Happy 4th of July – A Toast to Madeira, the Wine of the Declaration of Independence and the Liberty Riots

Posted on by July 4, 2012

Happy 4th of July!  Those of us in the United States celebrate the anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence on July 4th 1776.   Immediately after declaring independence from Great Britain, the representatives in the Continental Congress drank a toast with glasses of Madeira wine.

Why Madiera?  It was virtually the only wine available in the American colonies at the time. Wine carried by sailing ship was often spoiled in transit by the constant jostling of the ship and the wide variations of heat and cold. Wine from the island of Madeira, however, was fortified with a small amount of sugar cane brandy to help it survive the ocean voyage. Not only did the fortified wine survive the voyage but it was found that the heat and motion of the ship actually improved the quality of the wine.

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Dubai Unveils More Modest Plans for QE2 Hotel

Posted on by July 3, 2012

For several years now cruise ships fans have been concerned that the 2008 debt crunch in Dubai would result in the RMS Queen Elizabeth 2 being sold for scrap instead of being converted to a luxury hotel, as had been the plan when she was purchased  by Dubai investment company Istithmar for $100 million.  On Monday, it was announced that the ship would be converted to a more modest 300 room hotel.  Originally a 1,000 room facility had been planned. The ship will also not be moored at Nakheel’s Palm Jumeirah, the emirate’s famous palm-shaped island, but instead would be tied up  at the Port Rashid cruise terminal in a commercial district a considerable distance from the more tourist-friendly neighbourhoods.  For classic cruise ship fans, the good news is that large portion of the ship will remain unrenovated.

Dubai unveils more modest plans for QE2 hotel
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“Old Ironsides” – 1950’s Newsreel about USS Constitution

Posted on by July 4, 2012

We recently posted about OpSail 2012 and Boston’s weeklong celebration of  the USS Constitution and the bicentennial of the War of 1812.  The USS Constitution, nicknamed “Old Ironsides” after British round shot bounced off her oak planks, is the world’s oldest commissioned naval vessel afloat.  In honor of the grand old ship, here is a wonderful newsreel from the 1950s about USS Constitution.

“Old Ironsides”

http://youtu.be/CK8I0UMEzas

Report: Black Box Not Functioning, Watertight Doors Open When Costa Concordia Hit the Rocks

Posted on by July 3, 2012

Extremely disturbing news coming out of Italy regarding the Costa Concordia, which ran aground and sank off the island of Giglio on January 13, 2012 with the deaths of at least 30 passengers. If the reports prove to be true, the ship was sailing with open watertight doors, doors which were required to be closed prior to sailing, when she ran aground. There are also reports that the ship’s so called “black box” had not been functioning for days prior to the collision,  that this was not the first time that the black box had failed and that the company was aware that the device required repair.

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Towing Icebergs – An Older Idea Than You Might Think

Posted on by July 3, 2012

About a year ago, we posted Towing Icebergs – an Idea Whose Time is Still Coming?, where we pointed out that the latest proposal to tow icebergs from the Arctic or Antarctic to supply fresh water, was similar to plans that dated from the late 1970s.   We should have gone much father back. Alexis Madrigal, writing in the Atlantic Monthly, describes the various schemes and dreams of moving bergs at least through 1825. Most of these schemes were failures, but not all.  My favorite was an apparently successful venture towing small icebergs from southern Chile to Valparaiso to provide refrigeration to local breweries. “Sometimes the icebergs were supplied with sails to utilize the prevailing winds.”  Thanks to Phil Leon for pointing out the article.

The Many Failures and Few Successes of Zany Iceberg Towing Schemes

Of Stabilizers, Stability and Lawyers

Posted on by July 3, 2012

Mississippi lawyer John Arthur Eaves is supposed to be good at his job and is, by reputation, a pretty smart fellow. He recently filed a law suit claiming that the Costa Concordia was “defectively designed,” a ” floating coffin,” had a “propensity … to roll and list” and was dangerous “because of the maze-effect within the vessel…”   I am not a lawyer, but as a naval architect, I can say with a fair degree of confidence that Mr. Eaves does not know the first thing about ship stability.
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Breaking News: NOAA Claims that Mermaids Aren’t Real!

Posted on by July 2, 2012

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has taken the bold step of announcing that “no evidence of aquatic humanoids has ever been found.”  In other words, mermaids aren’t real!  Something is fishy here. On the other hand, the government has also denied the existence of space aliens, yet how else can one explain Donald Trump?

All joking aside, why did NOAA, a government agency with presumably better things to do, find it necessary to make such an announcement?
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The Return of Commercial Sail? Dyna-Rig Design in the News

Posted on by July 2, 2012

Arthur Sewall, a shipbuilder, shipowner and industrialist from Bath Maine, is quoted near the turn of the 20th century, saying, “As long as the wind blows and water flows there will be sailing ships built and business to keep them busy.”   Is the great age of commercial sail now just part of history, or are we merely passing through a short-lived era of fossil fuels, which will be brought to a close by scarcity and concerns about pollution and climate change?

This question was brought to mind by a series of articles last month (see also here and here) about the sailing ship design being developed by B9 Shipping.  In many respects the information in the articles is not new. We posted about the B9 Project in October of 2010.   Nevertheless, new publicity for the modern sailing ship design is all for the good.
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Seafarers Awareness Week – In Distress at Sea, Seafarers to the Rescue

Posted on by June 30, 2012

For those in trouble at sea, technology has dramatically increased the chances of survival. Satellite phones, GPS transducers, EPIRBs and the like have made it possible to call for help across the vastness of the world’s oceans.  Some things haven’t changed however.  When help arrives, chances are, it will be a merchant seafarer who comes to the rescue.

This Wednesday, when a distress call went out from a boat overloaded with asylum seekers bound for Australia’s Christmas Island, the first vessel on the scene was the Bison Express, a cattle carrier.  Within a few hours, two other merchant vessels also arrived.  Four of the refugees died, but 134 were saved by the crews of the merchant ships.
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Not Your Daddy’s Americas Cup: Day One Newport – Helmets, Fancy Graphics and Color Commentators

Posted on by June 29, 2012

We posted yesterday about Sailing for Couch Potatoes, or how to watch the America’s Cup Races without leaving your couch.  NBC, for example,  is broadcasting the America’s Cup World Series Finale on Sunday.

The New York Times this morning featured an article describing briefly how the Cup Races are receiving the “television treatment”  including the electronic placement of racing information, including starting lines and way points, live on the televised image of the race itself.  This is similar to how the line of scrimmage and  first-down line magically appear on the televised field during football games. Indeed, Stan Honey, who developed the technology for football, has been hired by the America’s Cup organization.

America’s Cup Updates As It Trawls for Viewers


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Knock, Knock – the Media and the Mystery of the Missing Stowaways on the Ville D’Aquarius

Posted on by June 29, 2012

Ville D’Aquarius

The story began around 3AM Wednesday morning, when a US Coast Guard boarding team, conducting a random sweep on the container ship Ville D’Aquarius, near Sandy Hook, just outside New York harbor, heard a knocking sound which appeared to be coming from somewhere in the ship’s containerized cargo.  The Ville D’Aquarius is a 1996 built CMA-CGM container ship with a 2,807 TEU capacity.  When she was boarded she was reported to have had aboard 2,039 containers.

Coast Guard spokeswoman Fannie Wilks reported that the officers tapped in a container area of the ship. “They heard tapping back and it continued for six hours, but it became weaker and weaker, the sound, until it went away,” Wilks said. The tapping began to fade, she said, as the boat came into the Port of Newark. “That’s when the tapping finally went away, and they didn’t hear anything back,” she said.  Coast Guard spokesman Charles Rowe said, “They heard sounds that were consistent with people being inside a container.”
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Seafarers Awareness Week – Seafarers UK Sea Cadets

Posted on by June 28, 2012

Another in the series from Seafarers UK in observation of Seafarers Awareness Week.  If world trade is going to continue to grow, we will more well trained seafarers.  Seafarers UK is a major supporter of Sea Cadets.

Seafarers UK Sea Cadets

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Sailing for Couch Potatoes – America’s Cup World Series Finale on NBC

Posted on by June 28, 2012

Back in the old days, the America’s Cup was sailed in 12 Meter yachts in the often misty light air of Rhode Island Sound.  It was a competition more suited to still photography than video.  How times have changed.  Now elimination matches are being sailed in AC 45s in the East Passage, directly off Newport, Rhode Island.  Click here for the program.  And if you cannot make it to Newport for the races that start today, you can watch the action from the comfort of your couch.  NBC will be broadcasting the finale of the series  at 14.30 EDT on Sunday, July 1st.   In California, Comcast Sports will also boradcast live racing each day, as well as a full replay at 2100 PDT.  Globally, the coverage is available on more than 35 networks including Mediaset in Italy, Canal+ in France, SkySports in the UK, Supersport in South Africa, Rogers Sportsnet in Canada, OSN across the Middle-East, Fox Sports in Australia and TVNZ in New Zealand.  Live webcasts will also available on the internet. Would someone please pass the potato chips?

AMERICA’S CUP WORLD SERIES FINALE COMES TO NBC

America’s Cup World Series 2011-2012: Television and Internet Schedule

Are Foils the Future of Fast Sailing? Oracle’s AC45 Goes Flying & l’Hydroptère DCNS Readies for Pacific Challenge

Posted on by June 28, 2012

When I was coming of age, many thought that the future of speed on the water would be in motor-powered hydrofoils.  While there are still a few hydrofoil ferries in operation, the idea really never caught on.  Now, however, hydrofoils have appeared from a different quarter, powered not by engines, but by the wind.

Last week, a photograph hit the net of the Oracle America’s Cup AC45 “flying” on foils in San Francisco Bay.  “L” shaped daggerboard foils and a “T” foil on the rubber were added to the racing catamaran and “voila,” she could fly.  Exactly how the foils are controlled is still unclear but the photos released by Oracle Team USA definately show the boat flying on the “L” shaped foils, or ‘flying like “L“‘ as the caption on their Facebook page describes it.
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