Category Archives: Sailing

Lucky Dog

An Australian cattle dog breed that was lost overboard in rough seas has survived and been reunited with her owners

The dog was believed to have drowned and Griffith said the family was devastated. But out of sight of the family, Sophie Tucker was swimming doggedly and finally made it to St. Bees Island, five nautical miles away, and began the sort of life popularized by the TV reality show “Survivor”.

She voted other dogs off the island? Ran around in a bikini and considered magazine cover offers? Ok, I confess I never watched the show so the reference is lost on me. Get it? Lost. Haha.

Griffith said that when the dog was first spotted on the island she had been in poor condition.

“And then all of a sudden she started to look good and it was when the rangers had found baby goat carcasses so she’d started eating baby goats,” she said.

Amazing story of survival with a happy ending. I wonder if Tom Hanks will star in the movie version.

HMS Victory Case Closed

The BBC suggests the debate over the sinking of the “mightiest vessel of the 18th Century” can now be put to rest with the ‘Mighty’ HMS Victory wreck found:

The discovery of HMS Victory exonerates Admiral Sir John Balchin, who came out of retirement to command the ship, on what was meant to be his final voyage.

Historians believed the ship was lost due to poor navigation on the Casquets, a group of rocks north-west of Alderney.

But the wreck’s location, 62 miles (100km) away from the rocks, suggests the 74-year-old admiral was not to blame.

Who then? Who is to blame? Mother nature? The architects? How could this 2,000 ton, 175 ft, 100-gun entirely brass cannon First Rate ship of the Royal Navy sink just three years after being name the flagship of the Channel Fleet?

Ocean Spy

A friend of mine reported today that she successfully deployed a Monterey Bay surveillance system:

A new camera will spy on sea creatures at the bottom of the Monterey Bay south of San Francisco starting Wednesday, if all goes as planned on the boat trip to install the Eye-in-the-Sea.

Congrats!

This is part of the research on bioluminescence that seems to be funded by the US military. Why the military? Covert operations are very difficult to hide when they give off bioluminescent traces — easy to use simple technology to spot even the most sophisticated navy commandos. Aside from the inquiry for security, I am sure there are scientific reasons for the study.

A Flickr stream has already been started with photos from the research boat.