Rena Salvage Update: 12/14/11

Salvors work at a different pace than most of us. Their days are measured by the rhythm of tides and the chime of swells. Bouts of frenzied activity are routinely punctuated by delays often lasting days or even weeks. So it goes for the salvors working the R/V Rena, which wrecked off the coast of New Zealand on October 5.

As of December 12, 195 containers had been removed from the stricken cargo vessel–salvors averaging 13 to 15 containers a day since the arrival of the large crane barge Smit Borneo on December 6. But marginal weather conditions have checked further progress. Earlier this week, large swells and windy conditions suspended salvage operations. Salvors have been working to improved the stricken vessel’s buoyancy in the interim. The rough weather has also released trapped pockets of oil into the Bay of Plenty. According to the New Zealand Herald, an overhead flight on Monday morning “showed a visible metallic sheen of oil about 4.5km long from the vessel.” Beach crews swarmed nearby beaches, cleaning up the oil that continued to wash ashore in “small amounts.”

The investigation into the wreck continues. On December 7, the organization charged with investigating the disaster released the following update:

The Transport Accident Investigation Commission (TAIC) advises that it has made good progress with the fact gathering to inform its safety-focused inquiry into the Rena grounding. The Commission needs to attend to some procedural matters before releasing an interim factual report which it now expects to do early in the New Year.

I look forward to reading the report. Until then, however, we’re all left speculating about what happened.

For more up-to-the-minute updates see the Maritime New Zealand website.

For more about the Rena see this earlier post.

‘Tis the Season: ‘Santa in the Shipwreck’

Sharks, shipwrecks and Santa Claus–what could be better than that? Indeed, “Santa in the Shipwreck” is a marketing coup for  Mandalay Bay’s Shark Reef Aquarium in lovely Las Vegas. According to the Las Vegas Sun:

This holiday season, Shark Reef Aquarium at Mandalay Bay gets in the spirit with Santa in the Shipwreck. In addition to the Reef experience, children can share their last-minute wishes with the traditional Santa in the aquarium’s shipwreck exhibit. Santa will have a little help again this year from Santa Jaws, the attraction’s mascot Sharky who will be dressed up for the occasion. Throughout the day, Santa Jaws will “swim” by for photo ops. Photos with Santa Jaws are complimentary with the Shark Reef Aquarium admission. 

Sounds like quite the spectacle. But I suppose it’s fitting for Mr. Claus, who is apparently quite the wreck diver 🙂 Happy Holidays!

Shipwrecked Urinal Found

Sorry, but I couldn’t resist this one. Last week German archaeologists announced the discovery of a urinal once sprinkled by Kaiser Wilhelm II. The “porcelain potty,” as the Huffington Post reports, was discovered in the wreck of the Udine, a light-cruiser equipped with a special lavatory for the emperor’s convenience that was sunk by the Royal Navy in 1915. The find “sheds light on the treasure trove of artifacts that scatter the depths of the Baltic Sea,” which archaeologists estimate contains some 3,000 shipwrecks.  Reinhard Oser, lead archaeologist for the expedition, told the Telegraph his team had been “surprised by the identity of the urinal’s user.” I imagine this discovery will go down in the annals of underwater archaeology–let’s hope they release a picture of this bit of porcelain history.

Shipwreck Poem: The Seaman’s Home

It might be a bit of an exaggeration to label this a “shipwreck poem,” but three sonorous stanzas about sailors, the sea and a “cumb’ring wreck” counts to me. I came across The Seaman’s Home a few months back while researching early nineteenth-century shipwreck ephemera. I don’t know who wrote it and this is the only copy I’ve found so far. The image above was taken from the January 18, 1802 edition of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania’s  The Oracle of Dauphin, and Harrisburgh Advertiser (great name for a newspaper!). Below is a transcription. Enjoy!

So what’s that banner pic about?

You can imagine my surprise yesterday morning when, mired in 1830’s marine salvage research, I found out the day’s post had been Freshly Pressed. Sweet — over the next hour this blog had more hits than it has in an average week! In fact, it would be impossible to exaggerate how much being Freshly Pressed has bumped up my stats. It’s actually absurd — check out this graph of ‘daily clicks’ and you’ll get the picture:

So I want to truly thank everyone who took a few seconds to click, a minute or two to read, or five to comment on yesterday’s post. I hope you check back from time to time. All this traffic has its benefits–I’ve found dozens of new blogs from everyone who has left a comment or liked a post. It’s inspiring to see so many fantastic blogs out there.

But on to today’s post. A friend recently asked me about the banner pic heading this blog. Here’s the story: