In Memoriam Chris Hanges, 1928-2012
On February 22nd, we lost a dear friend, colleague and sage counselor when Chris Hanges died peacefully in his sleep. Chris’ Greek heritage and New York area childhood drew him to a maritime career as a young man. After graduating with a degree in Civil Engineering from New York University and upon his completion of… Read more »
Refloating the M.V. “Aristeas P” and M.V. “Nord Barcelona”
On January 21, 2012 I travelled to Kilometer 391 on the Parana River, near Rosario, Argentina on behalf of SMIT Salvage Americas Inc. to assist in the re-floating of the grounded bulk carrier, the M.V. “Aristeas P,” pictured below: The vessel, a 38,623 DWT bulk carrier, had run aground in low river conditions and was positioned such that the… Read more »
Oman Drydock Company
Over the years many Arabian countries have built drydock facilities to open new industries to help them steer away from a completely oil dependent economy. Oman is the latest entrant to the list with their brand new facility in Duqm. The facility has two 400,000 ton graven docks and will also soon add a floating… Read more »
Great Directors Lead
On a recent trip to Sicily to deal with construction issues on a number of high speed catamarans, I saw this forklift parked in a director’s reserved parking spot. I like it. I am not sure a forklift operator is trying to make a point or if a director is making a point, but there… Read more »
Which Way Did They Go?
Sometimes we get so busy no one knows where anybody is going. Fortunately, in New Orleans, we never have that problem; we always know where Pierce and David went.
Rochester NY, Under USCG care
December 15, 2011, in Rochester, New York to inspect a pier on behalf of the Department of Justice with regard to a fatal boater’s crash on a dark night in 2008 on Lake Ontario. It was surprisingly warm for this time of year, but the USCG Boatswain in charge of the 47 foot MLB and… Read more »
Donjon-SMIT OPA-90 Training Day
December 08, 2011 Donjon Marine Co. Inc., HQ in Hillside NJ hosted the latest in the Donjon-SMIT, OPA-90 Salvage and Marine Fire Fighting (SMFF) network Captain of the Port Zone (COTPZ) training drills. The drill was attended by PRONAV Flex Crew fire fighting first response individuals, Donjon-SMIT, SMIT Salvage Americas and Martin & Ottaway RSA…. Read more »
A NORMANDIE Semi-Mystery
The Normandie is by far my favorite passenger vessel from a design point of view (on a pure love/looks basis, the pre-war Nieuw Amsterdam II beats her by a small margin). Years ago I came across a set of drawings in our office with a last correction date of February 9, 1942 that show the… Read more »
Exxon Valdez? Enough Already.
My sister, Annemarie, who, as an ex tall ship sailor, has good salty connections sent me the words to this famous chantey. So here we go: What’ll we do with a drunken sailor (3x) Earl-aye in the morning? Hooray and up she rises (3x) Early-aye in the morning Shave his belly with a rusty… Read more »
World Maritime Day
The world is filled with anniversiries, commemorations and memorials. IMO also has special days and September 29, 2011 will be World Maritime Day. It would be easy to be cynical about yet another “special” day. But if there can be a national pickle day, or even a day that commemorates the Irish, it is simply… Read more »
Welcome, AMERICA Version 2.0
High tech comes in many flavors. Some of it is just completely new like the Lever building in New York City or maybe an IPad, but I like high tech when it reaches back and reaches forward. In yacht design occasionally I get to see such instances. I particularly like those designs that use wood… Read more »
Port Engineers Of New York Golf Outing
The Martin & Ottaway foursome consisting of Carl, Joe, Padriag and David were successful in their attempt to win the Russ Magna 2011 Annual Golf Outing held at Apple Ridge Country Club, Mahwah, NJ, on September 12, 2011. The winning putter is shown below:
The Passing Of A Real Engineer
Today marks the passing of a real engineer. Keith Tantlinger was the engineer who designed the shipping container components that realized Malcolm McLean’s vision. The New York Times recognized Mr. Tantlinger’s importance to humanity by publishing his obituary. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/07/business/keith-tantlinger-builder-of-cargo-container-dies-at-92.html?_r=1&emc=eta1
Striped Bass Survey
On July 13, I was lucky enough to find myself aboard the 28 foot sport fishing boat “Makowish” out of Montauk, Long Island during a family camping vacation. I had fished from various vessels in the Montauk party boat fleet for fluke and never quite “fluked” the good fish while those all around me ensured their… Read more »
National Maritime Day
National Maritime Day is observed on the day the American steamship Savannah set sail from Savannah, GA on the first ever transoceanic voyage under steam power, May 22, 1819. The ship “put to sea with both steam and sails” and reached Liverpool in 29 days and four hours, becoming the first steamship to cross the… Read more »
Robert Fulton
Robert Fulton is a rather elusive figure who was a prolific inventor and technical promoter and a pretty good painter too. While he is well known for the Clermont or Claremont (neither of which are the actual name of his steamboat) my favorite Fulton design is the Demologos. This steam gunnery ship only predates the… Read more »
A first (As Far As I Know)
Since 1995 Martin & Ottaway has been based in Monmouth County on the North Jersey shore, but many of us have known the shore for much longer than that. One of Chris Hanges’ favorite Jersey hangouts was Bahrs Landing in Highlands, a short distance from the Seastreak ferry. Bahrs Landing still is a Jersey shore favorite and… Read more »
The US Maritime Industry, The Rodney Dangerfield Of World History
The Maritime Industry is the single most important driver for the world as we know it today. Before maritime commerce was established, trade consisted of horses and carts on bad roads, and since horses and carts can only move limited amounts of product trade was inherently deeply restricted. Before sailing ships, it was impossible to… Read more »
Historical Vessels, A Top 10 List
Museums are scary things. It would be interesting to figure out when the first true museum was created. I am not talking about curio collections, like animal zoos, that must go back to prehistoric times and church collections that focus on relics, I am talking about institutions that are interested in preserving objects that have… Read more »