The first tall ship has arrived. The Unicorn has entered the Harbour and marks the begining of tall ships festivities.
The Gazelelia Primera, Pride of Baltimore and Bounty are all off Yarmouth, and are expected this evening.
Better Photos To Follow
Bellow – On Arrival, Via Novascotiawebcams.com
Atlantic Towing Announced that it has purchased a newbuild anchor handeling supply tug from JAYA. Though no vessel is specified, the JAYA Supreme, a Wartsila VS 4622 design, is Scheduled for August delivery to Jaya, and Atlantic Towing is looking at a September Delivery.
The as yet unnameed vessel will be the largest in Atlantic Towings Fleet, and also signals a departure of the Rolls Royce UT 722 Design they Have favored in the Past.
The Vessel will be based out of St John’s Nf.
Photo Via Twitter
The Training Suction Hopper Dredge HAM 318 made a stop this weekend for supplies. Trailing suction dredges work by dragging 2 suction heads on the ocean floor, which work material loose and vacumes it into the hoppers on board.
Dredgings can be discharged via Depositing through doors in the Hull, Pumping via a pipe attached to the bow, or Rainbowing where dredge material is pumped out of a monitor on the Bow.
HAM 318 is owned by Van Oord, who owns one of the largest Dreging fleets, and owns the Largest dredgers. HAM 318 is doing seabed dreging around wells at the Hiberina project off Newfoundland.
She is expected to Sail today, around 1400
A post panamax containership is on fire in the middle of the North Atlantic after an explosion in a containerstack. The crew of the 6,732-teu MSC Flaminia (built 2001) have abandoned ship with four of the 25 seafarers reported to have suffered injuries and one missing. A rescue is currently underway with the oil tanker DS Crown the nearest vessel able to provide assistance to the crew who took to a lifeboat and liferaft. The incident happened about 1,000 miles from the Canadian and UK coasts so beyond the range of rescue helicopters.
DS Crown is the former Front Crown which was sold to new owners and was renamed in Anchorage 1, before she sailed in last week
UPDATE:
Tradewinds reports that 2 crew have died, and 2 tugs with firefighting equipment are on route. A Lloyds Open Form salvage agreement has been signed with SMIT.
UPDATE 2:
See http://www.reederei-nsb.com/site_en/index.php?node_id=2338 for official releases from the ships owner. Firefighting equipent has arrived, and the plan is to extinguish the flames and tow the vessel to europe. Reederei NSB also released the following Photos:
UPDATE 3 (July 19) There has apperntly been a second explosion, leading to a halt of fire fighting Efforts. An addtional Tug is also enroute
War of 1812 Commemorations, and Tallships Events will coincide with a US Navy Visit.
The USS De Wert, a U.S. Navy Oliver Hazard Perry-class frigate, is one of a flotilla of U.S. and Canadian ships that will be touring the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Seaway System this summer from July 20 through September 21 in recognition of the 200th anniversary of the War of 1812. In addition to the USS De Wert the ships scheduled to participate in the tour include the coastal patrol boat USS Hurricane, and the Canadian Navy’s Halifax-class frigate HMCS Ville de Quebec.
The Tour kicks off July 20th in Halifax, and then heads to quebec, and around the Great Lakes.
USNS Grapple paid a visit to Halifax earlier this month. When She left, she gave a “random” (ie not a major port) destination in Quebec. It now appears that she was tasked with the recovery of remains of the aircrew of a PBY 5A Catalina Aircraft which went down in November 1942 off the coast of Longue-Pointe-de-Mingan, on the north shore of the St. Lawrence River.
Parks Canada Discovered the aircraft in 2009. You can read more about the Recvoery at PC.GC.CA
One of the primary roles for Catalina Aircraft (And the Canadian version, the Canso) was anti-submarine warfare. the PBY was likely patroling the Gulf of St Lawerence when it went down.
The Norwegian Nansen Class Frigate HNoMS Thor Heyerdahl is back for a Second Visit this summer. She was previously here for a bunker stop June 5th
Photos to follow
The latest news on the Bluenose reconstruction is that it is behind schedule and over budget. This could be forgiven if the work was actually a restoration, and conditions were found to be worse then expected, however, for all purposes the Provence of Nova Scotia decided to build a completely new boat.
Since The vessel is all new construction from the Keel up, the only reason this project could go over budget and run late is poor planning. I suspect the only reason all this is coming to light now was that there was an expected launch date in July, and we are now in July, and there is no launch date.
The launch date is a critical piece of information. The RCMP Project 100,000 people could show up to witness the launch, and I am sure businesses in Lunenberg would like a long lead up to the launch to allow as many people to come as possible. No date means no one can make plans, and people will book their vacations elsewhere. At this point, the worst case would be a fall launch, out side the prime tourism season.
The cost so far is 16+ Million Dollars. Joan Roue had plans in 2009 to build the Bluenose IV at a cost of 7 Million. That projects website has gone dormant, and the cost would have surely increased since 2009, but Her price was always cheaper then the numbers the provence floated. I think all Nova Scotian’s and even a majority of Canadians want the Bluenose to be Sailing, but as the project continues, it becomes more clear that the whole Project has been mismanaged by the Provence.
If the Government of Nova Scotia can’t build a wooden fishing vessel, something thats been done in the province since it was founded, on time and on budget, can we trust them to do anything else?
For why calling this project a restoration is Dubious, See The Bluenose II(I?)
Again, I believe the LSA Are building a ship all Nova Scotian’s can be proud of. I think their workmanship is excellent, However the owners, the Provence of NS Have been less then up to the task.
HDMS Esbern Snare also arrived this morning for a visit. She is the second Absalon support ship of the Denmark Navy, and this is her (I belive) first visit to Halifax. Her sister, HDMS Absalon was in Halifax in 2010 as part of the NATO Fleet visit, and for the International Fleet Review.
She was commisioned in 2007. Update: Video of her arrival
USNS Grapple arrived this Morning, and Tied up at NB, Next to the Casino. Still unsure why her arrival was delayed by a day.
Grapple was heavily invoved in the recovery of SwissAir 111 off Peggys Cove in 1998.
