Amelia Island News

If nothing else, building vessels in the U.S. is a complicated business.In a session on the domestic shipbuilding marketplace, at Marine Money’s late-November 2023 conference held in New Orleans, Ben Bordelon, president and CEO of Bollinger Shipyards (with more than a dozen facilities, in Mississippi and Louisiana), described his company’s architecture as a “three-legged stool approach: commercial newbuilds, government newbuilds and repair/conversion capabilities”.On the same panel…

American Cruise Lines introduced its first new Coastal Cat, American Eagle, during a christening ceremony in at the Massachusetts Maritime Academy campus on Buzzards Bay last week.Carol Robertson, wife of American Cruise Lines’ founder the late Charles A. Robertson, served as godmother for the ship and christened the 100-passenger American Eagle with one of her handmade, ribbon-wrapped champagne bottles. The American Eagle is named after the first American Cruise Lines’ ship, which the couple launched in the 1970s.The ceremony began with remarks from Robertson…

The global marine environmental science consulting firm  CSA Ocean Sciences (CSA) announced the completion of a survey to collect data for hydrodynamic model calibration and verification in Nassau Sound, located north of Jacksonville, Florida.The CSA team measured inshore and offshore water level, tides, current and waves to calibrate and validate a hydrodynamic model. The team installed water level recorders and a wave-enabled Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP) and conducted an estuarine water discharge survey to gather the needed data.Morgan & Eklund, Inc. (M&E), CSA’s sister company, a licensed survey company specializing in hydrographic surveys, teamed with CSA on this project. The project was contracted and managed by Olsen Associates, Inc.

Amelia Island, Florida: At the second annual Workboat Exchange, held in April at the Ritz Carlton Hotel on beautiful Amelia Island, Florida, about 160 marine buyers and sellers alike got a full taste of the best food, weather and accommodations that the Sunshine state has to offer. At the same time, they also got a full dose of reality when it comes to the eventual implications of the subchapter M rules. Maritime attorney and consultant Gary English led the attendees through a comprehensive primer on who will be impacted, why, and what it is likely to cost inland marine operators to comply.

1817-"The ship Margaret, which sailed on Sunday, August 10, 1817, for Amelia Island with a number of persons on board, supposed to be going out for the purpose of joining the pirates, was brought back by the RC Active, under the command of Revenue Captain John Cahoone, and anchored yesterday morning [ 11 August 1817 ] in the Bay. The cutter fired several shots at the Margaret before she hove to. 1966-CGC Point Welcome was attacked in the pre-dawn hours of 11 August 1966 by U.S. Air Force aircraft while on patrol in the waters near the mouth of the Cua Viet River, about three-quarters of a mile south of the Demilitarized Zone (the 17th Parallel) in South Vietnam.

Coast Guard Aids to Navigation Team Jacksonville Officer in Charge Senior Chief Petty Officer Andrew M. Engle will pass command to Chief Petty Officer Timothy R. Tully, Thursday at 10 a.m. during a ceremony held at the Aids to Navigation Team Jacksonville, Fla. Engle took on the responsibilities as the Officer in Charge of the ANT in 1999. He will go on to take the duties as the executive petty officer on board the Coast Guard Cutter Maria Bray homeported in Mayport, Fla. Tully’s previous assignment was the Officer in Charge of the Aids to Navigation Team San Diego, Calif. Tully and his crew of 18 will be responsible for more than 1,100 aids to navigations from Tybee, Ga., to Ponce de Leon Inlet, Fla., including more than 150 miles of shoreline along the St. Johns River.

The Shipbuilders Council of America (SCA) selected Harvey B. Walpert to be the first ever Director Emeritus of SCA in recognition of his outstanding contributions to the maritime industry. Bruce Croushore, Vice President of Bender Shipbuilding & Repair Co., Inc. of Mobile, AL and past Chairman of SCA, presented the award during the SCA Fall Meeting in Amelia Island, FL on September 29, 2005. Mr. Walpert’s shipbuilding experience includes 22 years at Electric Boat Corporation, a division of General Dynamics, and 22 years at Halter Marine Group (currently VT Halter Marine, Inc.). He has served in his current position as a Senior Defense Advisor for Bender for more than 5 years.