Wednesday, October 23, 2013

Eastport, Maine - James Fallows -- The Atlantic

Loading pulp paper at Eastport. In the 1840's a ship landed from Europe almost daily.
James Fallows loves to fly and he loves talking to people.  So he and his wife are touring the country in his plane, reporting on stirrings in small cities across the country.  I'm delighted that he has gotten to Maine.  I hope we'll soon have reports from Belfast and Rockland.  I'm banking on lots of pictures at Front Street Shipyard, the new force in shipbuilding in Maine.

 James Fallows - Authors - The Atlantic: "Greetings from the American city closest to Europe, and first to see each day's sunrise: Eastport, Maine, which Marketplace will describe in its broadcast on Friday and which we'll say more about starting tomorrow. The scene above is of an unimaginably vast warehouse full of bales of Maine hardwood pulp, destined for mills in Asia.

The "pulp," which I had envisioned as a kind of slurry, turns out to be thick sheaves of papery material, which will then be re-ground and turned into high-quality paper in Chinese, Korean, and Japanese mills. Each of the small footlocker-sized rectangles shown above weighs more than 500 pounds. We watched them loaded into a Norwegian-flag freighter, with a Filipino captain and crew, at the Eastport dock at a rate of 28 tons (one of the truckloads below) every 90 seconds or so."



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Tuesday, October 22, 2013

NOAA will no longer print navigation charts

GCaptain reports that NOAA will stop printing nautical charts.  Hard to believe.  I use a GPS and manual charts but must admit that I look at the screen more often than the printed map. - gwcnoaa chart 13290 orr's island

A man for all seasons - Col. Robert Rheault, obituary - PenBay Pilot

OWLS HEAD — Col. Robert Bradley "Bob" Rheault, 87, died peacefully at home in Owls Head Oct. 16, 2013. He was born in Boston Oct. 31, 1925, the second of three sons of Charles Auguste and Rosamond (Bradley) Rheault of Westwood, Mass. His father had been a member of the Royal Northwest Mounted Police, while his mother worked in Labrador, for Dr. Wilfred Grenfell, of the Grenfell Mission.During the summer, for three years, from age 14, Bob worked as a cowboy on ranches in Wyoming: moving cattle, mending fences and stacking hay. After graduating from Phillips Exeter Academy and the United States Military Academy at West Point, Bob served for 26 years in the U.S. Army, retiring in 1969 as commander of Special Forces in Vietnam. He worked for Hurricane Island Outward Bound School for 32 years, from assistant watch officer to president of the school. During the last 19 of those years, he started and ran the Outward Bound Program for Vietnam Vets suffering from posttraumatic stress disorder.***A memorial service will be held Nov. 2, at ­­2 p.m. at the Camden Opera House, 29 Elm St. in Camden.In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to The Hurricane Island Outward Bound School, 39 Mechanic St., Suite 310, Camden, ME 04843 or to the Georges River Land Trust, 8 North Main St,, Suite 200, Rockland, ME 04841.

NOAA UPDATE On Record Breaking High Ocean Temperatures | gCaptain ⚓ Maritime & Offshore News

NOAA UPDATE On Record Breaking High Ocean Temperatures | gCaptain ⚓ Maritime & Offshore News:
NOAA OCean Temps

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Monday morning 9:00 AM - on the dock of the Bay - Friendship, Maine

It's like a lot of other workplaces.  Vehicles fill the parking lot.  But here they're F-150's and Silverados.  And their occupants got in their skiffs and zipped out to waiting lobster boats.  Beyond that the Muscongus Bay and the Gulf of Maine where each two or three man crew tends up to 800 traps.  It's Friendship Harbor on an October morning.  (click pix to enlarge and for slideshow)






`Rock the dock' for Dylan Gold - Port Clyde thanks Life Flight of Maine

Fishing towns are no strangers to tragedy.  It is the most dangerous job, after all.  In 2005 a trawler from Port Clyde, Maine went down in rough seas.  Only one survived.  At the iconic Marshall Point lighthouse the town built a memorial to all those from the St. George port lost at sea.  Eleven men's names are carved into the black granite.Its annual `rock the dock' party raises money to maintain the memorial.  But this year it honored Dylan Gold and the funds were raised for the medical helicopter service Life Flight of Maine and the local St. George ambulance squad. The event was held under a huge tent at the wharf of the Mohegan Boat Line where an out of control car wrought havoc last summer, careening down the dock, killing nine year old Dylan Gold of Massachusetts, and severely injuring his mother and two others.  The Courier Gazette reports: 
More than $30,000 was raised with a final amount still being tallied. Fishermen donated more than 2,000 pounds of lobster to serve the more than 1,000 people who attended. There also was roast pig, oysters, and salads, side dishes and desserts aplenty.
Musical entertainment was provided by Country Choir and Maine Rockets.
The largest stack of cooked lobsters and the longest baked goods table ever seen were prominent features.  And no one hunched over an iPhone in the huge tent!

Have a `Dami' river, a North Haven, and a Virginia.  Then come back for more!


the Country Choir band

Monday, October 21, 2013

Navy's largest destroyer to be launched in Bath, Maine // Stars & Stripes

The Admiral Elmo Zumwalt, in its cradle at Bath, Maine
BIW - Bath Iron Works - on the Kennebec River is Maine's largest private employer.  They seem to discriminate in favor of guys with pick-up trucks, on the evidence of their big, full parking lot.
The yard's giant cranes tower above the river, making a spectacular view from the high bridge.  The Zumwalt - a new high-tech destroyer was built there.  Launch is imminent.  - GWC
Navy's largest destroyer is going into the water in Maine - Stars & Stripes:
by David Sharp// Associated Press

"BATH, Maine — After embarrassing troubles with its latest class of surface warships, the Navy is hoping for a winner from a new destroyer that's ready to go into the water.

So far, construction of the first-in-class Zumwalt, the largest U.S. Navy destroyer ever built, is on time and on budget, something that's a rarity in new defense programs, officials said. And the Navy believes the ship's big gun, stealthy silhouette and advance features will make it a formidable package.

The christening of the ship bearing the name of the late Adm. Elmo "Bud" Zumwalt was canceled a week ago because of the federal government shutdown. Without fanfare, the big ship will be moved to dry dock and floated in the coming days.

Meanwhile, the public christening ceremony featuring Zumwalt's two daughters will be rescheduled for the spring."

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Sunday, October 20, 2013

Hunter's Moon Tides

The east Friendship "Back" River, Muscongus Bay, Maine.  (click pix to expand and or slideshow)
Heron Bend

Back River 1 hour after high tide
Friendship River meadow

 舵手

Hard Rock Island