ANOTHER YEAR IN THE BOOK!

31 December 2014: Wow! Where does it go? Seems like only last week the weather was warm and sunny (those of you who know where I am, be still!) and my boat was carrying me around the waters of New Jersey. It's the last day of the year and perhaps time for a little review (Yes, like every TV station, magazine, and newspaper does!) of the year just ending.

First and foremost, the introduction of Maritime Maunder, my outlet for sharing sometime interesting historical perspectives, rants, and other wondrous postings of limited consumablity! Those of you who have followed it, I thank you for your interest and hope you have found some pleasure/entertainment in what we posted. It has been fun and I hope to be able to continue in the new year.

Some of the things we wrote about included: Charles W. Morgan's brilliant and amazing "38th voyage" following a major multi-year refit. 

Charles W. Morgan

In that same vein, we told you about Plimouth Plantation selecting Mystic Seaport's Dupont Shipyard to handle the survey and refit of the 1957 Mayflower II which began with that vessel's arrival at Mystic in mid-December.

Mayflower II in Mystic

We also offered a bit of gloating about the Naval Academy Midshipmen's 13th consecutive win over the Cadets of West Point at Raven's Stadium in Baltimore this year -- and a history of how the goat became Navy's mascot.

"Billy"

Of more significance, and perhaps more in keeping with the original intent of the blog, was the posts on the War of 1812 Battle of Baltimore, the Star Spangled Banner, and Fort McHenry. In that same connection, we told of the wonderful discovery of the remains of HMS Erebus in the frigid waters of Canada, lost in the ice by the Franklin Expedition.

sonar scan of Erebus

Her bell in the wreck

 
I admit to ranting a bit about the America's Cup, the change of venue to a foreign country as a purely financial decision on the part of Larry Ellison and how we have gotten from this:

              to this:









On a lighter note, we posted about the marvelous and whimsical "Rubber Ducky" world-wide tour

and how booze became a no-no in the Navies of England, America, and most recently, Canada.

So, on that note, I will close out this year with a "wee taste" and a wish for happiness, peace, good health for all of you and,

                                Fair Winds,

                                       Old Salt