Black History Month: Absalom Boston, Whaling Ship Captain & Merchant

Posted on by February 16, 2021

Captain Absalom Boston

Over nearly three centuries of whaling, some 175,000 men went to sea in 2,700 ships. Of the 2,500 masters who captained these ships, at least 52 were men of color. In honor of Black History Month, here is an updated repost about Absalom Boston, captain of the whaleship Industry, which sailed in 1822 with an all-black crew. 

Absalom Boston was born in Nantucket in 1785 to Seneca Boston, an African-American ex-slave, and Thankful Micah, a Wampanoag Indian woman. Absalom Boston’s uncle was a slave named Prince Boston, who sailed on a whaling voyage in 1770. At the end of the voyage in 1773, Prince Boston’s white master, William Swain, a prominent Nantucket merchant, demanded that he turn over his earnings. Boston refused. He took Swain to court and with the support of prominent whaleship owner William Rotch, won his earnings and his freedom, becoming the first slave to be set free by a jury verdict.  The impact of the lawsuit effectively ended slavery on Nantucket.

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Mystic Seaport in the Solitude of Winter

Posted on by February 8, 2021

In June, we posted drone footage of Mystic Seaport as it was gradually reopening after being shut down by the pandemic. The grass was summer green, the river was shimmering deep blue, and the masts and spars of historic ships rose against a pale sky and billowing clouds. 

Here is a very different view of the seaport, capturing the solitude of winter. 

The Solitude of Winter

Black History Month: Remembering Raye Montague, Barrier-Shattering Navy Ship Designer

Posted on by February 7, 2021

In honor of Black History Month, an updated repost about the barrier-shattering naval engineer Raye Montague, who died at the age of 83 in 2018.

At the age of 7, she was inspired to become an engineer after she toured a captured World War II German submarine with her grandmother.  As an African-American girl, however, she was told that becoming an engineer was simply not an option.

Thirty years later, Raye Montague became the first person to use a computer program to rapidly develop a preliminary ship design for the U.S. Navy. The design process had previously taken the Navy two years. Montague completed the preliminary design of the Oliver Hazard Perry Class frigate in less than 19 hours. Her accomplishment revolutionized the way the Navy designs ships and submarines. 

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The Wellerman & the Cross Cultural Whaling History of New Zealand

Posted on by February 6, 2021

We recently posted about the Wellerman and the Sea Shanty Boom on TikTok. We noted that of all the recent strangeness, the most pleasant and least expected has been the explosion of sea shanties on TikTok. It all began when Scottish postman and aspiring musician, Nathan Evanss, began posting shanties and sea songs on the video streaming service TikTok. 

Since then, there has been a bit of confusion in some quarters about what the song, the Wellerman is about. (This should not be a surprise, as there are often disagreements about sea shanties, including even what constitutes a sea shanty.) Some have taken the lyric, “Soon may the Wellerman come, to bring us sugar and tea and rum,” as a reference to the infamous Atlantic Triangle Trade which involved trading slaves, sugar, and rum.

Fortunately, the Wellerman has nothing whatsoever to do with the Atlantic slave trade. Continue reading →

Vendee Globe: Clarisse Cremer Finishes 12th, First Woman to Finish, Breaks Solo Female Record

Posted on by February 5, 2021

Clarisse Cremer is the 12th Vendee Globe racer to cross the finish line in Les Sables d’Olonne, having completed the solo, non-stop around the world race in 87 days, 02 hours, 24 minutes, and 25 seconds.

She is the first female skipper to complete the 2020-2021 race. Her time broke Ellen MacArthur‘s solo non-stop record for a female skipper of 94 days 4 hours, which MacArthur set when she took second in the 2000-2001 Vendée Globe. 

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Black History Month — William Tillman and the Privateer Jefferson Davis

Posted on by February 4, 2021

A repost in honor of Black History Month. 

William Tillman was one of the first black heroes of the American Civil War. He was not a soldier but rather a 27-year-old  cook-steward on the schooner S.J. Waring.  On July 7, 1861, the schooner was captured by the Confederate privateer Jefferson Davis while about 150 miles from Sandy Hook, New York.  Captain Smith, the master of the S.J. Waring was taken aboard the Jefferson Davis, and a five-man prize crew was put aboard the schooner, with orders to sail her to a Southern port where the ship and her cargo would be sold.

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Black History Month Repost — Harriet Tubman & the Great Combahee Ferry Raid

Posted on by February 3, 2021

With the arrival of the newly elected administration, Harriet Tubman, abolitionist and underground railroad “conductor” is back in the news and may, before too very long, grace our currency.

In 2016, the Treasury decided to put the image of Harriet Tubman on the US $20 bill, replacing Andrew Jackson. The Trump administration arrived before the change was made, however, and decided that they preferred to keep the image of a slave owner on the currency.  Now, President Biden, in one of his first acts in office, has announced efforts to speed the process of adding the portrait of Tubman to the front of a redesigned $20 bill.

In honor both of Harriet Tubman and Black History Month, here is an updated repost about the Great Combahee Ferry Raid.

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Free Online Sail Training Course Presented by the Flagship Niagara League

Posted on by February 2, 2021

This is a bit last minute, but I see a post on Facebook about a free online sail training course presented by the Flagship Niagara League.

Free Online Sail Training Course! Learn about how Niagara is rigged and sailed!

Join Captain Cusson of the U.S. Brig Niagara for a six-week online sail training course. Starts Wednesday, February 3rd, at 6pm EST.

Visit learnfnl.com to register!

The free online training course is designed to provide those with little or no experience in traditional sail an introduction to the terminology and concepts of a square-rigged sailing ship.

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Sometimes the Magic Doesn’t Happen — American Magic Eliminated From America’s Cup

Posted on by February 1, 2021

Sometimes the magic just doesn’t happen. The New York Yacht Club’s American Magic team, the U.S. Challenger was eliminated from competing in the 36th races for the America’s Cup.  The elimination follows four straight losses against the Challenger of Record, Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli of Italy.  The Luna Rossa team will now advance to the Finals of the Prada Cup where they will compete with Ineos Team UK for the right to challenge the Defender, Emirates Team New Zealand, for the Cup in races starting on March 6.

The American Magic team really never recovered from the disastrous crash and capsize that seriously damaged the boat Patriot‘s hull and destroyed much of its electronics and control systems, two weeks ago. Continue reading →

“The Dig” & Recreating the Sutton Hoo Burial Ship

Posted on by January 31, 2021

Artist’s Conception of the Recreated Sutton Hoo ship

I recently watched “The Dig,” a new movie on Netflix, starring Carey Mulligan and Ralph Fiennes about the excavation of the Sutton Hoo ship-burial in Suffolk, England.  Now the Sutton Hoo Ship’s Company is undertaking to recreate the great king’s ship in a specially built shed in Woodbridge, just across the River Deben from Sutton Hoo.

In 1939, the widowed landowner, Edith Pretty, hired a local excavator and archeologist, Basil Brown, to excavate several mysterious mounds on her estate. Within a few months, Brown uncovered a huge ship-burial dating from the early AD 600s, which is generally believed to be the grave of King Rædwald.

At almost 90′ long with as many as 40 oarsmen, the ship was the largest vessel of the period ever discovered and predated the arrival of the Vikings by almost two centuries. Continue reading →

Surfing Ducks From Around the World

Posted on by January 30, 2021

Here is a heartwarming video for a cold Saturday (at least cold here on the West bank of the Hudson River.)  A body surfing pet duck on Australia’s Gold Coast has become a local celebrity for riding the waves.

Kate Miller and her son take their pet duck, affectionately, if unimaginatively called “Duck”, to the beach every day to swim. The duck picked up body surfing apparently on its own. In an interview with the BBC, Kate Miller commented, “I would be confident in saying that he is the only duck like it in the world.”

Ms. Miller, however, appears to be wrong. Continue reading →

Shark and Ray Populations Crashed by 71% Over Past 50 Years, Nearing Point of No Return

Posted on by January 29, 2021

A recent study, published in the journal Nature, reveals that oceanic shark and ray populations have declined by 71%, primarily due to overfishing.

The New York Times quotes Nathan Pacoureau, a marine biologist at Simon Fraser University in Canada and the study’s lead author, saying, “There is a very small window to save these iconic creatures.”  Out of a total of 31 species of oceanic sharks and rays, 24 are now threatened with extinction, and many are classified as critically endangered. The loss of sharks and rays jeopardizes marine ecosystems and the food security of people in many nations.

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Vendee Globe: Incredibly Close Finish to a Non-Record-Breaking Race

Posted on by January 28, 2021

The Vendee Globe 2020-2021 has been a remarkable race by many standards. It was incredibly close, more competitors are likely to complete the race than in previous years, and the race times didn’t set any new records. For most of the competitors, the race is still underway. At this moment, seven racers have crossed the finish line at Les Sables-d’Olonne, France, while a remaining eighteen are still sailing.  
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On Holocaust Remembrance Day — MS St. Louis and the “Voyage of the Damned”

Posted on by January 27, 2021

On Holocaust Remembrance Day, here is an updated repost from several years ago, remembering the ill-fated voyage of the German passenger liner St. Louis in 1939. The ship carried 908 Jewish refugees fleeing from Nazi Germany.

The ship and its passengers were denied entry to Cuba, the United States, and Canada. Finally, the ship turned around and returned to Europe. Despite the US government’s refusal to accept the refugees, private Jewish aid groups in the United States did manage to place most of the refugees in Belgium, France, and Holland, to avoid returning them to Nazi Germany. Tragically, many were later captured when the Nazis invaded. Two-hundred-and-fifty-four of the refugees are believed to have died in the German death camps.

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Singapore Among First to Prioritize Covid-19 Vaccination of Seafarers

Posted on by January 26, 2021

Image: Singapore Maritime Officers’ Union

Singapore has become one of the first states to prioritize seafarers to receive the Covid-19 vaccine. Nautilus International reports that more than 10,000 maritime workers are scheduled for vaccination by the end of January 2021 under the country’s Sea – Air Vaccination Exercise, including port workers, harbor pilots, cargo officers, marine surveyors, and marine superintendents who are required to work onboard ships.

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Manager of Converted Ex-Cunarder Queen Mary Files for Bankruptcy

Posted on by January 25, 2021

The operator of the ex-Cunard Queen Mary has filed for bankruptcy raising concerns about the future of the converted luxury liner that has served as a tourist attraction and hotel in Long Beach, CA since 1972. The converted ship is owned by the City of Long Beach and has been managed by Eagle Hospitality, ex-Urban Commons, since 2016.

The Long Beach Post notes that this isn’t the first time a Queen Mary operator has filed for bankruptcy. A series of companies have failed to make the century-old ocean liner and its surrounding area profitable since it arrived in Long Beach in 1967.

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Shocker : Electric Eels Hunting in Packs

Posted on by January 24, 2021

Image: L. Sousa

It almost sounds like a bad horror movie. Scientists have recently discovered a new species of electric eel, Volta’s electric eel (Electrophorus voltai). Found in the rivers of South America, it not only is capable of producing 860-V electric shocks — the strongest electric discharge of any animal on Earth, but also hunts its prey in packs. While mammals including wolves and orcas are known to hunt in groups, the behavior is rare in fish, particularly in freshwater fish.

Until just last year, scientists thought that there was only one species of electric eel, which are not actually eels but a variety of knife fish. They also thought that electric eels were solitary predators, sneaking up on sleeping fish and stunning them with an electric shock before them before devouring them. In 2019, however, scientists discovered that there were at least three distinct species. The largest and most powerful of these was designated Volta’s electric eel.

Now, Volta’s electric eels have been observed conducting highly coordinated group hunts. Continue reading →

SC Connector — Norway´s Largest Sailing Vessel

Posted on by January 27, 2021

Sea-Cargo now has bragging rights to the claim that their 12,251 gross tonne ro-ro, SC Connector, is “Norway’s largest sailing vessel.” The ship was recently refit with two rotor sails by Norsepower and battery banks from Norwegian Electric Systems. The ro-ro now has taller masts and greater tonnage than the Norwegian sail training ship, Statsraad Lehmkuhl, which can still claim the title of the “largest three masted barque from Norway.”

Perhaps the most interesting thing about the SC Connector, is how it succeeds in navigating under bridges and powerlines with its new 35-meter tall rotor sail rig. Continue reading →

Maersk Essen Diverted to Mexico Due to California Container Port Congestion

Posted on by January 22, 2021

Yesterday, we posted about the Maersk Essen that recently lost 750 containers over the side in a  storm in the North Pacific. An unknown number of containers still aboard the ship are believed to have been damaged during the storm. The ship was originally scheduled to dock in Los Angeles but has now been diverted to Port of Lázaro Cárdenas, where it is expected to spend some time alongside taking off damaged boxes on deck. The ship will also be surveyed for storm damage. 

The ship was diverted due to extraordinary container port congestion in Southern California. The Port of Los Angeles, the busiest container port in the Western Hemisphere, is absolutely jammed with container ships. Recently, there were over 30 container ships at anchor in San Pedro Bay off Los Angeles and Long Beach waiting for berths. Container loading and discharge operations, designed for the fast turn-around of the ships in port, have slowed dramatically. 

The ports have been doubly hit by the pandemic. Continue reading →

Maersk Essen Loses 750 Boxes Overboard in North Pacific

Posted on by January 21, 2021

In what is developing into a record winter for containers lost over the side, the Maersk Essen lost 750 containers overboard during a storm on January 16.  An unknown number of boxes were damaged but still onboard. The loss occurred when the 13,100 TEU capacity ship on route from Xiamen, China to the port of Los Angeles, USA, reportedly during severe weather.

This is the third major loss of containers overboard in the Pacific in the past 90 days. At the end of October, the 14,052 TEU ONE Aquila, bound for Long Beach, lost 100 containers over the side in a storm. Then in late November, the sister ship ONE Apus lost a record of almost 1,900 containers in a North Pacific storm. 

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