The Russian Oscar-II class nuclear-powered cruise missile submarine Kursk sank ten years ago yesterday with a loss of all aboard. One hundred and sixteen crew members and two weapons experts died in what is believed to have been the explosion of a faulty torpedo. At 154m long and four stories high, the Kursk was the largest attack submarine ever built.
10 years after Kursk sinking, questions remain
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Last Saturday we posted about a one hundred square mile ice island that broke off from the Petermann glacier in Greenland. Experts from the Canadian government, with the aid of NASA , the European Space agency and numerous other academic institutions, are planning how to deal with the massive ice island as it breaks up while drifts to the south over the next two years, potentially threatening oil platforms and shipping.
Giant iceberg drifting toward Canada could threaten ships, oil platforms
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MSC Chitra
The containership MSC Chitra and the bulk carrier Khalijia 3 collided near Mumbai, India on Saturday, resulting in the sinking of the MSC Chitra, a significant oil spill and the loss of at least 200 containers in the ship channel which posed a danger to navigation. The spill and the lost containers, both sunk and floating, shut down full port operations. Now five days later the port has reopened and the finger-pointing as to who is responsible for the collision has intensified. MSC is blaming the operation of the Khalijia 3, while local news is highlighting past safety problems on the MSC Chitra. Others are questioning the effectiveness of the response to the events by the Indian government.
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For years the schooner Hindu has been a favorite in Provincetown, MA. The classic schooner is credited in helping to establish the summer whale watching trade in the port. Sadly, after several years of battles between her investors over the ownership and operation of the schooner, she was sold at auction yesterday for $500 to the only bidder, Fairwinds Credit Union of Orlando, Fla., to whom the previous owners of the schooner owe $336,000. An unnamed group of investors in talks with the credit union to buy the Hindu and return it to New England. According to Schoonerman, “Hindu was designed by William Hand and built in 1925 by Hodgkin Bros., Boothbay, Maine.” Thanks to Tom Russell of the Traditional Sail Professionals Linked-In Group for the heads-up about the auction.
The just released, A Battle Won by S. Thomas Russell, is classic nautical fiction – vivid, fast paced and full of drama, both on sea and land. Master and Commander Charles Hayden is a gifted naval commander with extremely bad luck. In the previous book, Under Enemy Colors, he found himself serving aboard HMS Themis, a frigate with a tyrannical captain and a mutinous crew. Now in A Battle Won, instead of being allowed to take command of his own ship, Hayden is reassigned back to the Themis, a ship with such a bad reputation that no captain wants the command.
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The fate of the oldest composite clipper ship in the world, the City of Adelaide, has yet to b determined. In the mean time, former TV host and science educator, Dr. Rob Morrison, has designed a simple paper pattern that students can cut out and put together in class, building their very own City of Adelaide ship-in-a-bottle.
A recent Coast Guard report on boating safety noted: “Nearly 75 percent of the 736 people who died in boating accidents in 2009 drowned, and 84 percent of those victims reportedly were not wearing a life jacket,” said Rear Adm. Kevin Cook, the Coast Guard’s director of prevention policy. “The two most important things boaters can do to prevent the loss of life is to wear a life jacket and take a boater education course.”
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This is a busy week for maritime festivals in the US. In Grand Haven, Michigan, the Michigan Pirate Festival 2010 kicked off yesterday with a very Hollywood version of pirates and piracy. So aargh and shivery m’ timbers. If only the problem of piracy were so benign. The festival runs through Sunday. Also in Michigan, the White Lake Area Maritime Festival will be held from August 12-14th.
In Burlington, Vermont, the Lake Champlain Maritime Festival starts up this Thursday, with lots of music, exhibits and scenic cruises throughout the weekend. Not to be outdone by Michigan’s Pirates, Nightmare Vermont’s troupe of pirates will be swashbuckling and roaming the waterfront. Classic Sailing Vessel “Friend Ship” and the Spirit of Ethan Allen will be offering cruises from the Burlington Boat House.
On Saturday the Connecticut River Museum’s Annual Family Maritime Festival starts in Essex, CT., with maritime games, songs, and schooner deck tours offered free of charge throughout the afternoon. There will be demonstrations on how to make rope, caulk a ship, and sing a sea chantey. Tickets for afternoon sails on the the historic schooner Mary E will also be available. In the evening, a picnic concert will feature sea chanteys sung by the Freemen of the Sea and folk rock performed by Amalgamated Muck.
In 2004, at least 170 people died when a tsunami hit the fishing village of Poompuhar, in India on the Bay of Bengal. According to legend, this was not the first time. As described in ancient Tamil texts and by Ptolemy and Pliny, Poompuhar was once a major port city which traded with the Roman Empire and China, until it was “swallowed by the sea,” over two thousand years ago in what in modern terms must have been a tsunami. Now an expedition is being launched to explore the sea bottom off Poompuhar for evidence of the ancient city.
Post-tsunami, raising the lost treasures of Poompuhar challenge divers
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Folk music legend Joan Baez and special guest Roger McGuinn will kick off the first of the “Summer Concert Series at the Queen Mary” this Friday, August 13th, as part of the summer-long 2010 Long Beach Sea Festival. This will be the first a series concerts planned for August and September at the Harry Bridges Memorial Park at the Queen Mary including performances by Motown giant Smokey Robinson on Aug. 18, legendary Southern California rock band the Beach Boys on Aug. 19 and three-time Grammy®-Award winning folk-rock artist Lucinda Williams and special guest JP, Chrissie & The Fairground Boys on Aug. 26.
Thanks to Alaric Bond for passing on news of the event.
About a year ago, I saw what appeared to be a man standing up in the middle of the Hudson River. That is about all I could see. He appeared to making a sweeping motion with his hands and arms and looked to be holding a broom stick of some sort. As he got closer I could see that he was standing on a rather wide surf board and the broomstick was a paddle. He was paddling standing up, which to a kayaker like myself seemed both tiring and a bit perilous.
Now it appears that SUP, stand-up paddling, has hit the mainstream. Both the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times (twice) have featured SUP in articles within the last several weeks. The sport has its own magazine, books, DVDs and of course, lots of gear. It all still looks a bit odd to a SDP (Sitting Down Paddler) like me, but it is intriguing nevertheless.
Surf’s Up: The Rise of Stand-up Paddle Boards
A Surfing Icon Embraces a Mellower Wave & This Summer’s Hamptons
Ten years ago today, the Confederate Navy submarine H.L. Hunley was raised from the bottom of Charleston harbor in South Carolina, where it sank in 1864. The Hunley was the first submarine to sink an enemy warship in combat. A decade after the submarine was raised, there is still no consensus on the cause of the submarine sinking after it attacked and sank the USS Housatonic on blockade duty in Charleston’s outer harbor.
10 years on, mystery of Confederate sub remains
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Enormous Ice Block Breaks Off Greenland Glacier
A 100-square-mile block of ice 600 feet thick has calved off one of the largest ocean-bordering glaciers in Greenland. The Arctic hasn’t lost a chunk of ice that big since 1962.
“In the early morning hours of August 5, an ice island four times the size of Manhattan was born in northern Greenland,” oceanographer Andreas Muenchow of University of Delaware said in a press release August 6. “The freshwater stored in this ice island could keep the Delaware or Hudson rivers flowing for more than two years. It could also keep all U.S. public tap water flowing for 120 days.”
Petermann glacier is located about 600 miles south of the North Pole. Muenchow and a team of scientists have been studying it since 2003. They had been expecting the glacier to calve, but this piece is much larger than anyone had expected.
The glacier lost about one-quarter of its 43-mile long floating ice-shelf.
This is the season for waterfront and harbor festivals. Here are three that promise good food along with music and the sea air.
In Washington state, the first Gig Harbor Wine & Food Festival starts at noon today at the future site of the Harbor History Museum. The festival features tasting tent with more than 35 wineries, local restaurants and food businesses and is sponsored by the Harbor History Museum and the Gig Harbor Historic Waterfront Association.
About a thousand miles down the Pacific Cost, as part of the summer-long Long Beach Sea Festival, the 17th Annual Long Beach Crawfish Festival starts today, promising lots of crawfish and Zydeco music. A taste of Louisiana on the West Coast.
Down East on the East Coast, in Rockland Maine the 63rd Annual Maine Lobster Festival is in fill swing. It started on Wednesday and continues through Sunday.
An update to our previous post – the Sapphire Princess cruise ship, which was found to have impaled a female humpback whale on her bulbous bow last week, probably did not kill the whale. A necropsy finished this week suggests that the whale was already dead. This is the second dead whale impaled by the Sapphire Princess in two years. Almost exactly a year ago, the Sapphire Princess arrived in Vancouver with 70′ fin whale impaled on its bow. A subsequent necropsy determined that the fin whale had also probably been dead when struck by the cruise ship.
Inspectors have identified traces of homemade explosives on the hull of the MOL tanker M. Star, confirming that it was the target of a terrorist attack. The ship was struck by an explosion just after midnight on July 28, as the vessel was traveling through the Strait of Hormuz. A group with ties to Al-Qaida has claimed responsibility for the attack.
Japanese oil tanker hit by terrorist bomb, say inspectors
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We recently posted about the world’s oldest champagne found on the Baltic seabed. While not as old, yet equally historic, a case of Shackleton’s Whisky has recently gone on display at the the Canterbury Museum in Christchurch on New Zealand’s South Island.
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Last week we posted about Navy Days at the Portsmouth Naval Base which took place over the weekend. Thanks to David Hayes for pointing out this video of the festivities for all of us who couldn’t make it to Portsmouth.
Nina & Pinta
Replicas of two of Christopher Columbus’ ships, the Nina and Pinta, will be visiting Hudson, Wisconsin. The ships will be open to visitors at the Hudson Docks from Friday, Aug. 6, through Monday, Aug. 16.
Columbus Ship Replicas Come To Wisconsin
The “Nina” was built without power tools. Archaeology magazine calls it “the most historically correct Columbus replica ever built.” The “Pinta” was recently built to accompany the “Nina.”
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Sounds like a great evening for those in the New York area. Thanks to Al Cuenin for the heads up.
From oceans to puddles, songs of the seas, lakes, canals, and the ships and sailors who sail them. A singalong evening aboard an historic tanker, the Mary Whalen. Bring voices, instruments, and ears. Bring the kids. Bring a picnic. This will be a grand evening for the whole family.
When: Sunday 8 August, 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. TankerTime aboard the Mary Whalen starts at 5:00 p.m.
Where: see www.portsidenewyork.org
Who: Singers and musicians from the Folk Music Society of New York
How much: Free