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.
I’ve just finished reading Julian Stockwin’sInvasion, the tenth of his Kydd series, which features among its cast of characters, Robert Fulton and his Nautilus of 1800. While the Nautilus is often called the first “practical” submarine, it was not the first. It was preceded by Bushnell’s Turtle of 1775 and, perhaps the most remarkable of all, by Cornelis Drebbel‘s submarine of 1620, a wooden craft covered with greased leather and propelled by oars (!)
A replica of Drebbel’s remarkable craft will be on display at the Royal Navy Submarine Museum in Gosport in the UK, with a special presentation on June 3rd, in which actors from the Portsmouth theatre group, Groundlings, will play Dutch inventor Cornelius Van Drebbel and his assistant in a comical sketch using the actual replica Drebbel submarine.
World’s First Submarine Comes to Life in Half Term
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In response to our post, Tall Ships Hit By Slumping Economy, Will from the Tugster blog and Captain Peter from Nautical Log commented about the potential synergies of tall ships carrying cargo in addition to passengers. Well great minds, and all that. An example of what both these gentlemen were referring to took place last weekend in Ballyvaughan, Ireland in County Claire, at the Festival of the Valleys, which “celebrate[s] the very best of traditional Irish and Mediterranean culture and cuisine. This unique event … merge[s] the unique environment of the Burren with glorious splendour of the Mediterranean.” Fittingly enough, the wine for the festival was delivered by the Ketch Bessie Ellen, one of the last remaining examples of a West Country Trading Ketch, from the festival director’s own vineyard in the Languedoc-Rousillon area of southern France.
Not surprising news given the economy but disturbing nevertheless.
Flagship might sail elsewhere: Highlander Sea’s future uncertain
The tall ship Highlander Sea, a longtime symbol of Port Huron, is not expected to hit the waves this summer. What’s more, its time representing the city could be winding down. Rich Engle, vice president and chief operating officer of Acheson Ventures, said officials are exploring options for the 154-foot gaff-rigged topsail schooner, including the possibility of selling it.
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Mary Scott under tow
The English Channel is still the Channel and the 60 or so “little ships” of Dunkirk haven’t gotten any younger. The flotilla of some 60 of the original “little ships” were delayed in their return to Ramsgate after reinacting the crossing to the Dunkirk evacuation of 70 years ago. Several of the vessels required assistance after mechanical breakdowns. Thanks to the Tall Ship & Traditional Sail Professionals Linked in group for pointing out the article.
Hurricane season officially begins today, though Tropical Storm Agatha blew in from the Pacific a day or two early and killed 150 people in Guatemala and opened up a huge sink hole in Guatemala City. Scientists with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said last week that the Atlantic hurricane season could be the busiest since 2005, the year when when Katrina and Rita caused massive destruction the Gulf Coast. NOAA predicts that the 2010 season may spawn as many as 23 named tropical storms, including up to seven major hurricanes. Of course, the ongoing oil spill that is currently causing other forms of damage to the Gulf Coast could cause additional problems of its own.
Reminiscent of the old Chinese curse, “may you live in interesting times,” this should be a very interesting hurricane season.
A trivia question – what was the Space Shuttle Atlantis named after?
A. The Greek legend of the sunken continent.
B. The TV show – Stargate Atlantis.
C. Woods Hole’s first research vessel.
I will admit that I surprised to learn that it was C. The Space Shuttle Atlantis was named after the venerable RV Atlantis, the first research vessel operated by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. She was built in 1930 at Burmeister & Wain a 142-foot, a steel-hulled, ketch-rigged ship that sailed 299 cruises and more than 700,000 miles for ocean science from 1931 to 1966. In addition to the space shuttle, two other Woods Hole research vessels have borne the name Atlantis.
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Keith Jessop, the salvage diver who recovered the gold from the HMS Edinburgh, died on May 22, 2010, aged 77.
On May 2, 1942, after three days of attacks by German submarines, destroyers and aircraft in the Barents Sea, the mortally wounded cruiser HMS Edinburgh was given her coup de grâce by a torpedo fired from one of her escorting destroyers, and slid from sight beneath the waves. About 840 of her crew of nearly 900 who had not been killed in the attacks on her had been safely transferred to other British warships of the convoy escort.
The sailors had been saved, but a cargo of bullion, 4½ long tons (4,572kg) of gold bars, carried in the cruiser’s bomb room, went to the bottom with her. The 465 gold ingots were part of Stalin’s payment to Britain for the supplies and military aid that the Allies were shipping to the Soviet Union along the perilous Murmansk convoy route. In the years following the end of the war they were to become the focus of an intensive effort to recover them by successive British governments.
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What make this story interesting are not the facts but the reaction to them. A sixty year tradition of Naval Academy plebes climbing a greased obelisk at the end of their first year is coming to an end. So far of the emails received by the Navy times on the story, over thirty oppose the ending the obelisk climb while one supports the ban.
End of Line for Academy Tradition? Annual obelisk climb may end
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A new look at the last battleship battle of World War II and perhaps of all time. A review by Steven Toby, republished with permission from the MarHst list.
In this new book, Battle of Surigao Strait, author Anthony P. Tully mines some hitherto little known Japanese sources to create a more even-handed account of the Battle of Surigao Strait (October 1944). As the Introduction says, this battle, the last surface gunnery encounter between capital ships that is ever likely to occur, has been overshadowed by the more famous battle off Samar and other operations in the Leyte Gulf theatre. In Samuel Eliot Morison’s account, which I had already read, and apparently in most English-language sources, it is suggested that the smaller Japanese force that tried to force Surigao Strait fell into a trap set for them by the USN. They were overwhelmed by superior firepower, and that was that. The Japanese commander, Vice-Adm. Nishimura, was brave, but not too bright.
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John Finn, Medal of Honor Winner, Dies at 100
John W. Finn, the last survivor of the 15 Navy men who received the Medal of Honor for heroism during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, died Thursday at a nursing home in Chula Vista, Calif. He was 100 and had been the oldest living recipient of the medal, the nation’s highest award for valor.
On the morning of Sunday, Dec. 7, 1941, when Japanese planes bombed the American battleships in Hawaii, plunging the nation into World War II, numerous acts of valor played out. Most of them took place aboard the stricken ships — in some cases efforts by the wounded and the dying to save their fellow sailors. Amid the death and destruction, Chief Finn, on an airfield runway, was waging a war of his own against the Japanese.
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We haven’t posted about the Deepwater Horizon blow-out and spill. The folks over at the Maritime Texas and the gCaptain blogs have been doing a great job of covering the environmental disaster as it continues to unfold and we have had nothing to add. Now after more than a month of leaking oil, a few comments do seem in order.
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Five alleged pirates went on trial this week in the Netherlands in what is believed to be the first piracy trial in the European Union. The Netherlands has called for an international tribunal for the prosecution of sea pirates, but thus far no EU action has been forthcoming. In the US a pirate captured in the attack on the Maersk Alabama has pleased guilty and is awaiting sentencing.
After suffering what was described as “serious rigging failure” in heavy seas off the Florida coast last week, the schooner Amistad has returned to Mystic, CT for repairs. She is expected to “be there for some time.” The Amistad was built at Mystic Seaport between 1998 and 2000. The Amistad was scheduled to participate in the 2010 Great Lakes United Tall Ships Challenge but has withdrawn due to the extent of the repairs required. The Amistad will be replaced in the event by the Dutch barque Europa.
Tall Ship Amistad cancels Great Lakes tour, replaced by Europa at Tall Ship Celebration
A wonderful, if odd, account reported by Robert Mackey in the NY Time Lede blog:
China Reports Dolphins Foiled Pirate Attack
According to a report from China’s official news agency Xinhua, “thousands of dolphins” recently prevented an attack on Chinese merchant ships by Somali pirates in the Gulf of Aden. Xinhua’s Web site published the photograph above, and three others, which first appeared on the Web site of China Radio International on Monday.
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New York’s Fleet Week 2010 is underway. “This is the Super Bowl of Fleet Weeks,” said Michael Salerno, the Navy’s director of Fleet Week, a reference to the many Fleet Weeks that take part around the country, the first of which originated in San Diego in 1935 and is now in its 23rd iteration in New York. The celebrations will continue through Memorial Day. An estimated 3,000 members of the Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard will participate. Will at the Tugster blog has photos of yesterday’s parade of ships.
Margaret Muir’s new novel, Floating Gold, is a wonderful blend of classic Georgian naval fiction, a mystery/thriller and a grand treasure hunt. A rousing tale, well told. It is due to be released in the United States on May 31. It is currently available in the UK.
Captain Oliver Quintrell is on the beach, both literally and figuratively. Recently released from Greenwich Hospital after recovering from injuries related to a “direct contact with a four pound cannon ball,” he finds himself without a commission in a world briefly at peace following the signing of the Treaty of Amiens in 1802. He is therefore pleased to be given the command HMS Elusive, a frigate on a secret mission with sealed orders bound for an island near the bottom of the world. Along the way they encounter storms, calm, murder, and sabotage until they finally arrive at the island, which itself may be the greatest threat of all to survival of the ship and crew. Hidden on the island is a vast, yet mysterious treasure that Captain Quintrell, his officers and crew must find and carry back to England.
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The teenagers have been getting more press, but Zach, Mike, Jessica and Abby are not the only intrepid solo circumnavigators out there. On Saturday, Commander Dilip Donde sailed into Mumbai, completing the first recorded solo circumnavigation by an Indian.
Navy commander first Indian to circumnavigate globe solo
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A few days ago we posted about the “Little Ships of Dunkirk” returning to Ramsgate to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the evacuation. This Friday there is what looks to be a very interesting documentary, Dunkirk: The Forgotten Heros, focusing on escape of the British Expeditionary Force including the capture of 40,000 soldiers which was kept a secret by the British government for propaganda reasons. It will be broadcast on the Yesterday channel in the UK. With luck it may make it across the pond at some point.
I haven’t seen it yet but Schooner: Building a Wooden Boat on Martha’s Vineyard by Tom Dunlop, looks fascinating.
From the publisher: Schooner takes you through the construction of Rebecca of Vineyard Haven, a sixty-foot wooden schooner designed and built by one of the few boatyards in the United States devoted exclusively to the design, construction and repair of traditional wooden boats. At the time Rebecca was constructed, she was the largest sailing vessel built on the Island of Martha’s Vineyard since the election of Abraham Lincoln and the only boat of her type being built anywhere in the world.
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