Restoration work for HMS Victory

Posted on by January 28, 2011

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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Historic steamship SS Shieldhall needs £80,000 to keep sailing

Posted on by January 28, 2011

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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Was the Gorch Fock “Germany’s largest floating brothel?”

Posted on by January 27, 2011

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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175th Australia Day Regatta

Posted on by January 26, 2011

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.

175th Australia Day Regatta

Waterfront Webcams – Bluenose II and the “Tea Party” ship

Posted on by January 26, 2011

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.

German Submarine UC42 Rediscovered in Cork Harbor

Posted on by January 25, 2011

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.

German U-Boat Rediscovered in Cork Harbour

The Kelly Brothers – Starship Sailors

Posted on by January 25, 2011

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.

The Pineapple has landed – 5 missing Americans arrive in Philippines

Posted on by January 24, 2011

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

Pride and Piracy: The Diary of Captain Bartholomew Sharpe

Posted on by January 24, 2011

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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LEGO Love Boat – LEGO Mania at its Finest

Posted on by January 24, 2011

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.

Lego Love Boat

Carnival Splendor Arrives in San Francisco for Drydocking and to Complete Repairs

Posted on by January 23, 2011

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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Blocked Rhine River – Sulphuric Acid Barge at the Lorelei Rock

Posted on by January 22, 2011

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.

Trimaran Banque Populaire Attempts to Win Jules Verne Trophy

Posted on by January 22, 2011

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.

Underway finally

Commander of Gorch Fock Dismissed, Ship Ordered Home

Posted on by January 22, 2011

An update on yesterday’s post.

German defense minister fires ship’s captain amid mutiny rumors

The German defense minister has dismissed the commander of the naval training ship Gorch Fock after cadets complained of harsh treatment from superiors following a fatal accident. The ship will now return to Germany.
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Glimpse at the New Mary Rose Museum – Carpenter’s Cabin Display

Posted on by January 21, 2011

In this latest video blog from Portsmouth Historic Dockyard, Chris Dobbs, Head of Interpretation at the Mary Rose Trust, talks us through the designing of the new carpenters cabin display, which is due to go into the new museum in 2012.

Christopher Dobbs of the Mary Rose Trust talks about the new Carpenters Cabin Display


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Are the Chinese Still Haunted by HEIC Nemesis – the Devil Ship?

Posted on by January 21, 2011

The Honourable East India Company ship Nemesis

In 1840, when she arrived off their coast,  the Chinese called the Honourable East India Company ship Nemesis, the devil ship.   She was the first British ocean-going iron warship.  In addition to two masts, she was powered by two two sixty horsepower Forrester steam engines driving paddle wheels.  She was armed with two pivot-mounted 32 pounder and four 6 pounder guns, and a rocket launcher.   Though underpowered and under-gunned she proved to be extremely effective in the coastal battles of the Opium Wars.   The Chinese had nothing that could remotely match her.

In a recent article in the Huffington Post, Rory Fitzgerald wonders whether the ghost of the Nemesis is still driving Chinese military and foreign policy.

China’s U.S. Visit: The Chinese Are Haunted by a Ghost Ship
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Mutiny on the Gorch Fock ?

Posted on by January 21, 2011

Last November, Sarah Schmidt, a 25 year old cadet fell to her death from the rigging of the German sailing training ship, Gorch Fock.   It is now being reported that shortly after Schmidt’s death the cadets aboard the ship mutinied and refused orders to go aloft.   It is also alleged that the ship’s commanding officer, Captain Norbert Schatz, verbally abused and demeaned the cadet crew.  Yesterday, the German government ordered the ship to break her round the world cruise and to divert to the Argentine port city of Ushuaia, pending a investigation of the events.

Cadet ‘mutiny’ scuppers German navy’s tall ship
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Group Campaigning to Move the USS Olympia to San Francisco

Posted on by January 20, 2011

A group of former workers at the Mare Island Naval Shipyard in the San Francisco Bay Area has launched a campaign to bring the USS Olympia to San Pablo Bay.  The Olympia, Commodore George Dewey’s flagship at the Battle of Manila Bay, is the only surviving steel warship of its era.

USS Olympia may find home in San Francisco
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Speed Dating – Nelson Style !?!

Posted on by January 19, 2011

Nelson style speed dating?   I hope this doesn’t involve boarding with cutlasses.

Unlucky in love? Try speed dating Nelson-style!

His romance with mistress Lady Hamilton is the stuff of legend – and singletons will hope to harness some of Lord Nelson’s pulling power at a speed dating event with a difference.

In an age where the search for love is often confined to the internet and the closest thing to penning a love letter is sending a text message, the National Museum of the Royal Navy will host a Georgian-themed speed dating event – mixing up the 21st and 18th centuries like never before.
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