Young Men and Fire - this time in Arizona

Nineteen firefighters died fighting a blaze in Arizona. The writer Norman McLean told the story of thirteen young men who died fighting a fire on a ridge above the upper Missouri River in Montana. His classic , spare reconstruction, Young Men and Fire told the story of thirteen crosses on the ridge above the river. Richard Shindell's beautiful song Cold Missouri Waters captures the tragedy. I hope someone of equal commitment and eloquence tells the story of the Granite Mountain Hotshots, the men who died yesterday in what appears to be a similarly pointless firefight.

The Future of Sailing is a 137-Year Old Concept, Reborn by the 2013 America’s Cup | gCaptain ⚓ Maritime & Offshore News

N.G. Herreshoff, designer   Herreshoff Marine Museum – Amaryllis II, 1933 (Amaryllis – 1876 – replica)

The Future of Sailing is a 137-Year Old Concept, Reborn by the 2013 America’s Cup | gCaptain ⚓ Maritime & Offshore News:


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Philip Conkling: The view from offshore | PenBay Pilot

Brimstone Island, Gulf of Maine - photo by Peter Ralston

Philip Conkling: The view from offshore | PenBay Pilot: 

"PENOBSCOT BAY — This past spring, a close friend who turned 60 invited us to his birthday destination celebration at the remote end of one of smallest Hawaiian Islands. But feeling penurious at the end of a colder than average winter, we suggested we would instead organize an island birthday adventure closer to home, which we held this past weekend.
It was a reunion for three of the principals, with assorted wives and children and a pair of dogs that are apparently too sensitive to be boarded ashore. The three of us had known each other for all of our adult lives. We had helped each other through the death of a spouse, child-rearing, several divorces, career changes, and a life changing illness; in short, through all the really critical times of our lives and had emerged, if not wealthier, hopefully a little wiser"...

Seal Island - photo by Peter Ralston

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On Keeping the Log of a Ship - the search for the wreck of Shackleton's ship Endurance

Shackleton's cabin - The Endurance

The Report of Mr. Duffus Hardy, Assistant Keeper at the Tower of  log books  on deposit at Somerset House, October 11, 1847 shows the importance of 
The Ship's Log (Admiralty Records No 12).
Frank Worsley in his workbook and captain's log kept meticulous records of the doomed voyage of the Endurance.  Using them teams are competing to find the wreckage in 10,00 feet of water in the Weddell Sea.  The Daily Mail reports.