NAUTICAL LOG

TOKYO, April 30, 2010. The Japan Coast Guard has obtained an arrest warrant for the head of the anti-whaling Sea Shepherd Conservation Society for allegedly ordering members of the group to obstruct operations by Japan's whaling fleet. The Japan Coast Guard has questioned the Master of the MS Shonan Maru 2 in regard to the collision between his vessel and the SS-PG vessel Ady Gil. This occurred when that vessel returned to Japan with the operator of the Ady Gil, whose former name was Earthrace , aboard in detention. As has been widely reported the operator, a New Zealand citizen named Bethune, boarded the MS Shonan Maru 2 at sea to confront her Master. He was detained under International Maritime Law and Japanese Maritime Law for illegally boarding a vessel underway on the High Seas, an act of piracy. If found guilty at his forthcoming trial he faces 15 years in a Japanese prison. It is not clear if the Nations involved which include, in addition to Japan, Australia, New Zealan...

News came to NAUTICAL LOG today about two voyages many miles apart in distance, purpose and attitude. The first is one with an honourable purpose to raise money to fight several serious illnesses by recreating the voyage made 221 years ago by Captain Bligh of HMS Bounty in one the ships boats. He and some crewmembers who refused to join the mutineers, whose descendants now live on Pitcairn Island, sailed from Tonga to Kupang, Timor a distance of 3700 nautical miles. Rather than discuss it here may we suggest a visit to OLD SALT BLOG which gives the full story and has a video of the open whaler with four crew making the voyage, they were due to depart yesterday. The other voyage is due to commence from New York on May 1, 2010 bound for the Mediterranean. As you may have guessed already it is MS Steve Irwin which apparently has arrived in the New York/New Jersey area. One might ask how does this pirate vessel travel around the world without getting detained - well she does. In fairne...

UPDATE : April 25, 2010. As usual when NAUTICAL LOG writes about the SSCS we receive comments which contain insulting language. Actually its rather childish language as one would perhaps expect from the phony conservationists of the SS-PG. Since the comments were always signed "ANONYMOUS" we choose not to publish them. It is interesting that the wording is always exactly the same so NAUTICAL LOG surmises they are prepared in advance ready for transmission. How pathetic is it that the SS-PG do not have an original opinion to make an original statement. If they displayed some real courage of their convictions and signed their opinions we would be delighted to publish them. That way everyone could see what they wrote, childish language and all, so comment, sign, and we will publish. On rare occasions NAUTICAL LOG finds itself in agreement with the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. This occurs when it behaves like a conservation society and not like a bunch of nautical thug...

The following "M" Notices have been released by the UK-MCA. MSN 1734 (M+F) MSN 1735 (M+F) MSN 1824 (M) EU Technical Requirements for Inland Waterways Vessels MGN 400 (M+F) They are available at www.mcga.gov.uk/ The "M" Notice Administrator's number is 023-8032 - 9391 if there is a problem. Good Watch.

Being a great reader since childhood, often under the bedclothes with a flashlight, was an advantage for a career at sea. Before all the electronic gimmicks now available we only had books and an occasional tin box of movies from 'Walport Films' ; remember those ? So it is that NAUTICAL LOG is still never without reading material particularly when travelling. On our return from two weeks in Hawai'i, a complete vacation without even going online, there was lots to catch up on. Amongst all the mail was a copy of "Seized" by Max Hardberger , it is my current reading and it is a good one. All about tall tales of the sea which are tall enough to have that certain nautical romance without going overboard so as to be unbelievable. The characters and places are well drawn, the vessels typical of the Miami River. This is a working river where commercial shipping, tow boating, Cuban fishermen and yachting meld as one. The world of such people as Plato Cox of Auto Marine ...

HMS Albion HMS Ocean HMS Ark Royal Iceland's volcano UPDATE: April 19, 2010. Over the weekend COBRA the United Kingdoms emergency committee met to discuss using Royal Navy vessels to repatriate British subjects stranded abroad. In fact HMS Ark Royal is due to arrive in Santander, Spain, some 598 nautical miles from Portsmouth, UK, thanks to the cooperation of the Spanish Government. HMS Ocean and HMS Albion are also assigned to this civilian transport duty. With the volcano eruption in Iceland a gap in Trans-Atlantic transportation has quickly shown up. Since it is impossible to fly due to the debris at 30,000 feet all the needed aircraft are grounded and the airports closed to flight traffic. For travelers it is possible to travel within Europe by ferry services and trains. However what about the Trans-Atlantic passengers ? This situation could go on for a month at least quite easily. NAUTICAL LOG suggests that it is time to temporarily reintroduce Trans-Atlantic passenger ...

The NAUTICAL LOG morning Press Release folder brought, thanks to the friend of a friend Great Barrier Reef Pilot, an Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) report on the grounding of the MV Shen Neng . It is well worth reading of what actually happened and clears up the usual Media mis-reporting of these incidents. It really is beyond time for the Media both to gets the facts correct and learn industry terminology before rushing to print. Rather than reprint or summarize here NAUTICAL LOG would like to direct those interested to the original ATSB report at their website www.atsb.gov.au/ Good Watch

Today Australian Maritime Authorities arrested the Chinese Master and Chief Officer of the MV Shen Neng. It appears that the Chief Officer was OOW at the time of the vessel's grounding. The Australians believe that the vessel was attempting a 'shortcut' through an area of The Great Barrier Reef closed to navigation. Damage to the Reef has been quite extensive both from the grounding and the vessel's bottom anti-fouling paint. Good Watch.

Talk about grasping at straws; the latest ' spin ', in the Press Release folder, from Sea Shepherd Conservation Society is a classic of that modern journalistic style. It is reported that 507 whales have been slaughtered by the Japanese Whaling Fleet this season. That alone indicates a failure of the Sea Shepherd strategy and the actions it led too. Legally, as we all know by now, there should not even have been a whaling fleet hunting. It most certainly should not have been in the Southern Whale Sanctuary which, as we also all know, is supposed to be protected by the Government of Australia but is not. The Sea Shepherds claimed to fill this gap but their actions are so 'off-the-wall' as to be totally ineffective. This year they had a vessel sunk and its operator is in detention in Japan facing numerous charges in violation of Maritime Law both Japanese and International. It is a little hard to know just who is in charge at the Sea Shepherds these days but it does not...

Fish Aggregating Device (FAD) Catching up on nautical news this morning we read that the Australian Maritime Authorities have removed the MS Shen Neng from the sandbar off The Great Barrier Reef. It seems that damage from oil has been kept to a minimum which is a relief. NAUTICAL LOG awaits further data as to other damage from the actual grounding apparently at full speed. We were also interested to learn that the pirate ship MS Steve Irwin called at Pitcairn Island which is on the great circle route from New Zealand to Panama. The now retired island communications officer Tom Christian MBE is a former shipmate of mine. We sailed aboard the TSS Tamahine in New Zealand some 51 years ago he as Radio Officer me as a brand new Third Officer. Tom and his wife recently returned to Pitcairn after a long stay in New Zealand. It is good to read of the SS-PG doing some nice things for a change and NAUTICAL LOG is sure it was a interesting experience for the MS Steve Irwin crew and of cou...

Diamond Head from '1812'. After an absence of two weeks NAUTICAL LOG is back and catching up on nautical news in particular and things in general. Not least of this is the yard which looks as if it never had any care whatsoever so a busy week is ahead. The family had gathered in Hawai'i for the Easter wedding of our second daughter. NAUTICAL LOG decided to stay on in our Waikiki Beach hotel for an extra weeks vacation. The assigned room was '1812' which was a good number for someone so interested in history, it also had a perfect view looking eastwards to Diamond Head and sunrise through the lanai sliding glass door. It was really a complete break as we did not even check our e-mail, of course when we got back there were 140 of them!! This was how we finally learned of the MV Shen Neng grounding on Australia's Great Barrier Reef. We caught the 'red eye' from HNL to LAX and then on to MIA. Before leaving LAX the pilot announced a short delay while he ...