Nantucket Island News

Non-profit organization Ocearch said Tuesday it was embarking on its 41st ocean research expedition "to help solve the life history puzzle of the Northwest Atlantic white shark."Alongside 42 scientists and 28 research institutions the organization will collect data to support 23 science projects that will help form a complete picture of the ecology, behavior and health of the white shark in the Northwest Atlantic Ocean. The company said it was headed back to the area where they first began their Northwest Atlantic White Shark Study nine years ago, off the coast of Massachusetts.

A 479-foot asphalt tanker was towed into New York Harbor after an engine room fire left the vessel disabled off the U.S. East Coast.Early on October 5, U.S. Coast Guard watchstanders in Woods Hole, Mass. received a report that the Hong Kong-flagged tanker Feng Huang AO loaded with asphalt and bound for New York Harbor suffered a fire in its engine room while transiting 57 miles southeast of Nantucket Island.The flames were extinguished using the ship’s installed carbon dioxide fire suppression system.

Hand in hand with the digital craze in maritime is the caution of cyber attacks. We live and operate in a complex society. That society would be impossible without modern computers and other information technologies Those technologies have largely been developed piecemeal to address particular issues, and for the most part they have generally achieved their particular goals. Maximum efficiency is gained when multiple technologies are joined to coordinate their work. Computers get smaller and faster, with ever-growing memory. Joining computers together allowed for creation of the internet.

Hy-Line Cruises, a division of Hyannis Harbor Tours, Inc., Hyannis, Mass., has taken delivery of Grey Lady IV, a new 493-passenger, high-speed catamaran from Gladding-Hearn Shipbuilding, the Duclos Corporation. The fourth Incat-Crowther fast ferry built by the Mass.-based shipyard for the Cape Cod passenger ferry company is larger and more stylish in design than previous vessels. The new ferry will provide year-round passenger service between Hyannis and Nantucket Island. The new…

The increasing automation of vessels is causing some mariners to lose basic maritime skills. During dinner on June 10, 1995, the last night before the cruise ship Royal Majesty was due to arrive in Boston from its voyage to Bermuda, the master bragged to the passengers at his table that his ship could never run aground because it had all the latest electronic equipment, including a navigation system that integrated the GPS signals and other information. At 2225 that night the ship grounded on the Rose and Crown Shoal near Nantucket. It was 17 miles west of its planned trackline.

Hy-Line Cruises, a division of Hyannis Harbor Tours, Inc., Hyannis, Mass., has ordered a new 493-passenger, high-speed catamaran from Gladding-Hearn Shipbuilding, the Duclos Corporation. The fourth Incat-Crowther fast ferry built by the Mass.-based shipyard for the Cape Cod passenger ferry company is larger and more stylish in design than previous vessels. The new ferry will provide year-round passenger service between Hyannis and Nantucket Island. Delivery is scheduled for 2016. The new, all-aluminum ferry is about 153.5 feet (46.8 m) long, 34.5 feet (10.5 m) at the beam, and draws approximately 8 feet (2.5 m), loaded. The vessel will be powered by four Cummins QSK60-M, EPA Tier 3 diesel engines, each delivering 2200 Bhp at 1800 rpm.

Simple annoyance or potential security threat? Spoof is defined as “a hoax or swindle.”  In the world of electronic networks, a spoofing attack is a situation in which one program successfully masquerades as another by falsifying data and thereby gaining an improper advantage. We have all heard of, and possibly fallen victim to, fraudulent card readers (often inserted on self-service fuel pumps). The fraudulent card readers copy security information from the credit card, which is then used to clone an illegitimate credit card and incur improper charges on the victim’s credit card account.

U.S. Merchant Marine Academy Transfers TV KINGS POINTER to Texas A&M University. The U.S. Merchant Marine Academy and the U.S. Department of Transportation today announced that the TV KINGS POINTER will be transferred to Texas A&M University in Galveston. The transfer facilitates the upcoming reconstruction of Mallory Pier, the Academy’s main ship docking facility. The Mallory Pier project has been in the planning stages for several years, and work is now scheduled to begin in early 2012. The project will take 12 to 18 months, during which time there will be no docking facilities available to tie up vessels as large as the TV KINGS POINTER. In addition, Academy leadership has determined that the TV KINGS POINTER no longer meets its training needs in a cost effective manner.

Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar and Cape Wind Associates, LLC signed the nation’s first lease for commercial wind energy development on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) on Oct. “This is the beginning of a new era for our Nation in offshore energy production,” Secretary Salazar said in a speech to the American Wind Energy Association in Atlantic City, New Jersey, where he signed the lease. “This is an important milestone in the development of offshore wind energy,” said Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement (BOEM) Director Michael R. Bromwich, whose agency is responsible for reviewing proposed renewable energy projects on the OCS.

On April 28, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar approved the Cape Wind renewable energy project on federal submerged lands in Nantucket Sound, but will require the developer of the $1b wind farm to agree to additional binding measures to minimize the potential adverse impacts of construction and operation of the facility. “After careful consideration of all the concerns expressed during the lengthy review and consultation process and thorough analyses of the many factors involved, I find that the public benefits weigh in favor of approving the Cape Wind project at the Horseshoe Shoal location,” Salazar said in an announcement at the State House in Boston. The Cape Wind project would be the first wind farm on the U.S.

As part of Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar's commitment to issue a decision on the application for the Cape Wind Energy Project, the Minerals Management Service (MMS) is accepting public comments on the historic preservation aspects of the project. The proposed Cape Wind project would place 130 turbines over 25 square miles in Nantucket Sound off the coast of Massachusetts, and could supply up to 75 percent of the electricity for Cape Cod, Martha's Vineyard, and Nantucket Island. Secretary Salazar announced this public comment period on January 13 in response to the decision by the National Park Service to consider Nantucket Sound for listing in the National Registry of Historic Places.

Seaport, has been named as a recipient of a Thomas B. Crowley, Sr. Maritime Corporation. interest in maritime trades and studies. Environmental Studies and Evolutionary Biology major. Williams-Mystic is the only interdisciplinary program of its kind. on the past, present and future of the earth's oceans. learning environment of Mystic Seaport - The Museum of America and the Sea. deep-water offshore voyage. academies and other select institutions in the name of his father Thomas B. away in 1994.

On December 30, 2000, the tanker Castor was underway in the western Mediterranean Sea en route from Constanza, Romania to Lagos, Nigeria, carrying 29,470 tons of unleaded gasoline. During a fierce winter storm, the ship developed a 22-m long crack across its main deck between frames 72 and 73, approximately midway along its 183.5 m length. For the next 24 days, the tanker fruitlessly sought permission to enter sheltered coastal waters of nations littoral to the Mediterranean. Its requests were rebuffed successively by Morocco, Spain, Gibraltar, Algeria, Tunisia, France, Italy, Malta, and Greece. Finally, on January 22, 2001, the cargo remaining on board was successfully lightered during a high seas transfer in international waters near Malta.

Hy-Line Cruises, a division of Hyannis Harbor Tours, Hyannis Mass., has ordered a new 300 passenger high-speed catamaran from Gladding-Hearn Shipbuilding, the Duclos Corporation. This is the third Incat-designed fast ferry built by the shipyard for the caps cod tourism company, and the twenty-seventh high-speed catamaran built by Gladding Hearn. The M/V Grey Lady III, scheduled for delivery next year, will replace the smaller Grey Lady II and provide year-round passenger service between Hyannis and Nantucket Island. The new, all-aluminum ferry is 144 ft. (43.7 m), 35 ft. (10.6m) at the beam, and draws 6.5 ft. (2m). It is powered by four Cummins KTA50M2 diesel engines, each delivering 1800 bhp. The vessel is propelled by four Hamilton water jets through Reinjtes WVS730D gearboxes.

Derecktor Shipyards delivered its 299 ft. (91 m) high speed catamaran, Flying Cloud, to Woods Hole & Martha's Vineyard Steamship Authority. Completed one week ahead of schedule, the vessel will be used for year-round passenger and vehicle ferry service to the islands of Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket. Attaining an excess of 39 knots during sea trials, Flying Cloud demonstrated high stability and ride comfort due to its dynamic ride control system. Its service speed of 36 knots will allow the ferry to cross from Hyannis Port to Nantucket Island in less than one hour - significantly lower than the conventional two hour crossing time. Flying Cloud is powered by Paxman 12VP185 diesel engines driving Kamewa 71SII waterjets.

Iris Lowery, from Washington, DC, a student in the maritime studies program of Williams College and Mystic Seaport, has been named as a recipient of a Thomas B. Crowley, Sr. Memorial Scholarship, which is presented annually at the institution by Crowley Maritime Corporation. Lowery was selected based on academic success, financial need, and her interest in maritime trades and studies. In addition to participating in the Williams-Mystic program, Lowery is a junior majoring in Human Ecology at College of the Atlantic in Bar Harbor, Maine. Additionally, Lowery has strong skills in boatbuilding. She graduated with an associate's degree from Northwest School of Wooden Boat Building before continuing her studies at College of the Atlantic where she is pursuing her bachelor's degree.

The passenger vessel industry continues to be mired in a construction malaise with high-speed passenger only ferries and more conventional passenger auto ferries the only bright spot. The epicenter of the passenger vessel ferry business is the New York City metro area where dozens of new ferries have been added to replace the PATH and other subway lines destroyed in the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Suddenly "the way to work" for thousands of commuters was severed. Recent deliveries into the area include five 79-foot catamarans for NY Waterway. They are single deck, 149-foot passenger only ferries. The company also has purchased two 340-passsenger fast ferries from NY Fast Ferry. The ramp up in New York City ferry services has not been without difficulties, however.

According to Greek legend, Zeus had the messenger god Mercury leave a mysterious box with Pandora. Mercury told Pandora to hold the box for safe-keeping, but under no circumstances was she to open it. Not long after Mercury departed, curiosity got the better of Pandora and she opened the box to examine its contents. Unfortunately, the box contained all the ills and misfortunes of the world. They promptly escaped and have been loose in the world since that time. The word 'panacea' is derived from the Greek terms "pan" (meaning all) and "akos" (meaning remedy). The question is which term applies to AIS? What is AIS? AIS is an electronic transceiver unit intended to be integrated with a ship's radar, gyrocompass, global positioning system (GPS), and other operational and navigational systems.

Hy-Line Cruises, a division of Hyannis Harbor Tours, Hyannis, Mass., has taken delivery of a new 300 passenger, high-speed catamaran from Gladding-Hearn Shipbuilding, the Duclos Corporation. This is the third Incat-designed fast ferry built by the shipyard for the Cape Cod tourism company, and the twenty-seventh high-speed catamaran built by Gladding-Hearn. The M/VV Grey Lady replaces the smaller Grey Lady II and provides year-round passenger service between Hyannis and Nantucket Island. The new, all-aluminum ferry is 144 ft. (43.7 m) long, 35 ft. (10.6 m) at the beam and draws 6.5 feet (2 m). It is powered by four Cummins KTA50M2 diesel engines, each delivering 1800 Bhp at 1900 rpm. The vessel is propelled by four Hamilton HM651 water jets through Reinjtes WVS730D gearboxes.