Update: Chinese Vessel Did More Damage to Tubbataha Reef than USS Guardian

Posted on by May 4, 2013

Despite being smaller than the USS Guardian and spending less time aground on the Tubbataha reef, the Chinese fishing vessel F/V Min Long Yu, which ran aground on the protected reef on April 8, apparently did more damage than the US Navy minesweeper.  In addition to damaging the reef, the Chinese vessel was also found to be loaded with an illegal cargo of 22,000 pounds of of pangolin meat, a protected species of scaly anteater. The 12 Chinese aboard the vessel had been charged for poaching and possession of protected species, as well as for attempting to bribe park rangers. The Philippines’ Tubbataha National Marine Park is a UNESCO-designated World Heritage Site in the centre of the Sulu Sea.

Chinese vessel did more damage to Tubbataha than USS Guardian –TMO

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Moby Dick on a Barge and the Card Game

Posted on by August 5, 2013

For those near New York harbor, the Brave New World Repertory Theatre is presenting MOBY DICK–REHEARSED by Orson Welles, co-directed by John Morgan and Alexander Harrington at Red Hook’s Waterfront Museum & Showboat Barge on May 3-5 & 10-12 at 7:30. Click here for more details. Thanks to Brian Frizell for passing along the news.

Sadly, Moby-Dick, or, The Whale, arguably Melville’s masterpiece, only sold around 3,700 copies during the author’s lifetime and earned him only around $1,300. Fortunately, Moby Dick, or the Card Game, a new “dynamic and action-packed card game for 2-4 players, lovingly adapted from Herman Melville’s classic novel,” is doing considerably better. The card game developers are raising money on Kickstarter to finish the project. With 26 days to go in the fundraiser, they have exceeded their $25,000 target, raising $43,988, so far, from 1,171 backers.

Moby Dick, or, The Card Game

No, Ladies, Not Pirates of Penzance, These Were Real Pirates

Posted on by May 3, 2013

darchpiratesThe North Devon Women’s Institute branch recently hosted former sea captain Colin Darch, who was to speak on the topic of piracy. A number of women in the organization thought that the captain would speak about historical buccaneering, and so in what they perceived to be the spirit of the evening, dressed in what, these days, often passes for pirate garb: eye-patches, bandannas, plastic cutlasses, stripped shirts and that sort of thing. One woman wore a bright yellow captain’s hat featuring a skull and crossbones.

It turns out that Captain Darch was speaking of being captured and held for ransom for 47 days in 2008 by gun-totting Somali pirates. Captain Darch read excerpts from his memoir which described the terrible ordeal he and his crew of five endured as prisoners of very real pirates. The women immediately realized their mistake and apologized to the captain who apparently was good-natured about the mistake. Captain Darch’s ordeal was not quite over, however.

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E/S Orcelle – Wallenius Wilhelmsen Concept Car Carrier Powered by Sun, Wind and Waves

Posted on by May 1, 2013

In a recent Working Harbor Committee presentation, “Sailing Ships at Work – Past, Present and Future,” we included the E/S Orcelle, a Wallenius Wilhelmsen concept car carrier design, as an example of an innovative design that featured wing sails, as one part of its hybrid propulsion system.  While the wing sails, which also include solar cells, are interesting, the overall design is also worth a closer look.  The car carrier concept design is intended to produce zero emissions beyond heat and water vapor and to be propelled by fuel cells, wave energy, solar and wind power.  The radical hull form also requires no ballast water for stability and provides greater car carrying capacity that conventional ships.  First unveiled at the Nordic Pavilion at the World Expo 2005, it is a fascinating design from stem to stern.

E/S Orcelle

On May Day, a Look at Mayday

Posted on by May 1, 2013

coast.guard_.motor_.life_.boat_Happy May Day! May 1st is a traditional day of celebration of the coming of spring with May poles and dancing and general carrying on. In Europe it is also a day of solidarity with labor, similar o the US celebration of Labor Day toward the end of Summer.

Of course, Mayday, as a single word, typically repeated three times, is also an international call for help on the sea and in the air.  Mayday is a fairly recent term, dating only to the use of radio for communication with ships and airplanes. In 1923, Frederick Stanley Mockford, a senior radio officer at Croydon Airport in London, Mockford was asked to think of a word that would indicate distress  in an emergency. Many of the flights from London in those days were to Paris, so he borrowed from the French phrase, venez m’aider, meaning “come help me.”  Shortened to two rhyming syllables, Mayday was easily understood by pilots and ground crew.  Mayday was adopted as an international code word in 1927.

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Re-Discovering the Lost Egyptian Port of Heracleion After 1,200 Years Under the Sea

Posted on by April 30, 2013
hercleion1

Photo: Christoph Gerigk/Franck Goddio/Hilti Foundation

In 2001, a joint French-English expedition was searching the bottom of Egypt’s Aboukir Bay for the wrecks of French warships sunk in the “Battle of the Nile” in 1798.  Instead they re-discovered a lost city.  Known as Thonis to the Egyptians and Heracleion to the Greeks, the port city was no more than before it was rediscovered 1,200 years after it sank into the sea.  Now after more than a decade’s research, archaeologists have discovered a wealth of artifacts, revealing the trade and culture of a vibrant city at the center of Mediterranean trade.  A new documentary Egypt’s Sunken City/ A Legend Is Revealed examines the discoveries and uses 3D modeling to recreate the ancient city.  Thanks to Irwin Bryan and Alaric Bond for passing along the news.

3D map raises the real-life Atlantis from the deep: Scientists recreate Egyptian trading town buried for 1,200 years

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Are Humans the Descendents of the Aquatic Ape ? The Argument Continues on Both Sides of the Atlantic

Posted on by April 29, 2013

Baby_divingThere were two scientific conferences scheduled recently, both of which would address or were, to one degree or another, inspired by the “aquatic ape hypothesis” of evolution.  One conference will feature speakers supporting the hypothesis, while the second will hold it up for satire and ridicule.  Who says science isn’t a contact sport?

Next week, in London, the Royal Marsten School will sponsor the conference, “Human Evolution Past, Present & Future – Anthropological, Medical & Nutritional Considerations,” “a two-day symposium to explore new research and evidence which suggests that at some stage during the last few million years, our human ancestors were exposed to a period of semiaquatic evolution which led to the acquisition of unique and primordial human characteristics.” Speakers, including Sir David Attenborough, will voice support for the hypothesis.

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Saving the Lettie G Howard – South Street Seaport Museum Raises $250,000 to Restore Historic Schooner

Posted on by April 28, 2013

Lettie1Wonderful news!  In February 2012, the 1893 built, Freedonia class fishing schooner, Lettie G. Howard was drydocked to repair rot in her keelson.  The rot was found to be far more extensive than expected and since then the South Street Seaport Museum has been raising funds to repair the historic schooner.  Now, despite a world of other troubles, including being struck a devastating blow by Superstorm Sandy, the South Street Seaport Museum has succeeded in raising the $250,000 needed to restore the Lettie G Howard.   The highpoint of the fundraising was the recent gala fundraising performance by singer-songwriter Rosanne Cash.

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Istar, “Celebrity” Humpback Whale Killed by Likely Ship Strike

Posted on by April 27, 2013

istarThe mature female humpback whale that washed ashore dead on Long Beach Island last week was well known to scientists, who have tracked her for thirty seven years.  Kimberly Durham, rescue program director of the Riverhead Foundation, described her as a “celebrity in the whale world.”  The humpback was nicknamed Istar, after the Babylonian goddess of fertility. Istar was one of the most productive female humpback whales in the Gulf of Maine population, giving birth to at least eleven known calves. Istar was reported to be at least 41 years old, 48 feet long and was estimated to weigh 30 to 35 tons.  The investigation into the whale’s death is underway but the damage to her skull suggests that she was run down by a ship.  Ship strikes are one of the greatest threats to endangered species of whales.

Humpback found dead on East Quogue beach was a celebrity whale

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The Last Swift Boat

Posted on by April 26, 2013

There has been lots of interest in the restoration of surviving  World War II PT (Patrol Torpedo) boats. The closest thing to a PT boat in service during the Vietnam War was the PCF, Patrol Craft Fast, better known as the Swift Boat. These boats, at 50 feet long, were smaller than the World II vintage PT boats and relied on machine guns and mortars as their principal armament rather than torpedoes. The Swift boats were initially intended for coastal patrol and later became part of the “brown water” Navy, patrolling the interior waterways of Vietnam.  Now, volunteers from the Maritime Museum of San Diego have restored a 1968 Swift boat. Mark Gallant, the project manager says, “When this boat is up and running at the Maritime Museum, it will probably be the only operational swift boat in the United States and probably the world.”  Thanks to Alaric Bond for passing along the story.

Milestone reached for Vietnam swift boat project 

Chinese and Japanese Ships Contest Disputed Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands in the East China Sea

Posted on by April 24, 2013

Things are getting tense again in the East China Sea, specifically between the Chinese and Japanese.  The dispute is over a small group of uninhabited islands that lie between Okinawa and Taiwan and are known as Senkaku in Japanese and Diaoyu in Chinese.   Both natiosn claim the islands as soverign territory. Recently a Japanese nationalist group known as Ganbare Nippon sent 10 fishing boats carrying dozens of its members to the area around the islands. A representative for the group, Yasushi Watanabe, said the voyage — the third by Ganbare Nippon this year — was aimed at publicizing Japan’s territorial claim to the area, not at landing on the islands.  In response, the Chinese sent eight marine surveillance ships to the area.

Chinese and Japanese ships cluster around disputed islands

Congratulations to PortSide NewYork – Winner of the White House “Champions of Change” Award !

Posted on by April 24, 2013

Our hearty congratulations to PortSide NewYork, which today was awarded a White House Champions of Change award in recognition for the wonderful work done by the non-profit organization to assist their neighbors in Red Hook, a Brooklyn community absolutely devastated by Hurricane Sandy. The White House Champions of Change program honors everyday Americans doing extraordinary things in their communities. The award to Portside New York is indeed well deserved.

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Jersey Shore Offshore Roller Coast – Hurricane Sandy Icon – to Be Removed by Memorial Day

Posted on by April 24, 2013

starjetThe roller coasters on the Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey have long been a major attraction of the Jersey shore resort town. The latest roller coaster on the pier, the Star Jet (also referred to as the Jet Star,) was installed in 2002. It is steel, 52 feet high, had a top speed of 45 mph and a drop of 1,500 feet. Last November, storm waters from Hurricane Sandy destroyed much of Casino Pier and swept the roller coaster and three other rides into the Atlantic Ocean just off the beach. For the last six months it has become an attraction in its own right, a symbol of the power of Hurricane Sandy. Now the family that owns the amusement park has contracted with Weeks Marine to remove the roller coaster and other rides from the ocean before tourist season begins on Memorial Day. While there has been some support for leaving the roller coast in the ocean, that was vetoed by local officials over safety concerns.  Thanks to Mai Armstrong on the Working Harbor Committee blog for pointing out the news. Video of the coaster before and after the storm, after the jump.

Seaside Heights roller coaster could be out of ocean in a month

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Mississippi River – the Big Muddy Whips From Record Drought to Floods

Posted on by April 23, 2013

floodwarningA few months ago, the Mississippi River was showing the effects of a near record drought. There was talk in December of shutting down barge traffic on key sections of the river due to the low water levels. In January, the level of the water at St. Louis was 4.57 feet below the river gauge.  Today it is expected to rise to 39.4 feet above the river gauge, a forty five foot swing in water level in only four months.  Over the weekend, the river was closed to barge traffic, this time not due to low water but to high.  Several locks were shut down due to flood waters.  Also a 15-mile stretch of the Mississippi River near St. Louis was closed late Saturday after 114 barges broke free from a fleeting area and 11 of them, all containing coal, sank. A second barge accident, apparently unrelated to  flooding, also shut down the river near Vicksburg where about 30 barges broke free from a string under tow Sunday morning and struck a railroad bridge.  The river is expected to climb another 2½ feet in St. Louis before cresting Tuesday at 35 feet. That would be its highest level in nearly three years, though still nearly 15 feet below the record set in 1993.