US Navy “Fat Leonard” Bribery Scandal Grinds On — New Guilty Plea

Posted on by September 1, 2021

“Fat Leonard” Francis

The “Fat Leonard” Navy bribery and corruption scandal keeps grinding inexorably onward. One might say that the pace is glacial, except in an age of climate change, glaciers appear to be moving faster. There has been a recent guilty plea and an upcoming trial for eight high-ranking Navy and ex-Navy officers in the scandal that has been ongoing for the last 8 years.

The San Diego Union-Tribune reports that yesterday, Robert Gorsuch, a retired Navy officer pleaded guilty to his role in the long-running “Fat Leonard” bribery scandal, two months before trial was set to begin for him and eight other high-ranking officials.

Continue reading →

Arthur John Priest — the Unsinkable Stoker

Posted on by August 31, 2021

Arthur John Priest was born on this day in 1887. He earned the nickname “the unsinkable stoker” after surviving the sinking of four ships, including the Titanic and its sister ship Britannic, as well as living through two ship collisions.

As a stoker, Priest was part of the “black gang” that manually shifted the hundreds of tonnes of coal each day to feed the insatiable boilers of the steamships of the time.     

In 1908, Priest was working as a stoker on the passenger liner RMS Asturias when, on its maiden voyage, it was in a collision with another ship. While there was no loss of life, the ship only barely made it back into port.

Priest served as a stoker on RMS Olympic in 1911. The Olympic was a near sister ship to the Titanic and the Britannic. It collided with HMS Hawke in the Solent, tearing two large holes in Olympic’s hull, above and below the waterline, resulting in the flooding of two of her watertight compartments and a twisted propeller shaft. HMS Hawke suffered severe damage to her bow and nearly capsized.

Priest found work on RMS Titanic the following year. Continue reading →

Tidal Power — Trials in East River on New Recyclable Blade Design

Posted on by August 30, 2021

One of the concerns with wind and tidal energy installations is that the turbine blades are built from materials that are not easily recyclable. As the blades wear out with use, they could create a significant disposal problem. For the last several years, the US Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has been developing new designs for turbine blades that could be more easily recycled and may prove more durable in high-energy environments like tidal streams.  

NREL is now partnering with Verdant Power, whose tidal turbines are currently deployed in New York City’s East River, to test the new thermoplastic blade design. Unlike the current epoxy-infused composite thermoset blades, the thermoplastic blades can be melted down and recycled. The thermoplastic blades may also be better suited for use in tidal currents. The current testing should provide real-world data to determine if the new design is more rugged than the current blades. 

Continue reading →

Scientists Accidentally Discover the World’s Northernmost Island off Greenland

Posted on by August 29, 2021

The BBC reports that a group of scientists say they have discovered by luck what they believe is the world’s northernmost island off Greenland’s coast.

In July, the scientists flew to collect samples to what they thought was Oodaaq Island, that has been known since 1978. But when they checked their position with the Danish official in charge of registering Arctic islands, they were 800m (2,625ft) further north. The 60X30m island is the closest point of land to the North Pole, they say.

Continue reading →

Scientists in Egypt Discover Fossil of an Amphibious, Four-legged Whale

Posted on by August 28, 2021

Image: Dr. Robert W. Boessenecker

Scientists in Egypt have announced that they have discovered the fossilized bones of a previously unknown amphibious, four-legged species of an ancestral whale. The semiaquatic whales called protocetids, existed over forty million years, during the Eocene period, according to findings published Wednesday in the peer-reviewed journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B. Since protocetids were amphibious, they represent a unique period in whale evolution that largely still remains a mystery.

The researchers behind the study believe the newly discovered fossil offers clues as to how whales transformed from land-dwellers to the sea creatures we know today.

Continue reading →

Congratulations to Capt. Amy Bauernschmidt, First Woman to Command a Nuclear-Powered Carrier

Posted on by August 27, 2021

Capt. Amy Bauernschmidt is now the commanding officer of the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln — becoming the first woman to lead a nuclear carrier in U.S. Navy history.

Bauernschmidt, who previously served as the carrier’s executive officer from 2016-2019, relieved Capt. Walt “Sarge” Slaughter of his duties Aug. 19 during a change of command ceremony in San Diego, as reported by the Navy Times. 

Continue reading →

Update: Yara Birkeland, Crewless Electric Container Ship, First Voyage by Year’s End

Posted on by November 23, 2021

In 2017, we posted “ Yara Birkeland, Autonomous Container Ship — Is This Really a Good Idea?” The question remains unanswered, but we may have a better idea when the 103 TEU, all-electric, crewless feeder ship is delivered and completes its maiden voyage toward the end of 2021. The ship will be powered by 7 MWh battery bank and should be capable of top speed of 13 knots. 

CNN reports that if all goes to plan, the ship will make its first journey between two Norwegian towns before the end of the year, with no crew onboard. Instead, its movements will be monitored from three onshore data control centers. 

When operational, Yara Birkeland will sail on two routes, between Herøya and Brevik (~7 nautical miles (13 km)) and between Herøya and Larvik (~30 nautical miles (56 km)).

Continue reading →

Most Powerful Tidal Turbine Goes On-Line Off Scotland

Posted on by August 25, 2021

These days, most of the turbines producing clean energy are powered by the wind. Last month, a turbine powered by the tides, described as “the world’s most powerful” began grid-connected power generation at the European Marine Energy Centre in Orkney, an archipelago located north of mainland Scotland.

CNBC reports that in an announcement, Scottish engineering firm Orbital Marine Power explained how its 2-megawatt O2 turbine had been anchored in a body of water called the Fall of Warness, with a subsea cable linking it to a local electricity network on land.

Continue reading →

Carnival Passenger Dies of Covid, CDC Recommends Vulnerable Avoid Cruises Even if Vaccinated

Posted on by August 24, 2021

On a recent voyage from Galveston, TX, one passenger and 26 crew members tested positive for Covid-19 on the Carnival Vista. The passenger, Marilyn Tackett, a 77-year-old retiree from Oklahoma, subsequently died. The outbreak represented the highest number of cases aboard a ship reported since June, when cruises restarted in the Caribbean and United States, and the first death. Ms. Tackett was reported to have been fully vaccinated.

In related news, last Friday, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) revised its guidance for travelers on cruise ships. It continues to recommend vaccination for all cruise passengers, but now also recommends against cruise travel for those “at increased risk for severe illness”, even if they have been vaccinated. The recommendation, meant for elderly people and those with certain medical conditions, applies to large ship cruises as well as smaller river cruises.

Continue reading →

Maine’s “Lobster Lady” Still Lobstering at 101 Years Old

Posted on by August 23, 2021

Lobsterman Max Oliver, 78, captains the lobster boat Virginia out of Rockland, Maine, three days a week, May through November. The boat happens to be named after his crew, Virginia Oliver, who is also his mother.  At age 101, she is believed to be the oldest lobsterer in the world. And she is still going strong. 

Oliver — known by friends as Ginny and to some as the “Lobster Lady” — has lived in Rockland her entire life and still lives on the same street where she was born in 1920. She has been lobstering on Penobscot Bay since she was seven years old. Now, Oliver works 200 pots with her son, Max, hauling them out of the water while she fills the bait bags and bands the lobsters, WCSH reported.

A 101-year-old lobster lady

Navy Sinks USS Ingraham, Last Oliver Hazard Perry Destroyer Built, in Live-Fire Exercise

Posted on by August 22, 2021

The Drive reports that on August 15th, 2021, the U.S. Navy sank the USS Ingraham in a  Sinking Exercise (SINKEX) off Hawaii as part of the ongoing and unprecedently massive Large Scale Exercise 2021. Not a whole lot is known about this SINKEX just yet, but multiple types of weapons were involved, including a Super Hornet-launched AGM-154 Joint Stand-Off Weapon (JSOW) and stealthy Naval Strike Missiles (NSM) launched from the Marine Corps’ new unmanned ground-based launcher vehicles. P-8s were also involved, which could mean they employed AGM-84 Harpoons. There are likely a number of other weapons that were fired at the frigate, too, as is typically the case during SINKEXs, which are prized and infrequent training and developmental opportunities.

Continue reading →

As Hurricane Henri Approaches, Looking Back at the Great New England Hurricane of 1938

Posted on by August 21, 2021

Hurricane Henri is expected to make landfall on the eastern portion of Long Island or in southern New England on Sunday afternoon. It will be the first hurricane to strike New England in 30 years. My wife and I cut short a vacation in the Adirondacks today to do what we could to batten down our sailboat on a mooring in Oyster Bay, Long Island. (We will keep our fingers crossed until at least Monday.)

The current models show Hurricane Henri coming ashore near the Hamptons on Long Island as a Category 1 storm. While Hurricane Henri is a serious threat, with luck, its impact will pale in comparison to the Category 3, 1938 Great New England Hurricane, also referred to as the Yankee Clipper, and the Long Island Express Hurricane, which also made landfall near the Hamptons.

Continue reading →

Update: Ocean Revival Adventures, First to Row From NYC to London

Posted on by August 19, 2021

Congratulations to the Ocean Revival Adventures team who have become the first to row from New York to London. The team of four serving and former serving Royal Marine Commandos completed the epic 72-day, 3,700-mile row across the North Atlantic from the Brooklyn Bridge in New York City to Tower Bridge in London. 

In May, I was fortunate enough to meet Ian Clinton and Simon Chalk, members of the Ocean Revival Adventures crew, waiting with their ocean rowing boats at Liberty Landing in New York harbor for a suitable weather window to set off on what has been dubbed the “world’s most dangerous row.” See our previous post.

Continue reading →

Exhibits Return to Historic Lighthouse Tender Lilac With Work By Melissa Godoy Niet

Posted on by August 18, 2021

In addition to being a museum ship as America’s only steam-powered lighthouse tender, the ex-USCG Cutter Lilac serves as a community arts and education space. Unfortunately in the past year, the pandemic temporarily shut these programs down.  Now the exhibitions are restarting, inaugurated with work by Melissa Godoy Nieto.

Waters Change, Colors Fade is an exhibition by Mexican-born multi-media artist Melissa Godoy Nieto drawing on her personal experience observing both the vibrancy of healthy coral reefs and the coral degradation caused by climate change, Godoy Nieto shares an underwater wilderness through drawings, textile collages and installation. 

Continue reading →

WWII Submarine USS Cod Returns to Cleveland After $1.4 Million Drydocking and Repairs

Posted on by August 17, 2021

Tomorrow, the Gato Class submarine USS Cod commissioned in 1943, will be towed back to its dock in Cleveland, OH following a $1.4 million drydocking at Donjon Shipbuilding in Erie, PA. While on dock, the 78-year old submarine had ballast tank plating renewed, refurbished torpedo tubes installed, and received a fresh coat of paint. A Cleveland homecoming celebration is planned for Sunday, August 22 at 1PM.

Cod is credited with sinking more than 12 enemy vessels totaling more than 37,000 tons, and damaging another 36,000 tons of enemy shipping. All seven of her war patrols were considered successful and Cod was awarded seven battle stars for her service in World War II.

Continue reading →

Orca Encounters Continue on Spanish Coast, New Restrictions on Smaller Sailboats Issued

Posted on by August 16, 2021

Last September, the Spanish government issued restrictions on operating sailboats less than 15 meters long off a section of its Galician coast after multiple cases of encounters with pods of orcas, also known as killer whales. Last week, Spain issued new restrictions on the navigation of sailboats of less than 15 meters in a less than 10 nautical mile stretch of coastline, south of Cadiz, between Cape Trafalgar and Barbate. The restricted area extends from 2 to 9 miles from the coast. The restrictions are for two weeks but may be modified depending on the circumstances.

The orcas bump the boats’ hulls, often damaging the rudder and in some cases biting the boat’s keel in what has been described as violent but fundamentally playful behavior.

Since March 27, when the orca encounters reoccurred, there have been 56 reported attacks on sailboats by orcas. In at least 25 cases, damage done by the orcas was severe enough to require Spanish Marine Rescue to tow the boats to a safe harbor. So far, there are no reports that anyone has been killed or seriously injured in the encounters.

Continue reading →

The Slinky — Created by a Naval Engineer Experimenting with Shipboard Torsion Sprigs

Posted on by August 15, 2021

It is amazing how many commonplace items are related to ships and the sea. Or perhaps not, given that over 70% of the globe is covered by water and 90% of all trade is moved by sea. Here is one example of an unexpected connection to ships.

Remember the Slinky? The children’s toy has been around for more than 75 years now and is still extremely popular. It was the creation of Richard James, a naval mechanical engineer stationed at the William Cramp & Sons shipyards in Philadelphia. In the early 1940s, he was attempting to use torsion springs to stabilize sensitive instruments aboard ships in rough seas.

Continue reading →

Third Replica Maryland Dove Under Construction

Posted on by August 14, 2021

The Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum is nearing the completion of the construction of a new Maryland Dove, a reproduction of the 17th-century trading ship that accompanied the first settlers to what is now Maryland in 1634. Maryland Dove is owned by the state of Maryland and operated and maintained by the Historic St. Mary’s City Commission.

Ark and Dove were the two ships that began the Maryland Colony. Dove was a small, 40-ton capacity cargo ship purchased by Cecil Calvert and investors so that the colonists would have their own ship to use once Ark had sailed for England.

Continue reading →

Friday the 13th Repost, the Unlikely Story of HMS Friday

Posted on by August 13, 2021

A repost from several years ago. Sailors have long considered Friday to be an unlucky day and Friday the 13th, particularly so. On this Friday the 13th, it seems appropriate to remember the unlikely tale of HMS Friday.

Sometime in the 1800s, it is said that the Royal Navy decided to dispel the stigma attached to Friday. They commissioned a ship and named it the HMS Friday. Her keel was laid on a Friday, she was launched on a Friday, and she set sail on her maiden voyage on Friday the 13th, under the command of a Captain James Friday. She was never seen or heard from again.

While this is an oft-told tale, none of it is true. There has never been a Royal Navy ship named Friday, or any other day of the week, for that matter. HMS Ark Royal, on the other hand, was relaunched on Friday, June 13, 2001, following a major overhaul and continued successfully for another decade before she was decommissioned in 2011.  Happy Friday the 13th.