From the monthly archives:

January 2009

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New on the book shelf: Salvage, A personal odyssey.

by Douglas Gould on January 30, 2009

I received an interesting book for Christmas that you might like. SALVAGE, A personal odyssey by Captain Ian Tew. From the back cover:

Ian Tew joined Selco Salvage of Singapore in 1974, and spent over a decade on the front line. Already an experienced master mariner, he learnt the salvage trade in the busy waters of the Far East before rising to command some of the world’s largest supertugs, eventually becoming a roving salvage master. In his odyssey he roamed the world, from the coast of Cornwall to the Southern Ocean, from the Gulf of Suez to the dangerous reefs of the South China Sea.

This is not a “how to” book by any means. Instead, this is a fairly interesting and well written account of Captain Tew’s experiences during a his career as a salvage master. Each chapter is a narrative focused around the events of a particular salvage; what happened, who was involved and how it turned out. Captain Tew deals with foreign officials, bad weather, open forms, drunken crews, and reluctant salvage boat engines.

Captain Tew’s memoir leaves you with a good sense of the life of a big ship salvage master; the excitement, travel and adventure and people involved, and his personal satisfaction of completing some very challenging jobs.

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Google search sent this to me:
Salvagers claim they’ve found world’s most valuable wreck

Salvagers claim to have found the world’s most valuable wreck – a British ship sunk by a German submarine while laden with a 2.6 billion pounds worth of cargo that included gold, platinum and diamonds.

In a project shrouded in secrecy, work is due to start on recovering the cargo, which was being transported to the United States to help pay for the Allied effort in the Second World War.

The scale of the treasure trove is likely to lead to a series of competing claims. Salvage laws are notoriously complex and experts say there could be years of legal wrangling ahead.

This should be entertaining, to say the least. Hey, if this money was meant for the US Gov’t, maybe it should be lumped in with the bailout funds?

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Colorblind

WTF? I know, what the heck is that boat in the picture? That’s a bad photoshop job, mostly. But it represents what this post is about: towers towing for more than one network. Now, before you get all freaked out and begin your mental list of all the reasons why that will never work, just [...]

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January 23, 2009 Read the full article →

Future Merchant Mariner Credential?

With the mandatory imposition of the TWIC, we heard some discussion about the future of the Merchant Mariner Credentials. Credentials are Licenses (like 100 ton or OUPV), Certificates (like STCW), Endorsements (like Radar), and the like. Basically, a Credential gives you the authority to preform certain duties, or proves your proficiency in training for certain [...]

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January 14, 2009 Read the full article →

The Boat Ballet

Bow thrusters? We don’t need no stinkin’ bow thrusters! Don’t try this with your twin outboards, or even your twin inboards! Single screw guys can only dream. If you don’t see the YouTube screen, click here to watch.

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January 14, 2009 Read the full article →

Weather, relatively speaking

My post on the sailors who where towed by the USCG after departing into some lousy weather received a number of comments, and I was surprised that most of the comments were to scold me for “being to harsh” in my criticism of the MOONSHINE’s crew. (No one challenged the idea that the USCG might [...]

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January 12, 2009 Read the full article →