Ships and Seafaring

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They're still very slow, especially compared to aircraft. Most cruise ships have in-service speed of just over 20 knots, so about 40-45km/h. Ferries/Ro-Ro ships are somewhat faster, with average speeds of around 25 knots, maybe up to 30 or so. When I worked for a ferry company, we had a few high-speed Ro-Pax ferries in the fleet; those were operating at speeds of around 40 knots (roughly 75 km/h). There are a few newer ones now that can reach 50 knots and more. So at best, you'd be travelling at max 100km/h. Your average commercial flight goes around 800-900 km/h. So for a 3 hour flight, around 2500 km, you'd need at least 25 hours on a high-speed ferry, and that's if you are on the fastest ones. Around 35-40 hours, more realistically. 

[CaaC (John)+]

4 hours ago, Whiskey said:

Of course the speed is purposely set to the minimum, in order to keep the ship as smooth as can be and in all my years holidaying have only been seasick once (while sailing through Messina).

Only ever been seasick once and that's when we emigrated to Australia and we travelled through the Bay of Biscay, I woke up after being rocked around in my sleep all night.

What made it worse was looking at my old man (ex-navy) walking around smoking a roll-up cigarette in his gob plus eating a sandwich at the same time with not a care in the world. 

[Bluewolf]

During WWII, "Ship's cats" were given small hammocks

 

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37 minutes ago, Bluewolf said:

During WWII, "Ship's cats" were given small hammocks

 

So cute!

[Bluewolf]

[Tommy]

 

[Bluewolf]

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Britain’s oldest shipwreck has been found – and its morbid cargo may have sent it to its grave
Britain’s oldest shipwreck has been discovered, along with a cargo of gravestones that may have led to a maritime disaster

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The remains of a 13th-century ship have been found off the Dorset coast, Historic England has announced, as the conservation body moves to protect the 750-year-old oak hull, which is the oldest surviving piece of a vessel found in UK waters.

The doomed medieval ship carried a consignment of “exquisitely carved” gravestones, along with the raw material to make more, and the morbid cargo may have contributed to the ship sinking.

Hefin Meara, a marine archaeologist for Historic England, said: “It seems to have been setting out from Poole harbour, and gone down about 2km out. It’s close enough to swim to shore, but, in stormy weather, it could have been fatal.

“The weight of the cargo could have played a part in it going down, particularly if the heavy stone was pitching around in a storm. Whatever happened, it’s a lost investment, and it would likely have cost someone a lot of money.”

The site of the maritime tragedy or mercantile disaster was first discovered by Trevor Small, a diver from Poole, in 2020, and subsequent carbon dating of the hull timbers to the late 13th century has now proven the remains to be the oldest extant wreck in British waters.

The site is more than a century older than the wreck of Henry V’s flagship the Grace Dieu, which was struck by lightning in 1439 and burned into the River Hamble in Hampshire, leaving a few surviving timbers.

Cargo from wrecks from the Viking era and the Bronze Age has been found on the seabed around the UK, but no trace of the vessels themselves survives, making the Poole discovery unique.

Experts working on the site have so far found evidence of a cargo of grinding mortars - giving the site its name of the Mortar Wreck - and Purbeck stone, which was a popular material shipped from south west England to the rest of the British Isles and Europe.

But the additional freight of two fully decorated Purbeck headstones suggests medieval British merchants were trading not only in raw materials, but in ready-made memorials.

Mr Meara said: “We have two headstones and two distinct gothic designs. It may be that these headstones were made to order, or that a few designs were made and the customer chose from those available, a bit like a catalogue.

“It perhaps suggests that there was a market for these artisan’s headstones, which show that craftsmanship.”

Nadine Dorries, the Culture Secretary, has given the site protected status as work continues to study the wreck. The 16th-century remains of what may have been an armed merchant vessel, and the 17th-century remains of a Dutch warship - both found in the Solent - have also been added to the list of protected shipwrecks.

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/britains-oldest-shipwreck-has-been-found-–-and-its-morbid-cargo-may-have-sent-it-to-its-grave/ar-AAZLVXH?li=BBoPWjQ&fromMaestro=true&pfr=1

 

Edited July 20, 2022 by CaaC (John)
Spacing correction

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Fincantieri Delivers the First Ship in the Prima Class to the Norwegian Cruise Line

The cruise vessel, NORWEGIAN PRIMA, was delivered by the Italian Shipyard Fincantieri to the Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL) at Marghera, Venice. This 143,500 gross-ton cruise ship is the first of the six new ships in NCL’s Prima class delivered through 2027. The vessel will be christened and start its inaugural voyage from Reykjavik, Iceland, on 27th August 2022.

The vessel uses two 16.5 MW pod propulsion units and has a unique hull design that has seen a rise in recent cruise ship implementations over the past few years. Fincantieri has reported that the vessel exceeded the contract speed during its sea trials, reaching a maximum speed of 21.9 knots. It can accommodate 3,215 passengers in its 1,646 passenger cabins (double occupancy). And can go up to a maximum of 5,400 passengers, which includes 1,388 crew. The vessel features many tourist attractions, including the first and largest three-level racetrack for electric race cars, a ten-story high dry slide, and an outdoor sculpture garden.

Its sister ship, the NORWEGIAN VIVA, will be delivered in the summer of 2023. NCL has recently announced that the last of the 4 vessels in the series will see a revision in their design and they are to become a part of the Prima Plus Class. The revisions include increasing the passenger capacity to 3,550 passengers in double occupancy.

https://www.fleetmon.com/maritime-news/2022/39073/fincantieri-delivers-first-ship-prima-class-norweg/

 

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Norwegian Prima ship launched on Saturday, August 27, 2022

CALL it serendipitous but Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL) managed to get the design of its new ship, the Norwegian Prima, perfect for the times we are living in.

The ship's wide-open spaces, providing the most outdoor deck space and expansive accommodation of any new build, were designed pre-pandemic. More space, according to NCL's vice president and managing director, APAC, Ben Angell, is exactly what today's cruisers are looking for, post-pandemic.

FULL REPORT

 

[Bluewolf]

[Bluewolf]

Diving suit from 1878

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Historic Swedish sailing ship slow to give up its secrets

It is very difficult to extract DNA from bone which has been on the bottom of the sea for 333 years, but not impossible.

The Swedish ship Vasa was supposed to be a beacon of military might when it launched in 1628, but it sank after sailing just over a kilometre, killing roughly 30 people  in the process.

Since its recovery in 1961, the ship, its contents and the people who perished with it have become a valuable insight into 17^th-century Swedish life.

Now, an international team of researchers has looked closer at one of the skeletons, referred to as G, and have confirmed that it’s female.

“Through osteological analysis it has been possible to discover a great deal about these people, such as their age, height and medical history. Osteologists recently suspected that G could be female, on the basis of the pelvis. DNA analysis can reveal even more,” says Dr Fred Hocker, director of research at the Vasa Museum, Sweden.

“It is very difficult to extract DNA from bone which has been on the bottom of the sea for 333 years, but not impossible”, says Professor Marie Allen, a forensic geneticist at Uppsala University in Sweden.

“Already some years ago we had indications that skeleton G was not a man but a woman. Simply put, we found no Y-chromosomes in G’s genetic material. But we could not be certain and wanted to confirm the result.”

They were able to do that with a technique developed by the US Department of Defense’s Armed Forces Medical Examiner System’s Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory (AFMES-AFDIL).

“We took new samples from bones for which we had specific questions. AFMES-AFDIL has now analysed the samples, and we have been able to confirm that G was a woman, thanks to the new test,” says Allen.

Allen, along with AFMES-AFDIL collaborator Dr Kimberly Andreaggi, is now investigating the DNA for more detail about G.

Today we can extract much more information from historic DNA than we could earlier and methods are being continuously refined. We can say if a person was predisposed to certain illnesses, or even very small details, such as if they had freckles and wet or dry ear wax,” says Allen.

The Vasa Museum, meanwhile, is collecting information for a book about the people who died on the ship.

“We want to come as close to these people as we can. We have known that there were women on board Vasa when it sank, and now we have received confirmation that they are among the remains,” says museum historian Dr Anna Maria Forssberg.

“I am currently researching the wives of seamen, so for me this is especially exciting, since they are often forgotten even though they played an important role for the navy.”

https://cosmosmagazine.com/history/vasa-shipwreck-female/

 

 

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Titanic: First ever full-sized scans reveal wreck as never seen before

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-65602182

 

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How do you find a shipwreck?

In early June 1857, Koning Willem de Tweede set sail from Hong Kong, bound for the small South Australian seaport of Robe. Onboard the 42-metre-long Dutch fregat were more than 400 Chinese migrants who, like thousands of their compatriots at that time, were leaving their homes to search for gold in a foreign land..............

 

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San Jose galleon: 'Holy Grail of shipwrecks' with £16bn treasure haul to be raised off Colombian coast

The treasure has attracted multiple claims of ownership, but the Colombian president has said the recovery of the shipwreck is a "priority" before the end of his term in office.

The "Holy Grail of shipwrecks" is to be lifted from the floor of the Caribbean Sea on the orders of the Colombian government.

The Spanish galleon San Jose, which sank more than 300 years ago, is believed to have been carrying 200 tons of treasure including gold, silver and emeralds.....

 

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Filmmakers discover 128-year-old shipwreck

Documentary filmmakers Yvonne Drebert and Zach Melnick were looking for invasive mussels on the bed of Lake Huron in Canada when they came across the shipwreck of the 'Africa.'

On the morning of 4 October 1895, the Africa departed from Ashtabula, Ohio, carrying coal over Lake Huron to Owen Sound, Ontario. But it didn't make it.

 

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Experts create 3D model to solve U-boat sinking puzzle Published 7 hours ago

A German U-boat from World War One is likely to have been sunk deliberately rather than being handed to the Allies, according to a new 3D model produced by Scottish researchers.

A team from Dundee University said submarine UC-71 was apparently scuttled off the German archipelago of Heligoland on 20 February 1919.

 

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Locals try to uncover story of mysterious Canada shipwreck

Locals in Newfoundland, Canada, are enthralled by a mysterious shipwreck that washed up on shore.

Wanda Blackmore said her son was out sea duck hunting when he stumbled upon the 24-meter long, wooden ship that likely dates back to the 19th Century.

 

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Ancient Greek ship gets a new sinking date

In 1965, the ancient Greek ship Kyrenia was found off the coast of Cyprus. Laden with almonds, pottery, and coins from antiquity, it has been a rich source of archaeological and historical knowledge.

But just how old is it?

A new study, published in PLOS One, has used updated radiocarbon dating to get a more accurate measure of the ship’s age.

Researchers previously thought it hailed from 300 BCE, but this study suggests the ship is slightly younger, having sunk around 280 BCE.

“Kyrenia was one of the first times it was realised this type of rich evidence from the classical world could be found largely intact more than 2,000 years later on the seabed, if you could find it,” says lead author Sturt Manning, a professor at Cornell University, US.

 

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Largest reconstruction of Bronze Age Magan boat sets sail from Abu Dhabi