Built for the United States Navy as a fast oceanographic research vessel by Bethlehem Steel Corporation at its Sparrows Point Yard in Maryland in 1990. The vessel was the second oceanographic research ship to bear the name of Zera Luther Tanner, a noted oceanographer and inventor of a patented sounding machine. The vessel experienced catastrophic engine failure in 1993 and was laid up by the Navy and eventually transferred ownership to the Maritime Administration.
In the Middle Ages, ships in combat flew a long red streamer, called the Baucans, to signify a fight to the death. By the 17th century, the Baucans had evolved into a red flag, or “flag of defiance.” It was raised in cities and castles under siege to indicate that they would not surrender. “The red flag is a signal of defiance and battle,” according to Chambers Cyclopedia (1727–41).
British sailors mutinied near the mouth of the River Thames in 1797 and hoisted a red flag on several ships. +
Britain’s First General Mutiny on the BBC
World Update: This past Friday, Dan Damon (broadcasting from the Southampton Docks) looked back to 1797 when sailors anchored in ships at Spithead and the Nore mutinied over inhumane working conditions for seamen in 18th century England. The mutinies happened in the wake of the American and French revolutions, triggered the first of several outbreaks of maritime radicalism in the Atlantic World, and the development of working class consciousness among sailors. Listen / download
Video: The Spithead & Nore Mutiny 1797 on You Tube
Richard Parker (16 April 1767 – 30 June 1797) was an English sailor executed for his role as president of the so-called “Floating Republic”, a naval mutiny in the Royal Navy which took place at the Nore between 12 May and 16 June 1797
The traditional five bells rung in the last dog watch ceased on Royal Navy vessels after the affair at Nore, as that had been the signal to begin the mutiny. source
Further Reading:
- The Naval Mutinies of 1797 by Conrad Gill; Published 1913 on Internet Archive
- The Floating Republic: An Account of the Mutinies at Spithead and the Nore in 1797 – Pen & Sword Military Classics; 30 May 2004
- Nore Mutiny texts available on Open Library
‘Environmental Nightmare’ After Thousands Of Atlantic Salmon Escape Fish Farm
Commercial fishing boats are scrambling to catch as many Atlantic salmon as they can after a net pen broke near Washington’s Cypress Island. Fishers reported thousands of the non-native fish jumping in the water or washing ashore.
A fish farm’s net pen failed Saturday afternoon when an anchor pulled loose. The pen, in the state’s northwestern San Juan Islands, contained about 305,000 Atlantic salmon. keep reading
Washington responds to salmon spill; Cooke brushes off threat to wild stocks
Why has the threat of Somali piracy lessened?
Also this week on the Beeb:
Suicide at Sea – Special Maritime OB
August 25th, 2017: Live from Southampton docks in southern England on the rising rates of mental health issues and suicides amongst people working at sea.
Russian tanker sails through Arctic without icebreaker for first time
The $300m Christophe de Margerie carried a cargo of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Hammerfest in Norway to Boryeong in South Korea in 19 days, about 30% quicker than the conventional southern shipping route through the Suez Canal.
On its maiden voyage, the innovative tanker used its integral icebreaker to cross ice fields 1.2m thick, passing along the northern sea section of the route in the Russian Arctic in a record six-and-a-half days.
Archaeologists Are Recreating Recipes from 17th-Century Ships
If ships’ logs and sailors’ diaries are to be believed, the gastronomic situation during early voyages across the Atlantic was dire. “Lady Sea will not tolerate nor conserve meat or fish that is not dressed in her salt,” wrote Spanish explorer Eugenio de Salazar in his complaint-filled 1573 letter that’s now dubbed “The Landlubber’s Lament.”
He described wooden plates “filled with stringy beef joints, dressed with some partly cooked tendons… so rotten and stinking that you’d be better off losing your sense of taste and smell just to get it all down.”
A group of archaeologists in Texas has just begun an unusual experiment to faithfully recreate the menu onboard a typical transatlantic sailing ship. keep reading
Lacking a hangar deck, elevators or armaments, she was not a true warship. The main purpose of her creation was for the advanced training of naval aviators in aircraft carrier takeoffs and landings. USS Sable (IX-81) underway on Lake Michigan (USA) in 1944-45 – full size
ALTHOUGH THE UNITED STATES commissioned a staggering 151 aircraft carriers during World War Two, it’s safe to say that none were as strange as the USS Wolverine and her sister ship the USS Sable. Together, Sable and Wolverine trained 17,820 pilots in 116,000 carrier landings.
Not only were the two flattops the only American wartime carriers powered by coal (most naval vessels of the era ran on fuel oil), both served their entire military careers on Lake Michigan – more than 2,000 miles from the Pacific!
Fresh-Water Flattops: The US Navy’s Forgotten Great Lakes Aircraft Carriers
Manning received orders to report to the Coast Guard Depot at Curtis Bay, Maryland 26 January 1917 and departed soon thereafter. Manning sailed for Europe on 29 August 1917 with an increased wartime complement of eight officers, four warrant officers, and 96 enlisted sailors.
Algonquin, Manning, Ossipee, Seneca, Tampa and Yamacraw. One hundred years ago, these were the six Coast Guard cutters selected for overseas ocean escort convoy duty during the United States’ participation in WWI. With the U.S. declaring war on Imperial Germany on April 6, 1917, the Coast Guard was assigned to the jurisdiction of the U.S. Navy for the duration of the war. Chosen for their long-range cruising capabilities and larger size, these cruising cutters were instructed to report to various east coast naval shipyards in New York, Boston, Virginia, and Charleston, South Carolina. After being rearmed and refitted for overseas service, they sailed for the British naval port of Gibraltar.
The Long Blue Line: Coast Guard Cutters and WWI Convoys
