By: Rhea Cortado
The last time Santa Teresa resident Thomas Ritchie launched his extraordinary wooden boat, Aurora Delfin, from the Pochoto rivermouth during the summer of 2009, he was a pirate in the open seas without any registered tags. The coast guard flagged him down numerous times and each time the officials boarded the vessel to inspect, the crew grew nervous.
“Three times we were boarded. They were pretty cool. They came up and grabbed the paddles. They’d start singing these songs, making video, taking pictures,” said Ritchie, relieved. “We were so scared.”
Ritchie’s friend, Angel Garcia, who was also on board added, “Imagine the coast guard boarding and saying, ‘You guys are cool. I know you don’t have drugs. This boat is so cool!’”

Ritchie plans to launch the boat for the first time this summer season in January in Playa Tambor—and this time he will start the journey with registered tags. He envisions that the Aurora Delfin will host small groups of surfers looking for remote waves only accessible by boat and offer educational tours when the ship drops anchor.
Amongst the seascape of white sailboats, the captivating watercraft that resembles something out of a Hollywood movie or fantasy causes a ripple of excitement wherever it’s spotted. During its last voyage, Ritchie gave tours to students from three different schools along the coast. In Puerto Jimenez, the kids dressed up for the field trip to the “pirate ship” with homemade eye patches, fake birds, and pirate flags.

“Later on, I’ll be in some supermarket far away and some Tico [will tap] me on the shoulder, whip out his cell phone [photo] and go, ‘my kid was on your boat.’ I’d be like, ‘this is crazy.’ I want to do more of that. It’s a lot of fun. It’s a good reward to give someone the opportunity,” Richie said.
Building the Aurora Delfin with dark hued teak wood planks, bamboo  (most of which was grown on his property) and epoxy coating, was a process that spanned 10 years. For seven of those years, the boat sat dormant in a garage, half-built and mostly untouched. As a surfer, Ritchie describes designing the graceful shape and smooth glide of the boat in surfboard terms like tail rocker, tapered sides and tapered nose. The double outrigger form, partly inspired by ancient Polynesian design, was made especially for surf conditions.
“The hull was designed to go for shallow areas, for bays and reefs for surfing. The double pontoons make it very stable. It is like a floating camping trip,” Ritchie said.
The final building sprint to the finish line was littered with hurdles and false starts. On one attempt, it didn’t make it out to sea because the glass bottom for viewing sea life cracked on a rock on the beach. For the next attempt, he got it out cruising in the water for seven weeks, but found the hull sat too low in the water and decided to truck it back home by land for a major redesign. After finally working out the kinks through trial and error, the Aurora Delfin II, in its current new and improved incarnation, made it’s first trip up the coast of Nicaragua and down to the border of Panama in January 2009.
Though the Aurora Delfin is Ritchie’s current, most time-consuming creative venture, it is one in a long line of his artistic building projects as a resident of Santa Teresa for 20 years. Ritchie first moved from Vancouver, Canada to Santa Teresa in 1991 after seeing and experiencing the beach’s prime surfable waves
“It was pretty underground,” Ritchie said of surfer tourism to Costa Rica. “Witches Rock [Roca Bruja] was just being discovered. Pavones had been around for 20 years, but no one had talked about it. It was just starting to hit the magazines. Salsa Brava on the Caribbean side—those were the three main waves. It wasn’t a destination spot. People didn’t just flock to Costa Rica.”
Ritchie claims to be the first foreigner to live in Santa Teresa through the rainy season. He camped with no electricity during the four years it took to build his two-story, circular house out of wood and concrete. His past ventures include renting cabinas, a bike store and a surf shop (which he sold and is now called Kina Surf Shop). He also built wood furniture and made art from driftwood and rock, which he continues to do to this day. But now that the fun summer surf season has arrived, he’s ready to escape the bustle of downtown Santa Teresa and live partly off the grid again, on a camping adventure out in the ocean.
“You stand up, paddle, you scuba dive, you’re out in the water,” said Ritchie of life on the boat. “It’s all about getting food, gas, supplies, water, staying on the boat, surfing, living, resting, cooking. It’s a whole different type of camping and living. It’s not for everybody.”
To find out more, visit www.reefrider.net.

A team of Connecticut scuba divers say they’ve discovered off the Westerly coast the wreck of a ship once commanded by Rhode Island naval war hero Oliver Hazard Perry, whose actions helped the United States defeat the British during the War of 1812.
It was after the naval victory at Lake Erie in September 1813 — during which Perry had one ship founder beneath him before transferring to another and continuing the battle — that his message to his commanders would become immortalized: “We have met the enemy and they are ours ...”

Now, divers Charles Buffum and Craig Harger say Perry would have never been at the Battle of Lake Erie had his schooner not sunk off the reefs of Watch Hill.
Buffum, the owner of a Pawcatuck brewery, declined to name the ship they’ve discovered until a planned announcement Friday afternoon in Westerly. But local marine archeologists, who have heard of the find, identified the vessel as the Revenge, a schooner that sank on Jan. 8, 1811 –– exactly 200 years ago Saturday.
Rhode Island marine archaeologist D.K. “Kathy” Abbass wrote a history of Rhode Island’s early navy for the Naval Historical Center in Washington, D.C., and is leading much of the underwater mapping of sunken ships in Rhode Island waters. She is familiar with the Revenge.

She says it’s a “long stretch” to say, as the divers have, that the vessel’s sinking “changed the course of U.S. history” merely because Perry ended up on Lake Erie two years later.

Further, because of how the Revenge sank –– and the likelihood that hundreds of other wooden vessels have fallen victim to the rocks and rip currents in the area known as The Race — she wonders if the divers have definitive proof they’ve found the Revenge.
According to Abbass, the Revenge, which was conducting the all-important task of charting coastal waters — went aground in fog off Watch Hill. Sailors transferred much of her cargo to other vessels before starting to tow her off the rocks. During the towing, the cable parted and the Revenge began drifting and, eventually, went down.
“If you knew the direction of the wind that day and the tide, you might get a trajectory of where she might be” now, said Abbass. “But it’s a very complicated thing. So, if [the divers] haven’t done the analysis, I’d question if that is really her.”

Buffum said Thursday the divers did not find anything at the wreck that positively identified the ship as the Revenge. Still he said they were confident of their findings.
If the ship is the Revenge, it remains the property of the Navy, said Abbass, and cannot be salvaged by treasure hunters. Buffum said there was little of the ship left. The divers hope a government-funded archeological excavation might mine some historic value.
Perry was born in South Kingstown on Aug. 23, 1785. A biography written by the National Parks Service says that a court-martial proceeding exonerated Perry of the sinking, blaming the Revenge’s loss on the ship’s pilot who had assured Perry he could navigate Block Island Sound.

Still, the sinking blemished Perry’s career. He ended up cooling his heels in Newport for a time, unemployed, until the threat of war in 1812 earned him an assignment of leading a squadron of small gunboats in Newport Harbor.

Dissatisfied that he did not have a high-seas sloop-of-war at his command, he petitioned the Navy Department several times for postings at sea. Finally, as a last resort, he called upon a friend who commanded warships on Lake Erie for a command.
On Sept. 10, 1813, the American and British fleets prepared to do battle. Perry began the fight aboard his flagship, the Lawrence. Just before its sinking, he boarded a lifeboat and rowed with a few remaining sailors to the Niagara, considered an extremely brave action, and carried on the fight to victory.

By Tom Mooney

Journal Staff Writer

http://www.projo.com/news/content/OLIVER_PERRYS_SHIP_01-07-11_4QLR7P8_v9.b14fb.html

This entry was posted on January 4, 2011 at 10:44 am, filed under What to Do and tagged Archaeology, Blackbeard, History, Maritime Museum in Beaufort, Museum of History, Queen Anne's Revenge, Queen Anne’s Revenge Conservation Laboratory. Bookmark the permalink.

In my mind Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World is almost without question the best, seafaring adventure movie ever made. Better still, unlike a lot of the movies Hollywood tries to force into a franchise mold in pursuit of more money, it naturally lends itself to a sequel. In fact it’s based on a lengthy series of books by Patrick O’Brian. The sequels are already written, just sitting there waiting for someone to do something with them. Unfortunately the film achieved only modest results at the box office when it debuted in 2003 and despite a lot of initial enthusiasm for the project from everyone involved, there’s been no real movement to do anything with it. But Russell Crowe hasn’t given up.

Crowe starred in the film as Captain Jack Aubrey and he’s long held a great deal of affection for the film. So much so that he’s now attempting to rally fans into pressuring Fox for the sequel Master & Commander so richly deserves. A few minutes ago Russell used Twitter to deliver this message:

If you want a Master and Commander sequel I suggest you e-mail Tom Rothman at Fox and let him know your thoughts

It was back in mid-2009 here that we first heard Russell Crowe was working on developing a Master and Commander 2. Since then we haven’t heard much about the project. Maybe Crowe’s tweet is just the result of random, after-midnight musings or maybe he’s really been talking to Fox about getting it done and is looking for help in getting them on his side. Either way, I’ll bite. If there’s a fight, I’m on Capt. Jack Aubrey's side.

Since you probably don’t have Tom Rothman’s email, I’d like to suggest an alternative means of supporting Russell Crowe’s push to revive Master and Commander as a franchise. 20th Century Fox has recently set up a twitter account, to promote their upcoming movies. Rather than waiting on Russell to look up Rothman’s email address, simply click right here to tell 20th Century Fox how much you want Master and Commander 2. Rally together and hold fast!





http://www.cinemablend.com/new/Russell-Crowe-Asks-Fans-To-Demand-A-Master-And-Commander-Sequel-22046.html?_r=true

St. Augustine ought to post a sign: Dig and expect history.

For the about-to-open St. Augustine Pirate & Treasure Museum on Castillo Drive, putting in a wheelchair ramp and a wall turned up artifacts that date to the city's British Period in the mid-1700s, and possibly earlier.

"This is everyday life in St. Augustine," said City Archaeologist Carl Halbirt of the discovery as he looked through artifacts uncovered by Step Back in Time, the contractors working on the museum scheduled to open Dec. 3.

A battered piece of bronze is the most significant item found so far, says John Powell of the Colonial Spanish Quarter Living History Museum.

"It's the hilt fragment of a 1751 model British hanger or short sword," Powell said.
Originally the piece was shaped with two matching ovals that connected in the middle.
For some reason, one side broke. He thinks further damage was done in later years, adding that it would take an enormous force to flatten the piece into its current shape.

The sword would have belonged to an enlisted man and was the type the British used from the time they took over St. Augustine in 1763 and into the Revolutionary War era. The British used the pieces for close fighting in Europe, but in the New World they more often functioned as machetes, Powell said.

Other pieces found include a gentleman's fancy knee buckle from the late 1700s, a flat metal civilian coat button from the British, Second Spanish or even American period, an iron horseshoe with the nails still in it probably dating from the 19th century and a badly corroded pair of dividers of iron and brass from the late 18th or early 19th century that was used to chart courses on maps or figure distances.
Chances are all the items were lost by their owners.

"There was not a building where they're finding the stuff, but it was a tremendous area for human traffic. Nothing was there, but it was where everybody walked and everybody talked and everybody rode; it was where people did their socializing," Powell said.

Across from the Castillo de San Marcos, the site was an open area for many years, in part to keep any attackers from having a place to hide. After the British came, buildings began going up.

"People were walking or riding to town or to the fort, and so they were dropping stuff," Powell said.
Other English-era items turned up include a white clay pipe, bits of pottery including a yellow handle from an English slipware mug and a British gun flint. They also found some pieces of earlier Spanish-era pottery as well as some more recent items that slipped into the debris, including a red Christmas bulb and a battered red and white can with the words Hoffman Cola.

Halbirt monitors the site, but he's on the lookout for evidence of buildings or large trash dumps. Step Back in Time owner Reese Moore and workman Cory Gale get credit for sifting through the piles of dirt dug up at the site.

"We're going to continue sifting through the debris," Moore said.
What they've found will end up as part of the new St. Augustine Pirate & Treasure Museum.

Museum spokeswoman Kari Cobham said plans call for using the items in a room filled with paintings of pirates, including ones who attacked St. Augustine. It will be known as Rogues' Gallery and will have an archaeological exhibit featuring the artifacts found on the site.

Owner Pat Croce is calling it "History Beneath Your Feet," Cobham said.

St. Augustine Pirate & Treasure Museum

The St. Augustine Pirate & Treasure Museum at 12 S. Castillo Drive opens with a slash of the sword on Dec. 3.

The pirate museum has operated in Key West since 2004, but owner Pat Croce moved it to St. Augustine to the former Teepee Town and Christmas Shop location.
Croce is the former owner of the Philadelphia 76ers.
For more on the museum, go to www.thepiratemuseum.com.

Source: Florida Times-Union

At a Hollywood fundraiser on Saturday night, we shared with supporters our desire to add the Ocean Adventurer to our fleet for our upcoming 2010-2011 Antarctic Whale Defense Campaign, Operation No Compromise.


http://www.seashepherd.org/news-and-media/news-101024-1.html

http://www.talklikeapirate.com/

Η 14χρονη ολλανδή ιστιοπλόος Λόρα Ντέκερ αναχώρησε σήμερα από το λιμάνι Ντεν Οσε της Ολλανδίας για να κάνει πραγματικότητα το όνειρό της, να γίνει η μικρότερη ιστιοπλόος που θα πραγματοποιήσει μόνη της το γύρο του κόσμου με το ιστιοπλοϊκό της.

Η Λόρα και ο πατέρας της Ντικ Ντέκερ, που τη συνοδεύει στο ιστιοπλοϊκό της Guppy, αναχώρησαν από το ολλανδικό λιμάνι στις 09:00 τοπική ώρα (10:00 ώρα Ελλάδας) κατευθυνόμενοι προς τη Μαύρη θάλασσα, υπό το βλέμμα περίπου 100 θεατών και περίπου 50 δημοσιογράφων.

"Δε φοβάμαι", δήλωσε η Ντέκερ λίγα λεπτά πριν από τον απόπλου και πρόσθεσε ότι επισήμως ο περίπλους της γης θ΄αρχίσει σε τέσσερις εβδομάδες από την Πορτογαλία όπου ο πατέρας της θα την αφήσει μόνη.

Το ταξίδι ως την Πορτογαλία θα διαρκέσει δυο με τρεις εβδομάδες.

Την περασμένη Τρίτη η Λόρα κέρδισε μια μακροχρόνια δικαστική διαμάχη, όταν ολλανδικό δικαστήριο αποδέχθηκε το αίτημά της για άρση της δικαστικής επιτήρησης που τής είχε επιβληθεί. Δικαστική απόφαση του 2009 είχε αφαιρέσει την κηδεμονία της 13χρονης τότε Ντέκερ από τους γονείς της, κατόπιν αιτήματος των κοινωνικών υπηρεσιών που θεώρησαν ότι απειλείται η ζωή της από τα σχέδιά της για περίπλου του πλανήτη. Το οικογενειακό δικαστήριο του Μίντελμπουργκ απεφάνθη ότι η προετοιμασία της Λόρα ήταν ικανή να τής εγγυηθεί ένα ασφαλές ταξίδι και ότι η τελική απόφαση ανήκει στους γονείς της.

Η Λόρα Ντέκερ θα ολοκληρώσει τον περίπλου πριν γιορτάσει την 17η επέτειο των γενεθλίων της στις 20 Σεπτεμβρίου του 2012 για να γίνει η μικρότερη ιστιοπλόος που πραγματοποιεί μόνη της το γύρο του κόσμου.

Το ρεκόρ αυτό κατέχει η Τζέσικα Γουότσον από την Αυστραλία, η οποία ολοκλήρωσε το ταξίδι της στις 15 Μαΐου του 2009 τρεις ημέρες πριν από τα 17ά της γενέθλια.

BY ADAM LINHARDT Citizen Staff
alinhardt@keysnews.com

Someone actually lifted the famous gold bar Wednesday evening from the Mel Fisher Maritime Museum.

The 5-pound bar, from the 15th century Spanish galleon the Nuestra Señora de Atocha that Fisher and his crew found off Key West in 1985, was stolen from its secure Plexiglas enclosure about 5:13 p.m., Key West police said.

Security cameras captured images of two people breaking into the case and taking the bar from what museum director Melissa Kendrick called one of Fisher's favorite exhibits, because it allowed visitors to hold the same treasure -- to "lift the gold bar" -- found by his team.

One suspect was described as a white male about 6 feet tall, with dark hair and a medium build. The second suspect is about 5 foot 6 inches tall, reports say, and could be a woman or a man. Detectives were still working on identifying the suspects as of press time Thursday.

According to a police report, a security guard told a museum visitor to "make sure to touch the gold bar," but when the visitor arrived at the exhibit, the bar was gone. The woman reportedly did not see anyone take the bar or acting suspiciously.

Detectives declined to say how they think the suspects broke into the exhibit, said police spokeswoman Alyson Crean. The FBI is working with Key West police, Crean said. The federal agency also investigates art and jewelry/gem theft, according to http://www.fbi.gov/hq.htm.

Kendrick declined to speculate on the bar's worth, noting such treasure has an "antiquity value" on top of the actual gold value. A 5-pound solid gold bar would be worth about $98,800 in today's market, according to gold prices posted Thursday afternoon at http://www.thestreet.com, a financial news website.

The museum is offering a $10,000 reward to anyone with information that leads to the 5-pound bar's intact return, she said.

"This has never happened since we've been here," Kendrick said, referring to the museum's location at 200 Greene St.

In the 1970s, a group stole a silver bar that weighed about 70 pounds from Fisher, but that was before the current museum with its security measures were in place, Kendrick said. It was never recovered.

Former Mel Fisher diver Don Kincaid, who helped recover many artifacts in the early 1980s, was staggered to hear of Wednesday's theft.

"To my knowledge, something like this has never happened before," Kincaid said. "The design of the case that bar was in has thus far been completely successful. The ability to touch that bar was the most common compliment we would get from visitors. It's one of only a few museums where you can touch history."

Detectives ask anyone with information to call 305-809-1015 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-346-8477.

 Εκθεση με 17 πλοία μινιατούρες - σταθμούς στην ιστορία της ναυσιπλοΐας αλλά και αριστουργήματα της μικροναυπηγικής