Grays Harbor Announces Hawaiian Chieftain Sold, to Return to Hawaii

Posted on by July 22, 2021

Positive news from Grays Harbor Historical Seaport in Aberdeen, WA. The Hawaiian Chieftain, a 65′ on deck square topsail ketch,  has been sold and will eventually be returning to her home state of Hawai’i. Briefly known as the Spirit of Larinda. the steel-hulled ketch was built in 1988 in Lahaina on the island of Maui. 

From the Grays Harbor announcement:

Grays Harbor Historical Seaport — who has owned Hawaiian Chieftain since 2005 — made the difficult decision to put her up for sale in 2019 and dedicate their focus to Lady Washington and the Seaport Landing waterfront development.

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Queen Mary Update: Long Beach Weighs Expensive Alternatives

Posted on by July 21, 2021

Last month we posted that a recent Queen Mary inspection survey revealed that lack of maintenance and neglected repairs have left the converted Cunard passenger liner vulnerable to flooding or possibly even capsizing. 

In early June, the City of Long Beach, CA  regained full control of the Queen Mary for the first time in over 40 years, Now, the Long Beach City Council is considering what to do with the ship. All the options under consideration are very expensive.

The LA Times reports that the council was presented with three options to consider:

  • preserving the ship for the next 25 years at a cost of $150 million to $175 million;
  • preserving the ship for the next 100 years, which would require moving it to a dry dock for repairs at a total cost of $200 million to $500 million;
  • or retiring and dismantling or sinking the ship at a cost of $105 million to $190 million.

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Tradewind Voyages Golden Horizon Sails From Dover After Brief Delay

Posted on by July 20, 2021

Tradewind Voyages Golden Horizon has recently embarked on her maiden voyage, after a brief delay. As she set sail on a four-day voyage from Dover, UK, the ship was forced to turn around due to a financial dispute between the original owner, Star Clippers, and the Brodosplit shipyard in Croatia at which she was built. After a delay of almost 24 hours, the ship was allowed to sail.

The 272 passenger five-masted barque, setting 68,000 square feet of sail, or over twice the sail area of the clipper ship Cutty Sark, is the largest square-rigged sailing ship in the world.

Below is lovely drone footage of the Golden Horizon leaving Fowey, Cornwall on July 10, 2021. 

The largest sailing vessel in the world (Golden Horizon) leaves Fowey, Cornwall. 10th July 2021.

Thanks to David Rye for contributing to this post.

USNS John Lewis Christened in San Diego

Posted on by July 19, 2021

Last Saturday, USNS John Lewis (T-AO 205), the first in a new class of Navy oiler, was christened at NASSCO on the one-year anniversary of the congressman’s death.

It’s fitting that we honor John Lewis with this formidable ship, because John Lewis was a warrior. One of the mottos of the Navy is ‘Semper Fortis’ — ‘Always Courageous’ — and John Lewis was indeed always courageous,” said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who led a congressional delegation to the event on Saturday. “This ship will be a beacon to the world reminding all who see it of the persistence and courage of John Lewis.”

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The Moon’s Wobble Likely to Worsen Coastal Flooding

Posted on by July 18, 2021

The moon is wobbling. This is nothing new. First observed in 1728, the wobble is a cyclical shifting of the moon’s orbit around the earth that takes 18.6 years to complete.

In half of this lunar cycle, Earth’s regular daily tides are diminished, with high tides lower than usual and low tides higher than usual. In the cycle’s other half, the situation is reversed, with high tides higher and low tides lower.

The bad news is that we are about to enter the second half of the cycle, which, coupled with rising sea levels is likely to result in increased coastal flooding. A new study by NASA scientists suggests that U.S. coastlines will face increased flooding during high tides in the mid-2030s thanks to the wobble magnifying rising sea levels caused by climate change.

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Gray Whale Swims Over Half Way Around the World

Posted on by July 17, 2021

In 2013, a male gray whale was spotted in Walvis Bay off Namibia, which was odd, as no gray whale had ever been seen in the Southern Hemisphere. Where did he come from?

It took several years of research to determine that the whale originated in the North Pacific and had swum an estimated 16,000 miles, or more than halfway around the world, to reach Namibia. The findings were published recently in a study in the journal Biology Letters.

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Crowley’s eWolf — First Fully Electric US Tugboat

Posted on by July 16, 2021

Crowley Maritime Corporation has announced that it will build and operate eWolf, the first all-electric powered harbor tugboat in the United States. The electric ship assist and escort tug will be 200 GRT, 82 feet long, with a main propulsion battery of 6.2 MWh, and a bollard pull of 70 short tons. 

Over the first 10 years of its use, the operation of the new eTug will reduce 178 tons of nitrogen oxide (NOx), 2.5 tons of diesel particulate matter, and 3,100 metric tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) versus a conventional tug. The electric tug will replace one that consumes more than 30,000 gallons of diesel per year. The eWolf will operate at the Port of San Diego’s Tenth Avenue Marine Terminal and will be operational by mid-2023.

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Red Tide Hits Florida Gulf Coast Again

Posted on by July 15, 2021

A recent editorial headline in the Tampa Bay Times read “In St. Petersburg, climate change smells like rotting fish” and was subtitled “A massive fish kill reminds us how climate change can suddenly wash up on our shores.”

The latest round of red tide has returned to the waters of Florida’s Gulf Coast.

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Under Pressure, Italy Bans Large Cruise Ships from Venice Lagoon

Posted on by July 14, 2021

The Italian government is banning large cruise ships from calling on the Venice lagoon after declaring the lagoon a national monument. Italy had come under pressure from Unesco, the UN’s heritage agency, that threatened to put Venice on its endangered list unless the government permanently banned cruise ships from docking in the world heritage site. The ban is an attempt to protect the lagoon’s fragile ecosystem from the downsides of mass tourism. As of August 1, 2021, no passenger vessel above 25,000 register tonnes will be allowed to dock in the lagoon.

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American Cruise Lines Cancels Cruise After 3 Test Positive for COVID-19

Posted on by July 13, 2021

US Today reports that American Cruise Lines has canceled the next Alaska cruise on its American Constellation after three people tested positive for COVID-19.

The ship took off for a 10-night cruise from Juneau, Alaska on July 4, but the trip was cut short Saturday after two fully vaccinated passengers and one unvaccinated crew member tested positive. The 175-passenger ship had 162 passengers and 52 crew members on board. 

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Rowing Records Shattered in the Great Pacific Race

Posted on by July 12, 2021

The fourth rowing of the Great Pacific Race has shattered transPacific records. The race departed from the Golden Gate Bridge on May 30, bound for Honolulu. The teams are competing in identical boats, rowing entirely self-supported and unassisted across 2,400 miles of open ocean.

The first to complete the race was team Latitude 35, a four-man team, who arrived after 30 days, breaking the previous record for a crew of four men to row west across the mid-Pacific route by nine days. The team is made up of Jason Caldwell, Angus Collins, Duncan Roy, and Jordan Shuttleworth.

Arriving on July 6th, the team Ocean Sheroes broke the previous record for a women’s team in the race by a full 14 days. The Ocean Sheroes are also the first all British woman’s team to complete the race. The Ocean Sheroes are Bella Collins, Purusha Gordon, Mary Sutherland, and Lily Lower.

Since its launch in 2014, only 22 teams have ever completed the Great Pacific Race.

La Merced — 104 Year Old Four-Masted Schooner Now Forested Breakwater

Posted on by July 9, 2021

Last September, we posted about the wreck of the steam collier SS Ayrfield, abandoned in Homebush Bay, near Sydney, Australia, before it could be scrapped, that has now been taken over by a mangrove forest.  A reader pointed out a similar vessel on the other side of the globe that has also been taken over by nature.  The four-masted auxiliary schooner La Merced, built in 1917, is now a breakwater at a marina in Anacortes, WA. The schooner’s hull is also home to a small forest of trees.

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The Rail Gun is Dead, Hypersonic Missiles Latest High Tech Weapon For Navy Ships

Posted on by July 11, 2021

For more than a decade the Navy has labored to develop a workable rail gun, a futuristic weapon that fires projectiles at up to seven times the speed of sound using electricity. It failed. 

The Washington Post quotes Matthew Caris, a defense analyst at Avascent Group, a consulting firm saying “The railgun is, for the moment, dead.”

All told, the Navy spent about $500 million on research and development, according to Bryan Clark, an analyst at the Hudson Institute. Now, the Navy has cut funding for railgun research from its latest budget proposal. The Defense Department is turning its attention to hypersonic missiles to keep up with China and Russia.

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Heat Wave Devastates Shellfish & Sea Life on Pacific Northwest

Posted on by July 9, 2021

A dead sea star in West Vancouver, British Columbia. Photo: Christopher Harley/University of British Columbia

The recent heat wave in the Pacific Northwest and Canada has proven deadly. The death toll from the record-breaking heatwave that struck the US Pacific Northwest last week has risen to nearly 200. British Columbia reported at least 719 people suffered “sudden and unexpected deaths,” three times more than what would normally occur in the province during a seven-day period.  The impact on coastal sea life has also been devastating.

The New York Times reports that the combination of extraordinary heat and drought that hit the Western United States and Canada over the past two weeks has killed hundreds of millions of marine animals and continues to threaten untold species in freshwater, according to a preliminary estimate and interviews with scientists.

“It just feels like one of those postapocalyptic movies,” said Christopher Harley, a marine biologist at the University of British Columbia who studies the effects of climate change on coastal marine ecosystems.

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Little Enthusiasm for Proposed UK Flagship, Even the Royals Don’t Like It

Posted on by July 8, 2021

Last month, we posted that UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has announced the construction of a new national flagship intended to promote British businesses around the world. So far the proposal to replace the royal yacht Britannia, has been greeted with very little enthusiasm. Even the royal family has voiced its displeasure with the idea. 

Supporters of the new flagship argue that it would pay for itself many times over by helping secure trade deals, military contracts, and private investment in Britain. Critics consider it to be an ill-conceived boondoggle.

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Captain Bill Pinkney Inducted Into National Sailing Hall of Fame

Posted on by July 7, 2021

Congratulations to Captain William D. “Bill” Pinkney, who has been inducted into the National Sailing Hall of Fame with a Lifetime Achievement Award as an “Enthusiastic Trend Setter.” Captain Pinkney was the first African American to solo-circumnavigate the world via Cape Horn. Born on September 15, 1935, in Chicago, he attended public schools in Chicago and joined the U.S. Navy after graduating from high school in 1954.

Pinkney’s voyage featured the rounding of the five great capes including Cape Horn. The 27,000 mile circumnavigation took 22 months and ended on June 9, 1992. Throughout the trip, Pinkney sent footage back to Globe TV and communicated with some 30,000 school children. The finished production titled, “The Incredible Voyage of Bill Pinkney,” won the George Foster Peabody Award for excellence in children’s television programming. The film has aired on the Disney Channel, National Geographic, and PBS stations and is now available on Youtube. 

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Update: Container Ship Ever Given Cleared to Sail From Suez Canal

Posted on by July 6, 2021

Reuters is reporting that an Egyptian court has lifted the detention order on the Ever Given container ship, allowing its expected release from the Suez Canal on Wednesday, according to a lawyer and judicial sources.

The Ever Given’s owners and insurers announced on Sunday that they had reached a settlement with the Suez Canal Authority (SCA) over compensation for the ship becoming grounded in March and blocking traffic in the waterway. The amount of the settlement has not been announced. The SCA initially demanded $916m in compensation to cover salvage efforts, reputational damage, and lost revenue. The demand was later lowered to $550 million. 

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SS Great Britain Returns to Bristol, 51 Years Ago Today

Posted on by July 5, 2021
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 Fifty-one years ago today, 100,000 people lined the banks of the River Avon in Bristol as the SS Great Britain returned to her birthplace. In the intervening years, the rusting hulk was meticulously restored to her former glory and now rests in the drydock where she was built. As a museum ship, she is visited by between 150,000 and 200,000 visitors annually.  Here is an updated repost from several years ago about the grand old ship, followed by a video about her return to Bristol in 1970.

In the spring of 2016, I visited the museum ship SS Great Britain, in Bristol, UK.  When she was launched in 1843, the iron-hulled luxury passenger steamship SS Great Britain was described as “the greatest experiment since the Creation.”

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Happy 4th of July – A Toast to Madeira, the Wine of the Declaration of Independence and the Liberty Riots

Posted on by July 4, 2021

An updated repost from several years ago, still fitting for the day.

Happy 4th of July!  Those of us in the United States celebrate the anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence on July 4th 1776. Immediately after declaring independence from Great Britain, the representatives in the Continental Congress drank a toast with glasses of Madeira wine.

Why Madiera?  It was virtually the only wine available in the American colonies at the time. Wine carried by sailing ship was often spoiled in transit by the constant jostling of the ship and the wide variations of heat and cold. Wine from the island of Madeira, however, was fortified with a small amount of sugar cane brandy to help it survive the ocean voyage. Not only did the fortified wine survive the voyage but it was found that the heat and motion of the ship actually improved the quality of the wine.

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Fire on the Water — “Eye of Fire” Erupts in Gulf of Mexico

Posted on by July 3, 2021

Early Friday, bright orange flames boiled from the Gulf of Mexico off the Yucatan peninsula caused by a gas leak in an underwater pipeline. Resembling molten lava, the eruption of flames was dubbed an “eye of fire” on social media. The fire, near a Mexican state oil company Pemex drilling platform, burned for five hours before being fully extinguished.

The fire began in an underwater pipeline that connects to a platform at Pemex’s flagship Ku Maloob Zaap oil development, the company’s most important, four sources told Reuters.

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