SAIL AMSTERDAM - 2015

29 September 2016: It is possible (I did not check) that we posted this last year, but as the event happens only once every five years, and it is beyond spectacular, we thought it might bear another (if indeed we have previously posted it) look. The following images from SAIL AMSTERDAM 2015 are amazing, some real "eye-candy" for those who love the sea and ships.

Every five years a parade of ships, 'SAIL Amsterdam' takes place. In August thousands of vessels, from small sailboats to large replicas of caravels, full rigged ships, and training vessels arrive at the IJ bay north of the city and then pass to the capital of the Netherlands: in 2015 IT involved 8,000 vessels and millions of spectators. I do not think this "show" occurs anywhere else on earth! Enjoy!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 

 
 

 

 Hope you enjoyed these great pictures of an amazing event. Well done, Amsterdam!

 

Until next time,

                             Fair Winds,

                                       Old Salt

WRECK DIVING

22 September 2016: Saw this quite interesting article written by Melissa Hobson this morning and thought it would interest many of our readers. I witnessed, a few years back, the sinking of a former US Navy ship off the beach in Grand Cayman and subsequently dove the wreck (It wasn't a wreck - it was in pristine shape, just "cleaned up" so as to prevent ecological damage). It is quite a sight to watch a ship do down, and at the event I mentioned above, there were huge throngs of spectators, both on the beach and on boats around the site. Here's a video of another ship being sunk (July 2016) to make a reef for recreational divers off the coast of Florida (click the name below):

Ana Cecila

Now, here's the article by Ms. Hobson (lightly edited) I mentioned earlier. I hope you will enjoy reading it and seeing some of the wonderful images included.


"Since I qualified as a diver nearly 10 years ago, I’ve been lucky enough to see more incredible marine life than I can name – from finding a turtle resting under some coral on my first ever night dive in the Great Barrier Reef to coming eyeball to eyeball with grisly-looking ragged tooth sharks in South Africa.

As well as the fascinating creatures you might spot on a dive, the non-living things can be a huge draw for divers too. Namely: shipwrecks – after some time underwater they gradually begin to deteriorate. The wreck becomes both a historical capsule frozen in time (with artefacts that went down with the ship – such as tools, maps in cabinets or medicine packets – still identifiable) and a diver’s underwater playground that changes over time and blends in with the marine habitat as it deteriorates and coral grows over it.

According to the United Nations, there are over three million wrecks at the bottom of the ocean. Thousands of these are popular scuba diving sites and many of those in shallower waters (such as the Liberty Shipwreck in Tulamben, Bali) can also be visited by snorkelers.

 

 

 

"There are many ways in which a ship might have come to its final resting place on the seabed. By their nature, many wrecks will have been victim to a misfortunate incident: an accident or collision, a storm, warfare, piracy or just human error. Only last month I visited the wreck of the MV Christina with Scuba Safaris in Nevis – a passenger ferry that tragically sank on the crossing from St Kitts and has been preserved as a memorial site. Chillingly, some human remains are still visible as not all the bodies could be recovered from the wreckage.

"Yet, not all shipwrecks sink as a result of an accident or misfortune – many are put there on purpose. A recent example is the Ana Cecilia: a 170-foot cargo ship was sunk in Palm Beaches on 13 July 2016. She was once used to smuggle drugs into America and was seized when an investigation discovered more than $10 million of cocaine on board.

"Just ten days after the scuttling of the Ana Cecelia (video above) to make for an ecotourism attraction, another new diving attraction was created in Greater Fort Lauderdale: on 23 July 2016, a 324-foot environmental tanker, Lady Luck, became the latest addition to be sunk at The Shipwreck Park in Florida. Image below.

The underwater ‘cultural arts park’ is already home to 16 other wrecks but Lady Luck will be a special attraction: as well as exploring the captain’s deck, engine room and 16 staterooms, divers will be able to see the work of renowned local artist Dennis MacDonald, including a faux casino, on the deck. Lady Luck is expected to boost tourism to the area by attracting 35,000 divers each year."

 

USS Oriskany (aircraft carrier)

Hope you enjoyed this. Until next time,

                         Fair Winds,

                                  Old Salt

OLD IRONSIDES SAVED

15 September 2016: 186 years ago, the United States Frigate Constitution had been destined for the scrapyard, her timbers likely to be used for a more modern, updated warship. A young medical student, Oliver Wendell Holmes, heard of the disgrace and, moved by his outrage, composed the following verse which was published in the newspaper and credited with saving this paragon of United States supremacy on the seas.

A bit about Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. first:

Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr.

Born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Holmes was educated at Phillips Academy and Harvard College. After graduating from Harvard in 1829, he briefly studied law before turning to the medical profession. He began writing poetry at an early age; one of his most famous works, "Old Ironsides", was published in 1830 and was influential in the eventual preservation of the USS Constitution. Following training at the prestigious medical schools of Paris, Holmes was granted his M.D. from Harvard Medical School in 1836. He taught at Dartmouth Medical School before returning to teach at Harvard and, for a time, served as dean there. During his long professorship, he became an advocate for various medical reforms and notably posited the controversial idea that doctors were capable of carrying puerperal fever from patient to patient. Holmes retired from Harvard in 1882 and continued writing poetry, novels and essays until his death in 1894.

The ship: USS CONSTITUTION (OLD IRONSIDES)

Constitution 1812

Constitution 2012



The Poem:

"Ay, tear her tattered ensign down!
Long has it waved on high,
and many an eye has danced to see
that banner in the sky;
Beneath it rung the battle shout
and burst the cannon's roar -
the meteor of the ocean air
shall sweep the clouds no more!

Her deck, once red with hero's blood
where knelt the vanquished foe
when winds were hurrying o'er the flood
and waves were white below
No more shall feel the victor's tread
or know the conquered knee
the harpies of the shore shall pluck
the Eagle of the sea!

Oh, better that her shattered bulk
should sink beneath the wave;
her thunder shook the mighty deep
and there should be her grave:
nail to the mast her holy flag,
set every thread-bare sail,
and give her to the God of storms,
the lightning and the gale!                      
                                       September 16th, 1830

Well, it worked! Here she is just last year entering dry dock in Charlestown Navy Yard for her periodic overhaul.

Until next time,
                             Fair winds,
                                   Old Salt

AND YET ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST

6 September 2016: There have been several posts on Maritime Maunder regarding the inefficacy, poor design, and complex structure of the new LCS (Littoral Combat Ships) which were touted to be the  forerunner of the "new Navy." With changeable "modules" for different combat roles (they never worked), small crew, and diesel / turbine power, the ships were touted as the "cutting edge" of technology and foresight. Not so much! We received some "push-back" about our stance on these vessels from folks who must have been more hopeful than knowledgeable. 
 

Littoral Combat Ships actually underway

There have been a continual string of breakdowns of these fragile vessels, some as early in their careers as occurring on their shakedown cruise. And now, the fourth of them has failed, to the extent it had to be towed across the Pacific to Hawaii for repair/rebuild/replacement of machinery.

The littoral combat ship USS Coronado is returning to Pearl Harbor from the Western Pacific after experiencing an engineering casualty last week, officials with the Navy's Third Fleet confirmed.

The incident comes just days after the Navy acknowledged that another littoral combat ship, the USS Freedom, had sustained significant damage to one of its diesel engines.

The Coronado departed Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam on Aug. 26 for an independent deployment to the Western Pacific, Third Fleet spokesman Cmdr. Ryan Perry told Military.com in a statement.

"USS Coronado (LCS 4) experienced an engineering casualty today while transiting to the Western Pacific," Perry said in the statement. "The crew took precautionary measures and the ship is currently returning to Pearl Harbor to determine the extent of the problem and conduct repairs."

The Coronado is the fourth littoral combat ship to be sidelined by an engineering casualty in less than a year, following breakdowns by the USS Freedom in July and the USS Milwaukee and USS Fort Worth in December and January, respectively.

However, the ship is the first of the Independence-class littoral combat ships, made by Austal USA, to suffer such an issue. The other ships are all part of the Freedom Class, made by Lockheed Martin Corp. The news of the Coronado's breakdown was first reported by Navy Times.

Third Fleet officials did not elaborate on the nature of the Coronado's engineering casualty, but said it appears to be unrelated to recent propulsion problems involving the Fort Worth and Freedom.

The Milwaukee required repairs after a clutch failed to disengage while the ship switched from gas turbine to diesel engine systems, resulting in damage to the clutch gears and forcing the crew to cut short a transit from San Diego to Halifax, Nova Scotia, and receive a tow to Virginia for repairs.

And so it goes...

Until next time,
                                Fair Winds,
                                      Old Salt