Remembering Robert Smalls – Former Slave, Pilot of the Planter, First Black Captain in the US Navy & US Congressman

Posted on by February 12, 2023

Here is a story well worth retelling; an updated repost in honor of Black History Month; the remarkable story of Robert Smalls.

On May 13, 1862, Robert Smalls, a 23-year-old slave, who served as the pilot of the Confederate armed transport, CSS Planter, led eight fellow slaves in an audacious flight to freedom. They seized the CSS Planter, steamed it out past the batteries and forts of Charleston harbor, and turned it over to the Union naval blockade.  Smalls would go on to become the first black captain of a U.S. Navy vessel, a South Carolina State Legislator, a Major General in the South Carolina Militia, a five-term U.S. Congressman, and a U.S. Collector of Customs.  

Harper’s Weekly of June 14, 1862, recounts the escape:
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Black History Month: Absalom Boston, Whaling Ship Captain & Merchant

Posted on by February 10, 2023

Captain Absalom Boston

Over nearly three centuries of whaling, some 175,000 men went to sea in 2,700 ships. Of the 2,500 masters who captained these ships, at least 52 were men of color. In honor of Black History Month, here is an updated repost about Absalom Boston, captain of the whaleship Industry, which sailed in 1822 with an all-black crew. 

Absalom Boston was born in Nantucket in 1785 to Seneca Boston, an African-American ex-slave, and Thankful Micah, a Wampanoag Indian woman. Absalom Boston’s uncle was a slave named Prince Boston, who sailed on a whaling voyage in 1770. At the end of the voyage in 1773, Prince Boston’s white master, William Swain, a prominent Nantucket merchant, demanded that he turn over his earnings. Boston refused. He took Swain to court and with the support of prominent whaleship owner William Rotch, won his earnings and his freedom, becoming the first slave to be set free by a jury verdict.  The impact of the lawsuit effectively ended slavery on Nantucket.

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Black History Month Repost — William Tillman and the Privateer Jefferson Davis

Posted on by February 8, 2023

A repost in honor of Black History Month. 

William Tillman was one of the first black heroes of the American Civil War. He was not a soldier but rather a 27-year-old  cook-steward on the schooner S.J. Waring.  On July 7, 1861, the schooner was captured by the Confederate privateer Jefferson Davis while about 150 miles from Sandy Hook, New York.  Captain Smith, the master of the S.J. Waring was taken aboard the Jefferson Davis, and a five-man prize crew was put aboard the schooner, with orders to sail her to a Southern port where the ship and her cargo would be sold.

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The Mystery of Why Orcas Are Attacking Sailboats — Pod Fads, Black Hull Paint, or Something Else Entirely

Posted on by February 9, 2023

Since 2020, juvenile orcas within pods that feed on migrating tuna traveling through the Strait of Gibraltar and around the Iberian Peninsula, have taken to bumping and ramming the hulls of small yachts and damaging rudders. In the last several years there have been over 100 orca ‘interactions’ where boats have been spun around and repeatedly rammed. Up to 15% of yachts experiencing this behavior have had to be towed to port, usually due to steering gear damage. In two such attacks, damage done by the orcas resulted in the yachts sinking.

Why the primarily juvenile orcas have taken to attacking sailboats has mystified scientists. Recently, two theories have been proposed that might explain the behavior.
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Black History Month Repost — Harriet Tubman & the Great Combahee Ferry Raid

Posted on by February 8, 2023

Born a slave, Harriet Tubman escaped and would become a leading “conductor” on the “Underground Railroad” which helped slaves escape from bondage in the South to freedom in the North and in Canada, prior to the Civil War.  Nicknamed “Moses,” she is said to have made more than nineteen trips back into the slave-holding South to rescue an estimated 70 of the enslaved. Tubman’s greatest rescue mission, however, came when she planned and help lead a Union riverboat raid at Combahee Ferry in South Carolina on the second of June, 1863, freeing over 720 slaves.

In honor both of Harriet Tubman and Black History Month, here is an updated repost about the Great Combahee Ferry Raid.

Tubman and black Union soldiers under the command of Union Colonel James Montgomery set off on three small Federal gunboats; the Sentinel, Harriet A. Weed, and John Adams; from Beaufort, South Carolina up the Combahee River. Tubman had scouted the route previously to identify the location of Confederate mines and troops and to determine where best to land to free the plantation slaves.  One of the gunboats, the Sentinel, ran aground shortly after leaving Beaufort while the other two continued upriver.

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The Rookie Coast Guard Rescue Swimmer, a Stolen Boat, and a Dead Fish at the Goonies House

Posted on by February 7, 2023

Here is a strange story of a heroic rescue by the US Coast Guard, a stolen boat, and a dead fish left on the front porch of a house in Astoria, Oregon, where the cult classic adventure/comedy movie, The Goonies was filmed in 1985.

Or perhaps, this is properly two separate stories :

The Rescue 

The mouth of the Columbia River, where the swells from the Pacific Ocean break over the river bar, is notoriously treacherous. The river bar is frequently called the “Graveyard of the Pacific.” Last Friday around 10 AM, the Coast Guard received a Mayday call over VHF from the 35′ motor yacht Sandpiper. The boat was in trouble, approximately 6 miles west of the Columbia River mouth.

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Brazilian Navy Sinks Toxic Aircraft Carrier São Paulo

Posted on by February 4, 2023

Aircraft carriers can be tough. They cost a fortune to build, so most nations can afford only one or two. They are demanding and costly to operate. They are also extremely expensive to clean up enough to be scrapped.

São Paulo, a 34,000-ton, 870-ft Brazilian aircraft carrier, is a good example. As reported by the NY Times, the 60-year-old carrier, packed with an undetermined amount of asbestos, was being towed in circles off the coast of Brazil after it was refused permission to dock in Turkey for recycling. The problem? No government wants anything to do with it.  

On Friday, the Brazilian Navy sank the ship in the Atlantic Ocean off the nation’s coast. Environmentalists say doing so will cause irreparable environmental damage and could be a violation of international law.

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Congratulations to Captain Janet Days, Naval Station Norfolk’s First Black Female Commanding Officer

Posted on by February 3, 2023

Congratulations to Captain Janet Days due to take command as Naval Station Norfolk’s 51st commanding officer in a change of command ceremony today. Captain Days is the first Black woman commanding officer of the world’s largest naval base.

Days will relieve Capt. David Dees, who will then assume duties as the chief of staff for commander, Navy Region Mid-Atlantic.

It is not lost on her that few decades ago, there were few positions in the Navy available for a Black person. Her dedication to the military dates back her the service of her father, George Hanks.

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NYC’s South Street Seaport Museum Sea Chantey and Maritime Music Hybrid Sessions Continue This Sunday

Posted on by February 2, 2023

South Street Seaport Museum has announced that its monthly sea-music events Sea Chanteys and Maritime Music––the original NYC chantey sing–– will continue on the first Sunday of every month. The next session will take place in-person and virtually on Sunday, February 5, 2023, at 2pm ET, in the Seaport Museum galleries at 12 Fulton Street, NYC, and on Zoom.

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Black History Month — Remembering the Golden Thirteen

Posted on by February 1, 2023

Twelve of the Golden Thirteen

In honor of Black History Month, a repost of a wonderful bit of history from the Naval History and Heritage Command — the story of the Golden Thirteen.

In January 1944, there were nearly 100,000 Black Sailors in the United States Navy, but none were officers. That would change when a group of sixteen Black enlisted men were assembled at Recruit Training Center, Great Lakes, in Illinois for officer training that month.

The odds were initially stacked against them as there was still a strong sentiment within the Navy that African Americans could not succeed as officers. The normal officer training course was sixteen weeks, however, these men were expected to complete it in eight – a move that they believed was an attempt to set them up for failure.

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Brunt Ice Shelf Continues Calving — Another Iceberg Twice the Size of New York City

Posted on by January 31, 2023

In late February 2022, an iceberg with an area of about 490 square miles, or slightly less than twice the size of the City of New York, calved from the Brunt Ice Shelf in the Weddell Sea section of Antarctica. Now, just under a year later, another iceberg has calved from the Brunt Ice Shelf. The new iceberg, with an area of 1550 square kilometers (about 600 square miles), is also roughly twice the size of New York City. The U.S. National Ice Center has named it Iceberg A-81. According to the British Antarctic Survey (BAS), the break occurred late on January 22, 2023.

The good news is that the split is a natural process and is not linked to climate change, the British Antarctic Survey says.

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“Gasparilla Pirate Fest,” Panther John Gomez, & the Fictious Pirate Jose Gaspar

Posted on by January 30, 2023

Last Saturday, a ragtag pirate band calling itself Ye Mystic Krewe of Gasparilla invaded the port of Tampa, FL, kicking off the Gasparilla Pirate Fest, notionally in honor of Jose Gaspar, a brigand reputed to be the “Last Buccaneer.” The festival is described as “a swashbuckling good time” involving silly costumes, parade floats, and heavy drinking. The festival has been going on in Tampa almost yearly since 1904.

According to legend, the pirate Jose Gaspar, nicknamed Gasparilla, is described as a Spanish Admiral turned brigand said to have seized over 400 ships between 1789 and 1821. His treasure, none of which has ever been found, is said to be buried all along the Gulf Coast.

While Gasparilla’s exploits are described as legendary, mythological might be an even better description, as there is no evidence, whatsoever, that Jose Gaspar ever existed.

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What is Killing Whales Off New York & New Jersey Coasts? Is Offshore Wind to Blame?

Posted on by January 27, 2023

We recently posted about the burial of the carcass of a beached humpback whale in the beach at Atlantic City, NJ. It was the second whale to come ashore in the city in the last month. Overall nine dead whales have washed ashore on the coast of New York and New Jersey in the last two months. 

The dead whales have prompted several New Jersey GOP lawmakers to question whether the deaths were linked to the future development of a major proposed offshore wind farm in the area.  Fox News host Tucker Carlson went further, blaming the wind project for the death of the whales and calling offshore wind “the DDT of our times.” 

But scientists say there’s no evidence to support a connection between whale mortality and the development of offshore wind farms. 

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Russia’s Only Aircraft Carrier Catches Fire Again, Lawmaker Proposes Buying China’s Liaoning Carrier

Posted on by January 25, 2023

Russia’s only aircraft carrier, Admiral Kuznetsov, has been out of service for years while undergoing maintenance for chronic operational problems. In just the most recent mishap, a fire broke out on the carrier, a few days before Christmas, while undergoing repair work at a shipyard in the Arctic port of Murmansk, according to reports by the Russian state Tass and RIA Novosti news agencies. 

Admiral Kuznetsov’s ongoing overhaul, which began in 2017 and was initially set to conclude last year, has been beset by failures and accidents. In 2018, the ship was damaged when a crane collapsed as a floating drydock sank beneath the ship. Reportedly, one person died and four were injured in the mishap. 

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Sydney Beaches Close After Sharks Attack Dolphin — What are Risks of Shark Attacks?

Posted on by January 23, 2023

Bull Shark — Photo: Chaloklum Diving

The BBC reports that several popular beaches in Sydney, Australia have been closed after sharks attacked a dolphin in waters near the city. At least two bull sharks were spotted in the Shelly Beach area, in northern Sydney, after the attack and authorities closed all nearby beaches as a precaution. The injured dolphin circled the shallow waters but eventually beached and died.

Manly Open Surf, a carnival taking place at the beach over the weekend, has been suspended. Lifeguards cleared people from the water after the attack, which happened at around 07:00 local time on Saturday (20:00 GMT on Friday). Hundreds of people had been about to compete in the festival.

What are the risks of being attacked by a shark?

What are the actual risks of being attacked by a shark when swimming in the ocean? It turns out that the risks are quite low. The Florida Museum of Natural History’s International Shark Attack File (ISAF) investigated 137 alleged shark-human interactions worldwide in 2021. ISAF confirmed 73 unprovoked shark bites on humans and 39 provoked bites.

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