Today marks the 75th annual National Maritime Day. In 1933 the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America officially declared May 22 as National Maritime Day. May 22 was chosen in tribute to one of Americas many great feats. The first transoceanic voyage by a steam-powered vessel. The ship was The Savannah. She departed from Savannah, Georgia on May 22, 1819 and in less then a month she arrived in Liverpool, England. This voyage marked the beginning of a new age in shipping as well as the start of the great migration of immigrants to The United States.
In celebration of this historic and important holiday we are asked as American citizens to display the United States flag in our community’s. It is also request that all ships sailing under the American flag dress ship on that day in honor of all Mariners.
National Maritime Day, 2008
Tags: · History, holiday
On April 27, 1865 the Mississippi River paddlewheeler, Sultana, was utterly destroyed when a boiler explosion ripped through the ship. The legal capacity of the ship was 376 persons but on this faithful night the ship was loaded with an estimated 2,400 passengers. The vast majority of passengers on board the Sultana were newly released Union prisoners of war on their way back home from a long and bloody war.
All told an estimated 1,800 people die that night. The tragedy resulted in a greater number of casualties then even the notorious sinking of the Titanic in 1912. So why haven’t more Americans heard of this great maritime disaster? Well the answer is simple. 1865 marked the end of the American civil war. President Lincoln had just been assassinated and the nation was facing countless tragedies on both a personal and national level. The turbulence of the time meant that the greatest disaster in American maritime history when largely unreported and has truly become a forgotten disaster.
For more information on the Sultana check out these links below.
Wikipedia: Sultana (steamboat)
National Geographic: Remembering Sultana
Tags: · History, ship fire
We know that NORAD, the U.S. Air Force’s North American Aerospace Defense Command, tracks nuclear missile launches, enemy infringement of air space and even Santa Clause but did you know they also track ships?
That’s right, after 9/11 NORAD decided to close the blast doors at Cheyenne Mountain began opening it’s doors to other government agencies including the Department of Homeland Security the Coast Guard and Navy. As part of the new joint operations initiative NORAD’s new, significantly less impressive, home near the famed mountain became the primary location for tracking Maritime Threats. In fact from 2004 until just this March the commander of NORAD has been a Navy Admiral.
Why track maritime threats from an Air Force base? In an interview with The National Defended NORAD Commander Admiral Timothy J. Keating answered the question:
U.S. Northern Command (USNORTHCOM) is a completely different command with a somewhat similar mission. It’s a much newer command however. We’re only in existence for a couple of years now following the attacks of 11 September. Our task is, very simply, to defend our country against external threats. 
We have another important mission, and that’s in the event of some catastrophe—if the secretary, for instance, decides that the Department of Defense contributions to the support of civil authorities is appropriate, we provide that support, whether it’s the state, local, federal requests, we are positioned and trained and equipped to provide that support to those civilian authorities in the event of a disaster.
Two commands are co-located, building on the excellent command and control systems in Cheyenne Mountain Command Center and our headquarters building and leveraging 47 years of NORAD experience in defending the continent...
In today’s world it makes sense to discuss potential cooperation in other domains––particularly maritime. Expanding NORAD’s charter beyond aerospace would be a decision to be made by our respective governments.
Currently, however, Northern Command, supported by the Navy and Coast Guard as our primary maritime combat capability, has the lead for maritime homeland defense. Since 9/11, the Coast Guard has created maritime safety and security teams––federal maritime SWAT teams––highly trained, strategically located and specially equipped to provide an extra layer of security to key ports, waterways and facilities.
Our partners in the Coast Guard have also boarded and inspected over 10,000 ships to search for threats and confirm the identity of those aboard. They’ve developed special “sea marshal” boarding procedures where armed Coast Guard personnel were onboard certain ships entering and leaving U.S. ports to ensure they stay safely on course. We continue to work with them to establish and enforce naval vessel protection zones around U.S. Navy vessels in U.S. ports. They have enforced over 100 security zones around sensitive maritime areas and facilities.
A maritime NORAD is a nice concept, but the maritime domain is very different from the air domain. There are no flight plans along predetermined routes, no air traffic control. So we think that it may be unnecessarily restrictive. That is to say we want to be able to work with other partners, principally Mexico, as Mexico reaches their own decisions on the degree to which they want to participate with information sharing. And our good friends in the Southern Command and throughout the hemisphere and then throughout the other geographical combatant commander areas of responsibility, we share information and a common operational picture.
We think maritime NORAD under the construct that we have enjoyed the aerospace NORAD would be unnecessarily restrictive, though that is not to say we would discount Canada’s participation in a maritime NORAD. And the negotiation is ongoing with the State Department in the lead. In the meantime, USNORTHCOM coordinates with National Defense Headquarters in Ottawa for critical bilateral maritime defense response. Read More…
Tags: · 911, Cheyenne_Mountain, coast_guard, ISPS, Maritime, maritime_security, Navy, norad, ship, shipping, Ships, USCG, USNORTHCOM
Aw Nuts!
By The Artful Blogger
Another day of reviewing incident reports. It never ceases to amaze me, how many of these tragedies could have been avoided. Yes, I judge. It’s my job. OK, it’s real easy to play the critic; to stand outside of the barrel, pointing inside, and say, “Gee, that’s messed up.” It’s a lot safer than being “in” the barrel. Yes, I’ve had my turn in the barrel. We all digress at times. Call it “a brain fart,” “laziness,” “preoccupation,” “pressured,” “hurried,” or (my favorite) “the beer had nothing to do with it,” we’ve all been there. I must admit, there was the time that my brother-in-law and I were enjoying a combination of beer and hot wings while watching The Thirteenth Warrior. This deadly commingling of alcohol and testosterone caused us to believe that we could hang a ceiling fan by a swag light chain, and that it would work (well, it did for a second). Every time my brother-in-law looks in the mirror and sees the twenty-seven stitch scar, he remembers that night. OK, I’m sure that the guys who invented The Hindenburg thought, “It’s filled with hydrogen, what could happen?” Beer, hydrogen, what’s the difference.
Anyway, back to work. Here’s a quick list of incidents. See if you can figure out what they all have in common; then, we’ll talk:
- I Rigid Hull Inflatable Boat (RHIB) was launched. It entered the water along with a section the boat davit.
- A twenty pound roller fell fifty feet from an oil derrick.
- A tankship grounded in Long Beach after suffering a steering failure.
- Earlier this summer a large US Flag passenger / vehicle ferry experienced a catastrophic failure of its main electrical switchboard.
- Recently a Great Lakes bulk cargo vessel suffered a boiler tube rupture resulting in a boiler casing failure which injured two crewmembers. The tube failure was not unique and the boiler casing should have contained and channeled the steam out the stack.
Ok, that’s enough for now. Have you figured out the cause yet? No, it wasn’t beer! “Equipment Failure” is listed as the cause to many of these, but there’s a little more. Each one of these was caused by one thing: Metal Fasteners. So, because of this, today’s bedtime story is about something near and dear to all of us: Our Nuts.
Lock nuts are different from your garden variety standard nuts. The main difference is that they have a device built into them that’s designed to interlock with threaded area of the bolt or stud. This creates a more secure fastening hold and prevents fastener slippage. There are many different types and sizes of lock nuts for use in a wide range of applications. The need for these types of nuts depends on the mechanics of fastener stress.
When performing corrective or the most routine of maintenance, you should always check your nuts. It just makes sense. If your nuts have been well-used over the years, you can’t be sentimental. I know you may have grown attached to them, but lets face it, you have to learn to let go. Nuts that are worn, irregular, or rusty are just plain unsafe. If you just keep twisting your nuts, they won’t last forever. Repeated usage of your nuts can wear them out and when they’re spent, they can’t perform anymore (although, I hear that they have pills for that). Besides, it’s not fair to your bolt, if your nuts aren’t worth a damn. Let’s face it. Your nuts aren’t designed to last forever. Sometimes, you just have to go into the light and let go of your nuts.
Seriously, lock nuts wear out over repeated usage and must be replaced when required. When are they required to be replaced, you ask? That, my friend, must be your call (Pay attention. This is where I make my point and we come to full circle). Do to the aforementioned reasons, we don’t change out our worn metal fasteners. Remember, the nuts you save may be your own. Don’t be nuts, change them out!
Alright kids, that’s my bedtime story. Keep the emails coming. Next time I might reflect on the importance of bearing lubrication. I think I’ll call it: Do You Grease Your Balls? This is the Artful Blogger. That’s my story, and I’m stickin’ to it!
Have a suggestion for The Artful Blogger? Think he is out of his mind or simply “on target”? Leave a comment below or write your own story and submit it to tips {at} gcaptain.com. If it’s well written and of interest to the maritime community, we’ll post it right here on gCaptain.
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Sea-Fever and World’s Best Logos and Brands blog did a brief history of the logo for APL, formerly known as American President Lines. They write:
Because of the international nature of trade, transportation company logos are every bit as significant as national flags. Even as recently as 50 years ago, steamships were the lifeline for many remote parts of the world, and people relied heavily on the services offered by shipping companies like APL and its predecessors.
The local population often turned out in force when a ship entered harbor. But first, through cupped hands, an open window, or perhaps a telescope, people looked for a familiar silhouette, the ship’s house flag, or the logo on its smokestack to determine which company it belonged to — and whether the ship carried the cargo and passengers for which they had been waiting.
In this way, these early transportation logos gradually became associated with service, reliability, and other competencies of the companies to which they belonged. In addition to these qualities, leadership is something that people began to associate with the logos belonging to APL and its forebears.
Read More at World’s Best Logos and Brands
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