Astrodene’s Historical Naval Fiction Log Book – A New Newsletter

Posted on by May 4, 2010

Fans of naval fiction either know or should know of Astrodene’s Historical Naval Fiction web site and forum.   A wonderful resource, lots of great information on books both old and new, as well as very nice folks in the forum.  They are now launching a naval fiction newsletter, “‘Log Book.”   delivered by e-mail (with archival copies available on line.)  Go to the site to sign up.

Based on the first newsletter they are off to a great start.  A brief summary of the current issue:

Last month I was privileged to get an interview with Julian Stockwin ahead of the launch of his new novel in the Kydd series ‘Victory’ and with Alaric Bond who’s new novel ‘True Colours’ is out this month.

There are 3 brand new naval fiction titles out this month together with some paperback edition releases.

The Mystery of the Beeswax Ship

Posted on by May 4, 2010

An intriguing item from Jim Klein on the Marine History List.     They are now filming the search for the cannons from the Beeswax wreck.   From the Beeswax Wreck Project site:

One of the most popular mysteries of the Oregon Coast has been the identification of the “Beeswax Wreck” at Nehalem Beach, in Tillamook County. Identified over time by various researchers as either a Chinese or Japanese junk, a Spanish galleon, a Portuguese trader, or a lost English or Dutch pirate vessel, we have been able to determine that the ship was in fact a Spanish Galleon of the Manila Trade. Nehalem Indian oral histories and the journals of the earliest traders in the area indicate that the galleon wrecked prior to European settlement and indeed most European exploration of the Pacific Northwest.

The site has been buried for the last 100 years. However, blocks of beeswax are occasionally found by beachcombers in the sand dunes adjacent to the site.
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Clocks from the Monitor’s Engine Room and the Lusitania’s Captain

Posted on by May 3, 2010

Thanks to Alaric Bond for passing along two articles about historic maritime clocks.   The conservators at the Mariner’s Museum have restored the engine room clock from the USS Monitor which sank in 1862.   On the other side of the Atlantic, a pocket watch belonging to the captain of the ill-fated Lusitania has been donated to Merseyside Maritime Museum.

U.S.S. Monitor Engine Room Clock conserved and on display at Mariners’ Museum

Lusitania captain’s watch goes to Merseyside museum

Sea cadet, 14, dies after falling from ship in Solent

Posted on by May 3, 2010

A tragedy at the 2010 Sea Cadet Festival.

Sea cadet, 14, dies after falling from ship in Solent

A 14-year-old sea cadet has died after falling overboard in the Solent.

The boy, from Kent, was on the training ship TS Royalist which was anchored at Stokes Bay south of Gosport, Hampshire.

He was climbing the rigging to bring in the sails when he fell 25ft (7.5m) into the sea on Sunday night. The crew retrieved him and sent a Mayday call.

The Solent Coastguard helicopter took him to the Queen Alexandra Hospital in Portsmouth where he was pronounced dead on arrival. An investigation has begun.

Small Ships Under the Tower Bridge

Posted on by August 26, 2012

World’s smallest tall ships sail under Tower Bridge… without the bridge deck opening

With the traditional rigging of a tall ship but only a fraction of the size, these two vessels are dwarfed by Tower Bridge.

The world’s smallest tall ships, TS Caroline Allen and TS Bob Allen – measuring just 30-feet in length, took to the River Thames today to train the next generation of seafarers.

They are usually housed at Cowes on the Isle of Wight and do most of their sailing on The Solent. Today they sailed under Tower Bridge without the roadway opening – something no other tall ship could boast.

Fireboat 343 and the JohnA.J. Harvey

Posted on by May 1, 2010

When the new New York City fireboat 343 arrived in New York harbor yesterday, one of the fleet greeting her was the fireboat John J. Harvey.  (Will has some great photos and commentary the tugster blog.)   I am struck by the parallels between the two boats.
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The Talisker Bounty Boat Begins its Epic Voyage

Posted on by April 29, 2010

Two hundred and twenty one years ago yesterday, the crew of HMS Bounty staged a mutiny that remains famous to this day.   Four sailors are attempting to recreate Captain Bligh’s epic 3,700 nautical mile voyage in a 23 foot long open boat from Tonga to Kupang in Timor.   The expedition is being sponsored by Talisker and is being led by Australian Don McIntyre, a veteran adventurer. His crew is David Wilkinson (United Kingdom), David Pryce (Australia) and Chris Wilde (United Kingdom). In addition to attempting to complete this most challenging of passages, they group is also attempting to to raise over $250,000 for The Sheffield Institute Foundation for Motor Neurone Disease (SIF), which is building the world’s first research Institute for Motor Neurone Disease, Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s.   To learn more go to – Talisker Bounty Boat Expedition.

Talisker Bounty Boat

Cape Wind Project, the First US Offshore Wind Farm, Approved

Posted on by April 28, 2010

The first offshore wind farm in the United States  has been approved by Washington.   The Cape Wind project is a proposed 130 turbine wind farm in Nantucket Sound.  It has been opposed for years by home owners in Cape Cod who claim, in essence, that it would ruin their view of the ocean.   Recently, the Wampanoag tribe has made, essentially, the same claim.  They say that the wind farm would obstruct their view of the sunrise for sacred ceremonies.  The tribe, as well as groups in Cape Cod, have promised future lawsuits to block the project.

The US has lagged behind European countries and China in the development of offshore wind energy.  There have been concerns that if the Cape Wind project was not approved that the development of  US offshore wind power would be seriously setback even further.

Regulators Approve First Offshore Wind Farm in U.S.

For Sale: Neil Young’s Classic Baltic Trader

Posted on by April 28, 2010

I’ve always been a fan of Baltic traders.  They were serious working craft.  They aren’t  necessarily graceful but do possess a certain robust beauty.  The schooner W N Ragland, a Baltic trader built in 1913, converted to a yacht, is for sale. For 35 years the schooner was owned by Neil Young, the singer best known as a member of the group Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young.   She was sold a few years ago and is back on the market again for $695,000.  Last year, fellow CSN&Y singer, David Crosby, put his Alden schooner Mayan on the market as well.    Hard not to be reminded of the lyric from the Crosby Stills and Nash song, “Wooden Ships.”

Wooden ships on the water, very free and easy…

Wooden ships on the water, regrettably, are never free or even easy. But, damn, they sure are lovely.

For sale: Neil Young’s exquisite old boat

W. N. RAGLAND

Seized, A Sea Captains Adventures – Battling Scoundrels and Pirates while Recovering Stolen Ships in the World’s Most Troubled Waters

Posted on by April 27, 2010

Max Hardberger’s Seized, a Sea Captains Adventures – Battling Scoundrels and Pirates while Recovering Stolen Ships in the World’s Most Troubled Waters is a fascinating account of one man’s remarkable career and personal journey. In addition to working professionally as a crop-duster, school teacher, lawyer, and ship’s captain, Max Hardberger developed the rather unusual specialty of returning stolen property, very large stolen property.  He steals back ships wrongly seized in foreign ports and returns them to their owners.
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The End of Smoking on Navy submarines

Posted on by April 27, 2010

The prospect of women serving aboard Navy submarines will no doubt pose challenges in logistics and procedures.   These may be minor, however, compared to the problems caused by banning smoking aboard subs, which the Navy will do starting December 31st of this year.   Apparently roughly 35 to 40 percent of submariners are smokers.  Fortunately the Navy will be providing Nicorette gum and nicotine patches to those in need of a nicotine fix.   Sending the “boomers”  out to sea manned by crews “jonesing” for a cigarette seems perilous indeed.

Plans to allow women and gays, ban smoking shake world of Navy submarines

Fur, Fortune, and Empire: The Epic History of the Fur Trade in America

Posted on by April 26, 2010

In 2007, Eric Jay Dolin wrote Leviathan, The History of Whaling In America, a wonderful book that follows the American whale fisheries from shore whaling, to the fleets of whale ships that sailed in every ocean, to the industry’s decline in the nineteenth century.  Highly recommended.

Dolan’s new book, Fur, Fortune, and Empire: The Epic History of the Fur Trade in America, which will be released in July,  also sounds fascinating.   While not exclusively nautical, it does cover Hudson’s voyage to America as well as the sea otter trade in the Pacific Northwest, and its role in the China trade.    A short video about the book:

The Epic History of the Fur Trade in America

Headline Wars over Whales

Posted on by April 26, 2010

There is an interesting conflict going on over the new draft proposal by the International Whaling Commission which would allow limited commercial  whaling at levels significantly lower than currently practiced by Japan, Iceland and Norway.   Depending on who you listen to this is either a good thing – decreased levels of whaling or a very bad thing – continued whaling.    The coverage of the story reflects the divide. CNN reported – Proposal could save thousands of whales.  The  Telegraph took the other side – Endangered whales could be killed legally.    In the end, it may not matter, as thus far, the Japanese are rejecting the  proposal.

Japan harpoons whaling compromise

Right Whales in Block Island Sound, Whale Poop & Global Warming

Posted on by April 25, 2010

Recently almost one hundred endangered right whales were observed feeding in the waters of Block Island Sound. Given that only between 350 and 400 of the North Atlantic Right Whales are believed to currently exist, the gathering was quite unusual.

Scores of right whales ‘cavorting’ in Block Island Sound

“It’s like a third of the world’s population is cavorting out there,” said Grover Fugate, executive director of the state’s Coastal Resources Management Council, which is directing a massive study of the coastal waters to prepare for development of an offshore wind-turbine complex.
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Abby Heads for Cape Town and Jessica Battles Huge Waves

Posted on by April 25, 2010

Abby Sunderland

Abby Sunderland’s attempt to become the youngest sailor to sail around the world non-stop ended as she decided to put into Cape Town due to mechanical failures.  The boat’s main autopilot has been giving her problems during the voyage recently failed.    She intends to continue her sail around the world following her stop for repairs.   Her stop will means that she will no longer be challenging Jessica Watson for the title of youngest non-stop circumnavigator.   Both Abby and Jessica are sixteen.

Repairs end Abby Sunderland’s shot at record nonstop sail
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Pirate Weekend in Newburgh, NY and Real Pirates Charged in Norfolk

Posted on by April 24, 2010

This week HMS Bounty, the replica ship built for the 1960 movie, “Mutiny on the Bounty,”  will be the centerpiece of the “Pirate Weekend”  in Newburgh, New York, on the Hudson River, sixty miles north of new York City.  The Bounty has also been featured in over a dozen films and television shows, including 1989’s “Treasure Island” with Charlton Heston, “Muppet Treasure Island” and the second and third “Pirates of the Caribbean” movies.

Pirate Weekend sails into Newburgh waterfront

In other news, eleven men have been charged with piracy in federal court in Norfolk, Va related to two attacks on US naval vessels off the coast of Somalia.

Pirate Suspects From Somalia Charged in U.S.

April in New York Harbor – Seals, New Boats and Floaters?

Posted on by April 24, 2010

It is feeling like spring in New York harbor.   Earlier this month a harbor seal  was seem enjoying the sun on an old pier on the Jersey City side of the Hudson. Harbor seal were once common in New York harbor but were hunted and finally driven out.  In 2006, after an absence of over 100 years, the first seals began returning to the outer harbor.   This year a young seal appears quite comfortable in the inner harbor directly across from lower Manhattan.
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Deepwater Horizon rig sinks in Gulf of Mexico after explosion

Posted on by April 22, 2010

US oil rig sinks in Gulf of Mexico after explosion

An oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico that caught fire after an explosion on Tuesday has now sunk, the US coastguard has said.   The coastguard is still looking for 11 missing workers after the blast at the Deepwater Horizon rig.  There has been no sign of the group despite efforts by patrol boats through the night and an aerial search that resumed on Thursday. The other workers on the rig, off Louisiana, were evacuated to the US.  The aerial search had resumed at dawn but there has been no sign of those missing.