We recently posted about two “heritage desks” built for the Vice President of the United States and the Secretary of the Navy from timbers and fittings from the USS Constitution and several other historic ships. The CBC recently had an account of guitars made from shipwrecked timber:
When Greg Fleming was looking for some old wood to make a new guitar, he knew just where to look. What he didn’t know for a while was just how old that wood was.
We recently posted “No, 15 Large Ships Do Not Pollute More Than All the Cars in the World.” It was based on a claim made by Dr. James Corbett in 2009, that only addressed sulfur pollution. Enthusiastic journalists picked up on the catchy claim and said that 15 large ships create more total pollution than all the cars in the world. The problem with that assertion is that Corbett’s rough calculation did not, among other things, include the trillion-tonne gorilla in the room, the carbon footprint of cars vs ships. Cars actually produce far more greenhouse gases than ships.
Do you know what you are getting when you buy fish in a store or order it prepared in a restaurant? It isn’t always easy. An analysis of 44 recent studies of more than 9,000 seafood samples from restaurants, fishmongers, and supermarkets in more than 30 countries, performed by Guardian Seascape, found that 36% were mislabelled, exposing seafood fraud on a vast global scale.
The Guardian reports that many of the studies used relatively new DNA analysis techniques. In one comparison of sales of fish labeled “snapper” by fishmongers, supermarkets, and restaurants in Canada, the US, the UK, Singapore, Australia, and New Zealand, researchers found mislabelling in about 40% of fish tested. The UK and Canada had the highest rates of mislabelling in that study, at 55%, followed by the US at 38%.
In 2009, Dr. James Corbett, a professor of marine policy at the University of Delaware, came up with what he describes as a thought experiment. He compared the sulfur dioxide produced by the largest container ship burning the dirtiest bunker fuel with that of an automobile burning the cleanest fuel. He concluded that under this hypothetical case, 15 of the world’s largest container ships produced as much sulfur pollution as all the world’s 760 million cars. A memorable factoid, but of questionable veracity.
BBC’s program/podcast More or Less: Behind the Stats with Tim Harford, examines the shortcomings of this thought experiment. To listen to the podcast, click the banner below. Otherwise, read on.
The Indonesia Navy announced that it has located debris from the missing submarine KRI Nanggala 402, indicating that the submarine sank with the loss of 53 crew.
API reports that military chief Hadi Tjahjanto said the presence of an oil slick, as well as the discovery of debris near the location of KRI Nanggala 402′s last dive on Wednesday off the island of Bali, were clear proof the vessel had sunk. Indonesia earlier considered the vessel to be only missing.
The Indonesian submarine KRI Nanggala 402, with a crew of 53, disappeared on Wednesday during exercises off the coast of Bali, sparking a frantic search to locate the stricken vessel. Australia, India, Malaysia, Singapore, and the United States have sent specialized ships or aircraft in response to Indonesian requests for assistance.
If the submarine was still intact, officials said it would only have enough air to last until early Saturday morning.
I realize that I am in a rut. Every Earth Day, I say the same thing. Over 70% of the surface of this planet is covered by water, so referring to the planet as “earth” is just wrong. But be that as it may, the misnamed planet is still called “earth” and Earth Day is a worthwhile celebration of protecting the planet, both the dirt and the watery portions.
Below is a repost of a TED talk by one of the world’s great sailors, Dame Ellen MacArthur, about what she learned when she was sailing around the world alone. As she circled the globe, she began thinking about the idea of “the circular economy,” an intriguing insight. Definitely worth watching.
The surprising thing I learned sailing solo around the world | Dame Ellen MacArthur
Photo: Susan S. Bank
The schooner Ernestina-Morrissey, ex Ernestina, ex Effie M. Morrissey, will soon begin a new chapter in her long and storied career as a sail training vessel for the Massachusetts Maritime Academy.
The schooner was built in 1894 at the James and Tarr Shipyard for the Gloucester fishing fleet. Following a successful career as a fishing vessel, the schooner was skippered by Robert Bartlett for many years on numerous scientific expeditions to the Arctic, sponsored by American museums, the Explorers Club and the National Geographic Society. She also helped survey the Arctic for the United States Government during World War II. She would later carry cargo and immigrants from Cape Verde in the packet trade. Returned to the US in 1982 as a gift from the newly independent Cape Verdean people, she sailed as an educational vessel until 2005.
Vice Adm. Linda L. Fagan was nominated as the next Vice Commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard, the Department of Homeland Security announced on Monday.
The nomination by President Biden, pending approval by the U.S. Senate, would make Fagan the Coast Guard’s first female four-star admiral, the branch said in a press release.
Vice Adm. Fagan’s Coast Guard career has taken her to all seven continents. In 2010, she became the first woman to command Sector New York.
For several years now we have followed the progress of the autonomous sailing drones developed by the aptly name firm, Saildrone, in oceanographic service in the Pacific and Bering Seas. In January, we posted about Saildrone’s new 72’ long Surveyor, which is described as the world’s most advanced uncrewed surface vehicle (USV), equipped for high-resolution mapping of the ocean seafloor.
Now, Saildrone is broadening its mission and geography to study the Atlantic’s Gulf Stream. Funded in part by a grant of roughly $1 million from Google.org, the 12-month mission is expected to yield insights into the impact of the Gulf Stream on weather forecasting and global carbon models. Saildrone will be launching a half dozen of its 23-foot Explorer model drones to roam the North Atlantic.
Antarctica’s iceberg A68 has broken up into a myriad of small pieces so that the US National Ice Center says are no longer worth tracking. Once the world’s biggest iceberg in existence, A68 became an unexpected social media star in its own right. A brief look back at the journey of this remarkable berg.
The American Bureau of Shipping completed its survey and concluded that the ultra-large container ship Ever Given, which had blocked the Suez Canal for almost a week at the end of March, was fit for onward passage. Unfortunately, the ship will remain at anchor in the canal’s Great Bitter Lake, as the Suez Canal Authority (SCA) had the ship arrested the day before.
The ship is being held in the waterway as authorities pursue a $916 million compensation claim against its owner, according to the vessel’s insurer. The SCA claim includes $300m for salvage and $300m for “loss of reputation”, which appears set to be rejected by the vessel’s insurer.
The UK P&I Club, an insurer for the Ever Given, said in a statement Tuesday that the ship’s Japanese owners received a claim from the Suez Canal Authority (SCA), which runs the canal, on April 7. The insurer revealed it had already made a compensation offer to the SCA this week. The $300 million for salvage is in addition to the actual charges for services by the salvage contractors who freed the grounded ship.
In June 2020, an intense fire broke out in the bow of the French nuclear attack submarine Perle, while the ship was in drydock in Toulon in southern France. The submarine’s 48-megawatt nuclear reactor that had been removed when it entered the drydock in January 2020, was unharmed. While the bow was seriously damaged in the blaze, the stern section of the submarine was relatively unscathed by the fire. Now, the French Navy is endeavoring to repair the submarine by cutting off Perle‘s damaged bow and welding on the bow section of a decommissioned sister submarine to the undamaged stern.
One 109 years ago today, the RMS Titanic slipped below the icy waters of the North Atlantic after striking an iceberg. Close to 1,500 passengers and crew were lost, making the sinking the deadliest peacetime sinking of a passenger liner in history.
The Titanic had sailed from Southampton, UK five days earlier on April 10th. Coincidentally, 51 years later, on April 10, 1963, the nuclear attack submarine USS Thresher sank during deep-diving tests killing all 129 crew and shipyard personnel aboard. Also coincidentally, the Thresher sank relatively close to the wreck of the Titanic, although when the submarine sank, no one knew quite how close.
The lift boat SEACOR Power capsized in the Gulf of Mexico in high winds. The 129′ vessel, used in oil and gas exploration, capsized eight miles from Port Fourchon, Louisiana, on Tuesday afternoon. Eighteen were reported to be aboard the vessel when she capsized. So far six have been rescued and a dozen are missing.
“There was a microburst of weather that came through the area at the time of the incident,” Coast Guard Petty Officer 2nd Class Jonathan Lally said. “I don’t know whether that was the cause, but we can say is that inclement weather did hit the area at the time.” A search by air and sea was ongoing Wednesday, he said.