Schooner, Building a Wooden Boat on Martha’s Vineyard – A Review

Posted on by July 14, 2010

In late May,  we posted about the publication of a beautiful new book by Alison Shaw and Tom Dunlop, Schooner – Building a Wooden Boat on Martha’s Vineyard.   We recently had the opportunity to read the book.  Our review:

Schooner – Building a Wooden Boat on Martha’s Vineyard details, in prose and photographs, the story of the design and construction of the schooner, Rebecca of Vineyard Haven, the largest wooden vessel to have been built on Martha’s Vineyard since the days of Abraham Lincoln.    Continue reading →

Paul, the Octopus Oracle, Retires On Top

Posted on by July 13, 2010

Paul, an octopus, was a recent sensation when he accurately predicated the outcome of eight World Cup games in a row; as many games as he has legs.  Now the World Cup is over and Paul, a resident of the Sea Life aquarium in Oberhausen, has retired from the oracle business and is returning to his previous job of entertaining aquarium guests.  Paul would predict the outcome of games when two clear plastic boxes were put in his tank, each with the flag of the competing team and a mollusk inside.  Paul would make his prediction by choosing which of the mollusks to eat first.
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Blue Whales in Monterey Bay

Posted on by July 12, 2010

Whale watchers were stunned last week to see 28 blue whales feeding on krill in Monterey Bay. Blue whales are the largest animal ever to live on earth and are also highly endangered with an estimated population of only 10,000 compared to over half a million a few decades ago.   A second season of plentiful krill seems to have lured the whales in the bay.    Whale watchers also saw a pod of 30-35 humpback whales feeding in the bay as well.

Plentiful krill lures dozens of blue whales to Monterey Bay

Summer Sunset Schooner Regatta in New York Harbor

Posted on by July 11, 2010

At the end of the recent holiday weekend I was amazed to see what at first looked like a schooner race in New York harbor.  Six large schooners were all short tacking down the channel against a gentle southerly breeze.   I soon realized that this was no organized race but was instead an informal gathering orchestrated by the setting sun.  Five large schooners and one frequent visitor all offer sunset cruises in New York Harbor. They all sail to roughly the same place, out past the Statue of Liberty, and all sail at close to sunset. In a single stroke the harbor suddenly is filled with sails. Here is a short video of a recent evening.

Six Schooners on Sunset Sail in New York Harbor, July 9th, 2010

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Oak Jam from HMS Victory?

Posted on by July 10, 2010

Oak flavored jam?

Wood from HMS Victory bottled as a jam in a jar

Admiral Lord Nelson led HMS Victory out of a few sticky situations, but now the ship finds itself in a bit of a jam.

Off-cuts of wood from the Portsmouth-based historic ship have been infused with fruit and brandy and processed to make a plum and oak flavoured jam.   Jars of the spread can be bought for £5 from a London art gallery – and without a splinter in sight.
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Hot Times on the Charlotte Maersk – Fire Reported Contained

Posted on by July 9, 2010

Charlotte Maersk (photo: Scanpix)

A fire in deck containers stowed forward of the house on the 8,000 TEU containership,  Charlotte Maersk, is reported to be contained.   The fire broke out on Wednesday as the ship was passing through the Straits of Malacca bound for Oman.   The ship is currently anchored off the Malaysian coast.   All crew are reported to be safe and unharmed.

Fire on Maersk ship under control

A company spokesperson said, however, that they were not certain when the fire, now in its second day, would be put out entirely.

Maersk spokesman Michael Christian Storgaard said the ship’s crew and crews from nearby ships were working to cool containers surrounding the fire in order to prevent it from spreading.

Irony Watch: One Whale Not Skimming Oil & Another That May Be, Unfortunately

Posted on by July 9, 2010

A sad irony that doesn’t actually involve whales.   The converted Ore/Bulk/Oil ship named “A Whale“ has not yet proven effective in skimming oil from the water, though modifications and testing continue.

‘A Whale’ oil skimmer testing extended a week

Unfortunately, whale sharks, which are no more whales than the converted OBO, may be proving more effective at oil skimming.  Recently more than more than 100 feeding whale sharks were spotted within 60 miles of the Deepwater Horizon blow-out.  Whale sharks, the biggest fish in the sea,  are filter feeders, scooping up plankton and small fish with their mouths as they swim just beneath the surface. Scientists are concerned they will swallow large amounts of toxic oil and die.

Whale sharks, ocean’s biggest fish, may be latest victims of Gulf Coast oil spill

Sail Tampa Bay 2010

Posted on by July 9, 2010

Gloria

Sail Tampa Bay 2010 is a five day festival, which starts today, celebrating Tampa Bay’s rich maritime history. The festival centerpiece is a visit by three sail training ships – the U.S. Coast Guard cutter Eagle, three-masted Columbian training barque Gloria and the Uruguayan navy training ship, the staysail schooner Capitan Miranda.

Tall ships sailing into Tampa
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“A Collision at Sea…” the Most Famous Thing Thucydides Never Said

Posted on by September 20, 2011

Thucydides is often said to have first written, “A collision at sea can ruin your entire day, ”  in his epic history, The Peloponnesian War. While the statement is unquestionably true, Thucydides never wrote it.   Today the New York Times’ Fred Shapiro attempts to  trackdown the origin of the mis-quote: Quotes Uncovered: When Ships Collide.

Herb Caen of the San Francisco Chronicle wrote about this on Feb. 14, 1971. He said: Continue reading →

The New Generation of Narco Submarines

Posted on by August 7, 2015

Until recent the narco subs used to smuggle cocaine into the United States were submarines in name only, as they were not designed to dive underwater and resurface. Last week, however, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and Ecuadorian authorities seized a 108 foot long (33 meter) fiberglass narco submarine with a  conning tower, periscope and air conditioning system which could dive to a an estimated depth of 65 feet.  The submarine was found at a jungle shipyard in Ecuador near the Colombian border as it was preparing for its first voyage.  It was described as the first fully-operational submarine built for transporting multi-ton quantities of cocaine ever to have been seized by government authorities.

Narco sub could have submerged to 65 ft

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Revolutionary War Sister Ships Cannons on EBay

Posted on by July 8, 2010

Thanks to Alaric Bond for pointing out this wonderful auction on EBay.  No bids yet but there are still five days left.   I would love to own these beauties but can’t figure out where I would put them or what I would do with them.  It would be awfully tempting to fire them from time to time.  Probably upset the neighbors.  Difficult to tell whether they are authentic.

Revolutionary War Sister Cannons
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Tall Ships come to Cleveland

Posted on by July 7, 2010

We had previously posted about the fleet of  sailing ships visiting Toronto as part of the Great Lakes United TALL SHIPS CHALLENGE,  coordinated by the American Sail Training Association (ASTA) across all five Great Lakes.  The fleet has now moved on to Cleveland, Ohio.  More than 100,000 people are expected to attend the Cleveland Tall Ships Festival.  The festival starts today and will continue through Sunday.

Tall Ships come to Cleveland

John Diebold, Who Explored The Seabed With Sound

Posted on by July 6, 2010

John Diebold, 1944-2010

John Diebold, a marine scientist who sailed the world’s oceans for more than four decades using sound waves to study earthquake faults, underwater volcanoes and other normally hidden features of the seabed, died on July 1 at his home in Nyack, N.Y. The apparent cause was a heart attack, his family said; he was 66.
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SS Great Britain : From Seabed to National Treasure – A Model for Ship Restoration?

Posted on by July 6, 2010

Forty years ago, on July 5th, 100,000 people lined the banks of the River Avon to witness the return of the SS Great Britain, or what was left of her.   After spending 37 years on the seabed in the Falklands, she was a rusting hulk.  In 1843, she was Isambard Kingdom Brunel‘s masterpiece, the world’s first iron-hulled screw-driven passenger liner.   She has now been restored to her former glory.  As a museum she has been toured by  over 5 million people.   She may be a model or at least a source inspiration for what can be done  in the restoration and preservation of historic ships.

SS Great Britain: From seabed to national treasure
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“A Whale” Skimmer Not Ready for Prime Time – Initial Testing Inconclusive

Posted on by July 5, 2010

Whale of a skimmer not ready to attack Gulf oil after weekend of testing

The behemoth Taiwanese oil skimmer, A Whale, is not yet ready attack the Gulf of Mexico oil spill after a weekend of testing proved inconclusive, said a statement this morning from TMT Shipping Offshore, owner of the ship.
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Melville’s Leviathan

Posted on by December 7, 2010

No, not Moby Dick.  Scientists have recently discovered the fossilized remains of an ancient whale with huge, fearsome teeth, which they have dubbed Leviathan melvillei,  in honor of Herman Melville.   The 12 million old whale was slightly smaller than a modern sperm whale but had shark-like teeth half again as large as the conical teeth of modern sperm whales.

‘Sea monster’ whale fossil unearthed
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IRobot Seaglider – Vacuum Cleaner’s Aquatic Cousin Monitoring the Oil Spill

Posted on by July 5, 2010

iRobot Seaglider Ready to Deploy

We own a Roomba, which is a robot vacuum cleaner made by iRobot.   It looks like a cross between an overgrown hockey puck and a squashed R2D2 from Star Wars.  It softly whirs and occasionally beeps as it crisscrosses the floor vacuuming, until it eventually runs low on power, at which point it heads back to its charging station, to be ready to vacuum again.   (We love our Roomba. )

IRobot builds more that robot vacuum cleaners, of course.  Right now three iRobot Seagliders are in service monitoring the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.  Here is how Colin Angle, Chairman and CEO of  iRobot  describes the devices:
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