Shipwrecks of Sandy, part 1

HMS Bounty

“Metro-North RR crews discovered this boat washed onto tracks at Ossining” @NYGovCuomo

“Beached: A boat washes ashore on Carson Beach as wind and waves from Hurricane Sandy hit the north-east coast of the US”

Historic ferry boat, Binghamton, swamped by waves on the Hudson River in Edgewater, New Jersey.

Salem, MA

“In Staten Island, a record 13 foot storm surge caused the tanker, John B. Caddell, to break free of its morning and run aground in Staten Island.”

more to come…

Shipwreck Kitsch: A shower curtain

Titanic celebrations might be over, but shipwreck kitsch is everywhere. You just can’t make this stuff up. Gizmodo recently posted the following story (tagged WTF). It’s a gem.

Commemorate All Famous Shipwrecks With This Sinking Shower Curtain

We’re not sure if it will ever not be ‘too soon’ to make light of the Titanic tragedy. But for just $16 this novelty shower curtain will serve as a daily reminder of any shipwreck, from the Lusitania, to the Edmund Fitzgerald.

Made from PVC-free blue and clear plastic it should also be the perfect complement to listening to Gordon Lightfoot while you get ready in the morning.

Reader comments are fascinating. Here’s my favorite:

This kind of thing makes me wonder how the people 89 years from now will look at 9/11, it has been okay for a while to make jokes about the Hindenburg disaster or the Titanic sinking, but since 9/11 was a deliberate attack I’m really curious as how it will be remembered when it’s part of the distant history.

Forgotten Wrecks: Titanic centennial prequel

In two days we’ll all celebrate the centennial anniversary of the world’s most famous wreck, and we’ll do so for good reason. Titanic is the first thing that comes to the minds of most of us when they we “shipwreck.” It has become the paradigm of the modern wreck—a distant disaster that occurs far from land and rescue. Shipwrecks, so it goes, revolve around the human drama on a sinking vessel as it descends into an unforgiving sea. It’s women and children first (or not), the band playing on, and the captain going down with the ship. Each wreck lies on the bottom of the ocean joining thousands of others in an underwater landscape vividly imagined by Jules Verne in 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea:

…the bottom of these seas look like a field of battle, where still lie all the conquered of the ocean; some old and already encrusted, others fresh and reflecting from their iron bands and copper plates the brilliancy of our lantern.

There each wreck remains, hidden on the bottom until modern-day treasure hunters or techno-savvy underwater archaeologists discover them.

Unfortunately, nearly everything the example of the Titanic suggests about shipwrecks is misleading. Most shipwrecks, historically and today, occur close to land.  Whether discussing 1912, 1812, or 2012, most vessels wreck close to shore rather than the middle of the ocean. For Americans (I’m sure the same applies to many other parts of the world; my research focuses on the American east coast), shipwrecks have been common, almost daily occurrences along much of their coast until quite recently and most of those wrecks have involved merchant vessels manned by a small crew rather than passenger vessels filled with people. Since the middle of the nineteenth century, few shipwrecks have been total losses and even fewer have involved the loss of life because most vessels wrecked into a tightly spun web of local, state, and national agencies that effectively mitigated loss. Shipwrecks, in short, have been more about the drama of profit and property than they have been about life, death, or chivalry.

Here’s an example of one of those mundane wrecks that are far more typical of shipwrecks. It happened almost 100 years to the day before the Titanic went down. A coastal wreck, everyone survived and prospects for getting the vessel off looked good. The blurb appeared in the April 14, 1812 edition of New York City’s The Columbian.

The pilot boat Champlin was driven ashore on Saturday night, about 3 miles to the southward of Sandy Hook. Crew saved, and it was supposed the vessel will be got off.

Exactly two weeks later, on April 28th, the New York Gazete & General Advertiser printed this notice:

We are sorry to learn, that the pilot-boat Champlin, sometime since driven ashore, is going to pieces

 Not until the development of a specialized wrecking industry in the 1850s and 60s would vessels wrecked in the vicinity of the port of New York be salvaged with any regularity. For more go here.

The Costa Concordia considered

I battened down the hatches last week trying to meet a looming deadline (met, more or less). Yes, Wi-Fi was disabled and real books and photocopies teetered over my laptop. I figured a few days away from the 24/7 shipwreck news cycle wouldn’t miss much. Then I opened the Sunday Times to an enormous photograph of a half-sunken cruise ship. I’ve been playing catch up ever since.

Fortunately, the reporting on the Costa Concordia has been fantastic. NPR and BBC have been producing some great coverage of the wreck, its ramifications, and the ongoing salvage effort. For the industry perspective I rely on gCaptain–“The Captain of the Coast Concordia is Totally Screwed,” for example, offers a trenchant analysis that you just can’t find anywhere else.

With eleven confirmed dead and fears of environmental devastation to Europe’s “biggest designated marine park” growing, the Costa Concordia has turned into a media circus. (gCaptain’s server went down this morning). But why does this wreck get more press than other recent wrecks, which have also claimed lives and devastated environments? No doubt part has to do with the fact the Concordia was a cruise ship not a tanker, cargo ship, or fishing vessel.

Sadly, we expect–even condone–the everyday disasters that underwrite our global economic system. Cruise ships are supposed to be safe–they’re floating hotels not sea-going vessels–and fun–their captains apparently (routinely?) engage in “touristic navigation,” that is maneuvering a vessel to thrill tourists. Thrill they do and the cruise industry “is the fastest growing segment of the travel industry – achieving more than 2,100 percent growth since 1970.” As such a cruise ship wreck is unpardonable. But never mind those other wrecks.

Recent Shipwrecks

The reports of shipwrecks inundating my news feed over the past month are a forceful reminder of just how dangerous and unpredictable the maritime world remains in the 21st century. Here are three notable wrecks from the past week. (There were more: see below)

Four days ago, the Voice of Russia reported the wreck of a passenger boat in the Niger Delta. Forty people were on board and at the time of publication only three survivors had been pulled from the water.

The next day the TK Bremen ran ashore in a fierce coastal storm. French authorities have begun cleaning up some of the freighter’s 220 tons of fuel, which is leaking into the Bay of Biscay. No word yet on the salvage effort.

Two days ago, a wooden vessel carrying 250 asylum seekers–many from the Middle East–sank off Java. According to USA Today, rescuers continue to search for more than 200 missing passengers. The image below shows several of the 33 rescued so far. Officials blame the wreck on overloading. Tragically, this is the second shipwreck of a vessel carrying asylum seekers on the coast of Java in as many months. We can only hope these tragedies will compel Indonesia, Australia and nearby  governments to address migrant smuggling operations in the region.

For more about Bremen and other wrecks take a look at  Shipwrecks Log, a “log of maritime accidents around the world.” It’s the place to find out about contemporary shipwrecks–you’ll find a link on the blogroll on the right hand side of this page.