The SS Robin, built in 1890, is the last remaining steam coaster in the world. She will soon be moved to a custom built pontoon barge which will support the old ship and serves as space for a floating museum. The pontoon recently arrived in Lowestoft in the UK. The SS Robin is expected to be lifted onto the pontoon on June 28th. Thanks to Alaric Bond for the heads up.
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Wild Eyes, Abby Sunderland's dismasted sailboat
Rough weather is reported to be delaying the French fishing boat that is on its way to rescue Abby Sunderland. Her sailboat, Wild Eyes, has been dismasted but has not lost its keel as was earlier reported. A photograph of the boat, taken by the spotter plane that located her, has been released.
Today is the 100th anniversary of the birth of Jacques Cousteau. It is hard to overstate Cousteau’s influence as an inventor, writer, filmmaker, explorer and ecologist. His first book, the Silent World, written with Frédéric Dumas in 1953, was a memoir which describes how Cousteau and Émile Gagnan designed, built and tested the aqua-lung in 1943. It was an immediate best seller and is still in print, having been published in 22 languages and selling over 5 million copies. The documentary, Silent World, based on the book, co-directed by Cousteau and Louis Malle, earned Cousteau the first of his two Academy Awards. In his lifetime Cousteau would go on to write over 50 books and to produce more than 120 television documentaries. Jacques Cousteau died on 25 June 1997 at age 87.
Most of films and television programs were shot from the RV Calypso, a converted Royal Navy minesweeper. The ship was accidentally rammed by a barge in Singapore in 1996 and sank. In honor of the centennial of Cousteau’s birth, the Cousteau Society has announced that the restored Calypso will sail again.
A 25 foot long baby humpback whale washed ashore on Jones Beach, on Long Island, New York yesterday morning. There were no immediate signs of injury. A necropsy will be performed today to determine what killed the whale. In April, another baby humpback died when it was stranded on a beach in East Hampton, Long Island.
Abby Sunderland has been contacted by rescuers who report that she is alive and uninjured aboard her sailboat Wild Eyes in the Indian Ocean. The sail boat is afloat but has been variously reported as having been dis-masted and to have lost its keel. The boat is said to be adrift in ocean waves which have been reported to be over 30 feet. Three rescue ships are on their way to her reported position. The first is expected to arrive in roughly 24 hours.
Teenage round-the-world sailor Abby Sunderland found alive
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Abby Sunderland
The story is still developing, but there are serious concerns for the 16 year old solo sailor.
Abby Sunderland Feared Lost at Sea
Abby Sunderland, 16, who is attempting to become the youngest sailor ever to circumnavigate the globe, was feared lost at sea today after her crew lost contact with her boat.
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Sometime the only choice is to laugh or cry. Laughing is more fun. On the 52nd day of the Deep Water Horizon spill, satire from UBC Comedy.
From the Bayshore Discovery Project:
Delaware Bay Days, the free two-day folklife festival celebrating the Bay and the Bayshore region, returns June 12 & 13 with events in Bivalve, Port Norris and Mauricetown, NJ, with a schedule featuring new activities as well as old favorites. Like last year, Saturday’s activities are in Bivalve while Sunday’s will be held at Lake Audrey in Mauricetown. Festival hours are Saturday from 11am-7pm, Sunday from 12-5pm.
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A beachcomber found the wreck of a ship uncovered by winter gales on a beach in North Carolina. Originally though to the an 18th century Royal Navy ship, the wreck has now been identified as dating from the 1600s, making it the oldest wreck found on the North Carolina Coast.
Beachcomber stumbles upon historic shipwreck
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Last week at the Shanghai World Expo, the SunTech Guosheng solarsailor, an innovative 31.5 meter solar-powered passenger vessel sailed on its maiden voyage on the Huangpu River. The vessels is owned by Suntech Power Holdings, the world’s largest producer of crystalline silicon solar panels, using designs and technology developed by Australia-based Solar Sailor. The rigid solar panels also serve as sails. Capable of carrying carry 180 passengers, the Suntech Guosheng solarsailor is the largest hybrid solar vessel built to date.
PHOTO CREDIT DNAinfo/Julie Shapiro
Last Thursday, the mellifluous blast of the SS Normandie‘s steam whistle once gain reverberated across the piers of the South Street Seaport in New York. The blowing of the steam whistle celebrated the anniversary of the arrival of French luxury liner to New York seventy five years ago. A new exhibit at the South Street Seaport Museum also celebrates the grand old ship – DecoDence: Legendary Interiors and Illustrious Travelers Aboard the SS Normandie.
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One fish, two fish, dead fish, no fish?
Today is the second annual celebration of World Ocean Day! The only thing that is unclear to me is what and how we should be celebrating. From the World Oceans’ Day website:
“In 2009 The Ocean Project started an annual tradition associated with World Oceans Day. We launched “Wear Blue and Tell Two” as a new way of celebrating our world’s ocean on June 8th.
The main idea behind “Wear Blue and Tell Two” is to have people associate the color blue with World Oceans Day each year. We also are interested in helping each person multiply their positive reach by telling friends or colleagues two interesting facts about the ocean or ways one can take take personal action to help.”
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Norway's Solveig Krey, the world's first female submarine commander
Julian Stockwin made a comment on Twitter this morning (what is the past tense of “to tweet?” by the way) regarding women on submarines. He noted that Norway has had women serving on submarines for decades. Indeed, the US will be at least the sixth country to allow women to serve in the Silent Service. Norway was the first in 1985, followed by Denmark in in 1988 and Sweden in 1989. Australia followed suit in 1999 while Germany and Canada allowed women onboard in 2001 and 2002 respectively. Spain also allows women to serve aboard subs, which does pose a new range of challenges.
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The schooner Rachel B. Jackson was on sale on E-Bay this morning. The minimum bid was $175,000 with a “Buy it Now” price of $225,000. The bidding ended at around 8:00 this morning EST without any bids having been made. The schooner is described on her website:
The Rachel B. Jackson was built in Maine in 1982 and is a working replica of an 1890s coastal schooner. Her sturdily built mahogany planking, oak frames, pine decks, shining brass fittings and exotic wood cabinetry recall the workmanship of days gone by.
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British explorer Robert Falcon Scott was born today in 1868. He died, along with his four companions, on the way back from the South Pole in 1912. They had successfully reached the pole, only to learn that they had been beaten by Roald Amundsen’s Norwegian expedition.
Scott’s legacy has been marked by controversy. Long hailed as a hero, in recent years, some have portrayed him as a bungler. The Scott expedition ended in tragedy while Amundsen arrived first and returned safely, without losing a man. Nevertheless, Amundsen is largely forgotten and Scott still fascinates the public. Two new exhibitions opened yesterday which feature Scott’s ill-fated expedition. Edward Rothstein writes in his review of an exhibition, Race to the End of the Earth, which opened yesterday at the American Museum of Natural History, in New York:
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Though the pelican is featured on the state flag, by the early 1960s, brown pelicans had been pushed to extinction along the Louisiana Gulf Coast by DDT and other pesticides. In 1968 pelicans were reintroduction to Louisiana from colonies in Florida. Despite ups and downs, the pelicans have slowly returned. Last year the brown pelican was taken off the endangered species list. With the Deepwater Horizon disaster, that could all change, once again.
Pelicans, Back From Brink of Extinction, Face Oil Threat
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For the first time, the Navy’s four sailors of the year are women, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Gary Roughead announced Thursday. Roughead noted the achievement as part of a number of milestones for women in the fleet at the 23rd annual Women’s Leadership Symposium. They are: Continue reading
I am not making this up.
In the middle of May, a gentleman, whose internet nickname is Aquahound, found a camera in an underwater housing that had washed ashore in Key West. There were still photos and video on the memory card dating back to November of last year. From the photos and his understanding of the currents, he surmised that the camera must have originated in Aruba. There was video footage on the memory card from January, which he found quite disturbing.
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A book trailer for Alaric Bond’s new book, True Colours which we recently reviewed.
I am a huge fan of the “sharp-built” privateers that came to be known as Baltimore clippers. They look fast sitting still and under sail, they are nothing less than breathtaking. The Lynx, a replica Baltimore clipper, which was just up in New Hampshire, will be sailing on the east Coast and in the Great Lakes this summer as part of the Great Lakes United Tall Ships Challenge. We have just learned from Dexter Donham of Sailing Ship Adventures that the Pride of Baltimore II, a fellow Baltimore clipper, will be sailing the Great Lakes as well. Guest crew berths are apparently still available.