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Author Topic: This Day In 'Boating' History  (Read 206401 times)

Capt Podge

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Re: This Day In 'Boating' History
« Reply #175 on: March 01, 2013, 12:33:16 am »

Saturday, 1st March 1941   The minesweeping trawler 'St Donats' sank after a collision (with destroyer HMS Cotswold) off the Humber.
 
 Sunday, 1st March 1942   'SS Audacity' (589t) tanker, Humber to London, was sunk by a mine off the Wash.
 
'SS Polgarth' (794t) cargo ship, Blyth to Southampton with coal, was sunk by a mine, SW of Aldeburgh.
 
 
Regards,
 
Ray.
 
 
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ardarossan

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This Day In 'Boating' History - March 1st
« Reply #176 on: March 01, 2013, 08:34:32 pm »

March 1st...

1565: The city of Rio de Janeiro proper was founded by the Portuguese on this day in 1555 and named 'São Sebastião do Rio de Janeiro', in honour of St. Sebastian, the saint who was the namesake and patron of the then Portuguese Monarch D. Sebastião.
Rio de Janeiro (River of January) was actually the name of Guanabara Bay.1709: H.M.S. 'Assurance', H.M.S. 'Assistance', and H.M.S. 'Anglesea' and consort, escorting a convoy engaged four French ships off the Lizard, Cornwall.
 
1954: 'Castle Bravo', was the codename for the first test of a dry fuel thermonuclear hydrogen bomb at Bikini Atoll, Marshall Islands. The supposedly secret test of the nuclear device, named "Shrimp", was the most powerful ever detonated by the U.S. with a yield of 15 megatons of TNT, far exceeding the expected yield of 4 to 6 megatons. It resulted in the worst radioactive contamination ever caused by the U.S.
Three weeks after the Bikini bomb it emerged that a Japanese fishing boat, called 'Lucky Dragon No. 5', was within 80 miles of the test zone at the time. Its 23 crew were severely affected by radiation sickness.


The blast from the supposedly-secret 'Castle Bravo' test, Bikini Atoll, 1st March 1954.

1942: South of Cape Race, Newfoundland, German U-boat U-656 was sunk with all hands by depth charges dropped by a United States Navy Lockheed Hudson of patrol squadron VP-82. U-656 became the first U-boat to be sunk by the U.S. forces in World War II.

1998: 'Titanic', the epic romantic disaster film directed, written, co-produced, and co-edited by James Cameron, became the first film to gross over $1 billion worldwide.


'Titanic' Promotional Poster

1999: On the beach, near Coos Bay Oregon, the front section of the battered, burned, blown-up and broken, dry bulk-freighter 'New Carissa', is buoyed by the high tide. The tugboat 'Sea Victory' drags the bow over a sandbar and more than 900 ft into the waves. Officials say a pull of another 400 ft will get it into water deep enough for its bottom to clear the beach. Then it will be towed out to sea, initially followed by an oil skimmer vessel, the OSRV 'Oregon Responder' (below).


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Capt Podge

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Re: This Day In 'Boating' History
« Reply #177 on: March 02, 2013, 12:42:42 am »

Saturday, 2nd March 1940   'SS Albano' (1,176t) struck a mine and sank with the loss of nine lives, 7.6 miles from Coquet Island she lies in 22 metres of water at 55°15'17"N - 01°22'21"W. She was built in 1912.
 
'SS Elziena' (200t) was sunk by German bombers about 5 miles E of Coquet Island at 55°21'00"N - 01°24'00"W and now lies in 160 ft of water.
 
Regards,
 
Ray.
 
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ardarossan

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This Day In 'Boating' History - March 2nd
« Reply #178 on: March 02, 2013, 11:09:54 pm »

March 2nd...

1484: The College of Arms was formally incorporated by Royal Charter signed by King Richard III of England. The College of Arms or Herald's College is a royal corporation consisting of professional officers of arms, with jurisdiction over England, Wales, Northern Ireland and some Commonwealth realms. The heralds are appointed by the British Sovereign and are delegated authority to act on her behalf in all matters of heraldry, the granting of new coats of arms, genealogical research and the recording of pedigrees. The College is also the official body responsible for matters relating to the flying of flags on land, and it maintains the official registers of flags and other national symbols. Though a part of the Royal Household of the United Kingdom the College is self-financed, unsupported by any public funds.


The Coat of Arms of the College of Arms

1709: Whilst escorting a convoy, H.M.S. 'Assurance', H.M.S. 'Assistance', H.M.S. 'Anglesea' and consort, engage four French ships off the Lizard, Cornwall.

1776: The Battle of the Rice Boats, also called the Battle of Yamacraw Bluff takes place in and around the Savannah River on the border between the Province of Georgia and the Province of South Carolina on March 2nd and 3rd, 1776. The land and naval battle pitted the Patriot militia from Georgia and South Carolina against a small fleet of the Royal Navy, in need of rice and supplies for the besieged British army in Boston. The arrival of this fleet prompted the colonial rebels who controlled the Georgia government to arrest the British Royal Governor, James Wright, and to resist the British seizure and removal of supply ships anchored at Savannah. Some of the supply ships were burned to prevent their seizure, some were recaptured, but most were successfully taken by the British.

1811: The naval engagement known as The Battle of San Nicolás takes place on the Paraná River, between the Spanish royalists from Montevideo, and the first flotilla created by the revolutionary government of Buenos Aires. It was the first engagement between the two fleets in the River Plate region since the revolution. It was a royalist victory.


Battle of San Nicolás

1943: Over the next two days, the 'Battle of the Bismarck Sea', takes place in the South West Pacific during World War II. Over the course of the battle, aircraft of the U.S. Fifth Air Force and the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) attacked a Japanese convoy that was carrying troops to Lae, New Guinea. Most of the task force was destroyed, and Japanese troop losses were heavy.


Allied aircraft execute a low level attack on a Japanese ship during the Battle of the Bismarck Sea, March, 1943

1969: The supersonic airliner, Concorde, flies for the first time The Anglo-French plane took off from Toulouse and was in the air for just 27 minutes before the pilot made the decision to land. The first pilot, Andre Turcat, said on his return to the airport: "Finally the big bird flies, and I can say now that it flies pretty well." The test flight reached 10,000ft (3,000m), but Concorde's speed never rose above 300mph.


Maiden flight of Concorde prototype 001 (built by Aerospatiale, Toulouse, France). 2nd March 1969
 

1999: At last, almost a month after the 639ft dry-bulk freighter 'New Carissa' came ashore on the beach, near Coos Bay, Oregon, the front 400ft of her is being towed out to sea. Unfortunately, a storm is building-up which forces OSRV 'Oregon Responder', the trailing oil-skimmer, back to port.
Worse is yet to come though, at 5:18 p.m. and around  40 miles out, the towline snaps amid, what is now, one of the fiercest storms of the winter. The 'Sea Victory' puts out an alert that the 'New Carissa' is "freedrifting" on a north-northeast course at 6 mph...


'New Carissa', freedrifting at 6 m.p.h. on this day in 1999.
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ardarossan

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This Day In 'Boating' History - March 3rd
« Reply #179 on: March 03, 2013, 04:59:16 pm »

March 3rd...

1776: During the American Revolutionary War, the first amphibious landing of the United States Marine Corps begins the Battle of Nassau (3rd/4th March 1776).
The naval action and amphibious assault by American forces against the British port of Nassau, Bahamas, is considered the first cruise and one of the first engagements of the newly established Continental Navy and the Continental Marines, the progenitors of the United States Navy and Marine Corps. The action was also the Marines' first amphibious landing. It is sometimes known as the Raid of Nassau.


New Providence Raid, March 1776. Oil painting on canvas by V. Zveg, 1973.

1885: The American Telephone & Telegraph Company is incorporated in New York.

1915: NACA, the predecessor of NASA, is founded. On October 1, 1958, the agency was dissolved, and its assets and personnel transferred to the newly created National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

1938: Oil is discovered in Saudi Arabia, near the village of Damman. The discovery would turn out to be first of many, eventually revealing the largest source of crude oil in the world. Limited exports would begin in 1939, and pick up significantly with the end of World War II.

1940: The R.M.S. Queen Elizabeth begins her maiden voyage on the morning of 3rd March.  Painted battleship grey, she quietly left her moorings in the Clyde, sailing out of the river and down the coast where she was met by the King's Messenger who presented the captain with sealed orders.
The captain discovered that he was to take the untested vessel directly to New York without stopping, without dropping off the Southampton harbour pilot who had embarked on Queen Elizabeth from Clydebank and to maintain strict radio silence.


'Queen Elizabeth', beginning her 'secret' maiden voyage,
from Clydebank to New York in March 1940.

1944: The Order of Nakhimov (below left), and the Order of Ushakov (below right) are instituted in USSR as the highest naval awards.
The Order of Nakhimov is named in honour of Russian admiral Pavel Nakhimov (1802 - 1855) and bestowed to naval officers for outstanding military leadership.
The Order of Ushakov is in honour of admiral Fyodor Ushakov (1744 - 1817) who never lost a battle and was proclaimed patron saint of the Russian Navy. It is bestowed to commend grade naval officers for outstanding leadership.


1960: The Skate-class nuclear submarine U.S.S. 'Sargo' returned to Pearl Harbour, Hawaii, from an Arctic cruise of 11,000 miles, of which 6,003 miles were under the polar ice, reaching the North Pole on 9th February. This cruise marked the first time that a submarine explored the Arctic in winter, and with new data on Arctic ice, Arctic waters, and the physiography of the Arctic Basin, 'Sargo' earned the Navy Unit Commendation, the second highest award possible for a ship of the U.S. Navy.

1980: U.S.S. 'Nautilus' (SSN-571), the world's first operational nuclear-powered submarine is decommissioned and stricken from the Naval Vessel Register. Sharing names with the submarine in Jules Verne's Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, and named after another U.S.S. Nautilus (SS-168) that served with distinction in World War II, 'Nautilus' was authorized in 1951 and launched in 1954.
She was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1982, and has been preserved at the U.S. Submarine Force Museum and Library at Groton, Connecticut.


U.S.S. 'Nautilus', permanently docked at the Submarine Force Library and Museum, Groton, Ct.

1999: Yesterday, the tug 'Salvage Chief', and her tow, the front 400ft section of the 'New Carissa', the former dry-bulk freighter that ran aground and broke in two near Coos Bay Harbour, are around 40 miles or so out to sea when they are caught in 'one of the fiercest storms of the winter'. As a result, the towline failed, and the bow of 'New Carissa' was drifting freely.
The bow section would float on the tide for he next fourteen hours until, at around sunrise today, it ran aground near Waldport, Oregon, and started to leak again.


The bow section of 'New Carissa', aground and leaking,
Nr. Alsea Bay Bridge, Waldport, Oregon, March 1999.
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ardarossan

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This Day In 'Boating' History - March 4th...
« Reply #180 on: March 04, 2013, 12:14:03 am »

March 4th...

1824: The 'National Institution for the Preservation of Life from Shipwreck' is founded as a charity on 4th March 1824 by Sir William Hillary, with Royal Patronage from King George IV of Great Britain and Ireland.

It was given the prefix "Royal" and the name is changed to the 'Royal National Lifeboat Institution' in 1854 by Queen Victoria of Great Britain and Ireland.

The Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) saves lives at sea around the coasts of Great Britain, Ireland, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man, as well as on selected inland waterways.

The RNLI has saved more than 140,000 lives since its foundation.


The rescue of the crew of the Daunt Lightship by the Ballycotton lifeboat 'Mary Stanford'.
An oil painting by B. F. Gribble RBC SMA (10th May 1872 - 21st February 1962)

RNLI Motto: Train one, Save many.

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ardarossan

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This Day In 'Boating' History - March 4th
« Reply #181 on: March 04, 2013, 09:09:58 pm »

March 4... March Forth!

1394: Infante Henry of Portugal, Duke of Viseu, was born in Porto. Better known as Henry the Navigator, he was the third child of King John I of Portugal, founder of the Aviz dynasty, and of Philippa of Lancaster, the sister of King Henry IV of England.
Henry would become s an important figure in the early days of the Portuguese Empire and the Age of Discoveries in total. He was responsible for the early development of Portuguese exploration and maritime trade with other continents.

1493: The first voyage of Christopher Columbus: As Columbus returns to Europe from his voyage, to (what is now) The Bahamas and other islands in the Caribbean, a storm forces him to shelter in Lisbon, where he anchored his ship 'Niña' next to the King's harbour patrol ship on 4th March 1493 in  After spending more than one week in Portugal, he set sail for Spain. He crossed the bar of Saltes and entered the harbour of Palos on 15th March 1493.


A present-day replica of Columbus' ship, 'Niña'.

1519: Spanish conquistador, Hernan Cortes arrives off the coast of Yucatan peninsula, Mexico where he will learn of the Aztec civilization, its wealth and its ruler, Montezuma. Cortés made a peaceful stop at Cozumel, received Gerónimo de Aguilar, and continued on to Tabasco and Veracruz, for the conquest of Mexico, Montejo being one of his captains.

1665: English King Charles II declares war on the Netherlands marking the start of the Second Anglo-Dutch War. The first encounter between the nations would be at sea on 13 June, with the Battle of Lowestoft.
 
1675: John Flamsteed, FRS, was appointed by royal warrant "The King's Astronomical Observator" - the first English Astronomer Royal, with an allowance of £100 a year. In June 1675, another royal warrant provided for the founding of the Royal Greenwich Observatory, and Flamsteed laid the foundation stone in August. In time, he would catalogue over 3000 stars.


John Flamsteed, FRS (1646 – 1719).

1890: The 1.5 mile Forth Railway Bridge in Scotland, the world’s first major steel bridge is formally completed when HRH Edward Prince of Wales tapped into place a ‘golden’ rivet.
In the First World War returning British sailors would time their departures or returns to the base at Rosyth by asking when they would pass under the bridge. This practice continued at least up to the 1990's.


The Forth Rail Bridge seen from the promenade in South Queensferry.

1918: The U.S.S. 'Cyclops' (AC-4), one of four Proteus-class colliers built several years before WW1, departs from Barbados and is never seen again. The loss of the ship and 306 crew and passengers without a trace within the area known as the Bermuda Triangle some time after 4th March 1918 remains the single largest loss of life in U.S. Naval history not directly involving combat.
The Naval History & Heritage Command has stated she "probably sank in an unexpected storm" but the cause is unknown.


U.S.S. 'Cyclops' on the Hudson River, 1911

1941: Codenamed 'Operation Claymore',  British Commandos with a Royal Engineers Section and 52 men from the Royal Norwegian Navy landed on the Lofoten Islands in Norway. Supported by the 6th Destroyer Flotilla and two troop transports of the Royal Navy, the force made an unopposed landing and generally met no opposition, as they systematically destroyed the fish oil factories and some 800,000 imperial gallons of oil and glycerine which was being used in the German war industry.
Perhaps the most significant outcome of the raid, however, was the capture of a set of rotor wheels for an Enigma cypher machine and its code books from the German armed trawler Krebs. This enabled German naval codes to be read at Bletchley Park, providing the intelligence needed to allow allied convoys to avoid U-boat concentrations.


The view of the burning oil tanks, as seen from H.M.S. Legion, 4th March 1941.

1943: The Battle of the Bismarck Sea (March 2nd - March 4th) comes to an end in the South West Pacific

1960: The 4,310-ton French freighter 'La Coubre', carrying 76 tons of Belgian munitions, exploded at 15:10hrs while it was being unloaded in Havana harbor, Cuba. The death toll was between 75 and 100 people with more than 200 people injured.
The explosion is often attributed to the CIA who wished to overthrow the new government of Fidel Castro. The relevant files in the USA are currently sealed under a 150-year embargo.

1970: While French Daphné-class submarine 'Eurydice' (S644) was diving in calm seas off Cape Camarat in the Mediterranean, 35 miles east of Toulon, a geophysical laboratory picked up the shock waves of an underwater explosion. French and Italian search teams found an oil slick and a few bits of debris, including a parts tag that bore the name Eurydice. The cause of the explosion was never determined. All 57 crew were lost.


'Daphné class submarine Flore', sister-ship of the 'Eurydice'

1999: Clean-up crews work on the beaches in Waldport, Oregon, after the unexpected arrival of the bow section of the dry-bulk freighter 'New Carissa', whilst officials draw up new plans to tow the leaking bow out to sea again, for scuttling.
Meanwhile, the stern section remains stuck on the beach at North Bend, near Coos Bay Habour, approximately 80-miles South from Waldport. 


Coming to a beach near you soon?! - Clean-up crews working on the beach
near the bow of the 'New Carissa', at Waldport, Oregon.
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Capt Podge

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Re: This Day In 'Boating' History
« Reply #182 on: March 04, 2013, 11:36:30 pm »

Tuesday, 4th March 1941   'SS Anonity' (303t) cargo ship, Middlesbrough to Boston, Lincs, sunk by a mine near Skegness. Four of her crew were lost.
 
 
Regards,
 
Ray.
 
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ardarossan

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This Day In 'Boating' History - March 4th
« Reply #183 on: March 04, 2013, 11:47:03 pm »

March 4th...

1853: Admiral Sir Thomas Bladen Capel, GCB RN, (25 August 1776 - 4 March 1853), died at his home in Rutland Gate, London.
He was an officer in the British Royal Navy whose distinguished service in the French Revolutionary War, the Napoleonic Wars and the War of 1812 earned him rapid promotion and great acclaim both in and out of the Navy. He was also a great friend of Admiral Nelson and can be considered a full member of Nelson's "band of brothers".
He was buried in Kensal Green cemetery in a family plot, later joined by his wife Dame Harriet Capel. Their grave can still be seen and is largely still legible.

1899: Cyclone Mahina struck Bathurst Bay, Australia and the surrounding region with a devastating storm surge.
Within an hour, the Thursday Island based pearling fleet was either driven onto the shore or onto the Great Barrier Reef or sunk at their anchorages. Four schooners and the manned Channel Rock lightship were lost. A further two schooners were wrecked but later refloated. Of the luggers, 54 were lost and a further 12 were wrecked but refloated. Over 30 survivors of the wrecked vessels were later rescued from the shore however over 307 were killed, mostly immigrant non-European crew members.
To date, the death toll is the the largest of any natural disaster in Australian history.
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ardarossan

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This Day In 'Boating' History - March 5th
« Reply #184 on: March 05, 2013, 09:20:13 pm »

March 5th...
         
1496: King Henry VII of England issues letters patent to Italian navigator & explorer John Cabot  (Zuan Chabotto) and his sons, authorising them to explore unknown lands (As passage below).

"...free authority, faculty and power to sail to all parts, regions and coasts of the eastern, western and northern sea, under our banners, flags and ensigns, with five ships or vessels of whatsoever burden and quality they may be, and with so many and with such mariners and men as they may wish to take with them in the said ships, at their own proper costs and charges, to find, discover and investigate whatsoever islands, countries, regions or provinces of heathens and infidels, in whatsoever part of the world placed, which before this time were unknown to all Christians."

1616: Nicolaus Copernicus's book, 'De revolutionibus orbium coelestium' is placed on the Index of Forbidden Books and withdrawn from circulation by the Catholic Church, pending "corrections" in order that his opinion (i.e. the earth moves and the sun is motionless) may not creep any further to the prejudice of Catholic truth.

1829: The last survivor of the H.M.S. 'Bounty' mutineers, John Adams, died on Pitcairn Island, South Pacific, aged 61 years. 
John Adams' grave on Pitcairn is the only known grave site of a 'Bounty' mutineer. It has a replacement headstone, the original lead-covered wooden grave marker having been taken back to Britain where it is now on display in the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, London.
The main settlement and capital of Pitcairn, Adamstown, is named for John Adams.

1850: The Britannia Rail Bridge across the Menai Strait is opened. Connecting the Isle of Anglesey to the mainland of Wales, the bridge provided a direct rail link between London and the port of Holyhead.
Designed and built by Robert Stephenson, the tubular bridge of wrought iron rectangular box-section spans, fulfilled the requirements that during construction the strait remain accessible to shipping, and on completion it would be sufficiently stiff to support the heavy loading associated with trains.
Following a fire in 1970 it was rebuilt as a two-tier steel truss arch bridge, carrying both road and rail traffic.


The Britannia Rail Bridge early 1900's. Note the two ornamental lions guarding the entrance to the bridge. There is also a pair of lions at the opposite side, although they are all now unseen, being below the level of the road deck.

1916: Assigned to the Barcelona-Buenos Aires line, the Glasgow-built SS 'Príncipe de Asturias' was, at the time, one of the largest steamships in the Spanish merchant fleet. Shortly before dawn on 5th March, whilst trying to approach the port of Santos in dense fog, she struck the jagged reefs along the Brazilian coast at Ponta Boi and sank quickly. At least 445 people out of 588 aboard lost their lives, being probably the biggest single-incident maritime loss of lives since the sinking of RMS Empress of Ireland in May 1914.


Spanish liner 'Príncipe de Asturias'

1922: Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton, CVO, OBE, FRGS (15th February 1874 - 5th January 1922) was buried in the Grytviken cemetery, South Georgia, after a short service in the Lutheran church.
The expedition's physician, Alexander Macklin, wrote in his diary: "I think this is as "the Boss" would have had it himself, standing lonely in an island far from civilisation, surrounded by stormy tempestuous seas, & in the vicinity of one of his greatest exploits."
Prior to Shackleton's burial, a memorial service was held for him with full military honours at Holy Trinity Church, Montevideo, and on 2nd March a service was held at St Paul's Cathedral, London, at which the King and other members of the royal family were represented.


Sir Ernest Shackleton's grave in Grytviken, South Georgia.

1942: At 23:07hrs, whilst carrying 8,539 tons of general cargo, including silver bullion, pig iron and rubber, from Bombay to Oban, the unescorted British merchant vessel, SS 'Benmohr' was torpedoed and sunk  by German subnarine U-505, about 210 miles south-southwest of Freetown, West Africa. The master, 51 crew members and four gunners were rescued by a British Sunderland flying boat (Sqdn. 95) and landed at Freetown.
U-505 was eventually captured in 1944. After years of neglect, she is now fully restored and on display in an underground, climate-controlled environment at the the Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago, IL.

1943: U.S.S. 'Bogue' (ACV-9) begins the first anti-submarine operations by a carrier, specifically assigned to (Atlantic) convoy escort duty.


U.S.S. 'Bogue' (ACV-9) underway near Norfolk, 20th June 1943.

1981: The ZX81, a pioneering British home computer, is launched by Sinclair Research. It would go on to sell over 1.5 million units around the world.

1999: Salvagers are going to attempt to pull the bow section of the broken wood-chip freighter 'New Carissa', off the beach at Waldport Oregon later this week. If all goes according to plan, she will be towed out to sea and scuttled.
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This Day In 'Boating' History - March 6th
« Reply #185 on: March 06, 2013, 04:47:41 am »

March 6th...   'Herald of Free Enterprise' - The Zeebrugge Ferry Disaster.
 
1987: With her bow ballast tanks filled to facilitate loading, Townsend Thoresen RO-RO ferry, 'Herald of Free Enterprise', left her berth in Zeebrugge inner harbour at 18:05 (GMT), whilst untrimmed and with her bow doors open.

Carrying 80 crew members, 459 passengers, and 131 assorted vehicles, she passed the outer mole at 18:24hrs, and started to build speed. As soon as she reached 18.9 knots, seawater began flooding the car deck.

The subsequent free surface effect destroyed her stability and she developed a 30-degrees list to port. Righting herself briefly, she listed to port once more and capsized. Almost immediately, both main and emergency electrical systems failed, which left the ship in darkness.

The 'Herald of Free Enterprise' ended on it's side, half-submerged in 'shallow' water, approx half-a-mile from shore. Only a fortuitous turn to starboard in her last moments, and capsizing onto a sandbar, prevented the ship from sinking entirely in much deeper water.

The entire event took place within 90 seconds. It would result in the loss of 193 passengers and crew.

The disaster would bring about improvements to the design of RO-RO vessels, with watertight ramps, bow-doors indicators, and the banning of undivided decks.

After so much adverse publicity, Townsend Thoresen was renamed P&O European Ferries.


Spirit-class RORO Ferry 'Herald of Free Enterprise'.

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ardarossan

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Re: This Day In 'Boating' History
« Reply #186 on: March 06, 2013, 07:51:55 pm »

March 6th...

1475: Michelangelo was born on 6th March 1475 in Caprese near Arezzo, Tuscany. At the time of Michelangelo's birth, his father, Ludovico di Leonardo di Buonarotto Simoni, was the town's Judicial administrator. Michelangelo's mother was Francesca di Neri del Miniato di Siena.
Michelangelo would become a world renowned Renaissance sculptor, painter, architect, poet, and engineer and who exert an unparalleled influence on the development of Western art.

1521: 'Magellan's Voyage around the World (1519-1522): The three remaining ships, of the five that set out from Spain under the command of Ferdinand Magellan, reach the Marianas and Guam. Magellan called Guam the "Island of Sails" because they saw a lot of sailboats. They renamed it to "Ladrones Island" (Island of Thieves) because many of Trinidad's small boats were stolen there.


       

1706: (Admiral Sir) George Pocock (KB, RN) is born in Chieveley, Berkshire. The son of Thomas Pocock, a chaplain in the navy. George Pocock would enter the navy in 1718, serving aboard H.M.S. 'Superb'. Eventually holding several positions as an officer until, in 1761, he would be made a Knight of the Bath and admiral.

1788: Following the arrival of the First Fleet at Port Jackson in January 1788, Arthur Phillip ordered Lieutenant Philip Gidley King to lead a party of 15 convicts and seven free men to take control of Norfolk Island and prepare for its commercial development. On 6th March 1788, King and his party arrived, but landed with difficulty, owing to the lack of a suitable harbour.

1836: Voyage of H.M.S. Beagle (1831-36): The 'Beagle' arrived at King George's Sound at the town of Albany, in Prince Royal Harbor, about 250 miles south-east of Perth, and remained there for eight days. Darwin was not very impressed with the landscape, it was a very dull looking place with no mountains, no rivers and no trees.

1881 Horatia Nelson (29th January 1801 - 6th March 1881), the daughter of Horatio Nelson and Emma Hamilton, dies at Beaufort Villas, Woodridings, Pinner, aged 80 years. The mother of ten children, she was laid to rest in Pinner Parish old cemetery, in Paines Lane, Pinner.

1869: Russian chemist and inventor, Dmitri Ivanovich Mendeleev (8th February 1834 - 2nd February 1907 N.S.), formally presents the first version of the periodic table of elements to the Russian Chemical Society. He would use the table to predict the properties of elements yet to be discovered.

1908: German armored cruiser SMS 'Gneisenau' was christened and commissioned by Field Marshal Alfred von Schlieffen, the former Chief of the General Staff. One of the two-ship Scharnhorst class, she was named after August von Gneisenau, a Prussian general of the Napoleonic Wars. Captain Franz von Hipper was the ship's first commanding officer; taking command on the day she was commissioned. He was tasked with conducting the ship's shakedown cruise, which lasted from 26 March to the middle of July.


SMS 'Gneisenau'

1999: The tug 'Sea Victory' arrived late last night and stands-by about 200 yards from the front section of 'New Carissa,' the broken dry-bulk freighter, sitting on the beach at Waldport, Oregon. A helicopter delivered one end of the new 14-inch, 2,400 feet, polyester towline to the 'Sea Victory' and the other end onto the bow of the 'New Carissa' for the salvage crew to connect.
By the end of the day, the 'Sea Victory' had turned the bow of the New Carissa 31 degrees towards the sea, with a further attempt scheduled for the early hours of 7th March during the high tide.


Ocean-going tug 'Sea Victory'
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Capt Podge

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Re: This Day In 'Boating' History
« Reply #187 on: March 07, 2013, 03:52:23 pm »

Friday, 7th March 1941   Near Cromer, E Boats attacked a coastal convoy, sinking the following cargo ships:- 'SS Kenton' (1,047t) Poole to the Tyne. Four of her crew lost.

Kenton
 
 'SS Corduff' (2,345t) London to Hull. Seven of her crew lost.

Corduff
 
 'SS Boulderpool' (4,805t) London to the Tyne.

Boulderpool
 
 
'SS Flashlight' (934t) cargo ship, Seaham to London with a cargo of coal, was sunk by German aircraft, E of Spurn Point.
 
 
Regards,
 
Ray.
 
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ardarossan

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This Day In 'Boating' History - March 7th
« Reply #188 on: March 07, 2013, 07:18:27 pm »

March 7th...

321: Roman Emperor Constantine I, decrees that Christians and non-Christians should be united in observing "dies Solis" - day of the sun, i.e. Sunday - as the Roman day of rest:

"On the venerable day of the Sun let the magistrates and people residing in cities rest, and let all workshops be closed. In the country however persons engaged in agriculture may freely and lawfully continue their pursuits because it often happens that another day is not suitable for grain-sowing or vine planting; lest by neglecting the proper moment for such operations the bounty of heaven should be lost." - Constantine I

1792: (Sir) John Frederick William Herschel (1st Baronet, KH, FRS) is born. The son of Mary Baldwin and astronomer Sir William Herschel. He would go on to become a mathematician, astronomer, chemist, and investigated colour blindness and the chemical power of ultraviolet rays. As an experimental photographer/inventor, he would invent the cyanotype process, now familiar as the "blueprint" and would be the first to use the terms "photography", "negative" and "positive".

1778: Third Voyage of James Cook (1776–79): Captain James Cook's first sighting of the Oregon coast is at Cape Foulweather, a basalt outcropping 500 feet above the Pacific Ocean south of Depoe Bay. His March 7th, 1778 journal entry reads:

"The land appeared to be of moderate height, diversified with hill and Valley and almost everywhere covered with wood. There was nothing remarkable about it except one hill…At the northern extreme the land formed a point which I called Cape Foulweather from the very bad weather we soon after met with."  

1810: Vice Admiral Cuthbert Collingwood, 1st Baron Collingwood (26th September 1748 - 7th March 1810), dies due to ill health, as he was returning to England on board the Ville de Paris, off Port Mahon.
Born in Newcastle upon Tyne, he was educated education at the Royal Grammar School, Newcastle. At twelve years of age he went to sea as a volunteer on board the frigate H.M.S. 'Shannon' under the command of his cousin Captain (later Admiral) Richard Brathwaite, who took charge of his nautical education.
Collingwood was notable as a partner with Horatio Nelson in several of the British victories of the Napoleonic Wars, and frequently as Nelson's successor in commands. He was laid to rest besides Nelson in the crypt of St Paul's Cathedral.

A statue erected in his honour overlooks the River Tyne in the town of Tynemouth, at the foot of which are some of the cannon from the Royal Sovereign.


Vice Admiral Cuthbert Collingwood, 1st Baron Collingwood.
Portrait by Henry Howard (died 1847).

1835: Voyage of H.M.S. Beagle (1831-36): The 'Beagle' left the ruined city of Concepcion after three days and sailed for Valparaiso to buy replacement anchors (they had just one left at this time).

1876: Patent 174,465 is issued to Alexander Graham Bell for an invention described as "the method of, and apparatus for, transmitting vocal or other sounds telegraphically ... by causing electrical undulations, similar in form to the vibrations of the air accompanying the said vocal or other sound." Although it has yet to work, he calls this invention, a telephone.

1885: (Admiral of the Fleet) John Cronyn "Jack" Tovey (1st Baron Tovey GCB, KBE, DSO, DCL) was born at Borley Hill, Rochester, Kent, the youngest child (of eleven) of Lt Col Hamilton Tovey, RE, and Maria Elizabeth Goodhue. He would go on to become a schoolboy international footballer and later play golf for the Royal Navy. He would serve in both World Wars and be promoted to Admiral of the Fleet in 1943.

1912: Roald Amundsen arrives at Hobart, Australia, and publicly announces that his expedition had successfully reached the South Pole on December 14, 1911.

1940: Painted grey and unannounced, 'Queen Elizabeth', the largest ship in the world arrives safely in New York, having zig-zagged across the Atlantic Ocean under radio silence during her secret maiden voyage.


'Queen Elizabeth' passes the Statue of Liberty, NY. 7th March 1940

1986: Divers from the U.S.S. 'Preserver' identify what they believe might be the crew compartment of the Space Shuttle Challenger on the ocean floor. The finding, along with discovery of the remains of all seven crew members, was confirmed the next day. On March 9th, NASA announced the finding to the press.

1999:At approximately 03:25hrs, the tug 'Sea Victory' managed to turn the beached bow-section of the broken woodchip freighter 'New Carissa' to a position facing almost at Waldport Oregon.
The operation's Unified Command believes the bow will move even further seaward during this afternoon's high tide, despite an incoming storm.
The Unified Command have not yet identified the ship and artillery that will sink the bow section, but it is going to be accompanied by three other vessels: The oil skimmer 'Oregon Responder'; the 'Miss Law', a 60ft fishing vessel as support for the 'Oregon Responder'; and the tug 'Natoma', as support for the Sea Victory.


Tugboat 'Natoma'.
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ardarossan

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This Day In 'Boating' History - March 8th
« Reply #189 on: March 08, 2013, 06:57:16 pm »

March 8th...

1612: German mathematician, astronomer and astrologer, Johannes Kepler has an epiphany and discovers the third law of planetary motion, several years after he discovering the first two.

1702: Anne Bonny was born in Kinsale, Ireland. Bonny's family travelled to the new world very early on in her life. Her mother died shortly after they arrived in North America, where her father eventually joined a merchant business.
Anne would become famous as a female pirate, operating in the Caribbean. What little is known of her life comes largely from 'A General History of the Pyrates', a 1724 book published in Britain, containing biographies of contemporary pirates.


Pyrate Anne Bonny (1702-1782)
“Well behaved women seldom make history”

1726: (Admiral of the Fleet) Richard Howe (1st Earl Howe KG) was born in London, the second son of Emanuel Scrope Howe, 2nd Viscount Howe, who died as governor of Barbados in March 1735, and of Charlotte, a daughter of Baroness von Kielmansegg, afterwards Countess of Darlington, the half-sister of King George I which does much to explain his early rise in the navy.
He would join the navy at the age of thirteen and become a British naval officer, notable in particular for his service during the American War of Independence and French Revolutionary Wars. He was the brother of William and George Howe.
Richard Howe is an ancestor of Diana, Princess of Wales, and thus, the current Prince William, Duke of Cambridge and Prince Harry of Wales

1833: Whilst surveying the Falkland Islands, a sealing schooner by the name of 'Unicorn' arrived at Port Louis on the 8th March. The owner, William Low, was nearly bankrupt as he had spent the past six months hunting seals and came back empty handed.
As luck would have it, Capt. FitzRoy saw the need for an extra ship to speed up his survey work, and after examining the 'Unicorn', he bought her for £1,300. An additional £403 were spent on new fittings, ropes, and canvas. She was renamed, 'Adventure', after the supply ship used on the previous 'Beagle' voyage, and John Wickham was put in command of her. Unfortunately, FitzRoy did not check with the Admiralty for permission to buy the ship, a mistake he would pay for later in the voyage.

1868: Known as 'The Sakai Incident', 11 French sailors from the French corvette 'Dupleix' are killed in the port of Sakai near Osaka, Japan when their skiff was attacked by samurai of the Tosa clan (a monument in Kobe is now erected to their memory). At the time, the port of Sakai was not open to foreign ships, and the Tosa troops were in charge of policing the city.
The French captain Dupetit Thouars protested so strongly that an indemnity was agreed upon, and 20 troop members were sentenced to death by seppuku at Myōkoku-ji.
However, at the execution, indignant samurai threw their own intestines to shocked French observers. After 11 had performed their own execution, the French captain requested a pardon, sparing nine of the samurai to banishment instead.


The Sakai Incident - 1868.

1957: President Gamal Abdel Nasser officially re-opens the Suez Canal, although it wouldn’t really be navigable until it had been cleard of obstructions. The roughly 110 mile long, 50 foot deep salt-water passage between the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea had been the focus of international attention, and the United Nations’ first peace-keeping force, when Egypt nationalized the vital waterway in July 1956 hoping to get rich quick by charging shipping tolls.

1999: The tug 'Sea Victory' managed to pulled the broken bow section of the dry-bulk freighter 'New Carissa' off the sandbar it was lodged on near Waldport, Oregon, and headed out. When they reach the designated area on the 11th March, the bow will be sunk in more than 6,000 feet of water. The Unified Command, announced that destroyer U.S.S. 'David R. Ray' will perform the scuttling duties.


The bow section of 'New Carissa' leaves Waldport, Oregon, 8th March 1999.

2001: The largest section of the wreckage from Donald Campbell's 'Bluebird K7', comprising approximately two thirds of the centre hull, was raised from its resting place on the bottom of Coniston Water in Cumbria.
The controversial project contradicted, Donald Campbell's own wishes which were that in the event of something going wrong, "Skipper and boat stay together". However, the head of the recovery team, Bill Smith, said he was glad they had reached the boat as there was always the risk that less scrupulous souvenir hunters could get there first.

Donald Campbell's body would be located and recovered in May 2001.

"Skipper and Boat Stay Together" - Donald Campbell
The wreckage from Donald Campbells 'Bluebird K7' - 8th March 2001
 - (being saved from 'unscrupulous souvenir hunters?').
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dave301bounty

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Re: This Day In 'Boating' History
« Reply #190 on: March 08, 2013, 07:37:31 pm »

Really interesting this ,got to thank you .
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Capt Podge

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Re: This Day In 'Boating' History
« Reply #191 on: March 08, 2013, 08:01:27 pm »

Saturday, 8th March 1941   E-Boats once again attacked an east coast convoy, again off Cromer.
 
'SS Togston' (1,547t) cargo ship, Blyth to London, was sunk by an E Boat near Cromer. Eight of her crew were lost.

Togston
 
'SS Hindpool' (4,897t) cargo ship, Pepel to the Tees, was sunk by U 124, N of Cape Verde Islands. Twenty-seven of her crew were killed.

Hindpool
 
 Sunday, 8th March 1942   'SS Hengist' (984t) cargo ship, Reykjavik to Grimsby with fish, was sunk by U 569, NE of Cape Wrath.
 
In the evening of 8 March 1942, the unescorted Hengist (Capt. Arthur Jamieson) was torpedoed and sunk by U-569 northwest of Cape Wrath.

Two crew members and one gunner were lost. The master, 24 crew members and four gunners were picked up by the French trawler Groenland and landed at Loch Ewe.
 
 
Regards,
 
Ray.
 
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Re: This Day In 'Boating' History
« Reply #192 on: March 09, 2013, 06:08:41 pm »

Saturday, 9th March 1940   
The collier 'Maindy Hill' (1,918t) built in 1911.
Built as the HYLTONIA for Ericsson Shipping Co. Ltd., Newcastle; Yard No 158; Launch Date 09/09/1911; Corrugated design, ships sides had several longitudinal corrugations, a patent design of the period; Main owner Jenkins Richards E; In 1920 renamed MAINDY HILL; Owners at time of loss were Admiralty coal agents; Tramp steamer making regular trips abroad.
 While on Admiralty service, was sunk in a collision with St Rosario in the North Sea 3 nautical miles (5.6 km) north east of Hartlepool Co Durham and sank. All 23 crew were rescued.

Maindy Hill

St Rosario
 

 
'SS Chevychase' (2,719t) steamer, Blyth to London with a cargo of coal, hit a mine off Great Yarmouth.
 
Regards,
 
Ray.
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ardarossan

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This Day In 'Boating' History - March 9th
« Reply #193 on: March 09, 2013, 09:13:32 pm »

March 9th...

1454: Amerigo Vespucci is born in Florence, Italy. The third son of Ser Nastagio (Anastasio), a Florentine notary, and Lisabetta Mini. Amerigo Vespucci would be educated by his uncle, Fra Giorgio Antonio Vespucci, a Dominican friar of San Marco in Florence. He will become known as the Italian explorer, financier, navigator and cartographer, who first demonstrated that the New World was not the Eastern extremeties of Asia, but a previously-unknown fourth continent.

1500: At noon on 9th March 1500 (following a public send-off the previous day which included a Mass and celebrations attended by the King, his court and a huge crowd), the 13-ship fleet of Pedro Alvares Cabral leaves Lisbon, Portugal, with the objective of establishing trade relations in India, and returning with valuable spices - thus bypassing the monopoly on the spice trade, which at the time was in the hands of Arab, Turkish and Italian merchants.


Cabral's long route to India should bypass the Mediterranean spice merchants.

1834: Voyage of H.M.S. Beagle (1831-36):The 'Beagle' left Woolya Cove, Tierra del Fuego on 9th March for a month-long revisit to the Falkland Islands. 'Beagle' would arrive shortly before 'Adventure' returned from a survey of the west, south and south-east coasts of the islands. During the next month, Charles Darwin would explore East Falkand and, when a packet ship arrives carrying mail, he would receive a letter from from Revd. Henslow, telling him that the specimens he had been sending back to England were arriving safely in Cambridge, and that he found many of them to be very interesting indeed. Needless to say, this news would excite Darwin a great deal.

1847: During the Mexican-American War, the 'Siege of Veracruz' begins at 03:30hrs with the first large-scale amphibious assault conducted by United States military forces on the key Mexican beachhead seaport of Veracruz. Lasting from 9th - 29th March 1847, it ended with the surrender and occupation of the city, U.S. forces then marched inland to Mexico City.


The amphibious landing at the 'Battle of Veracruz', painted by N. Currier, c.1840's

1862: The second day of the two-day 'Battle of Hampton Roads', sees the first meeting of two ironclad warships. The historic spectacle proves inconclusive though, as the U.S.S. 'Monitor' and C.S.S. 'Virginia' fight to a draw.


"The Monitor and Merrimac: The First Fight Between Ironclads" at the Battle of Hampton Roads
Image of a chromolithograph, produced by Louis Prang & Co., Boston. 1886.


1974: Hiroo Onoda was trained as an intelligence officer in the commando class "Futamata" of Nakano School. On December 26th, 1944, he was sent to Lubang Island in the Philippines where he was ordered to do all he could to hamper enemy attacks on the island, including destroying the airstrip and the pier at the harbour. Onoda's orders also stated that under no circumstances was he to surrender or take his own life.
Believing that leaflets dropped on the area informing him that the war had ended, were a trick, he remained in hiding until the Japanese government flew Onoda's former commanding officer, Major Yoshimi Taniguchi, out to Lubang where he was able to relieve Onoda from duty, on 9th March 1974. Properly relieved, from duty (not surrendered), Onoda turned over his sword, his Arisaka Type 99 rifle (in working order), 500 rounds of ammunition and several hand grenades, as well as the dagger his mother had given him in 1944 for protection.
Only private Teruo Nakamura, arrested on 18th December 1974, held out for longer.

1999: The bow section of the broken dry-bulk freighter 'New Carissa' is listing about 10 degrees toward the starboard side, which may be caused by flooding. However, she is now over 9000ft of water and currently over 150 miles, west of Waldport, so if she sinks, the tug 'Sea Victory' will just release the towline. If she doesn't sink prematurely, the Unified Command expects that by 11th March, the tug and bow will reach the designated scuttling site.
Once the bow section has been dealt with, attention will turn to the stern section which remains on the beach at Coos Bay, where it ran aground on 4th February.


The stern of 'New Carissa', beached near, Coos Bay Harbour, Ore. March 1999.
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ardarossan

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This Day In 'Boating' History - March 9th
« Reply #194 on: March 10, 2013, 12:00:34 am »

March 9th... 'Space Shuttle Discovery'

2011: Space Shuttle Discovery (Orbiter Vehicle Designation: OV-103) makes it's final landing at Kennedy Space Centre at 10:57:17 CST' and is decommissioned.
'Discovery' had flown more than any other spacecraft having completed 39 successful missions in over 27 years of service. This equates to almost 149 million miles travelled, and a cumulative total of one full year (365 days) in space.

Named after four British ships of exploration, primarily H.M.S. 'Discovery', one of the ships commanded by Captain James Cook during his voyage from 1776 to 1779.
Others include;
Henry Hudson's 'Discovery' which he used to search for a Northwest Passage,
H.M.S. 'Discovery', which took Captain George Nares to the North Pole, and,
R.R.S. 'Discovery', which was the main ship of the 1901–1904 expedition to Antarctica.

Maiden flight of Space Shuttle 'Discovery', designated STS-41-D, launched from the Kennedy Space Centre, on 30th August, 1984.

The spacecraft 'Discovery' takes its name from four similarly-named British ships of exploration, primarily H.M.S. 'Discovery', one of the ships commanded by Captain James Cook during his third and final major voyage from 1776 to 1779. Image of The Death of Captain Cook with 'Discovery' and 'Resolution' covering the retreat of the landing party by John the Younger Cleveley.

Henry Hudson's 'Discovery', which he used in 1610–1611 to search for a Northwest Passage. This ship had previously been used in the 1607 founding of Jamestown, the first permanent English settlement in what was to become the United States of America. Image of a replica built in 2007.

H.M.S. 'Discovery', one of the ships which took Captain George Nares' British Arctic Expedition of 1875–1876 to the North Pole.

R.R.S. 'Discovery', a Royal Geographical Society research vessel which, under the command of Captain Robert Falcon Scott and Ernest Shackleton, was the main ship of the 1901-1904 "Discovery Expedition" to Antarctica, and which is preserved in Dundee, Scotland.

Space Shuttle 'Discovery' completes the 13-day STS-133 mission to the International Space Station when she touches down for the last time, on Runway 15 of the Shuttle Landing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. 9th March 2011.
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ardarossan

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This Day In 'Boating' History - March 10th
« Reply #195 on: March 10, 2013, 08:57:45 pm »

March 10th...

241 BC: The 'Battle of the Aegates Islands' (or Aegusa), off the western coast of the island of Sicily, was the final naval battle fought between the fleets of Carthage and the Roman Republic during the First Punic War. Despite having the wind in their favour, the Carthage fleet was outmanoeuvred in the rough seas by the fleet of 200 Roman quinqueremes, resulting in the loss or capture of around half of the Carthage vessels. The decisive victory brought an end to the protracted conflict, to the advantage of Rome.


Depiction of Roman Ships Capturing Part of Carthagian Fleet

1535: Fray Tomas de Berlanga sailed to Peru to settle a dispute between Francisco Pizarro and his lieutenants after the conquest of the Inca Empire. His ship stalled when the winds died and strong currents carried him out to the Galápagos Islands which he thus accidentally discovered on 10th March, 1535. He sent an account of the adventure and discovery to Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor and King of Spain.

1823: Admiral George Keith Elphinstone (7th January 1746 - 10th March 1823), 1st Viscount Keith GCB, died aged 77 years, at Tulliallan Castle, near Kincardine-on-Forth, Fife, his property in Scotland, and was buried in the parish church.
Lord Keith was born in Elphinstone Tower, near Stirling, Scotland. The fifth son of the 10th Lord Elphinstone, and the third to go to sea, entering the Royal Navy in 1761. He first served in the Navy during the Seven Years War, though only commissioned in 1770. Thereafter he fought with distinction, gaining several important victories both in Europe and elsewhere. He became a rear-admiral in 1794, took the Cape of Good Hope from the Dutch in 1795, Ceylon in 1796 and received a barony in 1797. He was promoted to Admiral in 1801 and in 1803 took command in the North Sea. In 1812 he took over the Channel fleet and was elevated to Viscount in 1814.


Admiral Lord George Keith Elphinstone, 1st Viscount Keith (1746-1823).
Portrait by George Sanders c. After 1815.

1849: Abraham Lincoln files a patent for a device to lift boats over shoals and obstructions in a river. It is the only United States patent ever registered to a President of the United States. Lincoln conceived the idea of inventing such a mechanism when, on two different occasions, the boat on which he traveled got hung up on obstructions. Documentation of this patent (Patent No. 6,469) was discovered in 1997.


Abraham Lincoln's patent drawings showing "expansible buoyant chambers," to lift a boat over obstructions.

1876: Three days after his patent was issued, Alexander Graham Bell, succeeded in getting his latest invention to work. Speaking into the mouthpiece of his 'telephone', he said the (now  famous) sentence "Mr Watson - Come here - I want to see you." Listening at the receiving end in an adjoining room, Mr Watson heard the words clearly.

1977: Astronomers James L. Elliot, Edward W. Dunham, and Douglas J. Mink discover rings around Uranus. The system of rings are very dark, faint and of intermediate complexity, somewhere between the more extensive set around Saturn and the simpler systems around Jupiter and Neptune. Never-the-less, William Herschel had reported observing rings in 1789, almost 200 years earlier.

1999: At 18:00hrs the tug 'Sea Victory' had towed the listing 440ft bow section of the broken dry-bulk freighter, 'New Carissa', approximately 250 miles (216 nautical miles) west of Waldport, and is nearing the area where the bow section is to be scuttled.
U.S. Coast Guard and U.S. Navy officials announced that they will place explosives along the water line of the the 'New Carissa' and sink it in more than 9,000 feet of water. The charges will be detonated in a sequence that will flood the rear of the bow section first, as this should help to trap the oil inside.
The U.S.S. David R. Ray, the Navy destroyer carrying the explosives and the team that will place them, should arrive on 11th March.


Spruance-class Destroyer U.S.S. David R. Ray (DD-971).
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Capt Podge

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Re: This Day In 'Boating' History
« Reply #196 on: March 10, 2013, 09:06:10 pm »

Monday, 10th March 1941   In the Straits of Dover, three cargo ships, all carrying coal in a coastal convoy, were sunk by mines:- 'SS Corinia' (870t) Blyth to Cowes. Seven of her crew were lost. 'SS Sparta' (708t) Blyth to Southampton. 'SS Waterland' (1,107t) Sunderland to Cowes. Five crew were lost.
 
 Friday, 10th March 1944   'SS Svava' (1,216t) a Ministry of Transport coal ship was bound for the Thames from Warkworth. When off Blyth she collided with the 'Fort Beausjour' at 55°15'12"N - 01°18'24"W and sank in 35 metres of water. She was built in 1904.
 
 
Regards,
 
Ray.
 
 
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This Day In 'Boating' History - March 11th
« Reply #197 on: March 11, 2013, 08:12:30 pm »

March 11th...

1787: Horatio Nelson marries Frances "Fanny" Nisbet, at Montpelier Estate on the island of Nevis, shortly before the end of his tour of duty in the Caribbean. The marriage was registered at Fig Tree Church, St John's Parish, Nevis. Nelson returned to England in July, with Fanny following later.

1899: Marconi wireless apparatus, which had been installed for a trial period at the South Foreland Lighthouse near Dover and the East Goodwin Lightship in the English Channel, established the first ever wireless ship-to-shore communications on Christmas Eve 1898. Just ten weeks later, it would make history again...


Marconi's wireless apparatus at the South Foreland Lighthouse.
(Image: Marconi Corporation plc.)

...on Saturday 11th March 1899, at 02:00 hrs, in thick fog, 'Elbe' a three-masted sailing ship, ran aground on the Goodwin Sands as she was returning to Hamburg laden with slates.
Although the South Goodwin Lightship fired signals, when the wind was blowing off-shore, the signal guns of the lightships could'nt be heard on land.
In this instance the signals were heard by the East Goodwin Lightship, which was able to relay the incident by wireless telegraphy to the South Foreland Lighthouse.
From there telegraphic messages were sent to the authorities, and the lifeboats at Ramsgate, Deal, and Kingsdown were put on standby. Fortunately, none of them were required, as the 'Elbe' re-floated a few hours later later with the assistance of boatmen and the tug 'Shamrock'.
However, the incident marked the first time in history that a lifeboat (or three) had been alerted of a ship in danger by use of wireless.

1915: H.M.S. 'Manica' is acquired by the Admiralty as the first kite balloon ship of the Royal Naval Air Service. Conversion of the former tramp steamer (SS Manica) to operate the kite balloon will involve fitting "a long sloping deck from forecastle to waist, fixing a dynamo to drive a hydrogen compressor", and the installation of a winch. A "wireless telegraphy house" and quarters for the naval officers and men will also be added.

1940: A Bristol Blenheim of No.82 Squadron, RAF Bomber Command, on patrol off Borkum surprises and sinks U-31 on the surface in the Schillig Roads. The attack is pressed home at such a low altitude that the Blenheim is damaged by the explosions. This is the first U-Boat of the war to be sunk by a Royal Air Force aircraft without the assistance of surface vessels.
The Type VIIIA U-boat U-31 is subsequently raised by the German Navy, only to be sunk again by the destroyer H.M.S. 'Antelope' in November 1940. Raised for a second time, the U-31 is finally scuttled in May 1945.

1945: The Imperial Japanese Navy launch 'Operation Tan No. 2', a long-range Kamikaze attack on the U.S. Pacific Fleet anchored at Ulithi in the western Pacific. Twenty-four "Yokosuka P1Y1" twin-engine bombers took-off from Japan to participate in the Kamikaze element of the attack, supported by other aircraft and submarines. Only two of the aircraft reached Ulithi, arriving after nightfall. One aircraft hit aircraft carrier U.S.S. 'Randolph' on the starboard side aft just below the flight deck, killing 27 men and wounding 105, many of whom were watching a move in the ship's hangar deck. The second crashed into an access road on Sorlen islet, apparently believing the road with its nearby signal tower to be a ship.


U.S.S. 'Randolph' with damaged aft flight deck, alongside repair ship U.S.S. 'Jason'
Ulithi Atoll, Caroline Islands, two days after Kamikaze attack on 11th March, 1945.

1984: Welsh rower Tom James MBE, twice Olympic champion and victorious Cambridge Blue, was born in Cardiff, although he considers his hometown to be the village of Coedpoeth (where he grew up), near Wrexham, Wales.
As with all other British gold medal winners at the London 2012 Olympic Games, he was honoured with the release of a Royal Mail postage bearing his image, and having a post box in his home town painted gold.


Tom James' 'Gold' post box in Wrexham, Wales
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heritorasphodel

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Re: This Day In 'Boating' History
« Reply #198 on: March 11, 2013, 08:28:15 pm »

March 11th 1993


Rother class lifeboat Osman Gabriel (37-27) leaves Poole depot by road for Felixstowe, where she is to be shipped to Estonia, becoming the Estonian Lifeboat Service's sixth boat.


Formerly the Port Erin lifeboat from 1973 to 1992, Osman Gabriel is the prototype Rother (numbered 27 due to being a modification of the Oakley class) and the first of the first Lifeboat class named after a river, as is now standard practice. She was formally presented to the Estonian Lifeboat Service on the 18th of March by the British Ambassador, Brian Low. The boat was renamed Anita, after his wife.


Andrew
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Norseman

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Re: This Day In 'Boating' History
« Reply #199 on: March 11, 2013, 09:30:18 pm »

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