Women’s History Month Repost — Eleanor Creesy, Navigator of the Clipper Ship Flying Cloud

Posted on by March 14, 2022

During Women’s History Month it is worthwhile remembering Eleanor Creesy, the navigator of the clipper ship Flying Cloud, who with her husband, Captain Josiah Creesy, set world sailing records for the fastest passage between New York and San Francisco. 

Eleanor Prentiss was born in 1814, in Marblehead, Massachusetts, the daughter of a master mariner, who taught his daughter the art and science of navigation. Eleanor knew how to use a chronometer and a sextant and how to make a sight reduction. In 1841, Eleanor married Captain Josiah Perkins Creesy. The couple sailed together on the ship Oneida in the China trade. Josiah was captain of the ship but Eleanor was the navigator.

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Italy Seizes Russian Billionaire Melnichenko’s Sailing Yacht A

Posted on by March 13, 2022

Russian billionaire Andrey Igorevich Melnichenko’s superyacht Sailing Yacht A is nothing if not distinctive. It is one of the largest sail-assisted vessels afloat, with a singularly terrible name, and is arguably the ugliest large yacht in service. It is also the most recent superyacht to be seized as part of international sanctions resulting from Putin’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine.

Reuters reports that Italian police have seized the superyacht, valued at $580 million, the prime minister’s office said on Saturday, a few days after Melnichenko was placed on an EU sanctions list following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Sailing Yacht A has been sequestered at the northern port of Trieste, the government said.

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Russian Warship Vasily Bykov (Go F*** Yourself) Reported Sunk by Ukrainian Missile

Posted on by March 12, 2022

On the first day of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Russian naval vessel Vasily Bykov ordered the 13 Ukrainian border guards on Snake Island in the Black Sea to surrender. The border guards replied, “go f*** yourself“. The warship shelled the island in response and the soldiers were reported to have been killed. Later reports suggested that the border guards may have survived and been taken prisoner. The border guards’ response has become an informal rallying cry of the Ukrainian military and militias in resisting Russian aggression. 

Now, the Ukrainian Navy reports that the patrol boat Vasily Bykov that ordered the surrender has been destroyed by Ukrainian missiles in the Black Sea near Odessa. Ukrainian small boats lured the patrol boat to a camouflaged firing position, where it was shelled. 

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Destroyer Can’t Deploy After Judge Blocks Removal of Unvaxed CO

Posted on by March 15, 2022

Military.com reports that a federal judge in Florida has ruled that the US Navy cannot do anything to remove a commander of a destroyer, despite testimony that he has flouted the service’s rules for COVID-19 mitigation while seeking a religious exemption from receiving the vaccine for the virus. Navy officers said they cannot deploy the Norfolk, Va.-based Arleigh Burke-class destroyer after the judge’s ruling.

The officer at the heart of this dispute is an unnamed commander who joined the Navy in 2004 according to the lawsuit. Other documents filed by the Navy show that the destroyer he commands belongs to Destroyer Squadron 26.

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How Shackleton’s Endurance Endured for 107 Years on the Bottom of the Weddell Sea

Posted on by March 10, 2022

The Endurance22 Expedition announced yesterday that they have discovered the wreck of Sir Ernest Shackleton‘s ship Endurance, which was crushed by pack ice off Antarctica in 1915.  The ship was in remarkably good condition. How is it that the ship is so well preserved after having been sitting on the bottom 10,000 feet beneath the Southern Ocean for over a century?

The BBC notes that the ship looks much the same as when photographed for the last time by Shackleton’s filmmaker, Frank Hurley, in 1915. The masts are down, the rigging is in a tangle, but the hull is broadly coherent. Some damage is evident at the bow, presumably where the descending ship hit the seabed. The anchors are present. The subs even spied some boots and crockery.

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Update: Shackleton’s Lost Ship Endurance Located After 107 Years

Posted on by March 9, 2022

The Endurance22 Expedition announced today that they have discovered the remarkably intact remains of Sir Ernest Shackleton‘s ship Endurance, which was crushed by pack ice off Antarctica in 1915. 

A team of marine archeologists, adventurers, and technicians on the icebreaking research vessel SA Agulhas II, battled shifting sea ice, blizzards, and temperatures that dropped to -18 degrees C, for over two weeks, before finding the sunken ship. Using undersea drones, the shipwreck of the Endurance was located 10,000 feet below the ice-covered surface of the Weddell Sea. 

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The Mystery of the Superyacht Scheherazade — Who is the Owner?

Posted on by March 8, 2022

As Western governments scrabble to identify the luxury yachts of sanctioned Russian oligarchs, the ownership of Scheherazade, a 495′ long superyacht, docked in Marina di Carrara, a small Italian town on the Tuscan coast, remains a mystery. Valued at $700 million dollars and almost as long as an Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer, Scheherazade is one of the 14th largest superyachts and is alone in that no likely owner has been publicly identified.

The New York Times observes that determining the ownership of assets that the wealthy want to keep hidden is difficult, especially without a warrant, because they are often zealously guarded by private bankers and lawyers and tucked away in opaque shell companies in offshore secrecy havens. The Scheherazade is flagged in the Cayman Islands and its owner, Bielor Assets Ltd., is registered in the Marshall Islands. The yacht’s management company is also registered in the Cayman Islands.

So while clearly a billionaire’s yacht, Italian authorities are asking, which billionaire? Continue reading →

Women’s History Month: Remembering Raye Montague, Barrier-Shattering Navy Ship Designer

Posted on by March 7, 2022

In honor of both Women’s History Month and last month’s  Black History Month, an updated repost about the barrier-shattering naval engineer Raye Montague, who died at the age of 83 in 2018.

At the age of 7, she was inspired to become an engineer after she toured a captured World War II German submarine with her grandmother.  As an African-American girl, however, she was told that becoming an engineer was simply not an option.

Thirty years later, Raye Montague became the first person to use a computer program to rapidly develop a preliminary ship design for the U.S. Navy. The design process had previously taken the Navy two years. Montague completed the preliminary design of the Oliver Hazard Perry Class frigate in less than 19 hours. Her accomplishment revolutionized the way the Navy designs ships and submarines. 

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Women’s History Month — Honoring Winnie Breegle, WWII WAVE and Code Talker at 100

Posted on by March 6, 2022

During Women’s History Month, it is a good time to honor Winnie Breegle who celebrated her 100th birthday last month. She served in World War II as a WAVE (Woman Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service) cryptographer and a Navajo code talker, who didn’t happen to be a Navajo. An updated repost.

In 1941, Winnie Breegle, a 21-year-old farm girl from Ohio taught Latin, Spanish and English in high school, and women with such backgrounds were highly sought for work as coders. When she enlisted in the Navy, she was trained as a cryptographer.

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End Plastic Pollution — UN Agreement to Draft Treaty to Limit Plastics on Land and Sea

Posted on by March 5, 2022

Last week, representatives from 175 nations agreed to begin writing a global treaty that would restrict the explosive growth of plastic pollution on land and sea. The agreement commits nations to work on a broad and legally binding treaty that would not only aim to improve recycling and clean up the world’s plastic waste, but would also include curbs on plastics production itself.

World leaders have until 2024 to agree on the terms of the plastic pollution treaty, including which elements will be legally binding and how the deal will be financed.

Scientists say plastics cause harm throughout their life cycle, releasing toxic as well as planet-warming greenhouse gases during production, landfill and incineration. Plastics, which are manufactured from fossil fuels, caused 4.5 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions in 2015, one recent study estimated, more than all of the world’s airplanes combined.

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Stuck in the Ice, Searching for Shackleton’s Endurance

Posted on by March 4, 2022

In early February, the Endurance22 expedition set off from Cape Town, South Africa for Antarctica’s Weddell Sea aboard the icebreaking research ship, SA Agulhas II. Their objective is to locate, survey, and film the wreck of Endurance, Ernest Shackleton’s ship that sank after being crushed in Antarctic pack ice in 1915. Last week, history briefly repeated itself. As they approached the location where the Endurance was lost, SA Agulhas II became stuck in the ice after the mercury dipped to -10C. 

Fortunately, using the ship’s power, assisted by a deck crane that swung a fuel container back and forth to rock the ship, the crew was able to free the SA Agulhas II after several hours.

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France & Germany Seize Oligarchs’ Yachts, Others Flee Sanctions

Posted on by March 3, 2022

The net of sanctions is tightening around the superyachts owned by Russian oligarchs. Yesterday, Germany seized the 512-foot yacht Dilbar, valued at nearly $600 million, owned by Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov, who faces European Union sanctions over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Forbes reported. The yacht has been in the Hamburg shipyards of German shipbuilding firm Blohm+Voss since late October for a refitting job.

Today, the French seized the 289-foot yacht Amore Vero belonging to Rosneft boss Igor Sechin as it tried to leave the Mediterranean port of La Ciotat in a breach of EU sanctions on Russian oligarchs, Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said.

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Update: After Burning For Two Weeks, Car Carrier Felicity Ace Sinks Off Azores

Posted on by March 2, 2022

Photo: Portuguese navy

The car carrier Felicity Ace, carrying upwards of 4,000 vehicles, including more than 1,000 Porsches and 200 Bentleys, caught fire in the Atlantic off the Azores on February 16. After almost two weeks ablaze, the fire appeared to be under control. The ship was still quite hot, but smoke no longer billowed from the cargo decks. Then, yesterday morning, while under tow by the salvage tug Bear, the 650-foot-long car carrier capsized and sank.

The Portuguese navy said in a statement, “This morning, during the towing process, which had begun on Feb. 24, the ship ‘Felicity Ace’ lost stability and sank some 25 nautical miles outside of the limits of Portugal’s exclusive economic zone, in an area with a depth of about [9,842 feet].”

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UK and Major Container Ship Lines Ban Russian Cargo and Ships Over Ukrainian Invasion

Posted on by March 1, 2022

The impact of Russian sanctions is spreading across the shipping industry. Yesterday, Britain announced that Russian ships would be banned from UK ports as part of a new package of sanctions against Russia.

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said that he has written to all U.K. ports and asked them “not to provide access” to any Russian ship.

“Given Putin’s action in Ukraine I’ve made clear these vessels are NOT welcome here with prohibiting legislation to follow,” he said.

European Union countries are considering a ban on Russian ships entering the bloc’s ports, aiming to tighten sea restrictions after a halt on air traffic, European officials say, a step that would further hamper Russia’s commercial shipments.

This morning, container shipping giant Maersk announced on Twitter:

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Ukrainian Engineer Attempts to Sink Oligarch’s Yacht — “My Boss is a Criminal”

Posted on by February 28, 2022

Taras Ostapchuk (left) and Lady Anastasia (right), which belongs to Mijeev (inset right) (Twitter)

A Ukrainian marine engineer was detained after attempting to sink the Lady Anastasia, a 48-meter-long $7 million superyacht owned by Russian oligarch and arms tycoon, Alexander Mijeev. The attempt took place on Saturday at Port Adriano in Mallorca.

The 55-year-old engineer, Taras Ostapchuk, had worked on the yacht for close to a decade and felt compelled to act after seeing a video of a Russian cruise missile partially destroying an apartment block resembling his own in Kyiv. His employer and the yacht’s owner, Mijeev, 61, is the CEO of Rosoboronexport, the weapons export arm of Russia’s state-owned defense conglomerate Rostec. Ostapchuk believes that the missile was manufactured by Rostec.

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Black History Month: Whaling Ship Captain William Thomas Shorey, the Black Ahab

Posted on by February 27, 2022

Over nearly three centuries of whaling, some 175,000 men went to sea in 2,700 ships. Of the 2,500 masters who captained whaling ships, at least 63 were men of color. Many of the 63 sailed from the US East Coast, including Absalom Boston, Paul Cuffee, William A. Martin, and Collins A. Stevenson, among others. Here is a revised repost about a black whaling shipmaster from the West Coast in last days of the whale fisheries, Captain William Shorey. 

Captain William Thomas Shorey, who was affectionately nicknamed “Black Ahab” by his crew, was born in Barbados in 1859 and ran away to sea as a young man. He learned navigation from a British ship captain and became a ship’s officer by the age of 21. After only a decade at sea, he rose to command whaling ships sailing out of San Francisco.

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France Seizes Russian Ro/Ro Baltic Leader in English Channel Over Sanctions

Posted on by February 26, 2022

France seized a Russian-flagged ro/ro cargo ship, Baltic Leader, on Saturday, in the English Channel, in accordance with recent sanctions put in place following the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The ship was bound for St. Petersburg, Russia, but was diverted to the port of Boulogne-sur-Mer in northern France between 3 a.m. and 4 a.m. (0200-0300 GMT), Captain Veronique Magnin of the French Maritime Prefecture told Reuters.

The vessel was “strongly suspected of being linked to Russian interests targeted by the sanctions,” she said.

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Three Merchant Ships Hit by Russian Bombs & Missiles Near Ukrainian Port of Odessa

Posted on by February 25, 2022

Reuters is reporting that Russian warships shelled Millennial Spirit, a Moldovan-flagged chemical tanker, and Namura Queen, a Panamanian-flagged cargo ship due to load grain near Odessa port in the Black Sea on Friday, one day after Russia began a full-scale invasion of Ukraine.  A total of three non-military vessels have now been hit since the start of the invasion. On Thursday, the Turkish-owned Yasa Jupiter cargo ship was struck off Odessa.

Ukraine’s infrastructure ministry said that the Millennial Spirit was carrying 600 tonnes of diesel at the time of the attack from a Russian military ship.

Earlier on Friday Moldova’s naval agency said the crew of the Millennial Spirit was Russian and that two of them had been seriously injured.
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Black History Month Repost: Paul Cuffe — African-American Captain, Ship Owner & Shipbuilder

Posted on by March 25, 2022

During Black History Month, it is worthwhile to remember early African-American shipmasters. Who was the first? That is hard to say. Paul Cuffe is a good candidate.  An updated repost.

Paul Cuffee was born on Cuttyhunk Island, MA on January 17, 1759, the seventh of ten children of Kofi or Cuffee Slocum and Ruth Moses. His father, a freed black man, was a member of the Ashanti people of Ghana. His mother was a Native American of the Wampanoag Nation of Martha’s Vineyard. Cuffee Slocum was a skilled carpenter, farmer, and fisherman, who taught himself to read and write. In 1766, Cuffee Slocum was able to purchase a 116-acre farm in Westport, Massachusetts.

Paul Cuffee went to sea at 16 on whalers and merchant ships, where he learned navigation. During the American Revolution, his ship was captured by the British and Cuffee was imprisoned for three months in 1776 in New York. He returned home to Massachusetts and in 1779 built an open boat which he used to run the British blockade, bringing trade goods to Nantucket and ports on the Massachusetts coast.

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Black History Month — John Henry Turpin : Pioneer, Survivor, and Overlooked Hero

Posted on by February 23, 2022

John Henry Turpin was one of the first Black Chief Petty Officers to serve in the United States Navy. He was also a survivor of two naval disasters — the catastrophic explosions of the USS Maine in 1898, and USS Bennington in 1905.  He was one of 12 sailors nominated for the Medal of Honor for their efforts in rescuing their fellow crew members on the Bennington.

Turpin was born in Long Branch, NJ in 1876. He enlisted in the Navy at age 20, as a Messman, one of the only positions available to Black sailors at the time. 

Almost two years later, on February 15, 1898, Turpin was serving in the mess hall of the USS Maine at anchor in Havana Harbor, Cuba when it mysteriously blew up. He was picked up from the waters of the harbor along with 89 other crew members. They were the only survivors of the explosion out of 350 total crew.

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