Fire on the Horizon – The Untold Story of the Gulf Oil Disaster, by John Konrad and Tom Shroder

Posted on by September 18, 2010

gCaptain is one of my favorite blogs. It has a done a great job of covering the Deepwater Horizon disaster. Now gCaptain’s John Konrad has written a book, Fire on the Horizon – The Untold Story of the Gulf Oil Disaster, assisted by Pulitzer Prize winning journalist, Tom Shroder. It is due out in March of 2011 but can be pre-ordered now.  Should be a fascinating read.

Fire on the Horizon – The Untold Story of the Gulf Oil Disaster

On April 20, 2010, the half-billion-dollar floating oil rig Deepwater Horizon became a household name when it blew up, killing 11 people, shattering a multinational company’s reputation, and leaving an unprecedented swath of devastation in its wake. Told by veteran oil rig captain John Konrad and award-winning Washington Post journalist Tom Shroder, Fire on the Horizon is the remarkable story of this tragedy—the worst environmental disaster in the history of the Unites States—a riveting chronicle of engineering hubris at odds with the Earth itself, of corporate greed and unforgettable selflessness.
Continue reading →

For shipwreck survivor, a new honor and an old story

Posted on by September 17, 2010

Lanier W. Phillips, comedian Bill Cosby and former Washington Redskins star and the Dallas Cowboys’ first starting quarterback, Eddie LeBaron, were honored Wednesday with the U.S. Navy Memorial’s Lone Sailor award.  I, of course,  know Bill Cosby and as a young boy I watched LeBaron, the shortest pro- quarterback I have ever seen at only 5’7″, scramble so as not to be crushed by the the larger players, but I had never heard of Lanier W. Phillips.  His story is perhaps the most interesting of the three.

For shipwreck survivor, a new honor and an old story
Continue reading →

Salvo!

Posted on by September 17, 2010

I am not a big gamer but Salvo! does look like fun. It is also on sale for the rest of the month. There is even a free demo.

Salvo! on Sale in September

Salvo! is a turn based wargame covering naval warfare from the seventeenth through nineteenth centuries. Players can command a wide variety of ship types and do battle amongst all the major seafaring powers of the eras along with treacherous pirate scum. Campaign and scenario based, Salvo! also supports a thorough suite of editing tools that allow gamers to modify/create ships and scenarios. Additionally, players can do battle against live opponents even cross platform (PC versus Mac gamers).
Continue reading →

Real-time Research on Passenger Drills on RCCL’s Jewel of the Seas

Posted on by September 16, 2010

Jewel of the Seas

As cruise ships grow ever larger safety professionals have questioned whether passengers will be able to get to the life boats in time in case of an  emergency. (See Captain D. Peter Boucher’s BIGGER IS BETTER – NOT on his Nautical Log blog for as discussion of the problems of moving people to the boats on the new large ships.)

With that in mind, there is a very interesting research project ongoing. Researchers from the University of Greenwich’s Fire Safety Engineering Group used one hundred video cameras to document passenger movement in a live  assembly drill at sea on the  the Royal Caribbean cruise ship Jewel of the Seas.
Continue reading →

Prison ship records from 19th Century published

Posted on by September 16, 2010

Ancestry.co.uk. has published, on-line records, held by National Archives of 19th Century prison ships providing  a glimpse into the lives of the estimated 200,000 inmates.

Prison ship records from 19th Century published

The records outline the disease-ridden conditions on the “prison hulks”, created to ease overcrowding elsewhere.
Continue reading →

Frederick Marryat’s The Mission – Cue the Helicopters

Posted on by September 16, 2010

Marryat with helicopters?

David Hayes made a discovery that is too good not to share.  He came across a book cover of a reissue of Frederick Marryat‘s The Mission by Tutis Digital Publishing.   The cover shows a helicopter hovering low over the ocean about to pick up a commando in dive gear.  Exciting stuff.   Anyone not familiar with Marryat  who purchases the book, however, might be surprised to learn that it was written in 1845 and has no helicopters of any sort.    Captain Frederick Marryat was a Royal Navy captain and a prolific writer of nautical fiction.  He also wrote travel and children’s books.
Continue reading →

Manta Ray Camera Thief

Posted on by September 15, 2010

On an exhilarating manta ray night dive off Kailua-Kona, Hawaii in August, a manta ray steals a cameraman’s rig.  Thanks to Bill Nyden for pointing this out.

Manta Ray Absconds With $5,000 Camera

The once-in-a-lifetime encounter between an underwater cameraman and a larceny-minded manta ray is now part of posterity.

Travis Matteson was filming a school of mantas when what was described as the biggest fish in the bunch swam by, grabbed his $5,000 Canon 5D Mark II underwater rig and swam away. With the camera still rolling the entire time, the manta then got an opportunity to do its own filming of the underwater neighborhood before dropping the it right below the boat. Camera and diver were subsequently reunited.

Book ’em Danno: Klepto Manta Mugs Cameraman


Did Bling Doom Nelson?

Posted on by September 14, 2010

“Lord Nelson’s love of bling may be the reason he was shot dead at the Battle of Trafalgar, a medal expert claimed yesterday.”

Whether or not Nelson’s fondness for wearing his medals made him an easier target at Trafalgar, one of those medals, the Breast Star of the Order of the Bath, is soon to be up for auction in London.   Recently we posted about a Nelson victory poster which failed to sell at auction.   The medal is expected to do much better.  The Breast Star of the Order of the Bath is expected to fetch up to £500,000.  Experts have hailed the medals as “the most important piece of Nelson memorabilia to go under the hammer more than 100 years.”

LORD NELSON’S MEDALS MADE HIM A TARGET AT TRAFALGAR
Continue reading →

America’s Cup in Cats!

Posted on by October 20, 2013

As reported in Sail Magazine, the next America’s Cup will be sailed in 2013 in 72′ catamarans with wing sails.

America’s Cup in Cats!

According to officials, the new AC72 class will regularly attain speeds of 30 knots, “excite fans” as they “zip around the racecourse” and leave their 11-member crews “exhilarated and drained after a day of adrenaline-fueled racing.” I’ll bet!

An Historic Hull on Hallowed Ground: a Brigantine, a Brig, A Snow, a Schooner – ah Fuggedaboutit!

Posted on by September 14, 2010

The Brig not the Brigantine Niagara

There was an amusing bit of bantering and ballyhooing about ship jargon in the New York Times yesterday.   In an article about the remains of ship found in the excavation near the new World Trade Center (see our previous posts here)  The Gudgeon Did It: A Small Detail Settles a Maritime Mystery, David Dunlop explains that until archaeologists identified the gudgeon, they weren’t sure which end of the ship was which.  Dunlop then, somewhat gleefully, notes that  “thirty-six years in this business, and never before have I had the chance to use the words gudgeon and pintle in an article.”   So far, so good. Then the argument broke out.
Continue reading →

World’s biggest wave energy site off Cornish coast set to go live

Posted on by September 13, 2010

Last week we posted about Ocean Power Technologies (OPT) installation of  offshore buoys off the coast of Oregon  to capture and convert wave energy into electricity.   It appears that they will also be playing a key role in the world’s largest wave energy site set to go live soon off the Cornish coast.   The installation known as a “Wave Hub” is a sub-sea cable connecting t0 a socket with four 300 meter “tails” to which electricity producing wave generators will be attacked. wave   OPT’s PowerBuoy will be connected to one segment of the project early next year. Other companies including  WestWave, Fred Olsen Limited and Oceanlinx will also be connecting to the project.

World’s biggest Wave Hub installed off UK coast
Continue reading →

Tug Caribbean Sea Never Responded to Duck Boat in Fatal Collision

Posted on by September 12, 2010

Duck Boat being struck by barge

On July 7th, we posted about a collision between a barge towed by the tug Caribbean Sea and a disabled “Duck boat” DUKW 34 at anchor in the Delaware River off Philadelphia.  Two of the 35 passengers on the duck boat drowned in the collision.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) released a preliminary report on Friday, which says, among other things, that the mate in command of the tug did not respond to multiple radio calls from the DUKW 34 and other boats in the river prior to the collision.   A record of marine VHF traffic of Channel 13  made by the Burlington County Bridge Authority documents the attempts to contact the tug.   There was no lookout on the barge itself  and it is unclear whether the DUKW 34 was ever visible to the tug over the bow of the barge.  The mate on watch has refused to speak to investigators, invoking his Fifth Amendment rights against self incrimination.

The graphic below shows the relative position of the tug and barge and the DUKW 34 at the time of the collision.
Continue reading →

Jiaolong – the World’s Deepest Diving Submersible being Tested by the Chinese

Posted on by September 12, 2010

Jiaolong, 蛟龙, in Chinese folklore, is a shape-shifting water dragon.  For several months this summer the Chinese government has been quietly testing a new submersible, named Jiaolong, designed to dive to 7,000 meters.  If successful, it will be the deepest diving submersible in the world, diving deeper than the Japanese Shinkai 6500, which can dive to 6,500 meters and the American submersible Alvin which can dive to 4,500 meters.

China Explores a Frontier 2 Miles Deep
Continue reading →

Joe versus the Ice Island

Posted on by September 12, 2010

Early last month we posted about an ice island four times the size of Manhattan, a 100-square-mile block of ice 600 feet thick , that broke off from the Petermann glacier in Greenland.  In a case of an irresistible force meeting an immovable object, the ice island has collided with Joe Island, a small rocky outcrop in the Nares Strait, west of Greenland.  Joe Island appears to have won as the ice island has now broken in two.

‘Manhattan’ ice island splits in two
Continue reading →

Nelson Victory Poster on the Block but Fails to Sell

Posted on by September 11, 2010

An historic poster that originally sold for just a tuppence to celebrate Lord Nelson’s victory over the French and Spanish fleets at the Battle of Trafalgar went on the auction block this week. It was expected to fetch £40,000 but bids failed to meet the reserve price.

Auctioneers stuck with historic bill

Nelson Victory Poster for Sale
Continue reading →

Update on the M/V Magellan Star – “The Crew is on Holiday.”

Posted on by September 11, 2010

More details on the capture of the M/V Magellan Star.  The crew and the ship management company kept their heads and their sense of humor when the ship was boarded by Somali pirates on Wednesday.   When the pirates boarded the ship, the officers and crew disabled the engine and retreated to a hidden safe room.  As reported by the BBC:

The hijack began on Wednesday when pirates boarded the 8,000-tonne container ship, which flies the flag of Antigua.

But after searching the vessel for three hours, they were unable to locate the crew, according to the ship’s German owners, Quadrant.

The pirates then phoned the shipping company in Hamburg to ask where the crew were hidden.

“They were told the crew was on holiday,” said spokesman Juergen Salamon.

“They then asked how to switch the engines back on, but were told they were broken.”
Continue reading →

Toshiba Tall Ships Festival at Dana Point – Squareriggers, Schooners and Giant Squid

Posted on by September 10, 2010

The Toshiba Tall Ships Festival at Dana Point this weekend offers a wide range of attractions and activities.  It all starts with a parade of ships and schooners at sunset this evening.  The Brig Pilgrim, the replica of the ship made famous by Richard Henry Dana, has returned fron her yearly cruise and Dana’s classic “Two Years Before the Mast” will be read aloud on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.   In addition to the usual food, music, sailing and nautical lore, there will be something new this year – the public is invited to watch the Ocean Institute staff dissect a giant Humbolt squid. “Never done one during the Tall Ships Festival,” said Dan Stetson, president and chief executive of the institute. The dissection is included as a way to educate the public about a rapidly growing species considered invasive for certain areas, he said.

Tall Ships Festival starts today in Dana Point

Vote For the Pride of Baltimore II – Help Her Win $50K

Posted on by September 11, 2010

Photo: Lynn Digennaro

The Pride of Baltimore II needs your help.  The Pepsi Refresh Project is giving away $1.3 million dollars toward “ideas that refresh the Gulf.”  The Pride of Baltimore organization is competing for a $50, 000 grant to teach boating safety from the decks of the replica Baltimore clipper.   There are 1140 competitors and only the top ten will win the $50,000 grants.   The Pride II is currently ranking at 288. To help move her closer to winning, go to Teach Boating safety from the decks of Pride II, America’s Tall ship and vote for the project.  You can vote once a day until the end of September.  To receive a daily email reminder, send an email to Missy@pride2.org and in the subject line enter Pepsi.

Sir Francis Chichester’s Gipsy Moth IV for Sale

Posted on by September 10, 2010

Gipsy Moth IV, the yacht that Sir Francis Chichester singlehanded around the world is for sale for £250,000.  Chichester was the first person to sail single-handed around the world by the three capes, the route taken by the clipper ships.  He completed the voyage in Gipsy Moth IV in nine months and one day.  While brokers have suggested that there is considerable interest in the historic yacht, Chichester himself was not in love with it, saying, ‘She is cantankerous and difficult and needs a crew of three – a man to navigate, an elephant to move the tiller and a 3ft 6in chimpanzee with arms 8ft long to get about below and work the gear.’

Gipsy Moth IV for sale for £250k