Venezuela Holds U.S. Flag Cargo Ship, M/V Ocean Atlas, Arrests Captain and Detains Crew

Posted on by September 7, 2012

Photo: Intermarine

On August 29, the multipurpose US flag cargo ship, M/V Ocean Atlas, arrived in Maracaibo, Venezuela. Not long after, the ship was detained by Venezuelan security forces and was repeatedly searched by agents from Interpol and the Venezuelan drug enforcement agency, reportedly based on a tip that illegal drugs were being carried aboard the ship. When no drugs were apparently found, the Venezuelan authorities arrested the captain of the ship on charges of arms trafficking, after finding three rifles on board. The rifles were apparently listed in the ship’s manifest.  The US crew were initially detained aboard, though there are reports that warrants have been issued for their arrest as well and that some or all have been taken ashore for questioning.

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Edmund ‘Ned’ Cabot, Boston Brahmin Scion and Avid Yachtsman, Drowns off Newfoundland

Posted on by September 6, 2012

Sad news. Dr. Edmund ‘Ned’ Cabot, 69, a retired surgeon and a lifelong sailor, drowned on Saturday off the coast of Newfoundland when his sloop  Cielita was knocked down by a “rogue wave” and he was lost overboard.

Edmund ‘Ned’ Cabot, Boston Brahmin scion and avid yachtsman, drowns off Newfoundland

Cabot and his two friends set out along the Newfoundland coast in winds that neared gale force Saturday morning, Ellis said, and the winds increased during the day. Ellis said that from what he understood, around midday, with winds coming from the rear of the boat from about a 45-degree angle, Cabot came from below deck to relieve the helmsman. A wave struck with such force that the boat was knocked on its side, spilling Cabot and the helmsman into the water.

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Shipwrecks, Mysterious and Otherwise, Uncovered by Hurricane & Drought

Posted on by September 6, 2012

Schooner Rachel makes another appearance Photo: MEYER VACATION RENTALS

The first reports spoke of a “mystery shipwreck” uncovered by Hurricane Isaac on an Alabama beach about six miles from Fort Morgan.   It turns out the wooden vessel is not so mysterious after all. Local historians identified her as the 150 feet long, three masted, lumber schooner Rachel built in 1918, which came ashore in a storm in 1923.  This is not even the first time that the wreck has made an appearance. She was also uncovered from  beneath the beach by Hurricane Camille in 1969, then again in 2004 after Hurricane Ivan, and again in 2008 after Hurricane Ike.  The only thing mysterious about the schooner is her cargo on the night of her demise. Legend has it that she was carrying bootleg alcohol instead of lumber when she ran aground during the Prohibition.

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Sailboats in the Arctic – Belzebub II Completes Northwest Passage & Scorpius Breaks Free From the Ice

Posted on by September 5, 2012

The sea ice in the Arctic has melted to a record low this year. Yachts are not voyaging where once only large icebreakers could travel. Recently, the three man crew of the Belzebub II, a 1976 built Hallberg-Rassy Monsun 31 sloop, successfully completed a three month transit of the fabled Canadian Northwest Passage, including becoming the first sailboat to cross the infamous M’Clure strait, which normally would be icebound. From the expedition web site:

Photo: Belzebub II crew

“The Arctic is melting at an alarming rate and is clear proof of our disharmony with the planet. By sailing this newly opened route we hope that our expedition will play a small part in bringing further attention to climate change and contributing to a larger shift in attitudes. Our approach to sail across a historical stretch of water that has traditionally been frozen is meant to be a clear visual example of the extent of declining polar ice.”

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2012 Waterford Tugboat Roundup

Posted on by September 4, 2012

The 20th Annual Great North River Tugboat Race & Competition was again a great success. For full and complete coverage check out Will’s Tugster blog. Great photographs and commentary.

For those in the area who still haven’t had your fill of tugboats, you may want to head upriver to Waterford, NY. for  the 2012 Waterford Tugboat Roundup.   Waterford is 12 miles north of Albany at the junction of the Hudson and Mohawk Rivers, and the junction of the Erie and Champlain Canals. It is the home of the “Waterford Flight”, the highest set of lift locks in the world.  Almost every year since 1999, the town of Waterford and the Waterford Maritime Historical Society has hosted the roundup, attracting tugs from all over the region. Last year the roundup was canceled due to the arrival of Hurricane Irene, but this year it is back and promising to be one of the best ever.  The festivities are held  from Friday to Sunday, September 7th – 9th.

2012 Tugboat Roundup

The Oyster – Environmental Hero in New York and a Criminal in New Jersey

Posted on by September 3, 2012

Hero or criminal?

Recently a number of newspapers have run an Associated Press article  titled, “New York’s new environmental ‘hero’ – the oyster.”  The article describes how researchers are reseeding oysters in New York harbor   Each oyster can filter about 50 gallons of water a day, removing toxins and suspended silt from the water.   The oysters may play a big role in cleaning up America’s polluted urban maritime environment.   The Oyster Restoration Research Partnership and others have begun seeding new oyster beds at Hastings On Hudson, Soundview Park, Governors Island, Bay Ridge Flats, the Bronx River, Gowanus Canal and Staten Island.  High school student’s at New York’s  Harbor  School are cultivating oysters for academic credit.

The one place that you will not find new oyster cultivation in New York harbor is on the New Jersey side.  The border between the two states runs right down the center of the Hudson River. While New Yorkers are working to reestablish the “environmental  hero,” on their side of the harbor, oysters are criminals on the New Jersey side.  Well, not the oysters themselves, but anyone doing oyster research.  Under Governor Chris Christie,  New Jersey banned oyster restoration in 2010 in waters classified as contaminated for shellfish, citing public health concerns.  The research oyster beds that existed in New Jersey were shut down. From the NY/NJ Baykeeper web site:

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Greenheart Project Crowdfunding – Help Build the First Greenheart Ship

Posted on by September 2, 2012

The Greenheart Project is now raising money to build a 32 meter sailing cargo ship for small ports and lesser developed countries. The design is extremely impressive. It is low-cost,  has zero-emissions and is also efficient to load and unload.  Cargo operations may seem a touch prosaic as compared to sails and sailing, but the truth is if you can’t load and unload a ship quickly and efficiently, it is very difficult to make the economics work.

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The Patriot’s Fate by Alaric Bond – A Review

Posted on by September 1, 2012

Alaric Bond’s The Patriot’s Fate, the fifth in his Fighting Sail series, is an exciting nautical adventure that is also a rich and fascinating voyage through the history, politics and complex divided loyalties of Britain at the end of the eighteenth century.

Many novels in the genre follow the model used by C.S. Forester, Patrick O’Brian and so many others, where the focus is the career of a single Royal Navy officer. The Patriot’s Fate, like the other books in Bond’s Fighting Sail series, is told through multiple perspectives, ranging from the ship’s captain, to the junior officers and warrants, to Jack Tars and the ship’s boys. The approach gives a much broader sense of what is going on aboard ship. It works particularly well in The Patriot’s Fate because it allows parallel and overlapping story lines that keep the novel moving along briskly.

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Schooners on the Capes – Twenty-Eighth Annual Gloucester Schooner Festival & Great Provincetown Schooner Regatta

Posted on by September 1, 2012

Two great schooner festivals and regattas are now underway on Massachusetts’ Cape Ann and Cape Cod. On Cape Ann, the Twenty-Eighth Annual Gloucester Schooner Festival began yesterday with the arrival of the schooner fleet. Today there will be dockside events and tours of the visiting HMS Bounty. The Mayor’s Race will be sailed on Sunday with Monday held in reserve as a rain day.

Just to the south on Cape Cod, the Great Provincetown Schooner Regatta begins today and runs through Friday, September 7th.  The week long festivities on land and sea include racing  in and around the waters of Provincetown Harbor and the Fisherman’s Cup race, a schooner only event, which starts in Gloucester on Tuesday, September 3rd  and ends in Provincetown harbor.

20th Annual Great North River Tugboat Race & Competition

Posted on by August 31, 2012

The 20th Annual Great North River Tugboat Race and Competition will be held again this year on the Hudson River at Pier 84 (off W44th Street) in Manhattan.  The festivities begin with a Parade of Tugs at 10:00 am with the tug boat race, from the 79th Street Boat Basin to Pier 84, starting at 10:30. Good views of the race are available from the dock. A special Circle Line Spectator Boat also provides a great view of the race and the parade of tugs.  Following the race, there will be line throwing competitions and  nose-to-nose pushing competitions between the tugs.  If you are anywhere near New York harbor on Sunday, it is worth stopping by. The event is sponsored by the Working Harbor Committee.

Once in a Blue Moon

Posted on by August 31, 2012

Tonight’s sky will be graced by a “blue moon.”  It is the first blue moon since New Year’s Eve 2009.  The next blue moon won’t appear until July 2015.  Tonight’s full moon won’t actually be blue for most of us.  A “blue moon” is commonly defined as the second full moon in a calendar month.  It doesn’t happen often and so is the inspiration for the phrase, “once in a blue moon.”

It is possible that there may be a literally blue moon for some. Ash in the atmosphere from forest fires or volcanic eruptions can make the moon appear to be tinted blue. There are a sufficient number of forest and brush fires in parts of the United States resulting from recent drought conditions so that tonight’s moon may be blue in both senses.

“Blue Moon” Friday—Last One Until 2015

Linda Collison’s Barbados Bound, a Review

Posted on by February 20, 2019

Linda Collison’s recently released “Barbados Bound,” begins provocatively, “I came aboard with the prostitutes the night before the ship set sail.”

The year is 1760 and not yet 17 year old Patricia Kelley is, quite literally, seeking to find her place in the world.  The illegitimate daughter of a West Indies plantation owner, attending an English boarding school, she finds herself without money, family or connections when her father dies suddenly. With a head full of dreams of reclaiming the plantation where she was born and largely raised, that her father promised to her as a dowry, she stows away aboard a merchant ship carrying gunpowder and military stores, bound for Barbados. She has much to learn of the world and her education is just beginning.

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‘Cajun Navy’ to the Rescue During Hurricane Isaac

Posted on by August 30, 2012

A wonderful story about private citizens in their own small boats in Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana, who came the rescue of their neighbors during Hurricane Isaac, guided by often by information from Facebook, earning the nickname, the ‘Cajun navy.’

‘Cajun Navy’ saves lives in New Orleans

Maritime Museum of San Diego Festival of Sail 2012

Posted on by August 31, 2012

Tomorrow, Friday August 31 through Monday September 3, 2012, the Maritime Museum of San Diego will host the Festival of Sail 2012, the largest tall ship festival on the west coast, transforming San Diego’s North Embarcadero into a nautical theme park.  More than twenty tall ships and other fascinating vessels will be participating.  The festivities start this afternoon with a parade of ships around San Diego bay finally ending at the Maritime Museum’s docks.

Festival of Sail 2012

Ships of New York Harbor: Marine Art of Christina Sun and Frank Hanavan Closing Party Thursday, August 30

Posted on by August 29, 2012

If you are near New York harbor, there is a closing party for the “Ships of New York Harbor: Marine Art of Christina Sun and Frank Hanavan” exhibit on the historic lighthouse tender Lilac tomorrow evening September 30, from 6 to 10 PM at Pier 25 on the Hudson River at West Street and N. Moore Street in lower Manhattan. There will be music by the Jug Addicts, a five-piece band playing music in the style of 1930s and 1940s “jug” bands, combining elements of ragtime, swing, and folk music.  David Sharps of the Waterfront Museum will serve as auctioneer at 8:30 PM when selected works by Frank and Christina and photographers Shelley Seccombe and David Hodgson are auctioned to benefit the restoration of the Lilac.