Wind Farm in New York Harbor?

Posted on by May 19, 2010

Port Authority Plans to Build Wind Farm

The Port Authority is planning on creating a wind farm on one of its shipping piers in New Jersey. The five windmills would help power the port’s cargo operations.

A private company would build and maintain five 288-foot-high wind turbines. They’d be located on the New Jersey side of Upper New York Bay, about halfway between the Statue of Liberty and Staten Island. The windmills, about the height of a 30-story building, would be visible from Lower Manhattan and the Brooklyn waterfront. Officials say the location shouldn’t be controversial because the area’s already industrial. Taken together, the turbines should generate electricity equivalent to the amount needed by 2,000 homes.

Thanks to Bowsprite for passing this along.

The Making of Privateer Lynx

Posted on by May 19, 2010

The schooner Lynx, a replica of a War of 1812 privateer,  is sailing on the US East coast these days on her way to the Great Lakes to celebrate the upcoming War of 1812 Bicentennial.   J. Dennis Robinson will give an informal talk about the Privateer Lynx at the Discover Portsmouth Center and Piscataqua Maritime Commission at 7 p.m. tomorrow night.   (A limited number of spaces are available for guest crew. Click here to learn more.)

Robinson shares story behind Privateer Lynx
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True Colours by Alaric Bond, a Review

Posted on by May 18, 2010

Alaric Bond is a frequent contributor to the Old Salt blog.  He is also a wonderful writer.   His latest novel True Colours has recently been published.  I liked it  – a lot.  A review:

Alaric Bond’s new novel, True Colours, the third in his Fighting Sail series, is a fascinating and exciting look at a most perilous moment in British history. The novel begins in 1797. Britain is at war with the French and her Dutch allies. A French invasion force, supported by the formidable Dutch Navy is massing across the channel when the unthinkable occurs. The British fleet at Spithead mutinies. Not long after, the fleet at the Nore follows their example. The frigate Pandora returns from convoy duty after an attempted mutiny onboard, and only narrowly escapes being drawn into the Nore mutiny, as well.
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The Final Demise of the SS C. W. Pasley

Posted on by April 14, 2013

The S.S. Pasley arrives in Yaquina Bay to be sunk circa 1950.

Concrete ships were constructed in both World War I and World War II when steel was in short supply.  They were not wildly successful, as they were limited in deadweight and had a tendency to crack.  (No concrete ships were built after the end of the wars.) Nevertheless they were extremely durable ships.

The S.S. C. W. Pasley and the S.S. Francois Hennebique, two concrete ships built in Tampa Florida by McCloskey and Company in 1944, have served as the foundations for the docks in Yaquina Bay, in Newport, Oregon for almost sixty years.    The S.S. Francois Hennebique is apparently in good shape but the S.S. Pasley is cracking, shifting and oddly, leaking oil. (One might have though that tank cleaning was in order before converting the ship into a dock.)  So 66 years after her keel was poured, the S.S. Pasley will be broken up and replaced by a more conventional pier.

Dock to replace WWII ship


Ship-spotting on a Monday Morning

Posted on by May 17, 2010

Will, over at the Tugster blog, is no doubt the preeminent New York harbor ship-spotter.  If one is so inclined, it is easy to spent far more time than one might have planned browsing his thousands of photographs – all well organized and accompanied by fascinating commentary.  On the other side of the Atlantic,  Fred Vloo’s Ship-spotting channel on You-tube is extremely well done.  His Shipspotting Rotterdam 15 mei features great footage of tankers, bulker carriers, tugs, pilot boat, launches and container ships of all sizes, including the 8,000 TEU Anna Maersk.

Shipspotting Rotterdam 15 mei

The Wavertree and Pioneer Turn 125

Posted on by May 16, 2010

On Saturday May 24th, the  Southstreet Seaport Museum in New York will celebrate the 125th birthdays of two fine ladies,  the full rigged ship Wavertree and the schooner Pioneer.

Built in 1885 in Southampton, England, the Wavertree was one of the last large sailing ships built of wrought iron.   Also in 1885 the cargo sloop Pioneer, built in Marcus Hook, Pennsylvania, was the first of only two American cargo sloops ever built with a wrought iron hull.  Ten years later she was rerigged as a schooner.  The Pioneer regulatory sails from the South Street Seaport.

Lt-Cdr Bobby Lawson – Swordfish Pilot who Attacked the Bismark

Posted on by December 13, 2016

Lawson (second from left) with other members of The Black-Hand Gang (from left) Eric Margetts, John Moffat, Buster May and Glan Evans

It was a classic contest between David and Goliath.  On May 27, 1941, the German battleship Bismark had just sunk the pride of the Royal Navy, the HMS Hood. As she was close to escaping into safe waters, she was attacked by a swarm of obsolete Fairey Swordfish biplanes launched from the carrier HMS Ark Royal.   Lt-Cdr Bobby Lawson, one of the Swordfish pilots,  recently died at 91.

Lt-Cdr Bobby Lawson
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Women Submariners – Pioneers Facing Many Challenges

Posted on by May 15, 2010

U.S. Naval Academy Midshipman Marquette Ried will train to be one of the first women to serve on submarines.

The US Navy announced recently that by January 2012 19 women will be assigned to four ballistic missile submarines.  The women officers will be facing challenges of logistics, operations and culture.

Women submariners: Trailblazers by timing, sub sailors by choice

Quiet Resistance to Women on Subs
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Tie the Knot Contest on the Schooner AJ Meerwald

Posted on by May 17, 2010

No, this is not a knot tying contest exactly. No bowlines, or Matthew Walker knots need be produced. This is a contest sponsored by NJWedding.com to win a chance to get married for free aboard New Jersey’s official Tall Ship, the A.J. Meerwald in Long Beach Island, NJ.
Want to get hitched this summer? Be the lucky couple to win a free wedding ceremony this July
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Tupaia, Captain Cook’s Polynesian Navigator – A New Book by Joan Druett

Posted on by May 13, 2010

I love when an author shines a new light on history that we all thought we already knew. Joan Druett in her new book Tupaia, Captain Cook’s Polynesian Navigator, appears to do just that.    A sneak peak from Joan Druett’s website at the book,which should arrive in the US in November.

Tupaia, Captain Cook’s Polynesian Navigator

From Polynesia comes the story of the unacknowledged Tahitian who was essential to the success, and subsequent fame, of Cook’s voyage on the Endeavour.

The name of this remarkable man was Tupaia.
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Russian Cruiser Aurora Turns 110

Posted on by May 12, 2010

The Russian Cruiser Aurora was launched 110 years ago this month. She is currently a museum ship in St. Petersburg, the city where she was built.

The Cruiser “Aurora”

The historical ship Aurora has been turned into a museum and is docked just a few hundred yards upstream from the Cabin of Peter the Great, opposite the “St Petersburg” Hotel. The cruiser, built in St. Petersburg between 1897 and 1900, took an active part in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-05 and participated in the Tsusima battle, in which most of Russia’s Pacific fleet was destroyed. After the war the ship was used for personnel training and during the October revolution of 1917 gave the signal (by firing a blank shot) to storm of the Winter Palace, which was being used as a residence by the democratic, but largely ineffective Provisional Government.

During World War II and the 900-day Siege of Leningrad the guns of the ship were taken down and used on the front line of the city’s defenses. After the war the ship was carefully restored and used as a free museum and training ship for cadets from the nearby Nakhimov Navy School.

Thanks to Dave Shirlaw on the Marine History list for the heads up.

Smallest Maritime Museum In England

Posted on by May 12, 2010

We have already seen the two small ships of the Little Brig Sailing Trust.  Now Alaric Bond has passed along an article about Robert Carter of Plymouth and the  Smallest Maritime Museum In England, an only 12ft wide x 6ft museum, packed with nautical items.

Smallest Maritime Museum In England

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Moby, Mocha and the Whale Ship Essex

Posted on by November 20, 2014

People are often surprised to hear that Herman Melville’s masterpiece, Moby Dick, was inspired, at least in part, by the sinking of the whale ship Essex by a sperm whale.  By all accounts the sinking of the Essex  haunted  Melville  and  unquestionably supplied him with ending of his novel.

This was not the only inspiration for Moby Dick, however.  There was indeed a rogue white sperm whale, well know to whalers in the early 1800’s.    He was often seen near the island of Mocha, off southern Chile, and was nicknamed Mocha Dick.   Mocha Dick was said to have killed more than 30 men, and to have attacked and damaged 14 whaleboats and three whaling ships.

In May 1839 the Knickerbocker Magazine, a popular publication in New York City, published a lengthy article about Mocha Dick by Jeremiah N. Reynolds an American journalist and explorer.

MOCHA DICK: OR THE WHITE WHALE OF THE PACIFIC: A LEAF FROM A MANUSCRIPT JOURNAL.
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