Underground Lair of the Squankum
- Thread starter Squankum
- Start date
Update on the French transAtlantic cargo trimaran sailing ship: now partnering with DHL:
DHL to ship transatlantic freight with wind-powered sailboats
DHL Global Forwarding France partners with VELA to launch wind-powered transatlantic freight service, offering faster, greener shipping for high-value sectors such as pharmaceuticals and luxury goods. DHL Global Forwarding France is preparing to add wind-powered transatlantic freight to its...
www.fidifocus.org
P.S. Previous Underground Lair coverage of the cargo trimaran:
www.garagejournal.com
Underground Lair of the Squankum
PUBLIC HEALTH ALERT Picking your nose is risky nowadays. https://www.forbes.com/sites/brucelee/2023/08/05/study-85-of-healthcare-workers-nose-pick-more-than-triples-covid-19-risk/
www.garagejournal.com
Better Know A Tropical Wood
Meet Chlorocardium rodiei, also known as greenheart wood.
en.wikipedia.org
It is native to those small countries north of Brazil, Guyana and Surinam. The wood is so dense it does not float. It's resistant to marine borers, small worm-like creatures that are not worms, but mollusks, that eat into pilings and wooden ships. Also resistant to ants, so it's used in the Caribbean for construction. It's so tough that steel saw blades don't work very well, a tungsten carbide saw blade is required.
In the early 1800's, this wood was used in the expansion of the port system in Liverpool, England. Their harbor was a tidal basin and the lock gates which swung open to allow water in at high tide, then close to trap it to permit ships to move around high tide or not, were made with this wood. The lock gates are now in a museum, after a long spell of being protected by being buried, paved over, and serving as a parking lot.
en.wikipedia.org
How I got here: reading about icebreaking ships, before the era of steel hulls. Shackleton's Endurance was one such ship, globally famous for the long period of time it did not break ice, but the ice did not break it. (And the grim struggles for survival by captain and crew after that.)
Sunk by ice, November 21, 1915, wreck found March 5, 2022.
en.wikipedia.org
More later...
Meet Chlorocardium rodiei, also known as greenheart wood.
Chlorocardium rodiei - Wikipedia
It is native to those small countries north of Brazil, Guyana and Surinam. The wood is so dense it does not float. It's resistant to marine borers, small worm-like creatures that are not worms, but mollusks, that eat into pilings and wooden ships. Also resistant to ants, so it's used in the Caribbean for construction. It's so tough that steel saw blades don't work very well, a tungsten carbide saw blade is required.
In the early 1800's, this wood was used in the expansion of the port system in Liverpool, England. Their harbor was a tidal basin and the lock gates which swung open to allow water in at high tide, then close to trap it to permit ships to move around high tide or not, were made with this wood. The lock gates are now in a museum, after a long spell of being protected by being buried, paved over, and serving as a parking lot.
Manchester Dock, Liverpool - Wikipedia
How I got here: reading about icebreaking ships, before the era of steel hulls. Shackleton's Endurance was one such ship, globally famous for the long period of time it did not break ice, but the ice did not break it. (And the grim struggles for survival by captain and crew after that.)
Sunk by ice, November 21, 1915, wreck found March 5, 2022.
Endurance (1912 ship) - Wikipedia
More later...
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Greenheart wood was also used in the keel of the USS Bear, said to be the most famous U.S. Coast Guard ship. Also the oldest active ship serving away from the United States in WWII. It started out a ship built in Scotland for hunting/clubbing seals, with a sturdy hull and steam engine in addition to sail power, meant for pushing through icy arctic waters, even breaking some ice. Its hull was made of 6-inch-thick planks and its keel was made of greenhart wood.
After its sealing era in the 1880's, it became a U.S. Revenue cutter (there was no Coast Guard yet), then a coast guard ship, was involved in both arctic and antarctic exploration, and patrolling Alaska and Greenland.
In World War II, the US Navy took her over and she patrolled the northern Atlantic, involved in the capture of a German-controlled Norwegian seal ship that was used for supplying the secret Nazi weather station.
Well, this dorky thing did the capturing:
The USS Bear, pictured here in US Navy WWII form, without sails now, towed it back to Boston:
Here she is in prettier form, 1939, carrying a plane:
And in the late 1800s, men loading a reindeer, which I suspect is alive, on board:
en.wikipedia.org
This vessel being the pride of the U.S.C.G. is what led to their school mascot being a bear. Which, in those days meant a bear.
uscga.edu
Technically, a succession of bear cubs. Adult bears are a real problem! They had 31 bears in 57 years. So that's a lot of bears in roadside zoos, cages, etc. (For all I know, they let some loose into the woods, not sure how that worked out for them.)
From Reddit:
"My Dad, Class of 81, was the bear keeper! He loved that damn bear"
This still doesn't explain why I was looking up greenheart wood...
After its sealing era in the 1880's, it became a U.S. Revenue cutter (there was no Coast Guard yet), then a coast guard ship, was involved in both arctic and antarctic exploration, and patrolling Alaska and Greenland.
In World War II, the US Navy took her over and she patrolled the northern Atlantic, involved in the capture of a German-controlled Norwegian seal ship that was used for supplying the secret Nazi weather station.
Well, this dorky thing did the capturing:
The USS Bear, pictured here in US Navy WWII form, without sails now, towed it back to Boston:
Here she is in prettier form, 1939, carrying a plane:
And in the late 1800s, men loading a reindeer, which I suspect is alive, on board:
USS Bear - Wikipedia
This vessel being the pride of the U.S.C.G. is what led to their school mascot being a bear. Which, in those days meant a bear.
Objee The Bear - United States Coast Guard Academy
Objee the Bear Objee is the beloved Mascot of the Coast Guard Academy. In 1926 the Academy selected the Black Bear as its mascot, because the bear is bold and tenacious, attributes befitting the Coast Guard and its officers. Also that year the Revenue Cutter Bear, its crew renowned for heroism...
uscga.edu
Technically, a succession of bear cubs. Adult bears are a real problem! They had 31 bears in 57 years. So that's a lot of bears in roadside zoos, cages, etc. (For all I know, they let some loose into the woods, not sure how that worked out for them.)
From Reddit:
"My Dad, Class of 81, was the bear keeper! He loved that damn bear"
This still doesn't explain why I was looking up greenheart wood...
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Craptain
Well-known member
Over the years I have used quite a bit of Greenheart. I used to have a Greenheart fishing rod for heavy duty use.Greenheart wood was also used in the keel of the USS Bear, said to be the most famous U.S. Coast Guard ship. Also the oldest active ship serving away from the United States in WWII. It started out a ship built in Scotland for hunting/clubbing seals, with a sturdy hull and steam engine in addition to sail power, meant for pushing through icy arctic waters, even breaking some ice. Its hull was made of 6-inch-thick planks and its keel was made of greenhart wood.
After its sealing era in the 1880's, it became a U.S. Revenue cutter (there was no Coast Guard yet), then a coast guard ship, was involved in both arctic and antarctic exploration, and patrolling Alaska and Greenland.
In World War II, the US Navy took her over and she patrolled the northern Atlantic, involved in the capture of a German-controlled Norwegian seal ship that was used for supplying the secret Nazi weather station.
Well, this dorky thing did the capturing:
The USS Bear, pictured here in US Navy WWII form, without sails now, towed it back to Boston:
Here she is in prettier form, 1939, carrying a plane:
And in the late 1800s, men loading a reindeer, which I suspect is alive, on board:
USS Bear - Wikipedia
This vessel being the pride of the U.S.C.G. is what led to their school mascot being a bear. Which, in those days, meant a bear.
Objee The Bear - United States Coast Guard Academy
Objee the Bear Objee is the beloved Mascot of the Coast Guard Academy. In 1926 the Academy selected the Black Bear as its mascot, because the bear is bold and tenacious, attributes befitting the Coast Guard and its officers. Also that year the Revenue Cutter Bear, its crew renowned for heroism...
Technically, a succession of bear cubs. Adult bears are a real problem! They had 31 bears in 57 years. So that's a lot of bears in roadside zoos, cages, etc. (For all I know, they let some loose into the woods, not sure how that worked out for them.)
From Reddit:
"My Dad, Class of 81, was the bear keeper! He loved that damn bear"
This still doesn't explain why I was looking up greenheart wood...
Fly fishing? Surf casting?
Craptain
Well-known member
Surf. And of course it wasn't made completely from Greenheart. In fact I don't know why it had Greenheart at all but it was strong.
Wikipedia also tells us:
"It was an early choice for fly fishing rods."
Don't know why, maybe it's strong but has good flexibility. That would account for its use in a wooden icebreaker hull, too.
Okay, here's what got me looking into greenheart wood and ice breaking in old timey days:
This is the Sunbeam II.
She belonged to the Maine Seacoast Missions, Christian missionaries who try to serve the needs of isolated communities in coastal Maine. A wide variety of missions were her lot, from emergency medical transport before there was a state ferry boat, to taking people for shopping on the mainland for food and everything else.
They are now up to Sunbeam V, and it has been given a thorough overhaul.
More here:
seacoastmission.org
I stumbled across all of this in a book written by an old man about his childhood memories on an island off the coast of Maine during WWII:
This is the Sunbeam II.
She belonged to the Maine Seacoast Missions, Christian missionaries who try to serve the needs of isolated communities in coastal Maine. A wide variety of missions were her lot, from emergency medical transport before there was a state ferry boat, to taking people for shopping on the mainland for food and everything else.
They are now up to Sunbeam V, and it has been given a thorough overhaul.
More here:
History - Maine Seacoast Mission
The Mission's history began when Alexander and Angus MacDonald sailed a sloop called Hope to islands and lighthouses along the Maine coast.
seacoastmission.org
I stumbled across all of this in a book written by an old man about his childhood memories on an island off the coast of Maine during WWII:
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A note about quality Band Aids (and non Johnson & Johnson bandages) -- the cloth kind are the best. The plastic kind ****! But news to me, or something I was reminded of this week, J&J has two kinds of Band Aids:
On the left "Flexible Fabric" model, on the right, "Tough Strips." Both are cloth and stay on all day without problem. But the Tough Strips has adhesive on each side of the bandage zone, making them better at keeping dirt out. Advantage: Tough Strips.
On the left "Flexible Fabric" model, on the right, "Tough Strips." Both are cloth and stay on all day without problem. But the Tough Strips has adhesive on each side of the bandage zone, making them better at keeping dirt out. Advantage: Tough Strips.
