NAUTICAL LOG

Well now here we are at the last day of January and already the first month of 2012 is gone.  In Florida today it is the Republican Party Primary voting day.  Under the Voting Rules in our State the independent voters, or " No Party Affiliation " as our Florida voting cards show, have no say.  The Republican Campaign has been full of bombastic bluster ( Saint versus sinner?) and very little of substance, particularly the last two debates ( and one uses that word reservedly ) which of course plays right into the hands of the current Administration - not good. That reminds me we have heard nothing from the SSCS seagoing Cult for weeks and of course the ICR makes no reports so one surmises the Southern Ocean whaling is in full swing as the Sea Shepherd vessels are apparently are quite unable to stop it or even slow it down.  The " Operation Divine Wind " is a complete failure and the only thing accomplished so far is yet the loss of another Darth ...

The United Kingdom Office of Foreign Affairs has done an analysis of the Piracy 'catch and release' policy over the last four (4) years.  The above chartlets show the results for two (2) years 2009 and 2010. Generally NAUTICAL LOG is supportive of 'catch and release' programs - in recreational fishing but not as regards Piracy.  We believe most professional seafarers would agree the policy is asinine, of course the elite yachting community do not care in the least, their expensive toys are transported in barbed wire defended vessels with armed guards on board - no catch and release for them!! Let us take a look at what the attitude of the International Maritime Organisation ( dis-organisation perhaps ?) towards Piracy has done.  We have the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society (SSCS) a seagoing Cult.  They travel around the world quite freely, rarely stopped by the Immigration Authorities, busy fund-raising, wrecking silly non-seagoing toy craft, an...

The International Court of Justice Peace Palace Carnegieplein 2 2517 KJ The Hague The Netherlands. COMPLAINT 1. This Complaint is presented in the matter of Human Rights for Seafarers. 2. Being greatly concerned about the condition and plight of the Seafarers held captive by pirates off Puntland, Somalia we present this Complaint to the International Court. 3.  The pirates have declared these Seafarers to be hostages for ransoms demanded from the Shipowners and subject to reprisals. 4.  It is reported that these pirates have cut off the arm of Captain Chao-I Wu of the FV. Shiuh Fu #1 as an act of reprisal for not receiving from the vessel Owner a demanded ransom. 5.  This is a clear violation of basic Human Rights, the Treatment of Prisoner's and the Rights of Seafarers as declared by the International Maritime Organisation. 6.  We therefore present this Complaint to the International Court that the Internati...

This morning while going through the maritime Blogs and our Press Release folder we read the Somalia Report (SR).  They reported on the rescue from shore based scumbags of Jessica Buchanan (American) and Poul Thisted (Danish) by a U.S. SEAL Team.  Very good news indeed and it confirms what NAUTICAL LOG has said over and over again ad nauseam that it can be done by the properly trained persons using extreme prejudice.  Sadly however in the balance of life there was a second report in SR that states CAPT. Chao-I Wu of the FV Shiuh Fu #1 had his hand cut off by other scumbag pirates, off the coast of Puntland, Somalia.  Also SR reported that two Korean seafarers are extremely ill and may not survive while also being held by pirates possibly now moved ashore. Now China, Taiwan and Korea have extremely capable Special Forces Units and it would seem the time is past that they were sent into action to effect a rescue attempt using extreme prejudic...

The following M Notices are available at www.dft.gov.uk/mca .  If difficulties are experienced call 023 8032 9391 for assistance. MGN 437 (M) Small Commercial Codes of Practice. Revision of Sections 4.4 and 11. MIN 419 (M) Spectator Craft Attending the London Olympic Games 2012 and London Paraolympic Games 2012. MIN 423 (M) Revalidating a Certificate of Competency: New Requirements for Masters and Officers. Good Watch. One thing that has not been addressed so far is the rescue of some 300 of our fellow seafarers held hostage by pirates off the coast of Puntland, Somalia.  They are now under threat of being murdered at any moment and the spectator craft at the  London Olympics get more attention than the seafarers do.

Ships now operate under the International Management Code for Safe Operation of Ships and for Pollution Prevention (ISM Code).  Since this is a Post on Auditing NAUTICAL LOG , who is a Trained Auditor, will not go through the requirements as these can be found on the Internet and in your local nautical bookshop - you do have a bookshop hopefully as they are a dying breed.  There are two types of Audit an External Audit and an Internal Audit. The External Audit consists of the Flag State or an outside Auditing Firm coming into the Company and going through all the Protocols, Procedures and associated Manuals.  They may also hold a drill simulating a situation in one of the Company's vessels and observe the results of the Shore Staff dealing with it.  NAUTICAL LOG has been through this experience with two very different Companies and believe me it is a long, difficult, trying day not made any easier by the subsequent debrief.  The External Auditor the...

The distance from Miami, FL to Civitaveechia the Port of Rome is 4718 nautical miles and the distance from Boston, MA to Civitaveechia is 3925 nautical miles.  A week ago the reef impact and later grounding of the MS Costa Concordia took place.  At that time NAUTICAL LOG wrote in our Post " Bang, Crunch, List and Panic " to guard against paying too much attention to Media reports.  From what we have read since with the Master's story changing at least three times and ridiculous statements from Costa Cruises Management it was good advice. In the week since NAUTICAL LOG has declined to be interviewed by the Media - others have not.  This morning NAUTICAL LOG was contacted by the Media about an article in the maritime Blog " gCaptain" by a CAPT. William H. Doherty who instructs at MMA and was Safety Manager at NCL here in Miami, FL.  In spite of having served in several Miami based Cruise Lines NAUTICAL LOG has never met him so interested rea...

Banzai!!  Well the SSCS mob asked for it, now that they have got it they do not like it, pretty hard to please that lot.  NAUTICAL LOG had warned last year before the Southern Ocean Whaling Season started that this 2011-2012 Season the Japanese would fight back hard to defend their vessels.  Under Maritime Law they have every right to do so under defence against Piracy Laws. Thankfully in the recent action one of the SSCS Cult members did not lose an eye but he came damn close to doing so - or so reports state. This morning in our Press Release folder we have Reports courtesy of the " Herald Sun ", " Sydney Morning Herald " and " The Institute for Cetacean Research" .  Our Press Release provider states that for some unknown reason the SSCS reports are partially blocked however it really does not matter in the least because the information is republished by both these Australian newspapers.  Just more weird SSCS Cult behaviour from the great unwash...

The first test of a major incident to one of the mega-cruise ships has been a failure.  The MS Costa Concordia  has been a failure of design, a failure of the evacuation procedure, a failure of leadership at both the shipboard level and the Management ashore level.  Sadly however to many of us who sailed in the previous generation of passenger vessels it is much as we had feared and expected.  With 4200 persons on board and the chaotic situation resulting how do the Cruise Lines expect to evacuate 8700 persons such are in the MS Oasis of the Seas and MS Allure of the Seas   there is no allure in these ships for NAUTICAL LOG. There has been a mass of Media reporting from all sides so much in fact that yesterday NAUTICAL LOG received a call from the Producer of the gossip, news, entertainment show " Inside Edition " for an interview and commentary, we declined directing them to this Blog and its previous Post.  Later in the afternoon there...

"A grounding can really spoil your whole cruise" UPDATE :  Sunday January 15, 2012. REFERENCE:  UKHO Charts 1999, and 1911 For our non-nautical readers please do not read to much into the detention of the Italian Master of the MS Costa Concordia , Captain Schettino.  This is the procedure of the Italian Code Napoleon System of Justice where one is detained for questioning by a Prosecutor to obtain the facts of the incident from that persons perspective.  In addition to Italian National Law there are International Maritime Laws which also must be applied.  One might point out that the vessel's First Officer was also detained so it would appear he was the OOW (Officer of the Watch) and actually navigating at the time of the grounding. This however is conjecture on the part of   NAUTICAL LOG.   Particularly unhelpful in all this were the remarks of Costa Cruise President Gianni Onorato who, with a background of the hotel ...

Many of our readers are not seafarers and judging from the comments to recent Posts have no knowledge of Maritime Law yet comment on Piracy.  NAUTICAL LOG suggests that you visit, read and understand "The Tulane Maritime Law Journal"  Volume 33; Pages 10 through 15, for the definition of Piracy and to whom it applies.  The SSCS seagoing Cult clearly are pirates and Admiral "Wats-his-name" has proudly boasted about being a pirate. Where does the money come from for the SSCS?  Since NAUTICAL LOG  confirmed that the SSCS are a salaried executive Pirate Group paying certain of its employees between $30,000 and $60,000 with the Chief Pirate getting $96,000 we wondered. Our inquires, which respect the DMCA, led to Australia's " The Sydney Morning Herald " www.smh.com.au   and their Public Domain SSCS Report. It seems one source is the little person in the street with his or her heart in the right place responding to the SSCS " ...

Some interesting information from Ecorazzi www.ecorazzi.com this morning.  It appears that while the SSCS seagoing Cult crewmembers pay everything themselves, travel to and from the vessels and all expenses the SSCS top echelon get paid.  The pay scales quoted are salaried employees $30,000 to $60,000 while " Wats-his-name " gets $96,000 - no data about their expenses however. Now this is fascinating as it confirms the offer made last year to NAUTICAL LOG yes NAUTICAL LOG that archfiend who dares to criticise the SSCS seagoing Cult.  We have an e.mail on file which offered a position as Master to take the MS Steve Irwin from Australia to the United Kingdom.  On following up we were told there would be a salary and expenses would be covered.  All we can conclude from this is that, since we know the SSCS contact to be genuine, there was a dastardly plot to dump  NAUTICAL LOG  overboard in the Indian Ocean or some strange twisted plan to conver...

A saxophone has been described as an ill wind that nobody blows good.  From the confused Press Releases that arrived in our Press Folder this morning it would seem this may apply to the SSCS writers also.  Does this look like a "whaling" ship to you?  It does, then join the SSCS seagoing cult they will be delighted to have you. First of all there was: "The Shonan Maru Boarding Incident."   followed by, "Tokyo's Illegal Invasion of World Heritage Area Continues."   then the favourite "Sea Shepherd Dancing Dangerously With the Outlaw Whaling Fleet in the Southern Ocean."   this is like something out of those Saturday morning movies we went to see as kids about comic book heroes. The stuff gets sillier and sillier as this windy operation drifts further and further from the world of reality.  The writing is a collection of twisted around facts to suit the SSCS seagoing Cult preconceived opinions.  There are statements credit...

Don't look now but we're being followed!  In a Press Release, today taken from the Public Domain of the Internet republished News networks, the SSCS website stated: " The  Yushin Maru #3 is currently, at 1400 AEST, 5 nautical miles off the coast of MacQuarie Island.  The Sea Shepherd ship Bob Barker was attempting to shake the tail of the Yushin Maru #3 at MacQuarie." JWF vessel MS Yushin Maru #3 off MacQuarie Island The MS Steve Irwin is some 400 nautical miles south of Australia with the MS Shonan Maru #2 at a distance of 10 nautical miles following astern.  So it seems the Japan Fishery Agency is tracking both these SSCS seagoing Cult vessels.  The MS Shonan Maru #2 has the three Australian pirates in detention on board, they will be transferred to the factory ship MS Nisshin Maru once the vessels meet up.  That vessels has secure quarters for detention known as The Brig in maritime terminology.  The three Australian detainees, ( ...

There is a limit to how much SSCS hot air NAUTICAL LOG can republish - we are more than capable of developing our own!! On the SSCS website there are two Press Releases this morning updating from their point of view the incident of the boarding of the Japan Fishery Agency Patrol vessel MS Shonan Maru #2.  Do these people really believe there own description of events?  Maybe they cannot see the forest for the trees. "32° 57' 48" South 115° 20' 24" East"   and   "Australian Whale Defenders on Their Way to Antarctica Against Their Will" are the two named Press Releases. Here at NAUTICAL LOG we feel that the whole thing was totally contrived.  We have been told that the Press Releases are pre-written before the incident took place.  It seems the SSCS Staff is so divided that a Staffer actually e.mailed us the name of the SSCS Staff member ( which we are keeping in   confidence in case we decide to take act...

This Post is compiled from Public Domain Press Releases published by the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society (SSCS) and republished by Nature News Network ®.  This Post complies with the DMCA as recognised under the United States Federal Code.  The  analysis and commentary is by NAUTICAL LOG. Whodat grey haired guy on the left? Three Australian citizens are reported detained on board the MS Shonan Maru #2 a guard ship for the Japanese Whaling Fleet (JWF).  The report states that three persons from Perth, Fremantle and Bunbury, Western Australia respectively.  They came out from shore by boat to intercept the Japanese vessel which was tailing the MS Steve Irwin a vessel of the SSCS seagoing Cult.  The interception took place at a reported position of 32° 00' South Latitude and 115° 21' East Longitude.  Also involved were to small boats from the MS Steve Irwin.  Under cover of darkness the three Austral...

Just what is DMCA which you may run across as a Blogger; it means Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).   Simply put it is an attempt to control entries made by Bloggers of information obtained from the Internet. When writing a Blog particularly an activist Blog one sometimes rattles the cage of public figures and bodies.  Most public figures take it in stride and recognise the fact that information put out on the Internet is now in the 'Public Domain'.  Therefore if quoted correctly, preferable in quotes and italics, it may be used by yet another Blogger.  Of course using foul and or abusive language in connection with that quote is quite improper, shows the ignorance of that particular Blogger and greatly reduces the effectiveness of that Bloggers opinions. As regular readers of NAUTICAL LOG well know we are highly critical of the such bodies as the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society (SSCS) mainly on two points.  The two points are, the vio...

The following M-Notices are now available electronically: MGN 441 (M+F) Changes to MCA 2002 SOLAS V Publication, Arising out of Amendments to SOLAS Chapter V. MIN 422 (M) Insurance-Directive Requiring Shipowners of Seagoing Vessels over 300 GT to Maintain Liability Insurance. If difficulties are experienced contact 023 8032 9391 Good Watch The 300 of our fellow seafarers are now considered captive hostages by the EURNAVFOR which conducts counter-piracy patrols off the Horn of Africa.  Hopefully this will lead to a serious rescue operation to free them.

NAUTICAL LOG reached 60,000 visitors earlier today.  As regular readers know we do not have Twitter®, Facebook® or any other accounts so we are found only by Internet search engines. On another point we have had several responses already to our request to former SSCS crewmembers on their opinions of life on board the vessels of this seagoing cult.  Some of these have been sent as comments to Posts however you can just send them directly to our e-mail address boucp@hotmail.com     and then they will not be published, the choice is yours. Good Watch Some people who do not have any choices are the 300 of our fellow seafarers held captive off the coast of Puntland, Somalia.  Now they are being threatened with death because of action taken against the pirates.  NAUTICAL LOG encourages a rescue operation to save their lives the risks involved would seem worthwhile.  If any hostage seafarers are murdered NAUTICAL LOG will take legal ...

When persons set themselves up as conservationists they must be prepared and knowledgeable about all aspects involved in conservation.  The SSCS seagoing cult has received information from the Australian Government that it failed to conduct an approved environmental impact assessment (EIA) with regard to the drones they are using to find and track the JWF.  At present this involves only the MS Bob Barker as their other two vessels are not involved in chasing and harassing whalers. They were advised by the Australian Antarctic Division (AAD) Manager Gillian Slocum that the drones were not included in the EIA required to enter Antarctica.  Under the Antarctic Treaty the drones are subject to an EIA and must not be used in the Region otherwise. The SSCS fleet Admiral " Wats-his-name " made the excuse that they are required to present a complete EIA while the JDF is not treated to the same standards.  While this may well be true Admiral " Wats-hi...

In our editorial yesterday we pointed out the required ability as a Navigator to be able to check on one's electronic equipment by traditional methods of navigational skills. Recently a gentleman from Seattle, WA departed from American Samoa bound for Honolulu, Oahu, Hawaiian Islands.  He missed!!  Ok! these things do happen and he arrived safely on Kauai some 100 miles away.  There was a US Coast Guard search for him of course at great expense.  Then our intrepid navigator set off for his original planned destination of Honolulu - didn't arrive.  USCG search again,  calls wife in Seattle, WA to say he is just fine but missed Honolulu, Oahu again, ended up on Hawai'i known as the "Big Island" some 208 miles from Oahu.  Now beyond a joke this guy should be billed for the expenses to we US Taxpayers of this 2nd. USCG search.  One suspects that he is an electronic navigator without a clear ability to programme correctly his eq...

Well here we go FULL AHEAD for 2012 a busy year to improve our economy and in November hold a Federal Election for a President. The only New Year Resolution that NAUTICAL LOG has made is to be more fully alert to incompetence in the maritime world.  While we may not be writing  many comments to other maritime Blogs this year we shall be carefully monitoring them.  Then we may very well write and publish a Post on the subject matter and they are going to be rather direct.  During 2011 there was an increasing lack of basic seamanship, careless navigation with far too much emphasis on electronics without the training or ability to do checks on electronic equipment by traditional navigational methods.  Even some Instructors in Navigation at the Maritime Schools have this attitude, they need to sit down, discuss, review and revise their teaching protocol.  At sea a ships position should be found and confirmed " by every available method "....