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Old Salt Blog

A virtual port of call for all those who love the sea , hosted by nautical novelist rick spilman.

Eighty Three Years Ago Today: The Sinking of the USS Reuben James – October 31, 1941

The sinking of the Reuben James was memorialized by the American folk singer Woody Guthrie : Continue reading →

Update: FLIP, Famous Flipping Research Platform, Saved From Scrapping

Maritime Executive reports that the iconic offshore platform has been saved from scrapping and is now in France where it is being modernized to start a new phase of its research missions. The vessel/platform was developed for the US Navy’s Office of Naval Research and operated by the Scripps Institution of Oceanography.

UK firm DEEP , a subsea design firm seeking to develop underwater human habitats, reports it acted quickly after learning that FLIP had been decommissioned and towed to Mexico last year to be dismantled. DEEP founder and CEO Kristen Tertoole assembled a team and sent them to Mexico with the instructions, “Save her. Don’t come back without her.”

Continue reading →

Eighty Years Ago Today — Battle off Samar, a Victory Against All Odds

The Battle off Samar , fought on October 25, 1942, eighty years ago today, saved the landings at Leyte Gulf from likely destruction. The powerful US Navy 3rd fleet had been lured north by a decoy Japanese force, leaving the Leyte landing beaches protected only by three small escort carrier task forces designated by their call signs, Taffy 1, 2, and 3.

Chinese Aquarium Whale Shark Turns Out to Be a Robot

Many social media users posted under the hashtag “Netizens complain about spending hundreds of yuan at Xiaomeisha Sea World to see fake fish.”

A user on Chinese social media shared their disappointment after visiting, stating, “I was so excited to see the ‘whale shark exhibit,’ but instead found a mechanical shark. While I understand the need for animal protection, I’d rather they didn’t include a fake one; it detracted from the experience.”

Celebrating Trafalgar Day and the Anniversary of the Launching of “Old Ironsides”

Today also happens to be the 227th anniversary of the  launch of the  USS  Constitution , launched on October 21, 1797. Nicknamed “Old Ironsides ” after a round shot from HMS  Guerriere bounced off her sides in a battle during the War of 1812, the  USS Constitution  is the oldest commissioned ship in the US Navy and the world’s oldest commissioned naval vessel still afloat.

HMS Victory , Nelson’s flagship in the Battle of Trafalgar, launched in 1765, is the oldest commissioned warship in the world, being 32 years older than the Constitution . The Victory, however, on permanent exhibit in drydock in Portsmouth, is no longer afloat, allowing the Constitution to claim the bragging rights as the oldest floating commissioned naval vessel. 

Collapse of Ferry Dock on Georgia’s Sapelo Island Kills 7

The Georgia Department of Natural Resources, which manages the island and operates its ferry service, said on Sunday that 20 people went into the water when the gangway collapsed and that three people remained in critical condition. All of the people who went into the water have been accounted for.

Team New Zealand First Syndicate to Win the America’s Cup Three Times in a Row

The  team led by Grant Dalton  won its third consecutive cup, adding to wins in 2017 in Bermuda and 2021 in Auckland. That made Team New Zealand the first syndicate to win the America’s Cup three times in a row.

New Zealand’s eight-man crew embraced and cheered on the deck of the 75-foot Taihoro after holding Britannia off to win Race 9.

Russian Man Rescued After 67 Days Adrift on Sea of Okhotsk

Sixty-seven days later, when the crew of the fishing vessel spotted the inflatable on their radar, only Mikhail Pichugin had survived. The boat was drifting about 11 nautical miles off Kamchatka’s shore, about 1,000 kilometers (about 540 nautical miles) from their departure point on the other side of the Sea of Okhotsk.

Happy Belated Birthday US Navy – Whenever and Wherever the Date and Place May Be

Over the years, the founding of the Navy has been celebrated on various dates — the most common being either March 27th, the day in 1794 when the Congress authorized the construction of five frigates , or April 30th, the day in 1798 when the Navy Department was first established. Continue reading →

Columbus, Eratosthenes & Posidonius

Eratosthenes

Happy Columbus Day to those who celebrate in the United States and Happy Thanksgiving to those in Canada.

On Columbus Day, it seems appropriate to consider the role of error in discovery. An updated repost.

While many of us were taught in school that Columbus proved that the world was round , that is a rather shoddy myth. The ancient Greeks understood that the world was round by the 6 century BCE.

Indeed the  Libyan mathematician, Eratosthenes , calculated the circumference of the globe to be 250,000 stadia. Let’s put aside the fact that no one agrees on the length of a stadia, literally the length of a stadium.  If one uses the Egyptian stadia, Eratosthenes’ estimate of 25,000 miles came within just 100 miles over the actual circumference at the equator (24,901 miles).  Eratosthenes, in fact, made several mathematical errors but they cancelled out. Continue reading →

Endurance — New Documentary Reveals Shackleton’s Ship as Never Seen Before

The documentary includes a 3D digital scan of Sir Ernest Shackleton ‘s ship, created from 25,000 high-resolution images taken after the ship was found in 2022. The 3D scan, by Falklands Maritime Heritage Trust , reveals amazing details about the ship that sank in 1915 and lies 3,000m down at the bottom of the Weddell Sea. The documentary tells the story of Shackleton’s ill-fated voyage, as well as that of the expedition that discovered the wreck of the Endurance.

The BBC notes that the 3D scan was made using underwater robots that mapped the wreck from every angle, taking thousands of photographs. These were then “stitched” together to create a digital twin.

Google AI Tracks Mysterious Deep Sea “Biotwang” to Help Study Bryde’s Whale

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has partnered with Google AI to analyze an ocean of long-term passive acoustic data. Using AI and machine learning, they have analyzed in hours what would otherwise take decades to process.

In 2014, an  Oregon State University autonomous seaglider survey  in the Mariana Archipelago heard a new sound: a mechanical-sounding whale vocalization. They called it a “ Biotwang .”

Without visual observers to identify the source of the sound, they guessed that it might be made by a baleen whale, but could not determine the species.

In 2018, NOAA scientists conducted a visual and acoustic survey of marine mammals in the Mariana Archipelago. During the month-long survey, they spotted 10 different groups of Bryde’s whales . In nine of those groups, they also recorded Biotwangs—solving the mystery of the source of the unique call.

New Zealand Navy Support Vessel Grounds & Sinks off Samoa, All Onboard Rescued

All 75 people on board were evacuated onto lifeboats and rescued early on Sunday, New Zealand’s Defence Force said in a statement. Officials said the cause of the grounding was unknown and will be investigated.

The reef being mapped had not been surveyed since 1987. The vessel is the first New Zealand naval vessel to be unintentionally sunk since the Second World War and the first to be lost in peacetime.

Tentative Agreement Ends ILA Port Strike After 3 Days

The International Longshoremen’s Association and the United States Maritime Alliance, Ltd. have reached a tentative agreement on wages and have agreed to extend the Master Contract until January 15, 2025 to return to the bargaining table to negotiate all other outstanding issues. Effective immediately, all current job actions will cease and all work covered by the Master Contract will resume.

Day 2 of ILA Port Strike & the Maritime Origin of the Term “Strike”

The two sides are attempting to negotiate a six-year master contract between ILA port workers   employed in container and roll-on/roll-off operations, and the US Maritime Alliance , known as USMX, representing shipping firms, port associations, and marine terminal operators.

More than a third of US exports and imports could be affected by the strike, hitting the nation’s economic growth to the tune of at least $4.5bn each week of the strike, according to Grace Zemmer, an associate US economist at Oxford Economics, though others have estimated the economic hit could be higher, according to the BBC .

Labor actions have a long history in the maritime trades. The first recorded use of the word “ strike ” to describe a labor protest dates to April of 1768 when sailors in the Port of Sunderland in Great Britain announced that they would “strike the topsails” of merchant ships to prevent them from sailing unless wages were increased. The ship owners subsequently agreed to their demands.

Yacht Builder’s Rogue Lawyer Fired After Filing €222 Million Suit Against Bayesian Crew & Widow

Immediately after the sinking,  Giovanni Costantino, CEO of TISG, described the vessel as “unsinkable” and claimed that a series of “indescribable, unreasonable errors” by the crew led to the shipwreck.

The lawsuit filed on Friday by Bertuccelli alleges that TISG has already lost business due to the sinking , including a well-known fashion house that retracted plans to launch its branding on the company’s yachts.

Update: SS United States Docking Dispute in Philadelphia Heads to Mediation

CBS News reports that a federal magistrate judge will oversee mediation between SS United States Conservancy, the operators of Pier 82 in Philadelphia and officials from Okaloosa County, Florida, a judge ruled in a virtual hearing Friday.

In a hearing on Zoom on Friday morning, the federal judge said this is the best option going forward.

USS New Jersey, First Coed Submarine, Commissioned

The US Navy has allowed women to serve on US Navy submarines for more than a decade. In 2010, Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates lifted the ban on females serving aboard US submarines. A year later, the first female officers began reporting for duty on Ohio-class ballistic missile submarines.

What sets the USS New Jersey apart is that it is the first of its kind to be designed from the keel up with specific modifications for gender integration.

Gotham Whale Fundraiser Whale Watch, Saturday, September 21st

If you would like to learn more, while enjoying food, dessert, and craft beer, plus 3 hours of whale watching, Jersey Shore Whale Watch is hosting a Gotham Whale fundraiser and cruise from Belmar, NJ on Saturday, September 21st. Tickets are $75/person, which includes an afterparty at the dock and a Gotham Whale t-shirt. You can buy tickets here or scan the QR code below.

On the 23rd Anniversary of 9/11, Remembering the Great New York Boatlift

The great New York boatlift was part of the “miracle and wonder.” The wholly unplanned boatlift was the spontaneous maritime evacuation of an estimated 500,000 people trapped in Lower Manhattan in less than 10 hours. The boatlift has been under-reported by the media, which is all the more reason to remember the mariners of New York who stepped up to perform what has been called the largest sea rescue in history.