Update: Stinky Sargassum Threatens Post Pandemic Tourism in Mexico and Across Caribbean

Posted on by July 6, 2022

In 2019, we posted about an 8,850-kilometer Atlantic sargassum belt from the Gulf of Mexico to West Africa. The floating mat of the brown buoyant seaweed had a devastating impact on beaches across the east coast of Mexico, the Caribbean, Texas, and Florida. The researchers said that this sargassum belt represented the world’s largest macroalgal bloom and that such recurrent blooms may become the new normal.

Now, a new sargassum bloom is befouling pristine beaches on Mexico’s east coast and across the Caribbean, threatening a post-COVID tourism rebound in the region.

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SS Great Britain Returns to Bristol, 52 Years Ago Today

Posted on by July 5, 2022

[tribulant_slideshow gallery_id=”4″]

 Fifty-two 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 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, 2022

An updated repost 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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Update: Historic Rotterdam Bridge Will Not Be Dismantled for Bezos’ Yacht

Posted on by July 3, 2022

In February, we posted Billionaire Bezos’ Really Big Boat and the Rotterdam Railroad Bridge about reports that Rotterdam would dismantle the center span of a historic railroad bridge to allow the 417-foot-long, three-masted sailing yacht built for billionaire Jeff Bezos to access the sea. The fully rigged superyacht has too great an air-draft to safely fit beneath the Koningshaven Bridge, which has a clearance of 131 feet over the Nieuwe Maas River.

Now, Trouw is reporting that the Dutch shipbuilder Oceanco has informed the municipality of Rotterdam that it is canceling the plans to dismantle the bridge. The yard said that it was shocked by the social unrest over the potential dismantling and that shipyard employees feel threatened and the company fears vandalism. 

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27 Missing & Feared Dead After Typhoon Chaba Breaks Vessel in Half Off Hong Kong

Posted on by July 2, 2022

Three crew members were rescued after Typhoon Chaba broke an unidentified engineering vessel in half. Twenty-seven crew remain missing and are feared dead. Search and rescue operations continued for others about 300 km (200 miles) southwest of the city, the Hong Kong Government Flying Service said.

27 Feared DEAD as Typhoon Chaba Tears Ship in Half

“Fat Leonard” Corruption Trial — Jury Convicts Four Former Navy Officers

Posted on by July 1, 2022

“Fat Leonard” Francis

We recently posted about how the “Fat Leonard” Navy corruption scandal is being dramatized in a new television series, based on an award-winning podcast.

In the real world, the decade-long investigation and years-long trials are wrapping up. 

The San Diego Union-Tribune reports that a federal jury in San Diego convicted four of five former U.S. naval officers on conspiracy, bribery and fraud charges on Wednesday, capping a four-month-long trial and a decade-long investigation of the worst corruption scandal in the history of the Navy.

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Update: Palmer’s Titanic II & China’s Romandisea Cancelled?

Posted on by June 30, 2022

For a decade, we have followed the various announcements by Australian billionaire Clive Palmer regarding his Titanic II project. In 2012, Palmer announced the construction of a modern “replica”  of the doomed passenger liner RMS Titanic which sank after striking an iceberg in 1912.

Palmer’s Titanic II was to be built in a Chinese shipyard and go into service in 2016. Since then the project has moved in fits and starts. The project finances fell apart for several years. The ship delivery dates moved first to 2018 and then to 2022. Despite an abundance of announcements, CGI drawings, and videos, apparently, no steel has actually been cut and no new delivery date has been announced.

Recently, Bright Sun Films posted a Youtube video, Cancelled – Titanic 2, that looks at the history of various projects to build a “replica” of the ill-fated ship. And while there is no definitive word that Palmer’s Titanic II has been “canceled,” the prospects for it moving forward look exceptionally dim. Continue reading →

Norwegian Sun Alaskan Cruise Cut Short After Hitting Small Iceberg

Posted on by June 29, 2022

Norwegian Cruise Line reports that the cruise ship Norwegian Sun hit a small iceberg on Saturday while underway in foggy conditions near Hubbard Glacier in Alaska. The company characterized the berg as a growler, a type of very small iceberg that only rises a meter or less above the waterline and is often difficult to see from the bridge of a ship.

Following the collision, visits to Hubbard Glacier and Skagway, Alaska, were canceled and the ship sailed directly to nearby Juneau for an assessment of damage to the vessel.

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Swedish East Indiaman Götheborg Asia Expedition: The Pioneer Leg

Posted on by June 28, 2022

Last October, we posted about the Swedish East Indiaman Götheborg Asia Expedition, a voyage intended to promote and open new trade opportunities for Swedish and Asian companies. The expedition has now begun. Here is a short video of the first leg of the voyage from Gothenburg to Helsingborg in southern Sweden. The ship is still close to home but the footage is wonderful.

Asia Expedition: The Pioneer Leg

Hyundai Ultra-Large LNG Carrier Makes First Semi-Autonomous Crossing of the Pacific Ocean

Posted on by June 27, 2022

Earlier this month, the 180,000 cubic meter ultra-large LNG carrier Prism Courage completed a voyage from the Gulf of Mexico to South Korea using a semi-autonomous navigation system developed by HD Hyundai subsidiary Avikus.

Delivered to South Korea’s SK Shipping last year by shipbuilder Hyundai Heavy Industries,  Prism Courage, arrived at the Boryeong LNG Terminal in South Korea from the Freeport LNG terminal, Texas, via the Panama Canal, after completing a 33-day voyage.

The ship is equipped with the HiNAS 2.0, Level 2 (Hyundai intelligent Navigation Assistant System) autonomous navigation solution developed by Avikus, and sailed half of the roughly 20,000 kilometers voyage utilizing the HiNAS 2.0 autonomous navigation technology.

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USS Samuel B Roberts: World’s Deepest Shipwreck Located

Posted on by June 25, 2022

The BBC reports that explorers have found the deepest shipwreck ever identified, a US navy destroyer escort sunk during WWII.

The USS Samuel B Roberts went down during the Battle Off Samar in the Philippine Sea in October 1944. It lies in 6,895m (22,621ft) of water.

Texan financier and adventurer Victor Vescovo, who owns a deep-diving submersible, discovered the “Sammy B” battered but largely intact.

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Pip Hare Gives a Tour of Her Foiling IMOCA 60, Medallia

Posted on by June 24, 2022

Here is a short video of Pip Hare giving a tour under sail of her foiling IMOCA 60 Medallia to Yachting Monthly’s Katy Stickland. Hare recently completed the Vendée Arctique, a qualifying race for the Vendée Globe 2024/25 in Medallia. Pip Hare was the first British skipper to finish the Vendée Globe 2020/21, placing 19th overall. She is also only the 8th woman to ever finish the race.

Pip Hare gives us a full tour of her foiling IMOCA 60 – Yachting Monthly

“Fat Leonard,” a Major Navy Corruption Scandal, Then an Award Winning Podcast, and Soon a TV Series

Posted on by June 23, 2022

“Fat Leonard” Francis

The “Fat Leonard” corruption scandal has been described as “perhaps the worst national-security breach of its kind to hit the Navy since the end of the Cold War.” More than two dozen Naval officers have pleaded guilty to taking bribes in the slow-moving investigation. 

As perhaps a sign of the times, the scandal has spawned an award-winning Fat Leonard podcast and now, it has been announced that the producers are developing a TV series based on the podcast. 

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World’s Largest Fresh Water Fish, 660 Pounds, Caught and Released in Cambodia’s Mekong River

Posted on by June 22, 2022

On June 13th, Moul Thun, a 42-year-old fisherman from Kaoh Preah, a remote island in the Mekong River, in northern Cambodia, hooked an exceptionally large giant freshwater stingray. At 4 meters in diameter and weighing 660 pounds (about 300 kilograms) it proved to be the largest freshwater fish ever documented.

The BBC quotes Dr. Zeb Hogan, a biologist who leads Wonders of the Mekong, a USAID-funded conservation project, saying, “In 20 years of researching giant fish in rivers and lakes on six continents, this is the largest freshwater fish that we’ve encountered or that’s been documented anywhere worldwide.”

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Hong Kong’s Iconic Jumbo Floating Restaurant Sinks Under Tow in South China Sea

Posted on by June 21, 2022

Jumbo Floating Restaurant, an iconic Hong Kong landmark, has capsized and sunk in the South China Sea, while under tow to an undisclosed location.

NPR reports that the restaurant encountered “adverse conditions” on Saturday as it was passing the Xisha Islands, also known as the Paracel Islands, in the South China Sea, and water entered the vessel and it began to tip, according to Aberdeen Restaurant Enterprises Ltd.

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