Secrets of Ancient Navigators: Current and wind

By Peter Tyson



Currents may be invisible to the untrained, but not to seasoned mariners. Photo credit: © Clicks/iStockphoto.com

One of these was currents. From time immemorial, journeys have been made or broken by these undersea winds. The western-trending currents of the Indian Ocean, for one, are likely responsible for the Indonesian-based race of Madagascar, an African island more than 3,500 miles from the nearest bit of Indonesia. Similarly, the clockwise currents in the North Atlantic helped doom one of the greatest land scams in history: Erik the Red's colonization scheme for the island he cleverly dubbed "Greenland." Of the 25 ships that sailed west from Norway in the year 990, only 14 arrived.

The father of those North Atlantic currents—the Gulf Stream—was named by none other than Benjamin Franklin. While deputy Postmaster-General of Great Britain in the 18th century, Franklin noticed that his mail ships to the American colonies took longer than whaling ships. Questioning whalers, he learned of a powerful current originating from the Gulf of Mexico—hence his name for it—and sweeping northeast into the North Atlantic (and, incidentally, giving the British Isles a climate positively balmy for such a northern latitude).

Like currents, trade winds have always been important to mariners. Those blowing heads on yellowed old maps were not mere decoration. In the Indian Ocean, for example, Indian traders over the ages have ridden the northeast monsoon to Africa in the cool, dry winter and taken the southwest monsoon back to the subcontinent in the hot, wet summer. To make their annual voyages from Tahiti to Hawaii, a journey of several thousand miles, the Polynesians hitched a ride on the prevailing south-easterly wind, setting a starboard tack and sailing northeast. 


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Notable Globe Trotters in History: Christopher Columbus. 1451 -1506.




Few could dispute Christopher Columbus’s status as a notable historical figure, but as a navigator he was a disaster. His discovery of the New World on his 1492 voyage is all the more remarkable given that he had only the vaguest notion of where he was or where he was going.

Using a collection of fanciful charts and his own wildly inaccurate calculations, Columbus was convinced just 3,666 kilometers separated Asia from Western World – a quarter of the actual distance – and that he could open up a lucrative route to Asia.

His certainty that he’d found Asia and his insistence on calling the region West Indies created a misnomer that survives until today.

Still, Columbus deserves credit for his innovative thinking and for embracing emerging technologies

200-year-old shipwreck found in Gulf of Mexico




NEW ORLEANS (AP) — An oil company exploration crew's chance discovery of a 200-year-old shipwreck in a little-charted stretch of the Gulf of Mexico is yielding a trove of new information to scientists who say it's one of the most well-preserved old wrecks ever found in the Gulf.

"When we saw it we were all just astonished because it was beautifully preserved, and by that I mean for a 200-year-old shipwreck," said Jack Irion, maritime archaeologist with the Department of the Interior's Bureau of Ocean Energy Management in New Orleans.

Video shows muskets and gin bottles littering the Gulf bottom, along with sea life mingling in the wreck.

Scientists say the ship is about 200 miles off the northern Gulf coast and about 4,000 feet deep. The depth has kept it largely undisturbed during two centuries of storms and hurricanes. And although most of the ship's wood dissolved long ago, the copper hull and its contents remain in place.




On This Day In Maritime History

June 17, 1885: State of Liberty Arrives in New York Harbor 

One this day the French frigate, Isère delivered the Statue of Liberty in 350 pieces, packed in 200 cases. The copper and iron statue took four months to reassemble 





UFO in Baltic Sea?


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Team Ocean Explorer finds UFO in Baltic




Swedish scientists plan to explore a mystery ripped straight from the “The X-Files.”

Rather than Mulder and Scully, this adventure features Swedish researchers Peter Lindberg and Dennis Asberg. They too know the truth is out there -- and in mere days plan to visit what they call the “Baltic Anomaly.”

Last summer, while on a treasure hunt between Sweden and Finland, the pair and their research associates made headlines worldwide with the discovery of a 200-foot wide unidentified object at the bottom of the Baltic Sea. Now a team of oceanographers, engineers and deep sea divers will return to the site Friday, June 1, for a 6 to 10 day trip.

They want to find out once and for all what it really is.

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Captain's Diary ... Hey, who says that Two in five seafarers are snoozing while on watch due to fatigue?



According to a study carried out by a group of Marine Professionals on seafarer fatigue, it has been found that two in five seafarers might be snoozing while on watch.

The study included seafarers who were on" six on, six off" watch and others on" four on, eight off" watch regime.

It was also noted that this does not occur during 6.00 to 12.00 watch but possibilities are, it could be at very high levels on midnight to 4.00 AM watch.

My own thought: less number of crew and very heavy work loads -- fatigue is an ultimate result.

Who will do and what? We will wait and see!!!

Olympic flame braves stormy seas, departs Ireland

 




The Olympic flame braved stormy seas and heavy rain Thursday on its final day in Ireland. Eorann O'Neill, a 16-year-old swimming enthusiast, was given the honor of bearing the flame in a lantern on its 9-mile (15-kilometer) voyage. Eorann said the storm made the crossing much choppier than expected but, donning a life-preserving vest, she kept waving at well-wishers all along the shoreline and in a flotilla of accompanying boats.


LIFE ON SHIP - by Zalmer Caballero




 
Life on ship, Everyday is always Monday

Working day and night even in holiday

Weather is bad, never mind that.

With God's guidance I'm prepared for that.

Thinking of family miles away.

Hoping they are safe and happy every day.

Keep away my only love on temptations.

And she will love me faithfully.

I've travelled oceans and many seas.

I meet different people, different faces.

This is the good moment I will ever miss.

Proud to myself I experience like this.

Here I go again, packing my clothes and preparing.

Completed my contract and to go home again.

Tell the people what I have seen.


Not a very good time for Cruise ships operated by Costa Crociere:


Cruise ship Costa Allegra has had to be towed to safety following the fire broke out and the ship had been without power. This had happened in March,2012, about 200 nm miles SW of Seychelles in the Indian Ocean.

The ship had been towed to Port Victoria. Instead of using the two tugs went in there for assistance the Captian had opted to use a fishing vessel to tow his ship to Port Victoria.

The action of the Captain had allegedly delayed the arrival of the ship in the port by about 15 hours, extending the misery of the passengers and crew:no air conditioning, no  working showers in toilets and no hot food.

Good news is no any casualties, except that one woman has had a broken ankle.How did that happen???

Nevertheless, she is said to be under good care and will be home soon."

On arrival at the port passengers have been taken to local hotels and had been offered flights home.

What a great Island it must be;some passengers have extended their stay in Seychelles.




More Details Here

Fleet Week Celebration in New York!


Leona Mynes / US Navy / Sipa USA 

Sailors line the mast of the tall ship ARC Gloria, the official flagship of the Colombian Navy, while arriving for the 25th annual Fleet Week celebration in New York

Keith Bedford / Reuters

 U.S. Marine Corps and navy personnel stand at the rails of the USS Wasp during its entry into the New York Harbor for Fleet Week