Raising the Anchor from Blackbeard’s Queen Anne’s Revenge

Posted on by June 4, 2011

Until I saw the video I didn’t grasp just how large this anchor is.  It is believed to be from the pirate Blackbeard‘s flagship, the Queen Anne’s Revenge, which ran aground in 1718 while trying to enter Old Topsail Inlet in North Carolina, now known as Beaufort Inlet.   The wreck of what is believed to be Blackbeard’s ship was  discovered in 1996 by Intersal Inc., a private research firm.  To learn more about the excavation go to  –   Queen Anne’s Revenge Online.

Blackbeard’s anchor recovered

Thanks to Irwin Bryan for the passing the article along.

Rear Adm. Sandra Stosz, First Woman to Lead Military Academy

Posted on by June 3, 2011

Rear Adm. Sandra Stosz has been named as the 40th Superintendent of the United States Coast Guard Academy in New London, Ct.  She is the first woman to lead one of the nation’s five military service academies.

New leader takes the helm at Coast Guard Academy
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The World’s Oldest Champagne Sells at Auction

Posted on by August 1, 2024

Last  July we posted about divers finding intact bottles of champagne, believed to date from between 1782 and 1788, in the hold of a shipwreck on the Baltic seabed.   In November, a bottle of the “world’s oldest champagne” was opened and tasted by experts who judged it to be quite palatable.   Earlier today, two bottles of the shipwreck champagne went on auction in Finland.   Despite expectations that each bottle might sell for as much 100,000 euros (approximately $140,000), the winning bids were 30,000 euros ($43,500) for a bottle of Veuve Clicquot and 24,000 euros for a bottle of Juglar.    This morning some sources were enthusiastically suggesting that the champagne might go for “140 million dollars a bottle,” apparently adding three zeros to the earlier $140,000 estimate.
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Greenpeace: Japan Nuclear Plant Radiation Accumulating in Marine Life

Posted on by June 2, 2011

A recent report by Greenpeace directly contradicts Japanese government assurances that the radiation in the water near the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant is being dispersed and diluted over time.  Significant levels of radioactive contamination have been recorded in local seafood.

Greenpeace: Japan nuclear plant radiation accumulating in marine life
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A Flood of Arks? Ark Building Around the World

Posted on by June 2, 2011

One of Johan's Arks

If a group of birds are a flock, a group of whales is a pod, and fish gather in schools, what would one call a group of Noah’s arks?  A fleet would be the easy answer, but that somehow doesn’t quite fit.  How about a flood of arks?

However one might wish to describe them, there are at least six or seven arks, either completed, under construction or planned in the Netherlands, Turkey, Hong Kong, Canada  and the United States.
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“Don’t Give Up the Ship” – Thoughts on Sloganeering

Posted on by September 24, 2019

Perry’s Battle Flag

On June 1, 1813, one hundred and ninety eight years ago today, the British frigate HMS Shannon defeated and captured the USS Chesapeake in single ship combat. Captain James  Lawrence on the Chesapeake was mortally wounded during the battle. His last words were, depending on the account,  “Don’t give up the ship. Fight her till she sinks,” or “Tell them to fire faster; don’t give up the ship.”  If  “don’t give up the ship” was an order, it was never carried out because the ship had already been taken by British boarders.
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MSC Opera – Blackout & Mutiny, High Drama on the Baltic

Posted on by June 1, 2011

The good news is that the events were more like the Carnival Splendor than the Titanic.  No one died. No ships were lost to icebergs.  Nevertheless, there was high drama, bordering on the operatic, on the cruise ship MSC Opera on its voyage from Southhampton to the Baltic last month.   There was a blackout, the ship adrift,  a passenger mutiny and the detention of the ship by the authorities.  Now that the ship is back in service, it seems worthwhile to take a look at the unsuccessful cruise.
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Towing Icebergs – an Idea Whose Time is Still Coming?

Posted on by June 1, 2011

Victor Hugo wrote, “Nothing is stronger than an idea whose time has come.”  There are some ideas whose time always appears to be coming but somehow never quite arrive.  As a young naval architect in the 1970s, I recall predictions that tug boats would be towing icebergs to areas where fresh water is in short supply.   On Sunday, Time magazine posted an article asking, “Can Towing Icebergs to Water-Short Areas Really Work?”  With the aid of new technology, the answer may finally be “yes.”   Then again, this is not the first time that Time magazine has addressed the idea of towing icebergs.   It’s article “Science: Towing Icebergs” was published in the magazine in October of 1977.

Just Thaw And Serve (May 29, 2011)

Science: Towing Icebergs (October 17, 1977)

 

Explosion at the Gibraltar Cruise Ship Docks

Posted on by May 31, 2011

An explosion in a fuel tank on  the  cruise ship docks in Gibraltar today injured several on the dock and over twelve passengers on the 3,634-passenger Royal Caribbean   cruise  ship,  Independence of the Seas.  The injuries to passengers were all reported to be minor.

Explosion, fire in Gibraltar fuel tank, two injured
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100 Years Ago Today – the Launching of the RMS Titanic

Posted on by May 31, 2011

RMS Titanic ready to launch

On May 31, 1911, the RMS Titanic was launched at the Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast, Ireland.  After continued outfitting, the ship was delivered to White Star Line on March 30, 1912.  She set sail for New York City on her maiden voyage on 10 April 10, 1912 with 2,223 passengers and crew.   Four days into the crossing, she struck an iceberg and sank at 2:20 on April 15, with the loss 1,517 people in one of the deadliest peacetime maritime disasters in history.   After years of not publicizing that the Titanic was built in Belfast, the memory of the ship is being used to attract visitors. A new tourist center is being built on the old  docklands, christened Titanic Quarter.

Belfast cheers 100th anniversary of Titanic launch
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On Memorial Day – the Last Mission of the USS Olympia

Posted on by May 28, 2017


USS Olympia at the Battle of Manila Bay

We have recently posted about attempts to find a home for the USS Olympia, the oldest steel-hulled American warship afloat and Commodore George Dewey’s flagship during the Battle of Manila Bay on May 1, 1898.  On Memorial Day it seems worthwhile remembering the USS Olympia’s last mission in 1921, when she carried an American  “unknown soldier” killed during World War I  from a cemetery in France back to the Washington to be in entombed Arlington National Cemetery.   The Olympia was decommissioned the following year.

Memorial Day: Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery
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Cruise Ship Sea Diamond, Santorini ship wreck ‘too costly’ to remove

Posted on by May 30, 2011

In April of 2007, the cruise ship Sea Diamond struck a reef off the island of Santorini and sank.   Nearly 1,600 passengers where rescued and two passengers drowned.  Now four years later the Greek government has says that it cannot afford to remove the wreck, while the ship’s owner, Louis Cruise Lines, is denying all responsibly.

Santorini cruise ship wreck ‘too costly’ to remove
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Twilight of the $UPERfluous Carrier – Are Today’s Carrier’s Yesteryear’s Battleships?

Posted on by May 29, 2011

Artist's Impression of the USS Gerald R. Ford "Supercarrier" estimated to cost over $12.5 billion

For seventy years, battleships were the unchallenged masters of the oceans, until technology swept them aside.  Now the aircraft carrier reigns supreme.  The US currently has five times more aircraft carrier capacity based on flight deck acreage than the the rest of the world combined.

A recent article in the US Naval  Institute  magazine Proceedings, “Twilight of the $UPERfluous Carriers” by Captain Henry J. Hendrix, U.S. Navy, and Lieutenant Colonel J. Noel Williams, U.S. Marine Corps (Retired), suggests that the latest “super carriers” are becoming superfluous in addition to being unsupportably expensive.  “In short, the march of technology is bringing the supercarrier era to an end, just as the new long-range strike capabilities of carrier aviation brought on the demise of the battleship era in the 1940s.”

Twilight of the $UPERfluous Carrier
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Hey Sailor – Fleet Week and Social Networking

Posted on by May 29, 2011

The times are changing. No news there. Rather than welcoming the sailors and marines on the docks, some New Yorkers are reaching out to sailors during Fleet Week using social networking.  Some sailors and marines are connecting with New Yorkers the same way.  Craigslist seems a particularly popular way to make connections.

Fleet Week 2011: Navy sailors and Marines connect with New Yorkers on Craigslist
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Help PortSide & Tanker Mary Whalen Create Jobs for Inner City Kids this Summer

Posted on by May 28, 2011

We recently posted about the tanker Mary Whalen being deemed eligible to be listed on the National Register of Historic Places.   PortSide New York and the Mary Whalen are also participating in New York City’s Summer Youth Employment Program, which provides meaningful summer work for inner city youth between the ages of 14 and 24.  To support the program PortSide needs to raise $16,000 within the next month.  PortSide New York is a 501c3 non-profit organization.  All donations are tax deductible.

SHIP RESTORATION TEENTEAM

PortSide 2011 summer youth employment program
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