This September, we posted about the popular and nearly ubiquitous “duck tours” using refurbished World War II DUKW amphibious trucks, or vehicles inspired by them, to take tourists on tours in cities and resorts around the world. (See From DUKWs to Ducks, Ducks and More Ducks.) Now an English bus company is testing an “amfibus,” a Dutch amphibious bus, as a possible replacement for a ferry service across the Clyde River, which is scheduled to be shut down this March. After fixing a technical glitch, testing has resumed and everything looks just ducky. (Sorry.)
The New York Times Science section has a fascinating slide show discussing the scientific innovations behind the two sailboats competing in the America’s Cup. The science is intriguing but the photos are simply breathtaking.
A follow-up to our previous post – Free Aircraft Carrier – ex USS John F Kennedy.
Maine group in running for decommissioned JFK
A nonprofit group in Maine says it’s still in the running to bring the decommissioned carrier John F. Kennedy to Portland Harbor as a floating museum.
The USS John F. Kennedy Museum said Wednesday that the Navy has invited it to enter into the next phase to land the 1,052-foot aircraft carrier. According to the group, the Navy said only two organizations made it to the next stage, but didn’t reveal the other group.
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Abby Sunderland is putting into Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, interrupting her round the world attempt, because of a power problem aboard her yacht, Wild Eyes. The yacht’s solar panels and wind generators were not providing enough power and the yacht will be fitted with additional battery capacity.
A review by Steven Toby, written for the Maritime History Listserv, included here with his kind permission. Sounds like a fascinating book.
Skipjack: The Story of America’s Last Sailing Oystermen by Christopher White is an excellent book on the last commercial fishing craft operating under sail in the US. The author has a journalistic rather than a scholarly approach, although he has an academic background in the biology/ecology area. He’s a great storyteller, and some of the anecdotes are almost novel-like.
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In January we posted about the Jewel of Muscat a replica of a 9th-century sailing ship modelled on a famous Tang Treasure ship. Recently Nova broadcast a documentary on far older ships from the region, Pharaoh Hatshepsut’s ships, dating from 1479 BCE. Pharaoh Hatshepsut was the only female pharoah and she is said to have launched a fabled expedition on great trading ships to a far-away land known as Punt. The expedition is recorded in bas relief on her funeral temple. A team of archeologists and Egyptian boat builders have built a replica of one of these ships and sailed it in the open waters of the Red Sea. It is a fascinating documentary. Click here to read more – Building Pharoah’s Ship, or here to watch the video on-line.
Thank to Bowsprite for pointing out the documentary to us.
Not every historic vessel can be saved and not every historic vessel should be saved. The difficult question is deciding which are worthy of saving before they fall prey to the ravages of time or, in this case, the bureaucracy. A story from today’s Daily Mail:
Mine-sweeper ship that defied the Germans on D-Day set to be scrapped for health and safety reasons
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After being under construction for almost a decade, the aircraft carrier George H. W. Bush was accepted by the US Navy following final seatrials last Friday.
Northrop Grumman delivers Bush aircraft carrier to Navy
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Zac & Abby Sunderland, Jessica Waston & Mike Perham
In July of last year, Zac Sunderland, a 17-year-old from Southern California, became the youngest person to sail around the world alone. He held that tile for only about a month as the British 17 year old sailor, Mike Perham, who was a few months younger than Zac, completed his circumnavigation. Both Zac and Mike made at least one stop along the way around the globe.
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Delivery service for the remote island of St Helena
The tiny British colony of St Helena in the South Atlantic – the world’s most remote inhabited island – is being hit by Whitehall’s spending cuts. An airport considered by many to be vital for the island’s future has been cancelled.
The Royal Mail Ship St Helena currently delivers all sorts of supplies to the community. Second officer Mia Henry gave BBC News a tour of the ship’s bridge and cargo hold. Click here to view the video.
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A great story from the Yachtpals blog. Organized by the non-profit group Oceans Watch, a flotilla of at least a dozen yachts loaded with aid for Haiti, led by the 74 foot schooner Wolf, will set sail from Key West on February 8th. A second flotilla is gathering in Jamaica, and there are more yachts throughout the Caribbean either planning to set sail or already en route.
Last week we posted about the International Chamber of Shipping’s concern that governments are not doing enough to combat piracy. Now the British government, after long opposing the payment of ransoms to free hijacked ships is also trying to discourage the use of armed guards on UK merchant ships. British government policy appears to be to not provide adequate naval defenses against piracy, to oppose the shipowner’s use of onboard guards and then to oppose the ship owner’s payment of ransom to free hijacked ships and crews.
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Last week a navy commander and two fellow officers pleaded guilty to crashing the HMS Superb, a British nuclear submarine, in 2008, into a massive stone pinnacle under the Red Sea which was marked on maritime charts.
Navy commander crashed £32m British submarine after failing to ensure craft’s ’safe direction’
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An Aframax tanker, the Eagle Otome, collided with an oil barge in the Sabine Neches Waterway at Port Arthur, Texas on Saturday. Initial reports suggested 12, 000 barrels of crude oil were unaccounted for, though local officials are now estimating that approximately 1,000 barrels were actually spilled. The crude oil spill is reported to have been contained to a two-mile area and was not believed to have hurt any local wildlife. No injuries were reported but 100 residents were evacuated from the area for about seven hours Saturday morning.
Coast Guard: Oil spill in Texas waterway contained
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An intriguing article from the Sunday Times:
Hunt is on for SS Gairsoppa’s £70m silver hoard
AN official attempt to find a ship containing £70m worth of silver, which was sunk during the second world war, is to be announced by the government tomorrow. It has teamed up with a private company in the hope of salvaging the treasure.
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Sam Willis has written what appears to be a fascinating book – Fighting Temeraire.
J.M.W. Turner’s painting, The Fighting Temeraire Tugged to her Last Berth to be Broken Up, hangs in the National Gallery in Trafalgar Square and was recently voted to be Britain’s favorite painting, by a landslide, in a BBC4 poll. Sam Willis, a naval historian known for his previous books Fighting Ships 1750-1850 and Fighting at Sea in the Eighteenth Century, writes that despite the popularity of Turner’s work, ”few people know anything of life on board, or of the terrible sacrifices made by her crew… I decided to write a book about the Fighting Temeraire – a choice, in part, inspired by Turner’s great painting.”
Willis has quite a tale to tell. In yesterday’s Daily Mail, he writes:
Unlocking the bloody history of the ship made famous by Turner, the Fighting Temeraire
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Oceanbridge Auckland Anniversary Day Regatta turns 170, Feb 1, 2010
On Monday, 1 February 2010, New Zealand’s oldest sporting event, the Auckland Anniversary Day Regatta will celebrate its 170th anniversary with a celebration of our maritime history and heritage on land and sea with a fleet of sail boats, classic yachts, tugboats and tall ship as well as two Australian contenders.
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Crowley Establishing Flow of Relief Cargo Into Haiti
Crowley Maritime Corporation, working under contract with the U.S. Transportation Command (USTRANSCOM), is unloading Haiti relief cargo in Rio Haina, Dominican Republic, today. Fifty six of the 68 20-foot containers of water and meals-ready-to-eat (MREs) will be trucked across the border into Haiti.
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In November we posted about the USS New York’s commissioning in its namesake city. The new amphibious transport dock ship, the fifth of the San Antonio-class, was built with seven and a half tons of steel from the rubble of the World Trade Center cast for the ship’s bow. A recent spot check of the ships of her class showed that 10 percent to 15 percent of the welds used in the construction were undersized. As the welding was primarily related to pipes, at least we won’t have to worry about the “front falling off.”
That is not the only problem on the USS New York. She is currently under repair following a bearing failure on her main propulsion diesels. The bearing problem is not unique to the SS New York but appears to be shared by other San Antonio class ships of which the USS New York is the fifth of nine to be built.
LPD amphibious assault ship welds are a concern for Navy
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While the amphibious assault ship USS Bataan arrived in Haiti yesterday and the hospital ship USNS Comfort arrived the day before, naval ships are not the only vessels sailing to aid the earthquake victims. The schooner Amistad is on her way bearing both supplies and a sense of history. The schooner Amistad , a replica of the slave ship on which the captives revolted and took over the ship in 1839, is sailing to the only nation in the western hemisphere to achieve independence through a slave rebellion.