New Year’s Repost: Watching the Ball Drop — the Nautical Origins of a New Year’s Tradition

Posted on by December 31, 2021

The USNO Millennium Time Ball

Tonight, many will watch in person, online, or on television, as a jeweled ball drops in Times Square in New York City at exactly midnight to mark the arrival of the New Year, 2022. In past years, the crowd in Times Square numbered up to a million people. This year, as a result of the pandemic, there will be only a few thousand in attendance.

Nevertheless, the ball will still drop at midnight. The six-ton Waterford crystal ball covered in 32,276 LED lights will not actually be “dropped” but lowered from a flag pole on the roof of One Times Square. In New York City, the tradition dates back to 1907. But where did the tradition of dropping a ball to mark the time originate?  

The practice dates back to 1829 and was related to helping sailors calculate their position at sea. Here is an updated repost.

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Hawaii Deputy AG: Pearl Harbor Leaking Fuel Tanks a “Ticking Time Bomb”

Posted on by December 30, 2021

We recently posted about how on the 80th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor, over 1,000 military families have been forced from their homes and suffered illness by drinking water apparently contaminated by petroleum from a leaking, World War II era, underground fuel storage facility on the base in Oahu, Hawaii. The State of Hawaii issued an emergency order compelling the Navy to empty the massive storage tanks and make needed repairs. The Navy objected to the order.

Now, David Day, Hawaii deputy attorney general, has upheld the emergency order, saying that the fuel storage facility at Pearl Harbor is a “ticking time bomb” that the U.S. military is unable to manage. 

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CDC Investigating 86 Cruise Ships With Covid-19 Cases

Posted on by December 29, 2021

Yesterday, the Centers for Disease Control and Protection (CDC) updated its color-coded list of ships that tracks where passengers or crew have tested positive for Covid-19. The list is updated multiple times a week.

The agency currently identifies 86 ships where the number of Covid-19 cases meets the threshold for investigation — a 178% jump in 10 days — as the omicron variant spreads quickly across the U.S.

Forbes reports that the 86 ships are on yellow status, which signifies that the number of reported Covid-19 cases exceeds .10% — or one-tenth of one percent — of the total number of people onboard the ship.

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Largest Kite Sail Wind-Assisted Propulsion Being Tested on Ro/Ro Ville de Bordeaux

Posted on by December 28, 2021

Kites may be returning to provide wind-assisted propulsion to commercial ships. In January of next year, the 5,200 dwt Ro/Ro Ville de Bordeaux, chartered by Airbus and operated by Louis Dreyfus Armateurs, will begin testing a 500-square-meter half-size demonstration version of a Seawing automated kite on its monthly transatlantic journeys. The intent is to conduct six months of sea trials and testing ahead of its full operation.

Airseas, the firm that developed the Seawing automated kite system, has received formal approval from Bureau Veritas to begin operations at sea, following three years of close collaboration on the development and early trials of the Seawing. 

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Driller Liquidated to Help Clean Up Long Running Gulf Oil Spill

Posted on by December 27, 2021

Seventeen years ago, Hurricane Ivan destroyed an oil-production platform in the Gulf of Mexico. The wells associated with the platform have been leaking ever since and may be one of the largest and longest-running offshore spills in US history. 

Now, the Department of Justice has announced an agreement in which Louisiana-based Taylor Energy will pay $43 million in civil penalties and damages for a leak that has been releasing oil since 2004. The settlement, representing all of Taylor’s remaining available assets, will liquidate the firm.

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Wreck of “Last Slave Ship” Clotilda Remarkably Well Preserved

Posted on by December 26, 2021

An interesting article from the New York Times —  In 2019, a team of researchers confirmed that a wooden wreck resting in the murky waters of the Mobile River in Alabama was the schooner  Clotilda, the last known ship to bring enslaved people from Africa to the United States.

Now, the researchers say they have made another startling discovery: The wreck is remarkably well-preserved. As much as two-thirds of the original structure remains, including the hold below the main deck where 110 people were imprisoned during the ship’s final, brutal journey from Benin to Mobile in 1860.

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Over the Holidays & in the New Year, May St. Nicholas Hold the Tiller

Posted on by December 24, 2021

An updated holiday season repost.

Saint Nicholas, long associated with Christmas and gift-giving, is also the patron saint of ships and sailors. The St. Nicholas Center notes: “Many ports, most notably in Greece, have icons of Nicholas, surrounded by ex-votos of small ships made of silver or carved of wood. Sailors returning safely from sea, place these in gratitude to St. Nicholas for protection received. In some places, sailors, instead of wishing one another luck, say, “May St. Nicholas hold the tiller.”

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Dramatic SailGP Collision Caught on Video From All Angles

Posted on by December 23, 2021

Last week, just before the start of the third race in the SailGP Australian Sail Grand Prix in Sydney, Ben Ainslie’s Great Britain Team collided with Nathan Outteridge’s Japan Team. The crew onboard the British F50 were focussing on closing the gap to the American boat in the pre-start and they did not see the Japanese boat. That error resulted in a significant crash with both boats unable to continue racing. Thankfully, no one was hurt. 

The video compilation below shows the collision, which sheared off the Japanese boat’s starboard bow, from all angles. 

Craziest Crash in SailGP History? ALL ANGLES | Great Britain vs Japan | Australia SailGP

SailGP Woman’s Pathway Program — the New Female Faces of Foiling

Posted on by December 22, 2021

Nina Curtis (AUS), Katja Salskov-Iversen (DEN), Amelie Riou (FRA), Hannah Mills (GBR), Sena Takano (JPN), Erica Dawson (NZL), Andrea Emone (ESP) and CJ Perez (USA). Perez, third from left.

Recently, the Washington Post featured a profile of CJ Perez, an 18-year-old female sailor who recently joined the US team of SailGP. SailGP is an international sailing competition using high-performance F50 foiling catamarans, where teams compete across a season of multiple grands prix around the world. The competition is described as adrenaline-fueled racing where eight teams go head-to-head in iconic venues across the globe for a winner-takes-all $1 million prize.

Despite her age, CJ Perez is a seasoned foiling sailor, winning the 2021 USA Champion Gold – WASZP, a one-design development of the foiling Moth. She is also credited with becoming the first American woman, first Latina, and the youngest person ever to race in SailGP.

Perez will not be the only woman sailing on the American team or in the SailGP competition. Four-time World Champion Kite Foiler & two-time Rolex Yachtswoman of the Year Daniela Moroz, 20, also joined the team last April. Anna Weis, 23, 2020 Olympian and 2019 Pan American Games – Nacra 17 gold medal winner will also be sailing with the US team. 

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For the Holidays or the New Year, the Latest Books from Old Salt Press Authors

Posted on by December 21, 2021

Whether as a holiday gift or just great reading for the New Year, check out the latest nautical fiction from Old Salt Press authors Alaric Bond, Joan Druett, Antione Vanner, and Seymour Hamilton.

The Seeds of War,  (The Fighting Sail Series Book 14) by Alaric Bond

1811 and the war with France continues although conflict of another kind is raging on America’s Eastern Seaboard. For many years oppressive trade sanctions have soured Britain’s relations with the newly formed United States; tensions rise further as seamen are illegally pressed and what had been a purely economic dispute soon turns into something far more deadly. Amid the conflict and confusion of fierce political debate, those aboard the frigate HMS Tenacious must also do battle with illegal slavery, powerful privateers, violent tropical storms and enemies that had once been the best of friends. With vivid naval action and intense personal dynamics, The Seeds of War tells a gripping tale of loyalty, ambition, and true camaraderie.

Britannia’s Guile: The Dawlish Chronicles January – August 1877 by Antione Vanner

1877: Lieutenant Nicholas Dawlish is hungry for promotion. He has chosen service on the Royal Navy’s hazardous Anti-Slavery patrol off East Africa for the opportunities it brings to make his name. But a shipment of slaves has slipped through his fingers and now his reputation, and his chance of promotion, are at risk. He’ll stop at nothing to save them, even if the means are illegal …
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Paddling Across America By Canoe Over 22 Months, 22 States, & On 22 Rivers

Posted on by December 20, 2021

Last Tuesday, Neal Moore, 50, paddled his 16-foot red Old Town Penobscot canoe into New York harbor completing an epic 7,500-mile journey across America in over 22 months, traveling through 22 states, while paddling on 22 rivers. 

For 675 days, from February 9, 2020 until December 14, 2021, Neal Moore went the distance in an expedition inspired by the travelogues of Mark Twain, from Astoria, Oregon on the Pacific Coast to the Statue of Liberty in New York harbor. He set out to roam “community to community” and write about the people he met.

“I wanted to see the country up close and personal at this interesting time, with the pandemic and all the political strife, to find out what it actually means to be American today,” he said, as quoted by the New York Times.

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Navy Tests High Energy Laser on USS Portland in Gulf of Aden

Posted on by December 19, 2021

In 2014, we posted about the deployment of a prototype 30-kilowatt-class Laser Weapon System (LAWS) on the USS Ponce, an Austin-class amphibious transport dock, for field testing in the Persian Gulf.

Last week, the Navy announced that the amphibious transport dock ship USS Portland (LPD 27) conducted a high-energy laser weapon system demonstration, Dec. 14, while sailing in the Gulf of Aden. 

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Tragic Launching of HMS Albion, 1898, Caught on Film

Posted on by December 18, 2021

On June 21, 1898, HMS Albion sat on the launching ways at the Thames Ironworks and Shipbuilding Company at Blackwall. The launching that would soon end in tragedy was also one of the first disasters to be captured on film.

The Albion was the largest warship ever launched on the Thames and the first battleship built for the Royal Navy in the shipyard in more than a decade. An estimated 30,000 people packed into the yard ­to see the Duchess of York launch the Royal Navy’s latest ship-of-the-line. Local schoolchildren were given the day off to attend the launch. In the crowd were two crews operating motion picture cameras ready to film the launching.

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Update: Dept. of Transportation Issues Rules to Protect Cadets from Sexual Assaults at Sea

Posted on by December 17, 2021

In early November, we posted that the United States Maritime Academy at King’s Point had paused Sea Year, a program that sent cadets to sea aboard commercial ships, after a female midshipman at the school shared an account in September of being raped by a crew member while serving at sea. This was the second suspension of the program in the last six years over allegations of sexual harassment and assault.

Last Wednesday, the Transportation Department announced an overhaul of policies designed to prevent U.S. Merchant Marine Academy cadets from suffering sexual abuse while at sea and plans to resume training on commercial vessels next week.

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16th Century Books with Rare Map of the World Sells at Auction for £365,000

Posted on by December 17, 2021

Image: BEARNES, HAMPTON AND LITTLEWOOD

The three-volume The Principall Navigations, Voiages, Traffiques and Discoueries of the English Nation, written by Richard Hakluyt in 1599, and published bound as two books, were only expected to sell for between £3,000 and £5,000. Instead, they sold at an auction for £365,000.

What made the books so valuable was a rare folding 16″ by 18″ (40cms by 45cms) map of the world from 1599-1600 included with the books. Normally when copies are sold, the map is missing.

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Boaty McBoatface to Dive Under Thwaites Ice Shelf

Posted on by December 17, 2021

Yesterday, we posted a grim post The Threat from Thwaites, Antarctica’s Riskiest Glacier about the potential collapse of the glacier’s ice shelf within a few years resulting in a rise in global sea levels by several feet.

While researching the post, I came across an old friend who will be playing a significant role in studying the ice shelf. I am referring to the yellow autonomous submarine named Boaty McBoatface.

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The Threat from Thwaites, Antarctica’s Riskiest Glacier

Posted on by December 14, 2021

At a meeting of the American Geophysical Union yesterday, scientists from The International Thwaites Glacier Collaboration (ITGC) discussed the rapid retreat of Thwaites glacier and the implications that will have on our planet in the coming years. Thwaites, often referred to as the Doomsday Glacier, is massive, the size of Florida or Britain, and currently contributes four percent of annual global sea-level rise. 

Thwaites glacier is retreating rapidly as a warming ocean slowly erases its ice from below, leading to faster flow, more fracturing, and a threat of collapse, according to an international team of scientists. If it does collapse, global sea levels could rise by several feet—putting millions of people living in coastal cities in danger zones for extreme flooding. The ice shelf, currently helping to restrain the glacier, could collapse within the next five to 10 years. 

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Norwegian Tall Ship Statsraad Lehmkuhl Visiting New York Next Week on One Ocean Circumnavigation

Posted on by December 14, 2021

The Norwegian sail training ship Statsraad Lehmkuhl will be visiting New York harbor next week. The three-masted barque, built in 1914, will be docking at Brooklyn Bridge Park and will be available for tours from December 19 to 27, from 11:30am to 4:45pm. 

Update: Since our original post, the tours are now fully booked.

The event will be hosted by the Institute of Marine Research, Statsraad Lehmkuhl, and Team Norway. During the tour you may meet some of the scientists and researchers that are doing research on board, Norwegian companies showcasing their ocean technologies and local partners. You will also experience the exhibition on board – on deck – as you are served hot Norwegian fish soup and warm beverages.

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11 Million New Oysters in New York Harbor & the Sewage Bomb

Posted on by December 12, 2021

The good news, as reported by the New York Times, is that 11.2 million juvenile oysters have been added in the past six months to a section of the Hudson River off the coast of Lower Manhattan, where they are helping to filter the water and creating habitats for other marine life.

Oysters are natural filter feeders. They feed by pumping water through their gills, trapping particles of food as well as nutrients, suspended sediments and other contaminants. In doing so, oysters help keep the water clean and clear for underwater grasses and other aquatic life.

If they grow big enough, the oyster reefs can even play a role in dissipating wave energy, helping to protect the city’s shorelines from storm surges and flooding in extreme weather.

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