The crew of the icebreaker is expected to collect the SP-40 research station’s remaining equipment within the next four or five days.  Thanks to Dave Shirlaw on the MARHST-L for pointing out the article.

Russian atomic icebreaker rescues scientists from cracked ice floe in Arctic

Student Teams Compete to Design Safe Affordable Ferry Design

Posted on by June 10, 2013

wsafeferriesThe news stories are depressingly familiar.  A ferry, often in a developing nation, sinks along the coast or in a river and the lives of hundred are lost.  In regions where ferries are the most necessary, they are often the most dangerous. Safe and affordable ferries are desperately needed.  The World Ferry Safety Association is sponsoring a competition to design such a ferry.  Student teams from six maritime universities are competing in the Safe Affordable Ferry Design Competition to develop a ferry design for a 500 passenger ferry for Bangladesh.

The student teams competing are from (in alphabetic order), Istanbul Technical University, Maine Maritime Academy, National Technical University of Athens, Tolani Maritime Institute, India, University of Applied Sciences in Bremen, University of British Columbia, and Webb Institute in New York.  A panel of six judges (see below) will review the submissions and will announce the winners by early Fall 2013. The top prize is $5,000 with second and third prizes also to be awarded.

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A PSA on IMO’s PSSA (Particularly Sensitive Sea Areas)

Posted on by June 9, 2013

Yesterday, we posted about a report by the WWF on shipping accident “hotspots” around the world. The report noted that often these regions of increased risk of ship sinking or collision also coincided with environmentally sensitive areas. Fortunately the shipping industry is beginning to focus on protecting areas of the oceans which are particularly sensitive to damage by ships. The International Maritime Organization (IMO) has an ongoing program to designate Particularly Sensitive Sea Areas (PSSA) which need special protection because of their “significance for recognized ecological or socio-economic or scientific reasons and which may be vulnerable to damage by international maritime activities.”

Here is a PSA (Public Service Announcement) about IMO’s PSSAs.

Discover IMO’s Particularly Sensitive Sea Area (PSSA)

WWF – Shipping Accident Hotspots in South China Sea, Mediterranean and North Sea

Posted on by June 8, 2013

Chinese Fishing Vessel Aground on Tubbataha reef

Happy World Oceans Day!  The World Wildlife Federation has released a study to coincide with World Oceans Day, documenting dangerous “hotspots” around the globe for accidents involving ships.  Sadly many of these “hotspots” also coincide with some of the most ecologically important ocean regions.  The South China Sea and East Indies, east Mediterranean and Black Sea, North Sea and British Isles were found to be particularity at risk for for accidents involving ships.

South China Sea, Mediterranean and North Sea are shipping accidents hotspots

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The Future of Commercial Sail – What the Past and Present Suggest about a Likely Future For Sailing Ships

Posted on by June 7, 2013

beamon1For those near New York harbor next Monday, I will be giving a presentation on “The Future of Commercial Sail” at the monthly New York City Shiplore meeting on Monday, June 10th at 7:30 PM at  79 Walker Street, 5th floor, in Manhattan.

Oil prices are four times higher today than they were just a decade ago.  Wind power is the fastest growing sector in the energy business.  Is it time for a return to wind power to propel modern commercial ships?

In Monday’s presentation, we will be looking at what made the windjammers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries uneconomical, and the impact of current energy prices and new environmental rules on shipping; and will ask whether these economics might justify a return to commercial sail.  We will also look at a variety of new designs of sailing ships being developed by a new generation of naval architects.  It should be fun evening.  If you are the neighborhood, stop by.

Joan Druett Interviewed by Quarterdeck

Posted on by June 6, 2013

McBook Press‘ wonderful publication Quarterdeck, has a fascinating interview with Joan Druett in their June 2013 edition.   We are reposting it here with permission.

Joan_with_tupai-210Award-winning author Joan Druett sailed back into nautical fiction in 2005 with the launch of A Watery Grave, introducing the Wiki Coffin Mysteries, which are set against the U.S. Exploring Expedition in 1838. By this time, Druett was already an established author, writing maritime history, as well as fiction. Druett, who lives and writes in New Zealand, launches her Promise of Gold Trilogy this month. It will be digitally published by Old Salt Press, with trade paperback editions following.

Quarterdeck recently interviewed the author just as she was about the head out to sea:

How did you arrive at writing as your vocation? And, what initially drew you to the sea and nautical nonfiction as subject matter for your books?

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Michigan State Senate Officially Recognizes ITLPD but Not the International Day of the Seafarer

Posted on by June 5, 2013
Senator with "Pirate" Eyepatch

Senator with “Pirate” Eyepatch

I was under the impression that the State of Michigan had serious problems – a $2 billion budget shortfall, its largest city in dire economic straits, schools closing for lack of funding, that sort of thing.  Things must be better than I realized as Sen. Roger Kahn (R-Saginaw) proposed and the Senate passed a resolution officially recognizing “International Talk Like a Pirate Day”.  If they have time for this sort of resolution in the Senate, things must not be as bad as I thought.  One can only hope that the eye patch that Senator Kahn wore while presenting the resolution is not also his proposal for ophthalmic heath care.

The resolution itself notes that “International Talk Like A Pirate Day” was started “as a way to express [the event founder’s] individual passion for nautical plundering.” The resolution goes on to say that the State of Michigan is responsible for “promoting worthy maritime initiatives” and that “Talk Like a Pirate Day”  “celebrates beloved maritime activities.”  Linking “nautical plundering” with “worthy maritime initiatives” and “beloved maritime activities” all in one very short resolution is just dumb. Really dumb.

One event that the State of Michigan did not choose to endorse is the IMO International Day of the Seafarer held on June 25 of each year to recognize “the invaluable contribution seafarers make to international trade and the world economy, often at great personal cost to themselves and their families.” Apparently the Michigan Senate prefers pirates.

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“Spreading Joy Around the World,” aka “Rubber Duck” – Inflated, Deflated, Revived & Censored

Posted on by June 4, 2013
Photo:PHILIPPE LOPEZ / AFP / GETTY IMAGES

Photo:PHILIPPE LOPEZ / AFP / GETTY IMAGES

In early May, a five story high inflatable rubber duck was set adrift in Hong Kong harbor. The duck was sponsored by the Harbour City shopping mall. Created by the Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman, it was named “Spreading Joy Around the World” but is universally known simply as “Rubber Duck.”  The duck is well traveled. Since 2007, it has visited 13 cities in nine different countries. Arriving in Hong Kong, it was an immediate hit.  As reported by the New York Times:

Thousands gathered around the waterfront when “Rubber Duck” made its debut May 2. Since then, countless duck-themed products have shown up at shops and restaurants. Teenagers are wearing rubber-duck outfits, and tourist kiosks are selling rubber-duck postcards. Its smiling face was even seen at the Cheung Chau bun festival, a 200-year-old tradition on an outlying island.

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VolturnUS 1:8 – Floating Wind Tower Launched in Maine

Posted on by June 3, 2013
Photo: Jeff Kirlin

Photo: Jeff Kirlin

Typically, modern offshore wind turbines come in only one size and shape – really big, rising up from the ocean floor.  The University of Maine, with support from the Department of Energy, has just launched a new test design, the first grid-connected floating wind tower. The tower, launched in Brewer, Me., is supported by three hollow concrete tube floats and will be anchored in the Gulf of Maine.  VolturnUS 1:8, which sounds like something from a bad science fiction novel, is only 20 kw in capacity but, should it succeed, the design should be scalable up to much larger installations. Using a floating rather than a fixed platform would allow wind turbines to be installed in much deeper water on the West Coast of the US and along the  Maine Coast.

A Floating Wind Tower Is Launched in Maine

Fake Mermaids and Pathetic Pirate Ships – Dumbing Down Ocean Science and History

Posted on by June 2, 2013

mermaidsRecently, we celebrated the saving of the wonderful Coney Island Mermaid Parade.  Now a story about “mermaids” that is a bit disturbing.

There were two news stories that at first glance had little in common, other than a distant nautical connection. Recently “The Animal Planet” aired a sequel to last year’s “Mermaid – the Body Found.”  The new “documentary”  “Mermaids: The New Evidence – Are Mermaids Real?” earned the highest ratings of any show on the Animal Planet.  Despite being presented as fact, the documentary was entirely fictional.  Not everyone made that distinction.

The other news story was a about a carpenter, Tim Woodson, whose hobby is building “pirate ships.”  He recently sold his latest creation, a 12 meter monstrosity, for $80,000 on Craigslist to none other than the History Channel.  The “pirate ship” is built on an existing houseboat, with a slapped on wooden bulkheads, bowsprit and scroll-work  and  three sort-of masts with tattered sails.

What do these two items have in common? They seem to be part of the dumbing down of both science and history.

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Hurray, the Mermaid Parade is Saved!

Posted on by May 31, 2013
coney31n-2-web

Photo:NEIL DECRESCENZO

The Mermaid Parade is Saved!   Last week, we posted about a Kickstarter Fundraiser to save the Coney Island Mermaid Parade.  The parade, which has been held yearly since 1983, was nearly shut down by Superstorm Storm, which did over $400,000 worth of damage to the property of Coney Island USA, the group that manages the parade.  Now with three days remaining, 2,300 donors have pledged over$102,000, beating the $100,000 fundraising target.  At least $10,000 of this sum was raised in a benefit concert headlined by Amanda Palmer.  For Amanda Palmer fans, video of her performance at the Bowery Ballroom can be found here. 

The parade, which attracts over 750,000 spectators yearly, is an annual kickoff to the summer seasons, featuring artists and performers in wild and imaginative costumes, often with an aquatic theme.   The parade is again on schedule for June 22 at 1PM.

Coney Island’s Mermaid Parade raises the $100K needed to stage the June 22 march

New Mary Rose Museum Opens to the Public in Portsmouth Historic Dockyard

Posted on by May 30, 2013

The carrack Mary Rose was King Henry VIII’s flagship. After thirty three years of service, it sank in the Solent on July 19, 1545. Out of 500 sailors, 35 survived. The wreck was located in 1971 and the ship was raised from the ocean floor in 1982 in one of the most complex and expensive projects in the history of maritime archaeology.

After thirty years work to preserve the remains of the ship and to catalog the tremendous trove of artifacts found aboard, a new and permanent Mary Rose Museum opens to the public on Friday May 31 in Portsmouth Historic Dockyard.

Inside the new Mary Rose museum

Yikes – Globsters!

Posted on by May 29, 2013
The St. Augustine Monster,1897, by DeWitt Webb, photograph

The St. Augustine Monster,1897, by DeWitt Webb, photograph

In most cases, no one ever manages to find the carcass of a dead sea serpent or lake monster washed up on a beach.  The one big, literal and figurative, exception are the”globsters,”  massive carcasses which have been washing shore for more than a century. A globster is usually defined as a large, unidentified organic mass that washes up on the shoreline of an ocean or other body of water.  In many cases they have no eyes, head, or identifiable bone structure. One such globster was the “St. Augustine Monster”  which washed ashore on the coast near St. Augustine, Florida, in 1896.  Partially covered by sand, the exposed portion was over 18 feet long and 7 feet wide. It was estimated to weigh over five tons. The mass had no apparent bones but appeared to have tentacles, so it was originally identified as a new type of giant octopus.

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RCCL Grandeur of the Seas, Newly Refurbished, Catches Fire in the Bahamas, No Serious Injuries

Posted on by May 28, 2013

At around 2:50 AM Monday night a fire broke out on the Royal Caribbean cruise ship, Grandeur of the Seas, which had been bound for Coco Cay, Bahamas. The ship was rerouted to Freeport, Bahamas where the 2,224 passengers and 796 crew were disembarked. No serious injuries were reported. The passengers are being flown home from Freeport. The fire started on an aft mooring deck and spread to the fourth deck at the crew lounge area before it was extinguished, U.S. Coast Guard spokeswoman Marilyn Fajardo said. Information on the fire’s cause wasn’t available, she said. Some passengers are reporting hearing “big explosions” during the fire. Unlike previous fires in cruise ship engine rooms, the ship never lost power.

Last year, Royal Caribbean spent $48 million dollars refurbishing Grandeur of the Seas which originally went into service in 1996.

Grandeur of the Seas Cruise Ship Catches Fire