The Mystery of The Battle of the Falklands, 12/8/1914

Posted on by December 23, 2019

HMS Invincible

Last week, marine archeologists announced finding the wreckage of the German battlecruiser SMS Scharnhorst, off the Falkland Islands. The Scharnhorst, along with most of the German East Asia Squadron, was sunk by the Royal Navy 105 years ago on this day, December 8, 1914, in the Battle of the Falklands.  How and why the Battle of the Falklands came to be fought remains something of a mystery.

Toward the end of 1914, the Imperial German Navy’s East Asia Squadron, under the command of Vice-Admiral Maximilian Graf von Spee, was fighting its way home. On November 1, the German squadron has easily defeated two obsolete British cruisers killing 1,600 British seamen, off the coast of central Chile near the city of Coronel. Spee then refueled his ships and rounded Cape Horn. Before setting a course for Europe, however, Spee decided to attack the British supply base at Stanley in the Falkland Islands.  He believed the base was undefended. He was wrong. It would prove to be a fatal mistake. 

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Radio Broadcasts Reporting Attack on Pearl Harbor 78 Years Ago Today

Posted on by December 7, 2019

An interrupted broadcast of a football game, a newsbreak during a performance by the New York Philharmonic, a weather report followed by an announcement from President Roosevelt that Japan had bombed Pearl Harbor. Reports of attacks on the Philippines. Here is a compilation of news reports from Sunday, December 7th, 1941, seventy-eight years ago today.   

Pearl Harbor Attacks – As It Happened – Radio Broadcasts

Wreck of German WWI Cruiser Scharnhorst Discovered Off Falklands

Posted on by December 6, 2019

The wreck of the World War One German armored cruiser, SMS Scharnhorst, has been located off the Falkland Islands. Scharnhorst, the flagship of German Vice-Admiral Maximilian Graf von Spee’s East Asia Squadron, was sunk by the Royal Navy 105 years ago in the Battle of the Falklands.

Mensun Bound, the leader of the search for the wreckage, told the BBC that the moment of discovery was “extraordinary”.

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USS Ling — New Hope for WWII Sub Stuck in the Mud in the Hackensack River

Posted on by December 5, 2019

Photo: Chang W. Lee/The New York Times

Maritime enthusiasts are attempting to raise money to save the USS Ling, a War War II vintage Balao-class submarine, from a likely date with the scrap yard. They hope to move the submarine from where it is currently stuck in the mud in the Hackensack River to the Ohio River as part of a World War II-focused Louisville Naval Museum.

For several years, things have not been going well for USS Ling. The submarine has been tied up along the Hackensack River since 1972. For over three decades it was operated as a museum ship and was the centerpiece of the New Jersey Naval Museum. The museum operated from a riverfront site which they leased from the newspaper, The Record, later part of the North Jersey Media Group, for a nominal $1 per year. That ended in January 2007, when the owner of the site, informed the museum that the site was going to be sold for redevelopment within the year and that the museum and submarine would need to be relocated. 

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Des Pawson at his Museum of Knots and Sailors’ Ropework in Ipswich

Posted on by December 4, 2019

Here is a wonderful short video by Classic Sailor of Des Pawson at his Museum of Knots and Sailors’ Ropework in Ipswich. Now in his seventies, Des is cataloging the contents of the museum for safekeeping curation at Chatham Historic Dockyard. 

THE MUSEUM OF KNOTS AND SAILORS’ ROPEWORK

Spain Busts First Known Trans-Atlantic Narco Sub

Posted on by December 3, 2019

Narco sub seized in Spain

Last week, Spanish authorities seized a narco sub loaded with 3 tonnes of cocaine, valued at $110 million, off the northwestern coast of Galicia. Narco subs have been caught operating in the Pacific and in the Gulf of Mexico. The vessel is believed to be the first narco sub apprehended after crossing the Atlantic Ocean from South America to Europe.

It is unclear which country the vessel departed from but media reports said police suspected it to have set off from Colombia. An international operation involving police from Spain, Portugal, the U.S., the U.K. and Brazil tracked the vessel across the Atlantic.

The crew scuttled the submarine and attempted to escape as the authorities were closing in. Three crew members, all Ecuadorian nationals, were subsequently arrested while two other persons were arrested onshore in the Spanish town of Vigo. The vessel was refloated and towed to port where officials found a cargo aboard of 6,613 pounds of cocaine divided into 152 bales.  

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Other Uses for a Narwhal Tusk

Posted on by December 2, 2019

When a terrorist began attacking people with knives on London Bridge recently, a man, described in news reports as a Polish chef, at nearby Fishmongers’ Hall, where the incident began, grabbed a narwhal tusk that was displayed by the side of the hall’s doorway and, wielding it like a lance, deployed it against the assailant outside. It was one of the more unusual uses of a narwhal tusk in recent memory. 

The Washington Post quotes British historian and journalist Guy Walters on the use of the tusk. “There’s something very British about fighting a terrorist with something as surreal as a narwhal tusk,” he said. “We don’t carry weapons in this country. But we do have narwhal tusks around.” 

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Newman’s Own Foundation Gives $225,000 Grant to Discovering Amistad

Posted on by December 1, 2019

Newman’s Own Foundation has awarded a $225,000 sustainability grant to the non-profit Discovering Amistad, the group which operates the replica schooner Amistad.  

Discovering Amistad operates the replica of the historic schooner Amistad,  a 129-foot 19th century Baltimore clipper which was the site of a July 1839 slave revolt by Mende captives, who had been enslaved in Sierra Leone, and were being transported from Havana, Cuba, to their purchasers’ plantations. The schooner sailed to Long Island and the Africans were jailed in New Haven, CT.  A series of court cases over whether the Africans should be freed or sent back to Cuban slaveholders ended in a Supreme Court case in 1841 in which the survivors were ultimately freed.

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Admiral James Holloway III Dies at 97

Posted on by November 29, 2019

Admiral James Holloway III has died at the age of 97. He had dementia, said his daughter Jane Holloway, and “finally got to landing on that great big carrier in the sky.”

Seventy-five years ago, on October 25, 1944, Holloway served as a gunnery officer on the destroyer Bennion. During the Battle of Surigao Strait, his ship scored a direct torpedo hit at point-blank range to help sink the battleship Yamashiro, sank the Japanese destroyer Asagumo with gunfire, and shot down three Zeros.

Over James Holloway’s 36-year Navy career, he would also fly fighter jets in Korea and command the first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier. Promoted to Rear Admiral in 1970, he would command the U.S. Seventh Fleet, directing more than 150 ships in bombing operations against North Vietnam.

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Thanksgiving, Whaling Ships, Sarah Josepha Hale, Mary’s Lamb & a Liberty Ship

Posted on by November 28, 2019

Happy Thanksgiving for those on this side of the pond and below the 49th parallel.  (The Canadians celebrated the holiday in October.) Here is a repost of a story I think is well worth retelling. 

Thanksgiving is one of the central creation myths of the founding of the United States. The story is based on an account of a one time feast of thanksgiving in the Plymouth colony of Massachusetts in 1621 during a period of atypically good relations with local tribes. Thanksgiving only became a national holiday in 1863.  Before the celebration spread across the country, Thanksgiving was most popular in New England. On 19th-century American whale ships, which sailed from New England ports, they celebrated only the Fourth of July, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. Of the three holidays, Thanksgiving may have been the most popular. On Norfolk Island in the Pacific, they also celebrate Thanksgiving, the holiday brought to the island by visiting American whaling ships.

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Fastnet Race Finish Line Moved to France

Posted on by November 27, 2019

The Royal Ocean Racing Club (RORC), organizers of the Rolex Fastnet Race, announced that the City of Cherbourg will host the finish of the Rolex Fastnet Race for the 2021 and 2023 editions of the biennial race.  The race, first sailed in 1925, had previously departed from Cowes on the Isle of Wight and returned to Plymouth in the UK after rounding Fastnet Rock, off the southern coast of Ireland.

The RORC justified the change by saying that it will open the race to more competitors. The 2019 Rolex Fastnet Race had 388 yachts on the start line from 27 different nations, with a waiting list of 150 yachts. 

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Livestock Carrier Queen Hind Capsizes with 14,600 Sheep Aboard

Posted on by November 26, 2019

The livestock carrier, Queen Hind, carrying 14,600 sheep, capsized on Sunday after leaving the Black Sea port of Midia, near the south-eastern Romanian city of Constanta. The crew escaped safely. It is unclear how many of the sheep aboard were killed. As of Sunday, 32 sheep were reported to be rescued, with thousands believed still trapped inside the hull.

The ship, which left Midia at about 12:00 local time (10:00 GMT), was heading to the Saudi port of Jeddah with its cargo.

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What It Takes For SecNav to Get Fired — Broken Ships OK; Opposing War Crimes Not So Much

Posted on by November 25, 2019

The Secretary of the Navy, Richard V. Spencer, has been fired. What is revelatory is what he was fired for. 

As we posted last month, in January, Spencer made a promise to President Trump that the advanced weapons elevators on the new carrier USS Gerald R. Ford would be operational by the end of the summer or the president should fire him. The elevators are not operational and without them, as one critic has noted the most expensive warship in history is little more than a “$13-billion nuclear-powered floating berthing barge.”  Nevertheless, that was not what Secretary Spencer was fired for.

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Inventor of MarinaTex, Biodegradable Plastic from Fish Waste, Wins Dyson Award

Posted on by November 24, 2019

Lucy Hughes, a 24-year-old recent engineering graduate of the University of Sussex has won this year’s James Dyson Award for developing a biodegradable plastic from fish waste — the fish scales, skins, and guts discarded from fish processing plants. The material, MarinaTex, won Hughes the £30,000 (nearly $39,000) award, given to a recent design or engineering graduate who develops a product that solves a problem with ingenuity. Hughes beat out 1,078 entrants from 28 different countries.

Smithsonian reports that MarinaTex is strong, flexible and translucent, with a feel similar to plastic sheeting. It biodegrades on its own in four to six weeks, which gives it a major sustainability advantage over traditional bioplastics, most of which require industrial composters to break down. In addition to utilizing materials that would otherwise be thrown away, the production process itself uses little energy, since it doesn’t require hot temperatures. One single Atlantic codfish produces enough waste for 1,400 MarinaTex bags.

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The Loss of the Christmas Tree Ship, November 23, 1912

Posted on by November 23, 2019

One hundred and seven years ago today, the three-masted schooner Rouse Simmons, under the command of Captain Herman Schuenemann, sank with the loss of all hands in a winter storm in Lake Michigan. The schooner, known as the “Christmas Tree Ship,” carried a cargo close to 5,000 Christmas trees to be sold in Chicago.

Selling Christmas trees had been part of the Schuenemann businesses for several decades. Captain Schuenemann sold his trees directly from the dock by Chicago’s Clark Street Bridge using the slogan, “Christmas Tree Ship: My Prices are the Lowest.”  Schuenemann strung electric Christmas lights from the ship’s masts and had a tree atop the mainmast. Herman, his wife Barbara and their three daughters also made and sold wreaths, garlands, and other holiday decorations from the ship.  The trees were sold for between 50 cents and $1, but Captain Schuenemann, who came to be known as “Captain Santa”, also gave away some of the trees to needy families.

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Clipper Ship Cutty Sark Launched 150 Years Ago Today

Posted on by November 22, 2019

On Monday, November 22, 1869, the composite clipper ship Cutty Sark, built for the Jock Willis Shipping, Line was launched from the Scott & Linton shipyard on the River Leven in Scotland. The Cutty Sark, one of the last tea clippers to be built, and one of the fastest and, perhaps most remarkably, is one of only two clipper ships to survive today. Now fully restored in a drydock in Greenwich, UK, the historic tea clipper is the centerpiece of a year-long celebration of its 150th anniversary.

Because there are, to my knowledge, no photographs of the Cutty Sark’s launch, here is a news-reel video of her “last voyage” — on her way to Greenwich to be restored in 1953.  

CUTTY SARK’S LAST VOYAGE

For other Cutty Sark posts, click here.

New Staten Island Ferry, SSG Michael H. Ollis, Launched at Eastern Shipbuilding

Posted on by July 5, 2020

Eastern Shipbuilding Group, Inc., Panama City, FL launched the SSG Michael H. Ollis, the first of three new 4,500-passenger ferries for New York City’s Staten Island Ferry system. The Ollis Class ferries will be double-ended, with an overall length of 320 feet, beam of 70 feet, and draft of 13 feet at the design load at the waterline.

Designed by Elliott Bay Design Group, Seattle, WA, the three ferries will carry only passengers on the 5.2 mile route between the St. George Terminal on the north shore of Staten Island and Whitehall Terminal in lower Manhattan. Each of the ferries will be fitted with four diesel engines that will drive two Voith Schneider Propellers. 

With over 25 million riders per year, the Staten Island ferry service is the single busiest ferry route in the United States. The new Ollis Class ferries will replace the MV Andrew J. Barberi , the MV Samuel I. Newhouse and the 54-year-old John F. Kennedy.

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Update: Buyer Reported for Former Soviet Sub Docked Next to Queen Mary

Posted on by November 20, 2019

Last March, we posted about a Foxtrot-class Soviet-era submarine for sale in Long Beach, CA. Known as the Scorpion, the diesel-electric patrol submarine built in the Soviet Union in 1971, has been a museum ship berthed next to the hotel-ship Queen Mary for the past two decades.

Now, the LA Times is reporting that a buyer for the old sub has been found. The buyer, who remains anonymous,  is expected to remove the vessel by May. To do so will apparently require the removal of part of the stone breakwater which currently surrounds both ships. 

The submarine is owned by Palm Springs-based NewCo Pty Ltd., which is leasing it to Los Angeles real estate and development company Urban Commons, the operator of the Queen Mary as a hotel and tourist attraction.

NOAA Phasing Out Paper Chart Production

Posted on by November 19, 2019

When I bought my new-to-me old boat, I bought several booklets of paper charts covering the waters from the Chesapeake to Maine. Over the last few years, I have never used them. Never, not once. Instead, I have chart plotters on a laptop, two tablets, and my phone. My paper charts have stayed buried at the bottom of the cabinet beneath the chart table. Nevertheless, I still had mixed feelings when I read that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA ) is phasing out the production of traditional paper nautical charts.

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