An updated repost. There is a line from a Paul Simon song, “these are the days of miracle and wonder.” One might not think to apply that lyric to the events of 9/11, twenty years ago today, and yet for at least part of that strange and horrible day, they fit. The great New York boatlift was part of the “miracle and wonder.” The wholly unplanned, boatlift was the spontaneous maritime evacuation of an estimated 500,000 people trapped in Lower Manhattan in less than 10 hours. The boatlift has been under-reported by the media, which is all the more reason to remember the mariners of New York who stepped up to perform what has been called the largest sea rescue in history.
There are moments in history when an individual makes the right choice at exactly the right moment and it makes all the difference. Such was the case with LT. Michael Day on the morning of September 11, 2001, in New York harbor.
LT Day was supposed to attend a meeting in the World Trade Center on that clear Tuesday morning in September. Before he arrived, a commercial airliner flew into the World Trade Center’s North Tower. Just over a dozen minutes later, a second plane hit the South Tower. In less than two hours, both buildings would collapse in a maelstrom of fire and debris. New York City’s emergency response center had been in the World Trade Center complex and was buried in the rubble.
When the towers fell, the US Coast Guard lost much of its communications. LT Day was dispatched in a cutter to serve as a “relay to pass information.” What he saw was nightmarish, out of the smoke, myriads of people driven by the fire and ash to the water’s edge, in desperate need of rescue.
Portside NewYork is hosting an exhibit of 9/11 videos, documents, and photography in a video booth on the deck of their flagship Mary A. Whalen in Red Hook, Brooklyn, and in an outdoor exhibit of banners. The exhibit runs through 9/26/21, open from 10am to 9pm. (If it is raining, the video booth and reading material will not be available; the exhibit banners on the fence are there in all weather.)
The videos and oral histories are also available online here and include:
Tomorrow, two events will commemorate the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 boatlift, in which an estimated 500,00 people were rescued from Lower Manhattan following the attacks of 9/11. We recently posted about the Flotilla and Blessing of the Fleet hosted by the Classic Harbor Line Fleet. 100% of all ticket sales are donated to various waterfront organizations. Click here to learn more and to purchase tickets.
Onshore, the New York Council Navy League will present the 9/11 Boatlift 20th Anniversary Tribute, which will be held on Friday, September 10, 2021 at 1:00 P.M. at the American Merchant Mariners’ Memorial in Battery Park, Manhattan.
Fat Leonard
On March 14, 2017, The Department of Justice announced that retired U.S. Navy Rear Admiral Bruce Loveless and eight other high-ranking Navy officers had been indicted for accepting luxury travel, elaborate dinners, and services of prostitutes from foreign defense contractor “Fat Leonard” Francis in exchange for classified and internal U.S. Navy information.
The group of indicted officers have been described as a ‘tight group — calling themselves a “Band of Brothers” and “Cool Kids.”’ As their trial date finally approaches, now scheduled for November, the tight group may be growing apart.
A week ago, retired Chief Warrant Officer Robert Gorsuch pleaded guilty to his role in the long-running bribery scandal.
On Friday, retired U.S. Marine Corps Colonel Enrico DeGuzman, 63, pleaded guilty to accepting more than $67,000 in hotel stays, extravagant meals and other perks from “Fat Leonard.”
Since at least 2007, a variety of large inflatable rubber ducks have been showing up in harbors around the world. Most recently, a 25-foot high inflatable rubber duck appeared mysteriously in Belfast harbor in Maine. The word “JOY” was emblazoned on across its breast. The Belfast Harbor Master Katherine Given told the Bangor Daily News, “Everybody loves it, I have no idea who owns it, but it kind of fits Belfast. A lot of people want to keep it here.”
A few days later, however, it was gone again, although there have been sightings in nearby Islesboro. Given says she received an anonymous letter from someone claiming to be responsible — and they hinted that it may land somewhere else.
From the Royal Navy News: The last surviving World War 2 bomb disposal diver was honoured during a visit to the Diving Museum in Gosport.
John Payne, now 96, was on the first ‘P’ Party 1571 group – a select team of divers who cleared mines and unexploded bombs from harbours and ports in occupied Europe.
He was on the Normandy beaches following D-Day, helping to secure the Allied bridgehead and, along with others, saved many lives.
In honor of 9/11 and in commemoration of the 20th anniversary of Great Boatlift, the largest water evacuation in history, a Flotilla and Blessing of the Fleet is being organized on Friday, September 10. Passage aboard the Classic Harbor Line Fleet is being offered to participate in this grand event. 100% of all ticket sales are donated to various waterfront organizations.
Götheborg of Sweden, a full-sized replica of a Swedish East Indiaman, sailed home today from Stockholm to her homeport in preparation for a voyage to Asia in April of next year.
The nearly 60-meter (197-feet) long East Indiaman is billed the world’s largest operational wooden sailing vessel and is modeled after the Götheborg that sank off Gothenburg, Sweden in 1745 while approaching the harbor on her return from a third voyage to China.
The ship’s planned itinerary on its Expedition 2022 includes stops in London, Lisbon, Palma de Mallorca, Athens, Alexandria, Djibouti, Muscat, Chennai, Singapore, Ho Chi Minh City, Hong Kong, and Shanghai.
Ocean Renewable Power Company (ORPC) Tidal Turbine
Our recent posts about tidal turbines to create clean energy have raised interesting comments and questions about the impact of the underwater turbines on fish and mammals. Will seals, seabirds, and fish be sliced and diced by underwater turbines? Will the sounds of underwater generators disrupt the marine habitat? Are these new technologies doing more harm than good?
While there is always more research to be done, all indications are that the tidal turbines, in their various forms, are not harming sealife. Indeed, in one case, the turbine installation may have created a marine sanctuary of sorts, promoting marine life.
Back in 2018, we posted “Status-6 — Putin’s Autonomous “Doomsday” Torpedo.” It described a huge new torpedo, initially called Status-6 by the Russians but now known as Poseidon, and dubbed Kanyon by the CIA, a 65′ long, autonomous nuclear-powered and nuclear-armed underwater vehicle able to deliver a thermonuclear cobalt bomb of up to 100 megatonnes. It is said to have a top speed of 100 km/h (54 kn), with a range of 10,000 km (5,400 NM.) Russian Oscar Class submarines are said to be capable of carrying up to four of the torpedoes secured externally. We also noted that some experts doubted that the weapon was being developed while others claim that it had already being tested in the Arctic.
Recent satellite images of the Russian naval shipyard at Severodvinsk show that the Poseidon is very real and beginning to be tested.
“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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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)).
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.
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.