“The response to ‘Coast Guard Alaska’ demonstrated the public’s interest in seeing good people do good work on behalf of the nation in a magnificent part of the country,” said Capt. Ron LaBrec, chief of Coast Guard public affairs. “Operating out of Florida presents a different set of challenges for our service and ‘Coast Guard Florida’ will provide the American people with another insider look into what it wants from its public agencies – important work, done competently and efficiently by dedicated and inspiring public servants.”

Showcasing Coast Guard men and women operating out of Florida means introducing a whole new set of Coast Guard missions including ports, waterways, coastal security, drug interdiction, and border security in addition to the heavy dose of search and rescue and environmental protection missions the “Coast Guard Alaska” audience has already come to associate with the nation’s oldest continuing seagoing service.

Scheduled for thirteen episodes of 60-minutes each, “Coast Guard Florida” will premiere one year after the launch of “Coast Guard Alaska.”

The Weather Channel has already announced plans to air a second and third season of the show that introduced millions to Coast Guard Air Station Kodiak and will continue showcase personnel hard at work at Coast Guard sectors, stations, patrol boats and cutters standing the watch over Alaska’s 44,000 miles of coastline on a daily basis.

“Coast Guard Florida” will have a very different look and feel as it highlights operations and missions from three different stations in southern Florida.

“‘Coast Guard Alaska’ is one of the projects I’m most proud of as a producer,” said Al Roker, president and CEO of Al Roker Entertainment. “The United States Coast Guard is an awe-inspiring group of men and women and we feel privileged to give viewers an inside look at the courageous acts they embark on every day in serving our country. ‘Coast Guard Florida’ will allow us to continue to tell their stories.”

This article was originally written by Christopher Lagan for Coast Guard Compass.

The show aired on ABC’s popular saturday night lineup from 1977 till 1986 and was usually set aboard a cruise liner called the Pacific Princess. Other ships used for filming where the sister ship Island Princess as well as the Stella Solaris, Pearl of Scandinavia, the Royal Viking Sky and the Royal Princess and Sun Princess.

The ship began operation in 1971 with Flagship Cruises, under the name Sea Venture. During this period the vessel came to the rescue of the RMS Queen Elizabeth 2, after the QE2 had major engine trouble. In April 1975 she was sold to P&O’s newly acquired Princess Cruises along with sister ship Island Venture. The pair were renamed Pacific Princess and Island Princess, the latter now operating as the Discovery.

But the sailing hasn’t been all smooth for the historic vessel. In 1998 the Pacific Princess was impounded by police in Piraeus, Greece after 25 kg of heroin was found on board, smuggled by two members of her crew. According to police sources quoted in the BBC report at the time, there was evidence the ship had become a major tool for drug smugglers in the Mediterranean.

Maritime Matters reports that the 20186 gt, 600 passenger M/V Pacific (ex Sea Venture and Pacific Princess) was sold last week for 2.5 million Euros to the Turkish company “Cemsan”, which specializes in ship breaking. The ship, built in 1971 and last owned and operated by V Ships Leisure, has been idle at Genoa’s San Giorgio del Porto shipyard since being seized by the Italian Coast Guard in 2009 and is currently non-operable as she waits for a final tow to the scrap yard.

Related Video

Click here to view the embedded video.

‘Deadliest Catch’ star Justin Tennison’s death is the latest in a string of tragedies to hit the cast on board the Discovery show’s ship.

The member of the Time Bandit crew was found dead Tuesday at age 33 in an Alaska hotel room approximately one year after Capt. Phil Harris suffered a stroke while off-loading the Cornelia Marie boat in Alaska, which eventually lead to his death in February 2010.

Book-ended by these two tragedies, the Discovery set has been plagued by so many problems that fans may be asking whether the show is cursed.

Here is a timeline of the troubles faced by “Deadliest Catch” over the past year, leading up to Tennison’s death:

• ‘Deadliest Catch’ star Justin Tennison’s death is the latest in a string of tragedies to hit the cast on board the Discovery show’s ship.
• The member of the Time Bandit crew was found dead Tuesday at age 33 in an Alaska hotel room approximately one year after Capt. Phil Harris suffered a stroke while off-loading the Cornelia Marie boat in Alaska, which eventually lead to his death in February 2010.
• Book-ended by these two tragedies, the Discovery set has been plagued by so many problems that fans may be asking whether the show is cursed.

Continue reading…

Early Sunday morning, the 100-foot former crab boat F/V Arctic Dawn caught fire while the vessel was moored just south of the Ballard Bridge in the Lake Washington Ship Canal.  According to reports, nearly 100 Seattle based firefighters rushed to the scene to fight what eventually became a 3-alarm fire.  Fortunately, firefighters were able to contain the blaze after about an hour and prevented the fire from spreading to the F/V Lady Kodiak, which was docked alongside the Arctic Dawn.  Damage to the vessel seems to be confined to the superstructure of the ship, above the water line. An engineer, who was the only person on board the vessel when the fire broke out, escaped without injury.  No other injuries were reported and the incident remains under investigation.

The F/V Arctic Dawn, a former crabbing vessel that is now used for salmon-fishing, was featured in some early episodes of the Discovery Channel’s Deadliest Catch.

More photos of the blaze and aftermath can be found at the My Ballard blog, HERE and HERE.

Get your TIVO’s ready…. In a new, featured, television show The Discovery Channel looks to find out the very real story behind the story of the Maersk Alabama incident and subsequent lifeboat hijacking. They tell us:

“The world stopped and watched as the harrowing story of the Maersk Alabama unfolded. This special provides a riveting moment-by-moment account of the ship’s story — from the time the pirates boarded the cargo vessel to the safe return of Captain Phillips — in an emotional series of first-person interviews with the crew and new footage of the pirates. For the first time, viewers will hear the complete story of what really happened aboard the cargo ship. To be able to showcase the crew’s heroism as well as the U.S. Navy’s ongoing efforts to keep the waterways safe is an honor and a privilege for Discovery Channel and Military Channel.”

Using astounding footage of the pirates aboard the captured lifeboat and in-depth interviews with the men aboard the Maersk Alabama throughout the ordeal, SOMALI PIRATE TAKEDOWN THE REAL STORY provides a true understanding of the events that led to the dramatic rescue of Captain Richard Phillips.

Interviews with some of the Maersk Alabama’s crew include First Mate Shane Murphy, Chief Engineer Mike Perry, Second Engineer Richard Matthews, Third Mate Colin Wright and Third Engineer John Cronin. Some interviews, including Chief Engineer Mike Perry’s, are crew members’ first broadcast interviews where they share their experiences of confronting the pirates and regaining control of their ship. It was Perry who initially turned the tables by single-handedly capturing one of the pirates, who was later held captive by some of the crew including Matthews, Wright and Cronin.

After a failed hostage exchange, First Mate Murphy took control of the Maersk Alabama in Captain Phillips’ absence and shadowed the pirates until the U.S. Navy could respond to the crisis. Additionally, Vice Admiral William E. Gortney and Rear Admiral Terrence E. McKnight illustrate the U.S. Navy’s timeline of events from the Maersk Alabama’s initial distress call to the amazing conclusion featuring three simultaneous gunshots fired by U.S. Navy SEAL snipers. Kevin Dockery, Navy SEAL expert and author, discusses the expertise required to coordinate these deadly accurate shots from the fantail of a moving vessel.

Catch Somali Pirate Takedown: The Real Story Sunday, June, 21 at 10 p.m. E/P on Discovery Channel. Also be sure to check out our continued coverage of the incident found HERE and the first report from the vessel found HERE. You can also find the NPR interview with gCaptain editor John Konrad HERE.

Love it or hate it Season 2 of Animal Planet’s hit maritime reality tv show Whale Wars aired last night.

A novel could be written to describe gCaptain’s official thoughts on the mission of Sea Shepherd to halt Japanese fishing of whales in the Antarctic so we would rather hear your thoughts in the comments below. Here are some relevant links to get the conversation started:

• gCaptain Forum: Whale Wars Discussions
• Official Whale Wars Site
• Whale Wars Article – The New Yorker
• Whale Wars – Google News
• Watch clips of Whale Wars on HULU
• #WhaleWars on Twitter
• Official Sea Shepherd Site

Take Sides on Facebook:

• F off Japan. Leave the whales alone!
• I root for the Japanese while watching Whale Wars!

gCaptain forum member tokyo_buddha pointed us to a new reality show on Scottish TV titled “The Merchant Navy“. The program was created in partnership with the UK’s Merchant Navy Training Board, BP Shipping,  Maersk Lines and the cruise industry partners at Ocean Opportunities. We have featured a number of maritime reality television shows but, as the show Carrier did for the US Navy and America’s Port did for terminal operations,  this is the first to chronicle the daily lives of the mariners working aboard large ships.

Also on our radar is the emrgence of new web based sites for the maritime industry. gCaptain has long been fans of TheBoaters.tv and Maritimetv.com but the former is geared towards the recrational boater and the latter lacks integration with the tools of Web 2.0. We are, however,  excited to find new sources of online programing that target the professional side of the industry including eSea24 from Norway.

If you know of any online video producers please leave a link in the comments. Otherwise click HERE to start watching The Merchant Navy.

Treasure Map – by ToNToN CoPT

POLAR MIST FOUND WITH GOLD AND SILVER INSIDE: UPDATE HERE

Do Treasure Ships still sail the seven seas?

We have recently been fascinated by Discovery Channel’s show Treasure Quest as they follow the M/V Odyssey Explorer on her voyage to find lost treasure long ago sunk in the English Channel but certainly treasure ships have been long extinct, right? Maybe Not.

The Associated Press brings us this story of a ship, laden with over 16 million dollars in gold, lost off the coast of Buenos Aires. They tell us:

It’s a story of a ship that vanished off the coast of Patagonia with a cargo of gold and silver, but its ending remains shrouded in mystery.
The Polar Mist was abandoned by its crew in a storm and sank earlier this year, but did the nine tons of gold and silver aboard worth more than 16 million dollars go down with it?
“Nobody knows anything. There is something strange here, but nobody knows what. I’ve made inquiries everywhere: nobody knows,” said John Wilson, the Argentine representative of the British insurance company Lloyd’s.

The mining group Cerro Vanguardia, which owns nearly all the gold and silver aboard the Polar Mist, has said the cargo was insured by Lloyd’s.

“The insurance company has confirmed to us they have every intention of recovering it. They will return the cargo and we will resume the shipment that was interrupted,” said Jorge Palmes, president of Cerro Vanguardia.

Read More…

Stay tuned for more details on this amazing story.

Here at gCaptain, we love a good television program that offers viewers an inside look into the realities of life in the maritme world.  We are hoping that National Geographics Monday premier of the 5 part series titled “Salvage: Code Red” won’t dissapoint.  Here is their description of the show:

In National Geographic Channel’s Salvage Code Red, salvors race against time to rescue stricken ships, their cargo and crew, and prevent environmental disaster. Divers venture with helmet cameras inside sunken vessels to capture gripping footage of abandoned behemoths. The five-part series takes viewers inside the bowels of a burning ship while intricate CGI illustrates the immense challenges, and some innovative solutions, in hauling and repairing a sinking vessel.

Now let’s take a look at the teaser:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Some more info:

In Firestorm, a multi-million dollar ferry becomes an inferno, burning uncontrollably for days until a salvage crew climbs onboard to battle lingering blazes, and savage seas tear apart a U.K. truck ferry. Two rookie salvage masters undergo a baptism by fire in Typhoon Showdown when a typhoon-battered Russian coal freighter forces the salvage team to abandon their divers overnight and a stranded Mexican ferry threatens a coastal reef. Heading back to the Russian freighter in Breaking Point, a salvage diver suffers a close call after becoming disoriented by violent wave surges while a storm wreaks havoc and causes substantial loses for a team salvaging a sunken freighter off the Strait of Gibraltar.

Like we mentioned, it is a 5 part mini-series that air’s this Monday, Feb. 9 at 9PM on the National Geographic Channel.  From reading the website, it seems like the series kicks off with a bang with back-to-back episodes titled Firestorm and Typhoon Showdown.

While we have not seen any footage besides what they have released on their website, we have high hopes that this will be a better program than some others we have seen recently, although I guess we will have to reserve judegement until Monday night.

For all information on Salvage: Code Red, including video’s photo’s and episode schedule, visit National Geographic HERE.

An independent producer of reality television shows, has asked our help in posting a small job opening they have on the books. In an email to gCaptain, producer Fred Grinstein writes:

Tiger Aspect Productions is developing a series on maritime ships and vessels for a major US cable network, and we’re in search of diehard seamen who might host our new series.

The ideal candidate would be a credible “insider”, think Discovery’s “Future Weapons”, or History Channel’s “Tougher in Alaska”. It’s not necessarily a veteran historian we’re looking for, but rather a true passionate fanatic of ships and the maritime world that can help communicate this passion to our audience. We’re looking for someone the viewer can connect with as the “real-deal”, someone with real-world maritime experience – i.e. a former captain from a naval fleet, or freight cargo ship, or a tugboat operator. The ideal candidate is a male, aged early 30′s to 40′s, though we’re open to people who don’t necessarily fit this mold.
The show is in development, but the concept is to travel around the country/ world and get up close and personal with the past, present, and future of ships. From ice breakers in the Arctic to the biggest cruise liners sailing the Caribbean, from oil tankers cruising the Persian Gulf, to fishing vessels pulling pots out of the ocean.

Are you a “diehard seamen” with knowledge of a diverse selection of ocean going vessels? If so send a recent photo, a note about yourself and your passion for the marine industry to: Fred Grinstein or visit them in person at The Pacific Marine Expo, Booth # 446!

We know our readers are the most dedicated ship enthusiasts on the planet, hopefully we will see one of you on the TV one day soon!