Diaries tell forgotten story of Nelson’s nurse

Posted on by July 7, 2011

An intriguing article from the Independent.  Elizabeth Wynne was Lord Nelson’s nurse following the loss of his arm.  She left 40 volumes of diaries and was a witness to several key events of the 18th century.   She married one of Nelson’s “band of brothers”, Admiral Thomas Fremantle.  Nevertheless her diaries and the story of her life were almost lost to history.  For the first time, a definitive biography of “Betsey” Wynne is being written.

Diaries tell forgotten story of Nelson’s nurse
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“Making Waves”, Not Quite the Mary Celeste

Posted on by August 31, 2010

Sea Ray Sundancer 48

Last week the yacht, Making Waves, a 48 foot Sea Ray Sundancer, with its engine running and the autopilot engaged, came ashore on Redding Beach, FL, on the Gulf of Mexico, with no one aboard.  The boat is estimated to be worth around a million dollars.   Not quite the Mary Celeste but mysterious all the same.

Beached yacht removed, but owner has yet to claim it
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On this Day in History: John Glover’s Web-footed Marbleheaders Saved the Revolution

Posted on by August 30, 2010

John Glover

On August 29th, 1776, George Washington faced certain defeat.  Howe had been able to flank the Americans in Brooklyn, turning the Battle of Long Island into a rout. Washington was left with the remnants of his army on Brooklyn Heights, with the East River at his back and otherwise surrounded by the victorious British army.  Only a north-easterly wind kept the British fleet from sailing up the East River and attacking the American forces from behind.  The northeaster brought heavy rain.  In the evening, the rain abated, replaced by a heavy fog.

Washington called on the 14th Continental Regiment commanded by John Glover to evacuate the army across the East River.  Glover’s regiment was largely made up of fisherman and sailors and was called the “amphibious regiment” or simply the “web-footed Marbleheaders”.  Over night in the rain and the fog,  John Glover’s Marblehead Regiment saved Washington’s Army and the American revolution.
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“To Seek a Northwest Passage” – Clipper Adventurer Hits Uncharted Rock

Posted on by August 30, 2010

Clipper Adventurer

Stan Roger‘s classic song begins, “Ah, for just one time I would take the Northwest Passage; to find the hand of Franklin reaching for the Beaufort Sea.”   Stan died in 1983, but his son, Nathan Rogers, also a singer, recently set out on the Canadian cruise ship Clipper Adventurer bound for the Arctic via the Northwest Passage only to discover the challenges that remain in these icy waters.   On Friday, the Clipper Adventurer struck an uncharted rock  in about three metres of water, about 55 nautical miles east of Kugluktuk, Nunavut, which is also known as Coppermine, near the border with the Northwest Territories.  After attempts to free the ship failed over the weekend the Canadian icebreaker, Amundsen, evacuated the passengers and crew.  They were ferried to Kugluktuk and are expected to fly to Edmonton some time today.

‘To seek a Northwest Passage’: Son of iconic folk singer Stan Rogers aboard grounded Arctic ship

For Rogers fans here is  Stan singing Northwest Passage, often referred to as the unofficial Canadian national anthem:

Stan Rogers – Northwest Passage
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Brig Niagara Brings Unwelcome Stowaways to Isle Royale National Park

Posted on by August 29, 2010

Another article about stowaways, though of a completely different sort – zebra mussels on the Brig Niagara.  Earlier this month, the Niagara, a historically accurate reconstruction of Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry’s victorious 1813 flagship,  visited Isle Royale, an island National Park in northwestern Lake Superior under terms of a special use permit that required that the ship be free of aquatic invasive species, especially the zebra mussel.  Despite the efforts of volunteer divers to clean the hull prior to her arrival, National Park Divers found zebra mussel infestation.  After an initial attempt at cleaning the ship was judged too risky, raising the possibility of seeding the  harbor with the invasive mussel, the ship left the park and sailed for Duluth.

Historic Ship Brings Unwelcome Stowaways to Isle Royale National Park
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Clipper Ship City of Adelaide to be Sent to Australia

Posted on by August 28, 2010

Great news!  The oldest just barely surviving composite clipper ship in the world, the City of Adelaide appears  likely to be moved to Australia to its namesake city, Adelaide.  The ship, which is currently at the Scottish Maritime Museum in Irvine, Scotland, has been threatened by scrapping as the museum lacked the fund to care for the ship.    The announcement, made by Scottish Culture Minister, Fiona Hyslop, was a disappointment to a competing group which wanted the old clipper to be moved to Sunderland – where she was built in 1864.

Historic clipper City of Adelaide to be sent to Australia
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Atlantic Container Line to Take Delivery of Prison Containers

Posted on by August 28, 2010

Photo: Will van Dorp

One of the ways that stowaways can get aboard liner ships these days is to hide in cargo containers.  Atlantic Container Lines will be using containers for a related if rather different purpose.  The shipping line will soon take delivery of five containers converted to temporary prison cells to hold stowaways found aboard their ships.

ACL to utilise ‘prison boxes’ for stowaways
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The ‘impossible’ voyage of a Tamil ghost ship

Posted on by August 27, 2010

Despite all odds, earlier this month, 492 Tamil refugees arrived in Vancouver in an old and barely seaworthy ship, then named the Sun Sea.  The Tamil Ghost ship, as she has been dubbed,  had been intermittently tracked by the maritime authorities of various nations as she made her way from Thailand to Canada, changing names and registries along the way.  The ship was intercepted by the Canadian Navy as she approached the coast, and was allowed to dock.   Who funded the voyage and even who the passengers are remains unclear.
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“Sisters Under Sail” – Schooner Unicorn at Tall Ships Chicago

Posted on by August 27, 2010

Earlier this week we posted about Tall Ships Chicago 2010.   Among the roughly 20 tall ships participating is the 118-foot topsail schooner Unicorn whose crew includes six Chicago-area girls from the “Sisters Under Sail” program.

“Adventure of a Lifetime” is About More Than Sails, Knots
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Scanning of the Titanic Underway

Posted on by August 27, 2010

Expedition Titanic has begun to 3D scan and map the entire Titanic debris field using AUVs (Autonomous Underwater Vehicles)and to attempt to create an accurate virtual model of the entire ship.   We have learned from their Facebook page that the AUV ” Mary Ann was deployed at 2:47 am EST today. After diving for an hour and forty minutes, she reached bottom. Surveying of the Titanic wreck site has begun.”

Scientists 3D Scan the Titanic before it disintegrates

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The Red Wolf Conspiracy by Robert Redick – A Review

Posted on by August 26, 2010

I recently had recommended to me Robert Redick’s The Red Wolf Conspiracy, a fantasy epic which is almost exclusively set aboard the Imperial Merchant Ship Chathard, a 600 year old sailing ship of immerse proportions and age that sets out on a mission of mystery and intrigue with a huge crew and equally large and varied cast of characters.

The Red Wolf Conspiracy is an engaging and simply fun fantasy romp set on another world with a complex history of imperial warfare and contentious religious disputes as well as mages, magic, tiny creatures and “woken” animals who can think and talk.  And at the heart of it all is the IMS Chathard, over six hundred years old and by far the largest ship in the empire of Arqual, and for that matter the world. The Red Wolf Conspiracy is far grittier and much more nautical than most fantasy tales I have read. I still wouldn’t quite call it nautical fiction, but it is close.
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At the Movies – First Pirates of the Caribbean and now Battleship!

Posted on by August 25, 2010

Brooklyn Decker

Once movies were based on great novels.  Of course, they usually ruined the story, but at least you could say, “I liked the book better.”   Then, seven years ago,  Jerry Bruckheimer produced a movie based on a Disney World amusement ride. The movie, Pirates of the Caribbean, with a production budget of $140 million, was a huge hit, grossing over $650 million worldwide,  spawning two sequels, with one more on the way.   Now a major studio is investing $200 million on a movie based on the Milton Bradley board game, Battleship.  It will feature Taylor Kitsch, pop star Rihanna and “supermodel” Brooklyn Decker. This will be Rihanna’s first movie and Decker’s second.

Brooklyn Decker’s Cannons To Star In ‘Battleship’
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Camden’s Windjammer Festival Starts Friday

Posted on by August 31, 2010

Camden, Maine’s Windjammer Festival starts  Friday, September 3rd, and runs through Sunday.   Camden’s harbor always seemed to me to be a windjammer festival on virtually any summer day so this gathering  of the Maine Windjammer fleet and the dockside Maritime Heritage Fair should be quite an event.  Unfortunately the festivities begin with a mock pirate attack on Camden harbor, which seems to be the obligatory nod to the Disneyfication of pirates.    Neverthess, the rest of the activities look great.

Thanks to Alaric Bond for pointing out the festival.

Captain John Moore – Submarine Commander and Editor of Jane’s Fighting Ships

Posted on by August 24, 2010

Captain John Moore, submarine captain, developer of covert landings techniques of the Special Boat Service and editor of Janes Fighting Ships, died last month at age 88.

Captain John Moore

Jane’s Fighting Ships, an annual publication which became the leading authority on the world’s navies, had been founded by Fred T Jane in 1898. Moore was its editor from 1973 to 1987. Before the age of computers and electronic databases he organised this superlative, fact-packed encyclopedia from a garden shed on the Pevensey marshes.
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HMS Cassandra, HMS Myrtle and HMS Gentian, Sunk in the Russia Revolution, Located

Posted on by August 24, 2010

HMS Cassandra

Ninety years on, locations of Royal Navy warships sunk in Russian Revolution are found

The wrecks of three British warships sunk more than 90 years ago – seeking to prevent the Bolshevik Revolution from spreading West – have been located in the Baltic Sea by the Estonian Navy.

HMS Cassandra, HMS Myrtle and HMS Gentian were lost as they fought to keep Estonia out of the hands of Vladimir Lenin after his seizure of power in Russia.

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Online Tour of NS Savanah – World’s first nuclear powered merchant ship

Posted on by August 21, 2010

In 1819, the SS Savannah was first steamship in the world to cross the Atlantic Ocean.   Despite this accomplishment, the Savannah was a commercial failure and was converted back to sail shortly after returning from Europe.   It is somehow fitting that one hundred and forty years later in 1959,  the first nuclear powered cargo ship would be named after the SS Savannah.   Like her namesake the NS Savannah was a commercial failure, operating at a loss between 1962 and 1971, before being decommissioned.  The NS Savannah is currently laid up in the Port of Baltimore, Maryland.

The Historic Naval Ships Association has put together a fascinating “virtual tour”of the NS Savannah, the “ship of the future” that time  left behind.

VIRTUAL TOUR OF NS SAVANNAH

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Laura Dekker Sets Sail from Somewhere

Posted on by August 23, 2010

Laura Dekker, the Dutch 14 year old, reportedly set sail on Saturday on her attempt to sail around the world alone, at least according to her manager.   Ms. Dekker was originally reported to have departed from Portugal but is now believed to have left via Gibraltar on her 38′ yacht, Guppy.  If she completes the voyage within two years she will be the youngest person to have completed a single-handed circumnavigation.   Australian teenager Jessica Watson is likely to retain the tile of the youngest to single-hand around the world non-stop as Ms. Dekker is reportedly planning at stopping in as many as 20 ports along the way.   Last April Ms Dekker won a court case against Dutch social services who sought to prevent her from making the circumnavigation attempt due to her age.

Teenager Dekker ‘sets sail’ on world record bid

Lost at Sea – The Ocean in the English Imagination, 1550-1750

Posted on by August 21, 2010

Astrolabe c.16th -17th century

The Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, DC has been hosting an intriguing exhibit:  Lost at Sea – The Ocean in the English Imagination, 1550-1750.   Unfortunately the exhibit itself is almost over, running only through September 4th.  Nevertheless, for those of us who cannot make it to Washington, the exhibit website itself is fascinating.

The NY Times recently published a review of the exhibit:

The Sea and the English Who Tried to Master It.
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