Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge – “The World’s Roughest Rowing Race”

Posted on by December 6, 2011

Seventeen teams from around the world have set off rowing from Spain’s San Sebastian de la Gomera in the Canary Islands in the Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge in what is billed as the “World’s Roughest Rowing Race.” The teams will follow the ‘Columbus Route’ westbound across the mid-Atlantic to Port St Charles in Barbados, rowing an estimated 3,000 miles over roughly 50 days. There are two solo rowers and fifteen two, four or six person crews.

[iframe: src=”http://player.vimeo.com/video/33213622?title=0&byline=0&portrait=0″ width=”400″ height=”225″ frameborder=”0″ webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen]

RACE LAUNCH from Talisker Whisky on Vimeo.

Continue reading →

Laura Dekker & the Volvo Ocean Racers

Posted on by December 6, 2011

PUMA's Mar Mostro traveling by ship to Cape Town after dismasting. Photo: Amory Ross/PUMA Ocean Racing/Volvo Ocean Race

I was struck by the juxtaposition.  Laura Dekker, the Dutch 16 year old who is sailing around the world alone, arrived in Cape Town at roughly the same times as the mega-racers of the Volvo Ocean Race.  Well, she arrived at the same time as the three boats that held together long enough to make it Cape Town.  The other half of the Volvo Ocean Race fleet traveled by ship to South Africa after rigging or hull failure temporarily put them out of the race.
Continue reading →

US Navy Training Mine Washes Up on Miami Beach

Posted on by December 5, 2011

Perhaps Miami Beach is feeling a certain solidarity with Koblentz, Germany.  Today an M57 US Navy training mine washed up on Miami Beach.  Fortunately the mine was inert and did not contain explosive.  Yesterday, bomb disposal experts successfully defused two World War II vintage bombs which had become exposed on the Rhine riverbanks at Koblentz, when water levels dropped due to an ongoing drought.

Navy Training Mine Washes Up On Miami Beach 

Update: Bombs on the Rhine – Koblentz Bombs Successfully Defused, Residents Return

Posted on by December 4, 2011

We have previously posted about how the European drought has lowered the Rhine River so that World War II munitions long buried in the riverbank have become exposed.  Over the weekend, forty five thousand people, roughly half of the population of the city of Koblentz, Germany, at the junction of the Rhine and Moselle Rivers, were evacuated in order to defuse bombs exposed by falling river levels. Initially, it was reported that one British 4,000 pound bomb would be defused. Now, it appears that that bomb, as well as a smaller American high explosive bomb were both defused.   A third non-explosive device was also destroyed, according to the Koblenz fire department.

WWII bombs defused allowing 45,000 evacuated residents to return

Christmas Tree Ship Arrives at Navy Dock in Chicago

Posted on by December 4, 2011

On Friday, the “Christmas Tree Ship” arrived again on the Chicago docks, bringing Christmas trees to needy families. The arrival of the ship has become a Chicago holiday tradition, honoring of the memory of Capt Herman Schuenemann and his three masted schooner, the Rouse Simmons, known to many as the “Christmas Tree ship,” which delivered Christmas trees to the Chicago Docks for over 30 years around the turn of the 20th century. Starting in 2000, the maritime community of Chicago has revived the tradition. This year, the US Coast Guard Cutter Alder arrived at the dock, her decks loaded with trees, which are being distributed to local families over the weekend.

Christmas tree ship arrives at Navy Pier

The First Christmas Tree Ship – Captain Herman Schuenemann & the Schooner Rouse Simmons

Posted on by December 24, 2018

Schooner Rouse Simmons

Today the Christmas Ship is Chicago’s largest all volunteer charitable support program for inner city youth and their families at Christmas time.  At the turn of the twentieth century, the “Christmas Tree Ship” was a family business. In  the mid 1880s, August and his brother Herman Schuenemann moved to Chicago.  They were merchants and sailors who made two-thirds of their annual income transporting and selling Christmas trees.  August died in in November 1898 when the  two-masted schooner S. Thal sank in a storm near Glencoe, Illinois. His younger brother Herman continued the family business.
Continue reading →

Land and Sea – Nova Scotia Schooners

Posted on by December 4, 2011

In the United States, we have seen an explosion of so-called “reality TV,” which is usually more akin to unscripted soap opera than reality, fortunately.   In Canada, however, the CBC has some wonderful programming which is reality television in the very best sense.  On fine example is “Land and Sea,”  a program which for thirty years has been focussed on  stories from people who live off the land and the sea on the Canadian Atlantic.  Today, at noon, it will feature, “Schooners,” a look at the schooners of Nova Scotia.   For those of us who not live in Canada, the program will be available on-line here.    Here also are comments from the director of the documentary.

Nova Scotia Schooners Trailer

Thanks to Tom Russell fro pointing out the Director’s Cut on the Traditional Sail Professionals Linked-in List.

Remembering Dr. James Guthrie, the Real Dr. Stephen Maturin ?

Posted on by December 3, 2011

HMS Speedy - Dr. James Guthrie, commander and crew, albeit briefly

On Facebook this morning, Maritime Great Britain linked to a post on THE DEAR SURPRISE blog, discussing a post by Marion Elizabeth Diamond on the Historians are Past Caring blog, which raised the question, “Was this the real Stephen Maturin?”   Ms. Diamond answers her own question with the suggestion that Patrick O’Brian may have based his character of ships’ surgeon/spy, Stephen Maturin, on the doctor and scientist, Augustus Bozzi Granville, who did indeed serve in the medical service of the Royal Navy.

Bozzi Geneville may indeed have served as an inspiration to O’Brian.  I have always thought that O’Brian borrowed from the life of Joseph Banks for both his characters, Maturin and Joseph Blaine.  Bozzi Geneville looks like a reasonable candidate, as well.   Nevertheless, we should not forget Dr. James Guthrie, who provided the very literal inspiration for O’Brian’s Dr. Maturin.
Continue reading →

The Long Strange Voyage of Valeska Paris on the Scientology “Cruise Ship” Freewinds

Posted on by December 3, 2011

Valeska Paris recently appeared on the Australian television program “Lateline”  where she charged that she was held for twelve years against her will on the cruise ship MV Freewinds, a ship operated by the Church of Scientology. The ship, the ex- MS Bohème for Wallenius Lines, is used as a training and recreational center by the church.  The church denies all charges.  Scientology is a religion created by L. Ron Hubbard, a science fiction writer, in the early 1950s.

ABC Lateline – Scientology Imprisonment on the Freewinds (2011-11-28)


Continue reading →

The Sinking of the Kowloon Bridge, 25 Years Ago Today – the World’s Largest Wreck

Posted on by December 3, 2011

Twenty five years ago today, the ore-bulk-oil carrier MV Kowloon Bridge sank off the coast of West Cork with a cargo of 165,000 tons of iron ore and 2,000 tons of bunker oil, becoming the world’s largest shipwreck by tonnage.

The Kowloon Bridge was bound from Quebec, Canada to the River Clyde,in Scotland when she started to develop structural cracking on the main deck during a storm. She diverted to Bantry Bay, Ireland.  She subsequently suffered  steering gear failre and on Monday, November 24th, 1986, ran around off ‘The Stags,’ near Baltimore, West Cork in the Republic of Ireland.  Attempts at salvage failed and on December 3, the ship broke in half and sank. The almost 2,000 tonnes of fuel oil which leaked from the wreck did significant damage to local beaches, fisheries and wildlife.  The Kowloon Bridge was a sistership to the MV Derbyshire which sank with all hands during Typhoon Orchid in 1980. See our post, Douglas Faulkner and the MV Derbyshire.

25th anniversary of Europe’s biggest wreck – ‘Kowloon Bridge’

The wreck of the Kowloon Bridge is now a popular site for experienced divers, in20 to 118 feet of water off the Stag Rocks.

Scuba Diving in Baltimore, County Cork, Ireland, Europe

Video for a Friday – My Jorts Smell Like Biomass

Posted on by December 9, 2011

After an lovely warm November, winter is beginning to settle in here on the banks of the Hudson River, so it feels like a good time to feature a video of warm water, blue sky and white sails. Here is a video shot by Jimmy C on-board the 134-foot steel brigantine Robert C. Seamans on a thirty eight day voyage from San Diego to Honolulu with S.E.A. Semester class S237.  The video was shot with a Go Pro Helmet cam.

Sea Education Association (SEA) is a private, nonprofit educational organization which offers a hands-on experience to college and high school students in sailing at sea. They operate the Robert C. Seamans, generally in the Pacific, and the Corwith Cramer in the Atlantic.

Perry’s Revenge Ale – Celebrating Perry’s Lost Ship

Posted on by December 1, 2011

Last January, three divers, Charles Buffum, Mike Fournier and Craig Harger, announced that they had located the wreck of Oliver Hazard Perry’s ship USS Revenge which sank 200 years ago off the coast of Rhode Island near Watch Hill.   It turns out that Charles Buffum, in addition to being a diver and an amateur archaeologist, is also the owner of Cottrell Brewing Company, which is celebrating the discovery with a new ale –  Perry’s Revenge Ale, a dark Scottish-style ale with an 8.5 percent alcohol content.  it is currently only sold on tap at pubs nearby the  Pawcatuck brewery, but is expected to be sold in 22-ounce bottles in liquor stores within a month.  I can only hope that it is distributed here on the banks of the Hudson River.

Brewery marks discovery of shipwreck with new beer

See also: Wreck of Perry’s USS Revenge reported found on 200th anniversary

Update: Bombs Along the Rhine – Half of Koblenz to be Evacuated for Bomb Disposal

Posted on by March 18, 2012

Koblenz, where the Mosel meets the Rhine

Recently we posted about how the near record drought in Europe has lowered the levels in the Rhine River, not only limiting vessel traffic, but also exposing World War II munitions.  We wrote that “ bomb disposal experts … are evaluating how to dispose of a larger bomb  found lying in 16 inches of water near Koblenz.” They have made their determination and it involves evacuating 45,000 people, or roughly half of the population of Koblenz, this Sunday, prior to defusing the estimated 3,000 pounds of high explosives in the bomb.

Nearly half German city to evacuate Sunday for defusing of WWII era bomb
Continue reading →

Adrift in the Pacific – Two Kiribati Men Missing for 33 Days Come Ashore in Marshall Islands

Posted on by November 30, 2011

Two men, aged 53 and 26, from the Pacific Ocean island nation of Kiribati, who had been missing for 33 days, came ashore over 300 miles away on the on Namorik Atoll, in the Marshall Islands. The men were reported to be weak, but otherwise not in bad shape, considering their ordeal. Apparently their arrival was not entirely unusual.

“As odd as it may seem, the Marshall Islands hosts Kiribas drifters quite frequently,” said the editor of the Marshall Islands Journal, Giff Johnson, “It’s not that it happens all the time. Let’s just say people from Kiribas are very hardy individuals. They get lost on a little boat and manage to persevere. It is an amazing thing.”

Castaways found on Pacific atoll after 33 days at sea
Continue reading →