Flying P Liner Pommern Reopening to the Public With New Exhibits at New Dock

Posted on by April 8, 2019

The Flying-P Liner Pommern will soon be open to the public again at a new dock with new exhibits in Mariehamn, on the Åland Islands of Finland. The 1903 built, steel, four-masted bark has been closed to the public since September 2016. Now, after extensive refurbishment and repair, she will be reopening in May 2019.

The Åland Maritime Museum Trust has made a major investment in a new visitor experience on board the windjammer. The exhibition ‘Pommern – 100 days under sail” intends to make the ship come alive with the crew’s own stories. It is designed to be an exciting experience based on real events on actual voyages, where the visitors get to explore the ship and to sense the presence of her elusive crew. Continue reading →

Search for the Lost Ships of Cortés Finds Ancient Anchor

Posted on by April 8, 2019

Cortés ordering his fleet to be destroyed may be one of the iconic moments in history. In 1519, Hernán Cortés led an expedition of 11 ships from Cuba to Mexico. On arriving in Mexico, the crews found themselves vastly outnumbered by the Aztecs and many were on the verge of mutiny, intending to sail back to Cuba. Cortes ordered the 10 remaining ships of his fleet destroyed. (One ship had already been sent back to Cuba with news of the landing.) There is disagreement as to whether the ships were burned, scuttled or run up on the beach. When reinforcements and supplies arrived a year later, Cortés had those 16 ships destroyed as well.

500 years later, where the ships were destroyed remains a mystery. Now, however, an international team of archaeologists is searching for the wreckage of the lost fleets. They may have found the first clue in an anchor with a well-preserved wooden stock. Wood samples from the stock were sent to two different laboratories, and their testing suggests the samples came from a tree felled between 1417 and 1530, the general time period of the conquest of Mexico. The wood of the stock may also be a type of red oak indigenous to northern Spain.

Continue reading →

Galveston’s Tall Ship Elissa — Sailing in Her 142nd Year

Posted on by April 7, 2019

A video by Mike Headley of the Galveston’s tall ship Elissa on her yearly sail. She is a three-masted barque built in Aberdeen, Scotland and launched in 1877. She is now a museum ship at the Texas Seaport Museum.

SAILING ON THE ELISSA

The Great Barrier Reef is Dying, Climate Change is the Culprit

Posted on by April 5, 2019

Photo: Gergely Torda/ARC Center of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies

The Great Barrier Reef, off Australia’s east coast, is 1,400 miles long, covers 133,000 square miles and can be seen from outer space.  It may be dying before our eyes.  “We thought the Barrier Reef was too big to fail,” says Professor Andrew Baird, chief investigator at the ARC Center of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies in Australia, “but it’s not.” 

Since 2016, half of all coral in the Great Barrier Reef has died. The reef was blanketed by dangerously hot water in the summer of 2016, strangling and starving the corals, causing what has been called “an unprecedented bleaching event.” Then 2017 proved to be almost as bad. The two years was the first back to back bleaching events ever recorded. There are serious concerns that there may be another bleaching event in 2019.

Continue reading →

Search for Lost Containers Reveals 16th Century Shipwreck

Posted on by April 4, 2019

Copper plate bearing Fugger family marks

In early January, we posted about the containership ship MSC Zoe which lost 350 containers over the side in a storm off the Frisian Islands of the Netherlands. Now, a Dutch salvage team, looking for lost containers from the Zoe, has discovered a shipwreck believed to date from around 1540 on the North Sea bottom.

The shipwreck is said to be the oldest sea-going ship ever found in Dutch waters. The ship was loaded with copper plates bearing the symbol of the Fugger family, a merchant banking family based in Augsburg in Germany, which for a time also held a monopoly over copper production.  The ship estimated to be 30m by 7m could have been carrying as much as 5,000 kg (five tonnes) of copper.

Continue reading →

Submarines Flying the Jolly Roger, the Tradition Behind the Pirate Flag

Posted on by April 3, 2019

Flag flown by HMS Safari in WW II

The National Museum of the Royal Navy at the Portsmouth Historic Dockyard has a new exhibition — Jolly Roger: A Symbol of Terror and Pride. The website describes the exhibition as telling the story of the skull and crossbones flag, commonly known as the Jolly Roger, which has been associated with pirates for centuries. They also comment that “the history of its use by the Royal Navy who started flying the flag from First World War submarines is lesser known.”

Why did Royal Navy submarines fly pirate flags? Continue reading →

River Cruiser Viking Idun Collides with Chemical Tanker Near Antwerp

Posted on by April 2, 2019

Just after Midnight, on April 1, the river cruiser Viking Idun collided with a laden chemical tanker, Chemical Marketer, in the Netherlands’ Western Scheldt. The river cruise ship was sailing from the port of Antwerp to Ghent while the tanker was bound for Antwerp. Both ships were damaged above the waterline. No pollution was reported resulting from the collision. 

No injuries were reported aboard the tanker but five people on Viking Idun suffered minor injuries, according to emergency services. Four were passengers, all cared for on board by medical staff. One crew member was transferred to a hospital for closer investigation. 117 passengers were aboard at the time of the collision.

Continue reading →

On Lake Michigan — the Glorious Ice Shards of Spring

Posted on by March 31, 2019

One of the more paradoxical signs of spring along parts of Lake Michigan are the wild and wonderfully weird  ice shards which pile up in fantastic geometric patterns along the shoreline. As the lake begins to thaw, water underneath the ice pushes broken sheets up to the surface, forming jagged otherworldly landscapes of jagged ice. Here is a video of photographs taken along the shore of South Haven, MI, by Joel Bissell for MLive.com. Thanks to Irwin Bryan for contributing to this post.

Gorgeous ice shards are piling up along Lake Michigan

Queen Mary Operators Plan to Remove B-427 ‘Scorpion’ Submarine

Posted on by March 31, 2019

Are you interested in acquiring a Foxtrot-class Soviet-era submarine? If so, the folks at Urban Commons, the operators of the hotel and tourist attraction Queen Mary in Long Beach may want to talk to you. They have a well-used submarine that they would seriously like to get rid of.

The submarine is a diesel-electric patrol submarine that was built in the Soviet Union in 1971. Designated B-427, it served in the Soviet Pacific fleet for 23 years. After decommissioning, she was loaned to Australian National Maritime Museum for display as a museum vessel between 1995 and 19998.

In 1998, the submarine was moved to Long Beach, California and was berthed next to the Queen Mary. The submarine was opened to the public as the “Podvodnaya Lodka B-427 Scorpion.” The submarine was a Long Beach tourist attraction for almost two decades. It was not well maintained, however. In 2012, the submarine partially flooded and in 2016, it was closed to visitors.  

Continue reading →

Brunt Ice Shelf — Countdown to Calving of Iceberg Twice the Size of NYC

Posted on by March 29, 2019

For several months now, scientists have been monitoring growing cracks in Antarctica’s Brunt Ice Shelf which have been spreading at an alarming rate. At almost any time, perhaps even in days, an iceberg over 560 square miles, or twice the size of New York City, is expected to calve from the ice shelf.

While the crack was first noted 35 years ago, it was slow moving and the ice shelf has been stable. Recently, however, the crack has started accelerating toward another fissure called the Halloween crack.

“We don’t have a clear picture of what drives the shelf’s periods of advance and retreat through calving,” Chris Shuman, a glaciologist with NASA and the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, said in a statement quoted by USA Today. “The likely future loss of the ice on the other side of the Halloween Crack suggests that more instability is possible.” 

Continue reading →

NYC Sues Digital Billboard Barge Cruising City Rivers

Posted on by March 28, 2019

If you happen to have been on the Hudson or East River waterfront in Manhattan recently, there is a good chance that you might have seen a 60′ illuminated digital billboard on a barge passing by close to shore. The billboard features advertising pitching everything from beer to movies to helicopter rides. The company which operates the barge, Ballyhoo Media, considers it to be “the future of digital billboard advertising.” Many New Yorkers consider it to be a nuisance and an eyesore. The City of New York considers the billboard barge to be illegal and has filed a lawsuit to shut it down.

Continue reading →

Viking Sky Engine Loss Blamed on Low Oil Pressure

Posted on by March 28, 2019

Last weekend, the cruise ship Viking Sky, with over 1,300 passengers and crew aboard, lost all four of its engines in high winds and rough seas off the Norwegian coast and came precariously close to drifting onto a rocky reef.  Now the Norwegian Maritime Authority has concluded the engines’ failure “was directly caused by low oil pressure”.  All four of the ship’s engines failed but the crew managed to restart one of them just in time.

Continue reading →

Hagland Captain — the Other Ship Rescued Off Norway

Posted on by March 26, 2019

When the Viking Sky lost power in a storm off the coast of Norway this weekend, the 5,000 DWT geared lumber carrier Hagland Captain responded to the distress call and diverted to assist the cruise ship. The lumber carrier, however, would soon also need to be rescued.

During the helicopter evacuation of the cruise ship’s passengers, two of the five rescue helicopters were briefly called away to rescue the nine crew of the Hagland Captain. The lumber carrier was roughly 5 NM miles away from the Viking Sky when it too lost power in the storm. The crew was rescued and the ship itself was later towed to safety. 

The Haglund Captain is an interesting ship in her own right. Continue reading →

Viking Ocean Cruises — From Awards to Near Disaster

Posted on by March 28, 2019

Viking Sky

In early March, a press release announced, “Viking Dominates Cruise Critic’s 2019 Cruisers’ Choice Awards.” Viking’s five 930 passenger ships won ten awards. The Viking Sky received First Place in six award categories within the small to mid-size ship group: Best Overall Ship, Best Cabins, Best Dining, Best for Public Rooms, Best Service and Best Value-for-Money. Viking Sky also beat ships of all sizes to win First Place as Best for First-Timers.

Unfortunately, Viking Ocean Cruises has had its problems.  Continue reading →

Update: Cruise Ship Viking Sky Underway After Extremely Close Call

Posted on by March 24, 2019

The ship was less than a half a ship-length off the rocks when it was able to anchor. 

The cruise ship Viking Sky is now underway bound for the port of Molde, Norway, accompanied by a tug and support vessels. Prior to getting underway, 479 passengers were evacuated by helicopters, leaving 436 passengers and 458 crew members onboard. There are 20 reported injuries. 

The ship lost power on Saturday and came perilously close to drifting onto the rocky shore in seas described as 8 meters (26 feet) high and winds of 38 knots. Norwegian Coast Guard officer Emil Heggelund told newspaper VG that the ship was 100 meters (328 feet) from striking an under the water reef and 900 meters (2,953 feet) from shore when was able to anchor in Hustadvika Bay. For context, as the ship is 228 m (748 ft), it was less than a half a ship-length off the rocks before it was able to anchor. 

Continue reading →

Cruise Ship Viking Sky Being Evacuated in Storm off Norwegian Coast

Posted on by March 23, 2019

According to Norwegian authorities, roughly 1,300 people are being evacuated from the cruise ship Viking Sky. The ship suffered engine problems and sent out a distress call and was drifting toward shore in high winds and rough seas off the western coast of Norway. 

The Norwegian newspaper VG is reporting that the ship was within 2.5 nautical miles from shore at around 4PM local time. Winds were reported to be around 38 knots with waves up to eight meters high. By 6:30 pm local time, the ship’s personnel were reported to have brought at least one of the ship’s four engines back on-line. By that time, around 100 passengers had been rescued according to Viking operations manager, Tor Andre Franck. 

Continue reading →

Horseshoe Crab Blood and Big Pharma Vampires

Posted on by March 22, 2019

Horseshoe crabs are an ancient variety of arthropods, which are not actually crabs. Having remained largely unchanged in about 450 million years, the horseshoe crab is considered by many to be a living fossil. One of the reasons that horseshoe crabs have survived so long is that they have a highly robust immune system. Indeed, the horseshoe crab’s bright blue blood has remarkable antibacterial properties. 

The good news for humans, and the bad news for horseshoe crabs, is that amebocytes in the horseshoe crab blood are highly sensitive to time amounts of bacteria and will coagulate around as little as one part in a trillion of bacterial contamination. Limulus Amebocyte Lysate, or LAL, a compound processed from horseshoe crab blood is used to test for contamination of anything that might go inside the human body: every shot, every IV drip, and every implanted medical device.

Continue reading →

US Navy Moving Toward Drone “Ghost Fleet”

Posted on by March 21, 2019

Last month we posted about the successful voyage of the Sea Hunter, a 132′ long autonomous drone trimaran from San Diego to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, and back.  Now USNI News is reporting that the Navy is moving quickly to field an unmanned “Ghost Fleet” — a new breed of armed unmanned surface combatants which will add more sensors and weapons to the current fleet.

“These are 200- to 300-foot [vessels], 2,000 tons. I’m not sure what the final hull form will be, that’s what we are using today in terms of what the Ghost Fleet buy will be,” Rear Adm. Randy Crites, deputy assistant secretary of the Navy for budget, said during a press budget briefing.

Continue reading →

Time to Burn Your Socks on the First Day of Spring?

Posted on by March 20, 2019

On Maryland’s Eastern Shore and in a handful of other ports around the country, there is a sailors’ tradition of burning your socks on the vernal equinox, the first day of Spring. If you have been wearing the same woolen stockings all winter, this may be a good time to commit them to the flames.

As ancient traditions go, this one is pretty new. According to Preservation Maryland, after a particularly snowy winter in 1978, Annapolitan Bob Tuner was anxious to shed his socks with the arrival of spring. He invited his colleagues to celebrate the end of winter by burning their socks after work, a symbolic goodbye to winter as the group of boat builders, sailors, and watermen intended to forgo wearing socks until the cold weather returned; and so a tradition was born.

Continue reading →