Fury Beach

when all fruit fails welcome haws

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PSA

⚓ Capt. Crozier in “The Terror” is based on a character from a novel & entirely fictional.

⚓ Neither the novel nor the series are legitimate historical sources.

⚓ Yes to history in fiction; no to fiction in history.

⚓ The two Crozier biographies are incomplete & far from accurate.

⚓ Interrogate – investigate – improve the knowledge!

Thanking you.

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Hidden treasures: Spanish archaeologists discover trove of ancient shipwrecks in Bay of Gibraltar

Researchers identify wrecks at the bottom of the sea from as far back as fifth century BC, from Europe and beyond

A three-year project led by the University of Cádiz has now identified 151 archaeological sites in the bay, among them 134 shipwrecks. To date, the researchers and their colleagues from the University of Granada have worked to document 34 of those wrecks.

The oldest is that of a Punic era ship dating to the fifth century BC, while other finds include 23 Roman ships, two late Roman ships, four medieval ships and 24 vessels from the early modern period.

Although the team has come across large ships from the 16th and 17th centuries, one of the most exciting finds has been the wreck of the Puente Mayorga IV, a small, late 18th-century gunboat of a type used for rapid, stealthy attacks on British ships of the line around Gibraltar.

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Sligo: Very rare Greenland shark discovered washed up on beach

The Greenland shark, which can have a lifespan of over 500 years, was discovered in Sligo on Saturday.

[iamjapanese]

Hazel McNab（British）

Collecting Reflections Linocut, giclee print via

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Marine archaeologists have discovered the flagship Dannebroge 225 years after the Battle of Copenhagen

The archaeologists are surveying the Copenhagen harbour area that is going to be taken over by the Lynetteholm project, a controversial artificial island the size of 400 football pitches. Having searched the silt in near zero visibility, they discovered the Dannebroge at the depth of 15 meters.

On April 2, 1801, right before Easter, Nelson's Royal Navy ships attacked Denmark, mainly because the Danes wouldn't support the British trade blockades. There was established an impromptu defence line in the Copenhagen roads, consisting of hulks and rafts. The flagship Dannebroge, originally a ship of the line, was one of the anchored hulks (a so-called block ship), armed with cannons and manned, but without masts and rigging.

The battle lasted from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The Dannebroge, situated in the middle, came under heavy fire and quickly sustained severe damage, but the ship's flag was only lowered at 2.30 p.m. While evacuating the wounded, the fire onboard caused the hawsers to part, and the block ship started drifting. The ceasefire had already been agreed when the gunpowder stores on the Dannebroge exploded.

The size and shape of the wreck fits the existing drawings, and the dendrological analysis also agrees with the year the ship was built, 1772. The wreck consists of timbers and ballast and lies in a field of cannonballs. Various smaller items have been recovered, as well as fragmented human remains.

Some images here (incl. a previously unknown uniform badge).

P.S. Danish Lieutenant Peter Willemoes, commanding Floating Battery No. 1 next to the Dannebroge, was 17 years old. His platform held the line for three hours despite being hastily crewed and underprepared.

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On patrol with Canadian forces securing the Arctic as global threats grow

Across 5,200 km of Canada's Arctic, its military spent two months on a mission to meet the challenges of a changing north.

The patrol is part of an annual Canadian Armed Forces operation to showcase Canada's military presence in the north. They followed a route that had not been attempted in 80 years in order to survey the land, learn more about climate change (which has made navigating Canada's Arctic region much more challenging), unlock new travel passageways and test Arctic survival and warfare capabilities.

For 52 days they drove snowmobiles, a core group of 20 at any given time, between remote northern communities. Some nights, they camped on the ice in tents as temperatures plunged to -60C (-76F). There were constant hazards to be wary of, from polar bears to frostbite and cold-weather dehydration.

Brig Gen Rivière of Operation Nanook-Nunalivut said that the mission was meant to prepare Canada for "the worst case scenario" and that Russia remained "a formidable force" in the Arctic despite its ongoing war with Ukraine, with dozens of permanent military bases in its Arctic, while Canada had none.

A key component of the Canadian Rangers is its indigenous Inuit members, helping with navigation, sharing food and lending gloves and boots. The patrol also received support from the Canadian Air Force and satellite intelligence and ice-monitoring technologies, some of which were being tested for the first time.

Not everything on this year's Arctic mission went according to plan. An exercise to fire a howitzer, an artillery weapon, was called off due to an extreme blizzard in Cambridge Bay, Nunavut. Canadian Rangers on the patrol suffered a bout of food poisoning, likely from the military rations they were eating.

One Ranger cracked a rib after his snowmobile flipped over, but "he kept on going", Lt-Col Hanes said. Another got frostbite and was flown out of the mission before it worsened. With all the challenges, Hanes classified the operation as a success, saying it is a testament to Canada's growing expertise in an unforgiving climate.

[iamjapanese]

Julia Pärnänen（Finnish）

Blue sunset 2019 Etching and aquatint on paper 10 x 15 cm via

[i-am-countess-olivia]

The Admiralty, Whitehall

"Now Small you must send me to London directed to the Shop Hills Hotel Charing Cross my tin case with my Uniform (it is in a Hand kerchief [sic] in one of my drawers) my Epaulet case and belts (Sword) as well as any Uniform coats and waistcoats in short any blue clothing that you can put into the case..."

February 1845. Francis Crozier, a day away from setting off to Livorno to start his journey back to England, finally writes to his sister Charlotte ("Small") to tell her he'd been appointed to the Arctic Expedition. In the same letter he instructs Charlotte to send his stuff to Hill's Hotel, Charing Cross, London.

Crozier wrote to his brother from Hill's Hotel in 1836 as well, whilst handing back the Cove.

I don't know if anyone has previously identified the exact location of the hotel — if they have, my apologies, lack of attention to detail and general scatterbrainedness are great personal faults.

Anyway, I'd been wondering if the building where Crozier stayed still existed in Charing Cross. If it did — day trip time!

Hill's Hotel (or Hills Hotel or Ship Hotel) was located at 45 & 46 Charing Cross. In Robsons Directory of 1829 it was listed as Ship Tavern & Hotel. By 1842 the same address had become Hill's Hotel.

Robert McCormick mentioned staying at Hill's / Ship Hotel a few times in his journals.

"Monday, September 1st —At six a.m. started by the "Defiance" coach for London, where I arrived on the following day at ten p.m., and slept at the "Ship Hotel," Charing Cross. On the 4th went to the Admiralty, and took lodgings in Northumberland Street, Strand."

No wonder the place was a pit stop of choice. 43 Charing Cross, the location of the bank at the next address up, later became 16 Whitehall — this means Hill's establishment was just a few doors down from the Admiralty.

So where exactly was Hill's / Hills / Ship Hotel / Tavern?

Trafalgar Theatre at 14 Whitehall, formerly Whitehall Theatre, was built on the site of a 17th century "Ye Olde Ship Tavern", which decamped to Holborn in 1930 when the theatre was built. I am near certain that "Ye Olde Ship Tavern" was Hill's Hotel.

So alas, there is nothing to see. But you can catch a show at Trafalgar Studios. It's a pretty building. "Oh, Mary!", a play about Mary Todd Lincoln, is on at the moment.

If anyone knows of a pre-1930 image of Trafalgar Square looking down Whitehall we might at least get a glimpse of the building as it once stood.

FUN BONUS FACT: John Hill, one of the hotel's proprietors during the years of Crozier's patronage of the establishment, is listed as a subscriber to John Ross' volumes about his polar exploits. A fanboy!

[iamjapanese]

Hazel McNab（British）

June Linocut, giclee print via

[i-am-countess-olivia]

Francis Crozier and "The House of Beauty"

"a fresh and bright edifice... a house all light and grace" - Julian Hawthorne

Two of Francis Crozier's letters to James Ross from Florence are addressed from Casa Del Bello, Via della Fornace. Alexander K notes that this address is now Via dei Serragli 132 (various shorter streets having been absorbed into it, including Via della Fornace). There, on the south bank of the Arno, a short stroll away from the Pitti Palace, Boboli Gardens and Ponte Vecchio, stands a handsome house. Here it is today:

A plaque on the building commemorates Nathaniel Hawthorne, who stayed in the house for two months in 1858, entertaining such illustrious friends as Robert and Elizabeth Browning and penning "The Marble Faun". Hawthorne and his family stayed on the house's lower piano and paid $50 a month for their apartments.

I've not been able to find much yet about what the inside of the house might have looked like. This biography of Walter Savage Landor describes a residence that "allured the Hawthornes with its spacious suite of rooms extending around the four sides of a small court, with lofty, frescoed ceilings and sumptuous hangings, and the usual Italian profusion of marble tables, mirrors, and upholstered furniture. The terrace was a constant delight to Hawthorne where he sat daily."

Francis himself doesn't tell us anything about Casa Del Bello. But it's lovely to imagine him under those frescoes, with a view of the courtyard, with a terrace pleasant perhaps even in the depths of Tuscan winter.

Here is a very beautiful 1844 map of Florence.

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Sophia Peabody Hawthorne describes the ground floor apartment in her notes here | alt, and Hawthorne in his here | plain text

(Hiram Powers moved into the building opposite the Casa in 1852; in 1845 his studio was situated elsewhere on the same street. Could well have inspired Crozier to get his neoclassical bust made.)

[iamjapanese]

Julia Pärnänen（Finnish）

Cloudy Sky 2019 Etching and aquatint on paper 15.2 x 14.2 cm via

[iamjapanese]

Bryan Angus（Scottish）

Above Pennan　2017 Two colour lino reduction print 21cm x 30 cm via

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Anger as historic Clyde ship towed out to sea and sunk in Hawaii

Falls of Clyde was scuttled by the authorities in Hawaii despite a campaign to return to its birthplace for restoration.

Falls of Clyde was built in 1878 by the Port Glasgow shipbuilder Russell & Co., the first in a series of nine iron-hulled ships (all named after Scottish waterfalls). Falls of Clyde was saved from scuttling in 1963 to become a museum ship in Honolulu. The ship was damaged by a hurricane in 1982, and was virtually abandoned in the years afterwards.

"Enthusiasts in Scotland have spent a decade trying to bring the ship home for restoration, but were unable to reach an agreement with the harbour board which wants to redevelop the quay where it was moored.

"The Hawaii Department of Transportation said the operation to remove the ship began at dawn on [Oct 15] and it was sunk about 25 miles south of the harbour. It said the vessel's name, wheel and bell were retained along with other artefacts which will be put on display.

"Falls of Clyde had been one of only six surviving large sailing vessels built on the Clyde. Only two remain in the UK - Glenlee, which was built in Port Glasgow, and the Cutty Sark, which was constructed in Dumbarton on the River Leven."

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Onboard the world’s largest sailing cargo ship: is this the future of travel and transport?

The Neoliner Origin set off on its inaugural two-week voyage from France to the US with the aim of revolutionising the notoriously dirty shi

The Neoliner Origin, the world’s largest sailing cargo ship made its two-week inaugural voyage from the west coast of France to Baltimore, Maryland, in the US. "It is being powered primarily by the two semi-rigid sails made from carbon and fibreglass and a backup diesel-electric engine."

"Roughly 80% of goods traded worldwide are transported by ship, and the industry accounts for about 3% of global carbon emissions. If shipping were a country, it would be the world’s sixth-largest emitter.

"According to research by the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT), 90% of shipping decarbonisation will require a switch from dirty bunker oil to greener fuels – renewable hydrogen, ideally – with the other 10% including efficiency improvements such as retrofitting sails to ships for wind-assisted propulsion.

"For cargo ships, using wind is not as simple as adding two sails, however. A cargo ship with sails must either be built from scratch – the Neoliner Origin cost €60m to build – or undergo an expensive retrofit.

"There is also the question of size: the 136-metre-long roll-on, roll-off Neoliner Origin is the largest of a new wave of sailing cargo ships, but small compared with the 400-metre Suez canal-blocking behemoths used in international shipping.

"Despite the broken sail and low-pressure system, we arrive at the port of Baltimore only a day later than planned. Though Neoline will not publish its first set of data on its fuel consumption for another six months, estimates from the captain suggest that the ship reduced its fuel consumption by nearly half of what a conventional cargo ship would use, relying on just one sail and the engine."

[cdnart]

Doris McCarthy; Along the Inland Passage

[ltwilliammowett]

Diorama of Sir James Clark Ross's Ship Erebus overwintering in the Antarctic on his 1839-43 Expedition, late 19th century

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Winters can be a bit cold in Hobart, Tasmania, and the Falklands, but probably not this cold...

[cdnart]

Charles Comfort; Opalescent Sea, Ingonish