The New York Daily News reported good news this morning:
Whales return to New York City: Massive mammals appearing again in seas near city; draws sightseers
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Cranes attempting to salvage chemical tank barge Waldhof
An update to a post from last week: A backlog of close to 400 ships is still bottled up on the Rhine River following the capsizing of the 110M chemical tank barge, Waldhof, on January 13th near the Lorelei Rock. The Waldhof is carrying 2,400 tonnes of sulfuric acid.
Hundreds of ships stuck as Rhine still blocked by shipwreck
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Before video games and personal computers, there were gamebooks. They were novels where at critical scenes you as the reader were given a series a choices. “A troll comes out of the cave carrying a large club. You will (a) run away, (b) say hello or (c) barter for gold. ” Depending on which choice you made you would be told to go to page 34 or whatever where your choice would be played out until you reached another branch and another set of choices.
“Choice of Broadsides” is a game book in e-book format available on the Kindle.
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Museums on two coasts have special Valentine’s Days events planned for sailors. The Penobscot Marine Museum in Searsport, Maine is offering a sailor’s valentine workshop for adults on Saturday, Feb. 12, just in time for Valentine’s Day. In San Diego’s warmer climes, the Maritime Museum of San Diego is offering sweetheart cruise on the Californian, the state’s official tall ship.
San Diego: Tall ship offers ‘Sweetheart Sail’ for Valentine’s Day
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A wonderful post from John Edwards’ Ocean Liners blog. Captain John asks the question, “what if Hitler made a Titanic movie? ” He then answers it, “he did.” A heavily fictionalized and equally anti-British version of the Titanic tragedy was made in Germany in 1942 and released in Paris in 1943.
What if Hitler Made a Titanic Movie? (He Did)
Captain John writes: Unsurprisingly, it’s a propaganda film. To say the movie doesn’t quite stick to the facts and has its own unique point of view on the disaster is an understatement. But then, of course, what do you expect from Nazis?
The entire film is available for viewing on online. Watching the movie is not unlike sitting in the audience for Springtime for Hitler in that your jaw will likely be dropped open for the film’s entire length.
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INS Sudarshini is launched by Letha Sushil, wife of Vice-Admiral
The Indian Navy has launched its second sail training ship, INS Sudarshini. The name means “beautiful lady.” She will be a three masted barquentine and will join INS Tarangini, the Indian navy’s other sail training ship which was commissioned in 1997. Both ships were designed by naval architect, Colin Mudie, and both were built in Goa Shipyard Limited.
HMS Victory
Earlier this month we posted about a report which features dire warnings about the condition of HMS Victory. Thanks to David Hayes for passing along an update on the restoration work planned for the old ship.
Restoration work for HMS Victory
Major restoration work is to be undertaken to ensure that Nelson’s flagship HMS Victory in Portsmouth is fully preserved for future generations.
Recent survey work on the 18th century warship revealed that it was leaking, suffering from rot and being pulled apart by its own weight.
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The great challenge of ship preservation in these times always seems to be largely financial. SS Shieldhall, the UK’s “2009 Flagship of National Historic Ships” is in danger of scrapping unless funds can be raised to complete and upcoming drydocking.
Historic steamship SS Shieldhall needs £80,000 to keep sailing
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Last Saturday, we posted that the commander of the German sail training ship, Gorch Fock, had been dismissed from his command and ordered home after reports of a mutiny in November, following the death of a cadet. Now there is a very disturbing article in The Maritime Executive suggested that the range of problems aboard may be more extensive than originally known.
German Navy Training Ship Dubbed ‘Floating Brothel’
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A grand piano appeared recently on a sand bar in Biscayne Bay. It has been the subject of considerable discussion.
Mysterious grand piano found on Biscayne Bay sandbar
Here’s a mystery that gives a whole new meaning to the phrase “piano bar.”
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The Australia Day Regatta was held today in Sydney harbor and featured more than 50 classic wooden yachts, many gaff-rigged, and several built more than a century ago. The Australia Day Regatta is the oldest continuously-conducted annual sailing regatta in the world, having been held each year since 1837 to commemorate the anniversary of the first European settlement of Australia.
The old expression goes “I love work. I could look at it for hours.” The web cams at the Lunenburg Shipyard give us a fine glimpse of the work being done rebuilding the Bluenose II. There are actually three webcams, a bow, a stern and an overhead view. Here also is also a web cam of master shipwright Leon Poindexter’s Boston “Tea Party” ship in Gloucester. Thanks to Captain Richard Bailey for passing the links along. Click on the image below to go to the Bluenose II cams.
Propeller from UC 42 with identifying markings
Divers in Ireland have located the intact hull of German World War I submarine, the UC42, in Cork harbor. The discovery of the intact ship came as a surprise as the submarine was believed to have been destroyed by Royal Navy divers with explosives in 1919. The submarine is believed to have sunk on September 10th in 1917 while laying on a mine laying mission in the harbor at Cork, Ireland.
Captain Mark E. Kelly (right) and Captain Scott J. Kelly (left)
U.S. Navy Captain Mark Kelly, Congresswoman Gabby Giffords’ husband, has been by her side since she was tragically shot in Tucson earlier this month. We posted previously about how Captain Kelly, who is a NASA astronaut, went to the United States Merchant Marine Academy at Kings Point, NY.
Captain Mark Kelly has a twin brother, Scott, who is also an astronaut and who also went to a merchant marine academy, the State University of New York Maritime College at Fort Schuyler, only a few miles across the water from Kings Point. The Kelly brothers are the only twins and the only siblings who have both traveled in space. Captain Scott Kelly is currently in space as the commander of the International Space Station. Both brothers each have two children from earlier marriages. Scott is currently divorced. Mark married Congress woman Giffords on November 10, 2007.
Catamaran Pineapple
Five sailors aboard the catamaran Pineapple, which had been reported missing last Tuesday have arrived in the port of Maasin on Leyte Island, in the Philippines after being escorted in by the Philippines Coast Guard. The 38 foot catamaran suffered rudder damage in heavy seas.
The US Coast Guard which had been searching for the missing boat criticized the crew for failing to have long-range communications equipment, emergency distress equipment and for not filing a comprehensive sailing plan. The 38 foot catamaran suffered rudder damage in heavy seas sailing from Guam to the Philippines. Reportedly, communications were established when the catamaran drifted withing cell phone range and a woman on board managed to contact her husband by phone yesterday afternoon. The husband called rescuers in Guam to give the boat’s coordinates.
Five Americans rescued off Philippines after heavy seas left catamaran drifting for a week
The Morgan Library & Museum in New York city has a new exhibition that opened on Friday, “The Diary: Three Centuries of Private Lives,” which chronicles three hundred years of diaries and journals of the famous and the obscure. In particular interest to those of a nautical bent is the diary of the pirate Bartholomew Sharpe, who in 1682, stood trial for piracy and murder. He was acquitted after turning over to to King Charles II a true pirate’s treasure – a hand-drawn chart book—or derrotero—seized from the Spanish ship Rosario. The chart book provided the English with invaluable intelligence in challenging Spanish domination of the Americas. Instead of dancing in the gibbett, Captain Sharpe was feted and had his diary copied in manuscript form bound in fine red leather, and presented to members of the royal court.
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Interior Bow of the LEGO "Love Boat"
A quarter of a million LEGO blocks! That is what it took to build the model of the Pacific Princess “Love Boat” in LEGOs. The model took six months to construct, is 10.5 feet long and 5 feet high. It is the work of professional LEGO builder, Ryan McNaugh. (I was unaware that LEGO building could be a profession.) The model features both the interior and exterior of the ship. Very impressive. Click on the thumbnail for a larger image.
Photo: Marko Thiem, Marinetraffic.com
After attempting to sail on Wednesday and Thursday, the cruise ship Carnival Splendor finally departed San Diego under its own power on Friday, accompanied by two tugs. As of Sunday morning, around 05:00 local time, the ship was approaching San Francisco under its own power at roughly 12 knots. The ship will be drydocked in San Francisco to complete repairs and is expected to return to service on February 20th. The 215′ tall ship could not be drydocked in San Diego as it could not fit under the Coronado Bridge which has a 200′ maximum vertical clearance. The Pier 70 dry dock in San Francisco was expanded three years ago and is now the only drydock on the West Coast capable of repairing a ship the size of the Splendor.
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Two floating cranes are now in place to begin salvaging the Waldhof, a capsized 330 foot long tanker barge, loaded with 2,400 tonnes of sulfuric acid, which has blocked traffic on the Rhine River, Europe’s busiest inland water way, for over a week. A third crane is expected to arrive today and a fourth is expected next Tuesday. The river could remain closed to large ships for at least another 10 days. The tanker barge capsized on January 13 near Lorelei Rock and has stranded nearly 250 ships. The Waldhof has a stainless steel double-hull designed to prevent its storage tanks from rupturing in case of an accident.
Lorelei Rock marks the narrowest portion of the Rhine River and is noted for treacherous currents. According to legend, the Lorelei is the home of a mermaid whose song lures sailor’s to their death. While often claimed to be part of ancient folklore, the origin of the tale appears to date from an 1801 poem by Clemens Brentano.
At just before 0800 GMT this morning, Pascal Bidegorry and the crew of the 40 meter trimaran Banque Populaire set off from Brest in an attempt to win the Jules Verne Trophy. The Jules Verne Trophy is a prize for the fastest circumnavigation of the world. The record is currently held by the trimaran Groupma 3 which, under the command of Franck Cammas, circumnavigated the globe in 48 days 7 hours 44 minutes 52 seconds.