VETERANS DAY 2014

 11 November, 2014: To all my brothers in arms, past and present, I thank you for your service, your sacrifice, and your patriotism. If you are not a veteran, find one and thank him or her. 

This video is one of the best I have seen honoring the sacrifice and service of American Veterans.   

https://www.youtube.com/embed/rKsW6c_CgFY?feature=player_detailpage

One thing many people do not know is why Veterans Day is 11 November. It used to be called Armistice Day and was set by President Woodrow Wilson as 11th November to honor Veterans of WWI because the cease fire agreement that ended the War was executed at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918.

It was in 1921 that the Tomb of the Unknown was dedicated. An unknown soldier from WWI was brought back from a cemetery in France and buried with full military honors at the Tomb in Arlington National Cemetery. What few are aware of is that he was laid to his final rest with 2" of French soil beneath his casket, allowing him to rest for eternity on the ground where he died.

Watch the video and be proud you are American.

                                Fair winds,
                                          Old Salt

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MARINES

10 November 2014: On this date on 1775 the Continental Congress passed a resolution calling for "two battalions of Marines." It was drafted by John Adams and adopted in Philadelphia PA and created the "Continental Marines" who would serve henceforth on land and at sea.

Tun Tavern, where the Marines were created

 The first landing performed by the new Marine Corps occurred on the island of New Providence, held by the British in 1776. Captain Samuel Nicholas, the first commissioned officer in the Marines would become the first commandant of Marines. The landing's mission was to take control of the British magazine on Nassau and return as much of the munition to the needy Colonial Army. Following the successful conclusion of the War for Independence, the Marines were disbanded when the Navy was demobilized.

However, with the burgeoning conflict with Revolutionary France in 1798, The U.S. Congress reestablished the Navy and two months later, President John Adams signed the bill naming the U.S. Marine Corps as a permanent military force, under the jurisdiction of the navy - something that rankles the Marines to this day!

This premier fighting force saw action in the Barbary Wars and every one since. In fact, the official sword carried by Marine Officers is the Mameluke sword fashioned after the North African sword presented to Lt. Presley O'Banion who trekked across miles of desert to help liberate Tripoli with a ragtag hoard of North African fighters. The Marine Corps Hymn celebrates "...the shores of Tripoli" along with the "Halls of Montezuma," a reference to the Mexican War where the Marines 

 distinguished themselves yet again.                                  

The Marines are generally the first ashore in a hostile country and have executed over 300 contested landings. The WWII Pacific theater was almost entirely dominated the Corps - the names of their conquests legendary: Iwo Jima, Guadalcanal, Tarawa, Okinawa to name only a few. Their presence in Viet Nam was keenly felt by all and of course, the Marines have seen countless months of combat in both Iraq and Afghanistan.

There are currently over 200,000 active duty and reserve Marines - truly a "few good men (and women)" stationed all over the world. Bases exist at Camp LeJeune, NC, Camp Pendleton, CA, and Okinawa. Each can launch an expeditionary unit anywhere in the world on two weeks notice. These units are self-sufficient with tanks, aircraft, and artillery.

Happy birthday, Marines!

             "Semper Fidelis!"  Motto of the U.S. Marine Corps

                                                  Fair Winds,
                                                         Old Salt

SPIRITS UP!

7 November 2014: As promised, here is the follow on to yesterday's post on liquor in the sea services. We covered the Royal Navy yesterday with a note that today we'll see what the United States Navy was doing - "grog-wise" - and how it ended.

But first, how did it begin? 
When the Navy was created by the Naval Act of 1794, the government established that sailors were to receive "one-half pint of distilled spirits per day." That meant rum, following in the footsteps of British tradition. All went well until 1806 when, realizing the high cost of rum, the Navy began to encourage the sailors to accept American made whiskey in place of the preferred rum. Also, at the same time, an allowance of 3 - 6 cents a day (imagine that!) was ordered paid to those who were either under age or who simply chose to pass on the the daily ration. Further, the ration was reduced to one gill, 4 ounces, in 1842 and, in the Union Navy at least, was totally eliminated in 1862 for the duration of the Civil War. The Confederate Navy continued to provide their sailors with a daily ration of rum. (Their rationale was the drink would help encourage sailors from other nations to join the Confederate side!)

After the War, the ration was reinstated but sailors were encouraged to keep their own stock of beer and UNdistilled spirits at the discretion of  their commanding officer, but in 1899, the Navy department banned the sale of ANY liquor to enlisted men on any ship, station, or within the limits of a navy yard. This included the Marine barracks as well. At that time, the only personnel allowed strong drink were the officers.

1914, a dark day in naval history: Secretary of the Navy, Josephus Daniels, issued General Order #99 which would ban liquor of ANY type in the Navy, effective 1 July 1914.
                                                  

Josephus Daniels, Secretary of the Navy
 

At the appointed time, much of the fleet was in Veracruz, Mexico, part of the occupation force. Commanding officers rushed to comply with the order by selling the ships' store of alcohol as they could, but were unable to get rid of it all. The decision was made to have one last fling - a banquet, of sorts - and drink or pour into the sea the remaining stocks. Some took on the feeling of a funeral, as sailors and officers watched their precious stock of ardent spirits being poured overboard. But others, with the joyful participation of the crews of visiting ships from British, Dutch, German, French, and Spanish navies who traveled between ships in small boats, managed to consume most of it. It would be the last friendly meeting between those navies for some time, as WWI was bubbling and would erupt by the end of the month!

While occassionally ships DO allow some alcohol (sometimes disguised as "medical"), for the most part the Navy remains dry. But we do get a few English words from those halcyon days of ardent spirits on ships:  

 Groggy: being sleepy or dazed often feels akin to having had too much grog

Three Sheets to the Wind: Sheets, of course, were used to control the sails on ships and if the sheet becomes loose or unattached on several (three) sails, the ship will often become unstable. A sailor can not walk in a straight line down the deck under those circumstances!

Down the Hatch: Tipping your head back and pouring the liquor down your throat sometimes looks like the cask disappearing below deck i.e. down the hatch.

Cup of Joe: Might be named after SecNav Daniels who suggested coffee in lieu of liquor.

So there you have it, folks. More than you wanted to know about the history of booze in the Navy!

"Down the Hatch!" Toast in American Navy when drinking

                                        Fair winds,
                                                  Old Salt

SPLICE THE MAIN BRACE!

6 November 2014: Another milestone passed: Maritime Maunder has achieved over 1000 viewers! Splice the mainbrace!

OK, I can hear some of you muttering, what the hell does that have to do with anything? and what is a 'main brace' and why does it need splicing? All good questions and we'll try to sort you out directly.

Today's post came about because I got into a discussion with someone yesterday (British, in the interest of full disclosure) who was advocating Pusser's Rum even after I had told him I only drink Mt. Gay (from Barbadoes)! Pusser's is - or should I say WAS - the preferred spirit of the Royal Navy for generations, right up to what is referred to as "Black Tot Day," 31 July, 1970, when the tradition came to a halt. How sad! However, in the spirit of maintaining a tradition, the Royal Navy still authorizes fleet wide celebrations in honor of a visit from Royalty, New Year's Day, and victories in battle (of which there seem to be a paucity in recent times!). The signal to the fleet, no longer in flags but over the radio, is "splice the mainbrace" and it goes to all ships and even shore units.
                                                              But I am getting ahead of myself! Let's see where it started because we eventually have to get ourselves to splicing the mainbrace! The navies of the world, during the Age of Sail, used ardent spirits to fortify their sailors (even been aloft in a blow? Really scary to do it stone cold sober!) and the allowance was a pint of spirits - usually rum in the Royal Navy - per day. It caused some problems - both financially and with accidents aboard ships - so in 174o, Admiral Vernon cut the ration by adding water to it and not allowing the "boys" (under 15) anything but beer.

Adm. Vernon

Needless to say, the sailors were not happy with "Old Grog" - Vernon's nickname due to his habit of wearing a grogham cloak when the weather was up - but the petty officers didn't mind since they got the full allowance, undiluted and an hour before "spirits up" was piped for the crew. Vernon's diluted concoction became known as "grog": 1/2 pint rum, 1 quart water, lime juice, and sugar. The lime juice was, of course, an anti-scorbotic and necessary. The sugar made the mixture more palatable. The mixture was ordered made in front of the crew in a "scuttlebutt" which was then used to distribute the rations.

In bad weather, or when someone or a group (like a gun crew) did something laudable, they recieved and "extra tot" and if the whole crew was particularly heroic, the rum ration was doubled. Conversely, should someone err in some way, the minor punishment was stopping their rum ration. So it worked both ways.

This tradition was adopted by the Royal Navy quickly and remained in effect for over 200 years! Until Black Tot Day, 31 July 1970.

So what about splicing the mainbrace, you say? Ok - the mainbrace was the line - a VERY heavy line - used to control the angle of the mainyard to the wind. Of course, it required a lot of sailors to heave on it to adjust the yard and, should it part, it had to be fixed RIGHT NOW! It was one of the most difficult jobs  aloft in a sailing ship and only the most seasoned boatswain's mates were capable of doing it. And it usually occurred in foul weather. But once accomplished, it ALWAYS resulted in an extra ration of spirits being given to the sailor(s) who spliced it. Hence, splicing be the mainbrace became the euphemism for a drink! And when the Queen or other royalty visits a ship of the Royal Navy, the signal is "Splice the Mainbrace" referring not to the heavy brace (the ships don't have yards any more) but to having a pop in celebration.

In the interest of full disclosure, I believe the officers' wardroom is still allowed to have an evening cocktail under certain circumstances.

That's the British Navy's tradition. In the next post, we'll offer the American side.

                        "Bottoms up!" Toast used when splicing the mainbrace!

                                        Fair Winds
                                                     Old Salt

REMEMBER THIS GUY?

2 November 2014: Back in the day (what does that really mean, anyway?) it was not uncommon to see this drawing turn up on all manner of things!

Sometimes it appeared with the words and sometimes, it was just the image, often drawn hastily in places where it didn't belong. Now, of course, it has been replaced with often ugly and foul pictures, but let's talk about where Kilroy originated because lots of people don't know! And a nod to my friend Bob Munro who brought this to my attention! Thanks, Bob!

The image and the words originated with the "greatest generation" - the men who fought in World War II. It had a brief, but incredibly widespread life, kind of passing into oblivion in the 1950's. So who was Kilroy, anyway?

During World War II, America was building ships and airplanes at a breakneck pace. To encourage fast production, workers were often paid on a piecework rate. Riveters in shipyards, particularly in the Fore River Shipyard in Quincy MA, were not above "enhancing" their pay. How? They were paid by the rivet; each day, a checker would go through that days work space and count the rivets, thus determining how much a given worker was paid. A second "checker" would follow up to verify the count. When the first checker went through, he put a check mark, using a wax marker, by each block of rivets he counted to preclude their being counted a second time, but often times, the riveters would go through the space and erase the mark, thus ensuring the rivets would be counted a second time, effectively doubling their pay! James Kilroy was a 46 year-old rivet counter in the Fore River Shipyard.

The foreman became upset by the obvious subterfuge and asked Kilroy how he could prevent it. The spaces the riveters and checkers crawled through were too tight to drag a paint can and brush through,so Kilroy continued to use his wax pencil, but he added, in large capital letters, "KILROY WAS HERE" by each mark. After a while, in a fit of whimsy, he added the familiar chap with the nose peering over the wall to his marks. The writing and picture was too much to erase, so the riveters left it. Normally, those marks would have been painted over, but with the frantic pace of construction and delivery of the ships to the war effort, the marks remained unpainted and clearly visible to all the servicemen boarding the troopships heading for Europe and later, the Pacific. It quickly became a symbol of America to these men and they spread it all over the various theaters of the War.

Kilroy turned up everywhere on the road to Berlin as well as the island dotted road to Tokyo. Servicemen began putting the graffiti on all manner of things and then claim it was there when they arrived! Placing the name and cartoon became the challenge of the first-arriving soldiers and Marines, a mark to those who followed they had been there!
As the War went on, Kilroy appeared more and more frequently and in more and more unlikely places. Underwater Demolition Team sailors, slipping ashore on Japanese held islands to map them for the invasion forces, would often leave their "mark" behind, a greeting to the US soldiers and Marines who would follow - and as a greeting to the Japenese who had thought they were secure!

 

 

 

 

It has, apparently, also shown up in more modern times, onthe wall surrounding Osama Bin Laden's compound! Of course, it is doubtful that Seal Team Six took the time to scrawl the words and the image on the wall, but somebody did, it would seem!

Ok, so now you know where it came from! A little "blast from the past!"

 

"No matter where you go, there you are!" unknown

 

                                          Fair Winds,

                                             old Salt

 

AMELIA EARHART - FOUND?

31 October 2014: OK, I admit it: I am flying tomorrow and sometimes things like the "Bermuda Triangle," Malaysia Air, and yes, Amelia Earhart pop unbidden into my head. Perhaps it's that there have been a couple of news pieces lately focusing on Amelia Earhart (and not that I am flying!) that causes me to offer some insight - well, maybe not insight, but surely some information - on the aviatrix who vanished in 1937!

Ms. Earhart was a driven lady; she was consumed with flight and planes in those early days of air pioneers - and she was determined to "top" "Lucky Lindy's" transatlantic feat with a round the world flight in her 2 motor Lockheed Electra plane. 

She disappeared in the Pacific Ocean on 2 July, 1937 and, almost since then, people form various organizations have been looking for her, the plane wreckage, or some sign of her presence. Well, recently, a piece of aluminum found in 1991 on Nikumaroro Island (between Hawaii and Australia) has been confirmed with a "high degree of certainty" to be from her aircraft.

This bit of metal was applied to her plane in Miami, early in her trip, to replace a window in the rear section of the aircraft. She had stopped in Miami for 8 days - it was the fourth stop in her trip - and while there, had the piece of aluminum installed to replace the navigator's window. A photo of the plane taking off on 1 June, 1937 for the next leg of her trip clearly shows the patch and after studying the rivet holes and other material, The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recover (TIGHAR) has offered their confirmation of its authenticity.

In conjunction with sidescan sonar searches and a couple of other artifacts found in water and the jungle of the uninhabited island, it is possible that by this time next year, the mystery  - at least the part about where she crashed - could be solved.  So what?

The bottle on the left was a popular ointment of the time which Amelia was known to have had in her possession and on the plane. The shards are what were found on the island. To the right, we have a sidescan sonar image purporting to show at least some portion of the wreck of the Lockheed Electra. (I know, doesn't look like much to us, but to the experts, it apparently does!) Further, analytical study of a photograph of the lagoon at Nikumaroro taken some 3 months after her disappearance has shown that an anomaly sticking out of the water might be a landing gear from an aircraft.

OK - now for the 'so what' portion of our program. Should the artifacts and plane wreckage prove to be Amelia Earhart's, then the popular notion that she and her navigator, Fred Noonan, crashed in the ocean after running out of gas near their destination of Howland Island, some 350 miles to the northwest, falls apart. What the discovery will show is that they made a forced landing on the smooth, flat reef of Nikumaroro Island and became castaways in the jungle. In fact, ten earlier archeological expeditions have uncovered some pretty strong circumstantial evidence attesting to that hypothesis. There is also some proof that Earhart sent radio distress calls for at least five nights before the plane was washed off the reef by rising tides and waves, settling on the bottom some 600 feet below the surface.

  

In June of next year, TIGHAR will return to Nikumaroro Island with sufficient underwater apparati, including a deep submersible ROV (remotely operated vehicle) to investigate what might be in the sonar image.

For further information on Earhart and the search for her plane, check out www.ameliaearhart.com.

                  "Not all who wander are lost." JRR Tolkien

                       Fair Winds,
                                  Old Salt

HOAX DISTRESS CALLS

29 October 2014:  Today is an anniversary of several bad, really bad, events. Of course, everyone remembers the Crash of 1929 - Black Tuesday - October 29th. It contributed significantly to the world-wide depression which lasted right into the late 30's. But that's not what I want to talk about today. The other event was only two years ago and is still painfully fresh in the minds of many people, especially those living at the New Jersey Shore and the south coast of Long Island. "Super storm Sandy" will long be remember by those who lived through it - one way or another. There are still many sites where houses and buildings used to stand, and a few where the wreckage has yet to be cleared completely away. And I know of many who lost their boats in the storm and have just quit boating entirely. But that's not what I want to talk about today either . . . but it does lead us into today's subject: fake distress calls to the Coast Guard.

I can recall, not that long ago, seeing cutters and helos scrambling from the Coast Guard station at Sandy Hook NJ and charging 'hell for leather' out into the Atlantic. The weather was nor terribly bad - the sea was a bit rough and the wind was up a bit, but I have been out in worse on smaller vessels. Lots of people headed to the beach at Sandy Hook to watch a rescue operation - there are many sand bars and rocky places off the shore there which can, and do, prove troubling for passing vessels. The cutters steamed in an obvious search pattern while the helo - I think there were two of them - flew racecourse searches in what turned out to be a vain effort to find several people in a rubber raft which had been deployed (according to the distress call) from a burning and sinking yacht. Very quickly the media got wind of it and the TV vans and reporters showed up, broadcasting live reports of the search. Ambulances lined up on Sandy Hook waiting for the victims to be brought ashore and local hospitals were alerted.

The search continued into the night, the helos's lights making eerie patterns on the water, as the cutters continued to churn the waves to froth in their frantic efforts to locate the victims.

Victims, as it turned out, that did not exist! Some misguided soul in Staten Island, who had a hand held VFH radio, was trying for his 15 minutes of fame...... it took a while (over a year I think) but he got his fame and wound up cooling his heels in the slammer for quite some time, and he got to reimburse the Coast Guard for the cost of the search (which I am sure he paid quickly and in full! Right!) It turns out that the technology is now available to track those calls to their origin, much to the chagrin of the warped idiots who think it's a kick to watch the maritime community spin their wheels in a fruitless effort to rescue a non-existent ship/boat/individual.

So what triggered this now, several years after the fact? Well, it's happened again, this time in North Carolina where some jackass has made SEVEN fake distress calls over the past 2 years! They've been in the New Bern area beginning in September of 2012 with the most recent just two weeks ago. And the hell of it is, the Coasties can not ignore the call, even if they suspect it's a hoax on the chance that it's not. The Coast Guard is, like many of our service branches, sadly under-funded, the $150,000 each of these efforts cost takes funds away from the serious rescues and coastal patrols they do. And that expense does not include the military planes and helos that also respond.

When the Coast Guard was called out to rescue the sailing ship Bounty whose captain made the fatally wrong decision to sail into Super Storm Sandy off the coast of Cape Hatteras two years ago, they did not hesitate, providing aircraft, ships, and personnel who flew into the most horrible weather we can imagine to rescue the survivors of the tragedy. (The captain was never found) 

So these brave men and women are there, they perform, and they really don't need the jerks who think it's funny to fake a radio distress call. This is a criminal activity and, if caught, the perpetrator(s) will go to jail and face serious punitive financial expenses.

"What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly; it is dearness only that gives everything its value."
                                                                                      Thomas Paine

                                              Fair winds,
                                                  old Salt