Fireboat named for FDNY heroes killed on 9/11

fireboat350From Marine Log:

A fireboat launched September 11, 2009 at Eastern Shipbuilding, Panama City, Fla. is named the Three Forty Three in honor of the 343 New York City firefighters killed at the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001.

The Three Forty Three is expected to arrive in New York City in December and will be assigned to Marine 1, stationed on the Hudson River in Manhattan, replacing the 50-year-old John D. McKean.

The FDNY Marine Fleet consists of more than 30 vessels responsible for over 450 miles of coastline and harbors and has protected New York City residents for 134 years.

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The unseen tragedy behind Superferry 9

superferry9I’ve always been struck by the tragedy that those most in need of ferry service are often also most at risk.    We have seen recent ferry accidents in the Philippines with the sinking of the Superferry 9 resulting in nine deaths, in Tonga with the loss of  73 passengers with the sinking of the Princess Ashika and earlier this year the deaths of an estimated 250 passengers when a ferry capsized near Sulawesi, Indonesia.    Last year, MV Princess of the Stars, capsized in the Philippines with the loss of 800 lives.

Barista Uno writing in the Marine Café blog in the Philippines has an intriguing perspective and insight on the sinking of the Superferry 9 and similar casualties:

The unseen tragedy behind Superferry 9
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The Floating Chapels of the Seamen’s Church Institute

seachurchIf you can’t get sailors to church, bring the church to the sailors.  That was the strategy used in 1844 by the Protestant Church Missionary Society for Seamen, which was renamed the Seamen’s Church Institute. As they celebrate their 175th anniversary, it is a good time to remember the Floating Chapels of the Seamen’s Church Institute.

The Floating Chapel of our Savior for Seamen was built on the hull of a ferry boat. Originally moored  at Whitehall Slip, it soon was moved to Pike Street on the East River in New York City.  Services were held there from 1844 to 1866 when the chapel was deemed unseaworthy and replaced with another. The second chapel remained at Pike Street until 1910 when it was moved to Staten Island and taken ashore to become the All Saints Episcopal Church where it remained in use until it burned down the day after Christmas in 1958.

In 1846, only two years after the construction of the Floating Chapel on Pike Street, the Floating Chapel of the Holy Comforter was built and moored at the end of Dey Street where it remained until 1868.

The Seamen’s Church Institute of Philadelphia built its own Floating Church in 1848, the Floating Church of the Redeemer, which was in use for roughly ten years.

A Bad Week for Bulk Carriers – Black Rose Sinks, Seli 1 Aground

Seli-1 Aground off Cape Town

Seli-1 Aground off Cape Town

Last week was a bad week for bulk carriers.   The MV Black Rose, a bulk carrier with a crew of  27 which had loaded 23,847 tons of iron ore,  sank near the port of Paradip on the east coast of India.  All but one of the crew were rescued.  The Chief Engineer is believed lost.

MV Black Rose Sinks Off Paradip Port
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Update: Beluga Shipping Underway in the North East Passage

passage_600aWe have been following the progress of Beluga Shipping in their attempt to make a commercial transit of the “Northern Sea Route” which is also referred to as the “North East Passage.”  See our “Beluga Group attempts the Northern Sea Route” and “Arctic Waters are Getting Busier“.

Captain D. Peter Boucher has a great update on Beluga’s progress on the Nautical Log Blog , in his post, North East Passage , as does yesterday’s New York Times, Arctic Shortcut Beckons Shippers as Ice Thaws.
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Henry Hudson on Manhattan Island – 400 Years Ago Today

halfmoon3Today there are 1.6 million or so residents on the island of Manhattan.  How things have changed. Four hundred years ago on September 12th, 1609, when Henry Hudson first stepped onto the island, there were roughly 600 Lenape Indians living there.  The natives called the island Manna-hata, as recorded in the 1609 logbook of Robert Juet, an officer on Hudson’s ship, Half Moon. Manna-hata is translated from the Lenape to mean the “island of many hills.”

The Lenape Indians would later gave a different account of the name to Moravian missionary John Heckewelder. They called it Manahachtanienk, which in the Delaware language, means “the island where we all became intoxicated.”  OK, so maybe things haven’t changed so much after all.

On that note I will raise a glass to Henry Hudson who arrived in what is now New York City 400 years ago on this day.

Dick Dowling Days

sabinepassLast February, we posted about Dick Dowling and the battle of Sabine Pass.  This weekend , September 12th and 13th, during “Dick Dowling Days” there will be re-enactments of the Civil War battle on the Sabine Pass State Historic Battleground Site in Texas, commemorating the 146th anniversary of the battle.   Re-enactors portraying Union and Confederate soldiers, sailors, and marines will drill, display their gear and re-enact two battles each of the two days.   Admission is free.

Click here for a schedule of events

Breaking News from the Department of Really Lousy Timing

CNN reported that the US Coast Guard had fired shots at a passenger vessel on the Potomac River a short distance from where 9/11 memorial events were taking place at the Pentagon.   Later reports say that the incident was in fact a training exercise and claims that no shots were fired.

We are awaiting confirmation that the exercise was scheduled by the Coast Guard’s Department of Really Lousy Timing and Stupid Stunts.

Coast Guard training exercise on Potomac raises security scare

Maritime Evacuation on 9/11 – An American Dunkirk

blueEight years ago today, on a beautiful Tuesday morning in September,  hundreds of thousands of commuters were trapped  in lower Manhattan.  Manhattan is an island and all bridges, tunnels and subways had been shut down following the attacks on the World Trade Center.

Shortly after the second tower was struck, well before either tower fell,  something remarkable, almost miraculous, happened.  A  fleet of boats began arriving in the waters around lower Manhattan.   They were boats of all shapes and sizes – ferries, tugs, excursion boats, fireboats, buoy tenders, patrol boats and yachts.   Large and small, public and private, they began an  entirely spontaneous, unplanned, unsupervised and uncontrolled evacuation of Lower Manhattan.   By the end of the day between 300,000 and one million people, depending on which estimate you use,  were carried to safety.  Over 2,000 of those rescued were injured.   When there were no more people to transport, many of these boats began shuttling supplies to the rescue effort at Ground Zero.   It was the largest maritime evacuation since Dunkirk and has gone largely unreported in the media.

Photos of the Evacuation from HarborHeroes.org
List of 9/11 Rescue Boats
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Australia’s National Shipwrecks Database

hmcs-mermaidWe recently posted about how Cathryn R. Newton, dean emerita from Syracuse University’s College of Arts and Sciences, has developed a searchable database that details 2,038 shipwrecks dating from 1526.  Thanks to Dick Kooyman for pointing out Australia’s National Shipwrecks database, a searchable database of Australian shipwrecks.

The database is accessible through the Australian Government Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts web site which also has some very interesting sections on historic shipwrecks which includes pages on famous Australian shipwrecks, shipwreck trails, and South Australia’s graveyard of ships. Definitely worth checking out.

Retracing Darwin’s Journey – 150 Years Later

Charles Darwin’s great-great- granddaughter, Sarah Darwin, is sailing on the Stad Amsterdam with a group of historians and naturalists, as well as a film crew for Dutch VPRO Television and Hollywood actor John Malkovich.   They will be retracing the voyage of HMS Beagle on the 150th anniversary of the publication of Darwin’s On the Origin of the Species.

Sarah Darwin – Video


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Fire on the Morro Castle – Part 2: “Hero” and Murderer

morro_castle_ashore_via_wikipediaIn the aftermath of the fire in 1934 on the passenger liner Morro Castle, in which 135 passengers and crew died, there was considerable blame to be shared. The ship’s safety equipment was poorly maintained, the crew poorly trained and the ship’s officers made several questionable decisions which may have contributed to the rapid spread of the fire.  How the fire started has never been determined.   One man, George White Rogers, a radio officer, would be held up as hero.  He stayed at his station transmitting “SOS” despite intense heat and smoke in the radio room.

Many now suspect that the “hero” of the Morro Castle may have set the fire on the ship and may have also murdered the ship’s captain.

Ship’s radio operator still likely suspect
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Fire on the Morro Castle – Part 1: Memorial on 75th Anniversary

Seventy five years ago today, the passenger liner Morro Castle was steaming off the Jersey shore, bound for New York from Havana, when she caught fire.   Of the 549 passengers and crew aboard, 135 died either in the fire or  by drowning.   An estimated 125,000 witnessed the fire from shore.  The gutted ship drifted ashore on the beach in Asbury Park. Now on the 75th anniversary of the fire the Asbury Park Historical Society will unveil a monument dedicated to the Morro Castle, its victims and the many heroes who risked their lives to rescue survivors.

Monument unveiling for Morro Castle disaster off Asbury Park

Here news real footage of the Morro Castle fire:

1945 U.S. ARMY Battle Tug For Sale

Thanks to Dave Shirlaw on MARHST-L for pointing out a fascinating vessel for sale on E-Bay.  The vessel is a steel tug, ST 893, built by JK Welding of Brooklyn, NY in 1945.   The tug is said to have served in Normandy, the South Pacific, Korea, and Vietnam, and has been converted to a live-aboard yacht.   As of this writing , there are no bids.

1945 U.S. ARMY Battle Tug

Korea’s first clipper finally sets sail

An interesting article from JoongAng Ilbo about a large sailing yacht once owned by an unnamed American Mafia boss. The yacht was in Korea for modifications, when the Mafiosa was arrested and sent to prison.  The boat was purchased by a Korean who named her Koreana and intends to use her to teach students about the sea.

The Koreana is said to be the first “clipper” in Korea. Fortunately the articles defines what it means by “clipper”:

What differentiates a clipper from a yacht is the length of the vessel and the number of masts it has. Ships with a length of over 60 feet (about 18.3 meters) and more than two masts are considered clippers. Because clippers are expensive to maintain and a large crew is needed to raise and drop the anchor, they are generally considered to be a ship for the wealthy.

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Would you prefer the Slimehead or the Orange Roughy?

Which would you prefer to order from the menu  – slimehead or orange roughy?  Antarctic toothfish or Chilean sea bass?  Slimehead and orange roughy are the same fish, just as the Chilean sea bass is the Antarctic toothfish with a new name.  Orange roughy just sounds so much better on the menu or in the supermarket than slimehead.  The same goes with Chilean sea bass, which doesn’t happen to be related to sea bass at all, but the name is appealing.

Overfishing has led to the near collapse of many popular species.  Cod fish on the Grand Banks are at 12% of healthy levels while red snapper in the Gulf of Mexico is at 6%.   Less popular and attractive fish are now being marketed often with new names and are now themselves in danger of being over-fished.  Who would imagined that a slimehead fish would be so popular with a simple name change?  An intriguing article from the Washington Post:

Tastier Names Trouble for Seafood Stocks

Nautical Reenactors on the Willow Wren

Thanks to Alaric Bond for passing on this intriguing video of a group of German reenactors on the Willow Wren. The note with the video reads, (imperfectly translated by Google,) “Maritimes reenactment in 1807 of the Danish South Sea aboard the “Willow Wren.” A strange group of unknown Danish mission in the South Seas on the road.”  So far I have been unable to find any information on the reenactors of the Willow Wren. If anyone knows more about them I would love to learn more.

Baltic sea 1807 / Ostsee 1807

Of Tall Ships and Stupid Lawyers

The U.S. Coast Guard Barque Eagle is among the high-masted, altitudinous sailing vessels, that have visited Portsmouth in the past.

The age of wooden ships and iron men is long gone.  We appear to be square in the era of tall ships and stupid lawyers.  From the SeaCoastonline:

The American Sail Training Association sent a letter to the Piscataqua Maritime Commission on July 23 demanding the organization cease and desist from using references that infringe on ASTA’s federally registered trademarks. Those trademarks include “tall ships,” “tall ships are coming,” “tall ships 2000″ and “tall ships challenge.” For the past 25 years, the city has hosted a Tall Ships Festival without knowing it was violating ASTA’s trademarks. The term “tall ship” has been registered with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office since 1976.

Donald Coker, chairman of the PMC, said his organization has been a member of ASTA for several years, but now would be required to enter into a license agreement to continue to use the term “tall ship.” The cost of the license he said represents 15 to 20 percent of the entire budget, making it likely the 2010 event will have a different name.

‘Very large, tall-masted sailing ships’ to arrive in August
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The Long, Strange Journey of the Prins Willem

The Prins Willem, the replica Dutch East Indiaman destroyed by fire a few days ago, was an unusual ship.  She was built in 1985 in in Friesland in 1985 as an exhibit at the Nagasaki Holland Village open-air museum in Japan. The Japanese theme park was closed and the Prince Willem returned to the Netherlands in 2003 and had been moored at Den Helder.  (Interestingly enough, at least to me, the Nagasaki Holland Village park was replaced by a newer and larger Dutch based theme park Huis Ten Bosch also in Nagasaki.)
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