Kamehameha Day Outing

I had the day off from work, so I had the chance to watch the departure of ARC Gloria.

On the way to the harbor, I had some time to kill so I stopped by the statue of Kamehameha. I noticed that there is a ship-related relief on one side of the base.

There was also a plaque with information about the scene depicted:

It reads:

ABOARD THE H.M.S. RESOLUTION

Offshore the island of Maui in 1778, the young chief Kamehameha is welcomed aboard the H.M.S. Resolution by British explorer Captain James Cook. Captain Cook commanded the first foreign fleet to visit the Hawaiian Islands.

Hm.

Not the greatest bit of text. A slight annoyance is the use of “the” before “H.M.S.” Oh well.

Down to the harbor. A colorful and festive sendoff:

Leaving the harbor, yards manned:

Funny How Things Work Out

Yesterday (Sunday) was too nice of a day to spend lazing about at home, so I decided to head down to the harbor. My goal was to get a photo of the car carrier Lapis Arrow, but I missed the arrival of the ship because I ended up having a nice chat with someone I hadn’t seen in quite a while. I’ve been feeling a bit down again due to various circumstances, but he said a few things that helped cheer me up. Much appreciated, frank, sensible talk from a mariner.

I stopped by the ship to check on some things and did a couple of small tasks I didn’t get to do on Saturday.

The atmosphere at Pier 9 was festive with music from ARC Gloria. Lots of people touring the ship:

It’s nice to see there is local interest in tall ships. Or, is the ship merely a novelty?

Detail of ensign:

A trip up to the observation area of Aloha Tower provided a different view:

Did I mention it was a nice day?

View over the harbor, looking westward:

Detail of area by Piers 30–32, with B. Ace (see Saturday’s post), Chevron’s Florida Voyager, and Lapis Arrow:

A sad reminder of what was:

At the risk of becoming a nuisance, I gathered up my courage to ask if I could go out on the pilot boat again. Nothing ventured, nothing gained, eh?

Mikioi:

R.J. Pfeiffer:

Here’s Florida Voyager from a different angle:

Kwai was between Florida Voyager and Lapis Arrow:

Stern of Lapis Arrow:

As car carriers go, she’s prettier than a lot of the ones I’ve seen, due to her vibrant colors.

View of bow:

Hey, there’s my house! A shout out to everyone up on ‘Alewa Heights

R.J. Pfeiffer and a containerless Manoa:

R.J. Pfeiffer rat guards:

Manoa’s bow with old APL eagle visible:

Another view of ARC Gloria:

The Falls:

Yeah, that rail on the poop deck looks good.

It was time for Lapis Arrow to leave.

Looking back toward the harbor:

Hello Plimsoll Line!

Smiling crew at the pilot ladder:

Goodbye!

As I said, things worked out after all. I got my photos of Lapis Arrow, courtesy of Paul, Captain Tom Heberle, and Captain Sinclair Brown. A BIG mahalo!

Hawai‘i is a maritime state. As such, it would be great if there was more of a connection to what goes on in the harbors around the state. Hopefully, my photos provide my friends and people who stumble across this blog a brief peek into a world that they don’t get to see very often, if at all.

Young Crocodile Needlefish

Lunch time!

Today’s Star of the Harbor…

…was ARC Gloria. Nice to see so many people interested in the ship.

But first, a bit about FOC. Maintenance as usual. Thought I’d have to pump some of the ballast water between tanks, but things hadn’t changed much from last week.

The trend of things appearing on the deck is growing slightly alarming. The seeds/nuts were harmless. Last week, there was a dead fish. This week there was a dead chick:

Wonder what I’ll find next week?

B. Ace arriving:

Fukushima Maru backing up to Pier 8:

Fukushima Maru‘s chafing gear:

Back to Gloria. As I mentioned, a lot of people showed up to have a look at the ship.

I posted a photo of the ship the last time she was here, so I don’t want to repeat that.

Oh, all right. Here’s the obligatory rigging shot:

I was much more interested in details this time around.

Chafing gear. I like the use of the Columbian flag colors (repeated around the ship):

Figurehead detail:

Turk’s heads on a boom:

More turk’s heads protecting a rail:

Slightly faded, but nice whipping:

I’m afraid that my coils of line on FOC are super boring, having examined the ones on Gloria.

Lots of bits to shine!

Mainstay ferrule:

Block with nice crest:

Ladder:

Plate on the fife rail with the name of a line:

Deck prism:

Detail from port side of windlass:

Saved this one for last:

It made me smile.

Woo!

After a not-so-satisfying Friday, the weekend turned out so much better!

Despite the heat, it was a good day on FOC on Saturday. If you follow my ramblings on this blog, you know I’ve been feeling down as of late. It’s rather nice to be positive again.

In addition to the usual maintenance things, I chipped rust (something I haven’t done in a while) from the steel part of the deck:

I also did some much needed sweeping and cleaning of the area around some of the scuppers:

Yeah, a lot of muck!

It’s unfortunate that such a simple task (sweeping) is made so much harder by all the yards lying on the deck. Oh well, it is what it is.

After leaving the ship, I spoke to Paul about going out on the pilot boat again. A big mahalo to Captain Tom Heberle for allowing me to do so!

The historic Kaya Fishing Supply store, on the way from Aloha Tower to the pilot station at Pier 19:

It was an exhilarating ride out to Kauai—much farther and a bit rougher than before.

Paul at the helm of Kawika with the city in the distance:

A quick peek into Kewalo Basin:

Larry Ellison’s monster yacht Musashi and a very nice sailing yacht Kaori.

When Musashi was at Pier 9, I contemplated throwing a note attached to a monkey’s fist on board asking for money for FOC. (Mr. Ellison, if you come across this note, could we talk?)

Anyway, back to Kauai. In the harbor:

A quick visit to FOC:

Kauai turned around and heading backwards to the pier:

Tanker Atlantic Grace at Pier 51:

Day turns into night at Honolulu Harbor:

Today was a lazy day. I went to West Marine and Home Depot with a friend. I picked up some supplies for the ship. We got lunch and headed to Pier 7 to eat.

Atlantic Grace was leaving:

My friend spotted this collector urchin with a stick:

That was definitely different!

When I went aboard FOC to stow the stuff I had bought, I found a new bird gift:

It was probably dropped by a fairy tern. Due to the heat on the ship, it was dried out. I just hope this isn’t the start of a new trend.

Thanks again to Paul and Captain Heberle!

National Maritime Day

Yesterday was National Maritime Day in the United States. I had the opportunity to take part in a memorial ceremony offshore.

First of all, I stopped by the ship to check on her, as I usually do when I’m in the area. I bought some flowers for the service at sea and decided to leave a few in the fo’c'sle for any of the old crew lingering about:

We left from Pier 9 on board Mana‘o.

Stern view of the Falls:

Out beyond the entrance to Honolulu Harbor, looking back at downtown Honolulu:

Captain Ed Enos reads a letter from Senator Mazie Hirono:

Copy of the letter:

This was followed by a moving oli by Mr. Leighton Tseu:

Offerings, thoughts, and heartfelt words to shipmates, friends, and colleagues who have passed on:

Brown booby wondering what all the fuss was about:

Then it was back to the harbor and life on land:

Back at Pier 9:

Cal Maritime’s Golden Bear at Pier 10:

Props to Chris Woolaway, Captain Ed Enos, and Charley Pires.

Catching Up…

A short bit about last Saturday.

I was slightly concerned about a noticeable change in the degree of list of the ship. Curious. A quick phone call provided the answer. No need to worry.

Other than that, more of the same. Ho hum.

MELL Shepherd leaving:

A better photo of the banner on the ship:

Clouds over the harbor:

The difference a few minutes can make:

I spent part of Sunday looking at more of the photos from the survey. Interesting, but sobering. I hope to finish the first set soon.

Honolulu Harbor (1836)

One of my favorite sources for old Royal Navy information is The United Service Journal. Some volumes are available for free through services like Google Books. However, there’s nothing quite like owning the actual thing.

I recently acquired another volume to add to my modest collection. Among the usual batch of interesting articles, there is one titled “Narrative of a Voyage from Valparaiso to the South Sea Islands in Her Majesty’s Ship Actaeon, Towards the End of the Year 1836.”

Actaeon arrived off O‘ahu on October 23rd. Here is the author’s (uncredited) description of Honolulu Harbor:

“We anchored in the outer roads in 15 fathoms, coral bottom, and a little after sunset. There is a long reef [that] runs along shore 18 or 20 miles, and opposite the town of Houalutire is a break in it of about a hundred yards, which is the passage for ships to the inner anchorage. There are never less than eighteen feet of water on the bar, but the most intricate part is after this is passed. A pilot came on board early in the morning, and we were towed in by the boats from all the whalers, about forty in number. We moored inside all the whalers, at not more than a stone’s-throw from the shore. There are always a number of ships here in the months of November, December, and January, when the whalers come in to refit, and replenish their provisions. The harbour-dues are heavy, and bring in a good revenue; but the harbour is gradually filling up. The bottom is muddy, and the shoals on either side of it extend out to the reef, so that the poor inhabitants, who subsist chiefly on shell-fish, such as oysters, mussels, &c., walk out on the shoals at low water to procure them. We should say the harbour is capable of containing sixty ships. It is well sheltered on all sides. The tides here are by no means regular.”

Full Day at the Harbor

I hadn’t intended to stay all day at the harbor yesterday, but things just evolved.

The morning was spent on the ship, as usual. It was a rough week at work, so I decided to take it easy. No hard work, just inspecting things and measuring ullages.

A student is working on a photography project on board the ship. It’s interesting to see the ship via her creative vision. I took her down into the pump room, which is one of my favorite areas, in terms of subject material. Every time I’m down there, I notice something new and intriguing.

Speaking of pumps… No need to pump this week, but the pumping system was (and still is) on my mind. I happened to notice a pipe sticking through the forward bulkhead of port tank #1. It was tucked away behind one of the water tanks.

I went over to have a look:

Hm, this looks promising!

We ran into a bit of a problem with running PVC pipes through the deck down into the #1 tanks as well as the pump room. Unlike the other tanks, the deck over the #1 tanks is covered with a layer of concrete because the area functioned as the ship’s boiler room.

Looking at photos taken inside the port tank #1 from last summer’s survey, we may be able to incorporate this pipe into our system. At the very least, we can use the existing hole in the bulkhead.

Below the pipe was a drainage hole (to the pump room) in the concrete waterway:

View through the hole:

Tank bulkhead is to the left and frame #100 to the right.

For reference, a photo of Chris Jannini that I posted previously:

He’s standing on the stringer just below the one visible in the previous photo.

Rat’s eye view:

Where bulkheads meet:

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Building up (again) my collection of rivet heads and other bits that fall off:

Outside the ship…

Polar Ranger towing Westward Trader:

Voyaging canoe?

Robert C. Seamans at Pier 9:

As I’ve said before, it’s always a joy to see a sailing vessel in the harbor.

The obligatory rat guard photo:

I took the opportunity to chat with one of the crew members. This led to a tour of the ship and a tour of FOC. As with the gentleman from Kaiwo Maru, it was a pleasure to meet them. They understand.

Paul happened to be on the ship doing some work on the electrical system. While we were talking, he was called back to the pilot boat. With kind permission from Captain Steve Baker, I got to go out to Kauai with them:

Zipping along the port side:

Great fun!

Cargo Ships

I find cargo ships fascinating. I think it’s because of the variety of configurations they come in.

When I arrived at the harbor this morning, Nine Frontier was taking on fuel and getting ready to leave. She is a wood chip carrier.

Instead of heading right over to FOC, I decided to wait in order to take some photos.

My favorite shot of the day! Nine Frontier crew member with rat guard:

A different sight on the pier:

Playing fetch with a monkey fist (appropriate) until it was time for the ship to unmoor:

Pilot ladder and gangway:

Turning after leaving Pier 10/11:

Aomori Maru arrived at Pier 9 as Nine Frontier was leaving.

Crew members getting ready to place fenders between the ship and the pier:

Fender detail:

Unusual to see a Horizon Lines ship at this location:

After getting my fill for the day of sanding and varnishing, I went with a friend for a late lunch/early dinner. We picked up some food and went to sit on one of the hillocks in Kaka‘ako Waterfront Park.

It was nice to see a number of humpback whales off shore:

(The white blot in the photo is a whale spouting.)

Some were in/near the harbor channel. I hope they don’t get hit by any of the ships arriving or departing the harbor.

A nice finish to a fairly good day: