Last week I posted about a unique moving day at the North Pole. This week, there’s a similar story but much closer to home. Debbie Francouer is moving to Mattapoisett, my hometown, and she’s bringing EVERYTHING including the kitchen sink (and all of the plumbing) with her.
I’ve heard of a barn-raising. Maybe we can call this a house-floating.
It’s a very exciting time in our house because Luke, our first grader, is currently learning how to read and there’s nothing better than a Dr. Seuss-ish maritime themed early reader like Stabby the Narwhal.
Stabby the Narwhal by Jim Benton via Laughing Squid.
Filed under: Moby-Monday, maritime, sailing | Tags: Baja Ha-Ha, Meg Guroff, Moby-Dick, whale attacks
Last week, a cruiser relived the fateful last bit of Moby-Dick—but with a happy ending. The J/World had just checked into the Baja Ha-Ha, a two-week rally down Mexico’s Pacific coast, when it encountered a pod of whales, at least one of which attacked the boat’s rudder and opened a hole in the hull.
The J/World sank within five minutes, but all five crew members survived, thanks to two hand-held VHFs they managed to salvage in the scramble for the lifeboat. Just think, if the Pequod had had VHFs … nah, the same thing would have happened.
Margaret Guroff is the editor and publisher of Power Moby-Dick.
Filed under: FotoFriday, life, maritime, photography, storytelling | Tags: FotoFriday
The New York Times has a great multimedia series called One in 8 Million which features stunning black and white photography coupled with interesting audio interviews. This week Todd Heisler photographed and Tanzina Vega interviewed Captain Patrick Harris – The Boat Dweller. Give a look and listen, it’s a nice piece about maritime life on the island of Manhattan.
Do you think that this is what is meant by every dark cloud has a silver lining?
Filed under: maritime | Tags: Arctic expedition, Artic 36, icebreaker, North Pole, Yamal
How do you move 18 polar explorers, a dogs and more than 150 tons of cargo from one of the most desolate and harshest environments on the planet?
Simple, rent a big moving van or the 23,ooo displacement tons, 490 length over all nuclear powered icebreaker Yamal. Here’s a rockin’ video of it all.
Here’s one of our earlier posts with video of this extraordinary ship.
Filed under: Moby-Monday | Tags: Halloween, Moby-Dick, Roger Williams Park Zoo, The New Yorker
The New Yorker is marking Halloween with a “Critterati” photo contest—pix of pets such as Clarence here dressed as literary figures. The contest closed for entries yesterday, but you can still peruse all the contestants at the New Yorker site. (Don’t miss another fave, Puppy Longstocking.) Winners selected by a panel of judges will be announced October 28. Team Clarence!
UPDATE: Clarence won “Best in Cats”!
You don’t have to be a pet owner to mark the holiday as it should be marked—that is, with sly references to Moby-Dick. At the Roger Williams Park Zoo in Providence, Rhode Island, a set of Moby-Dick themed pumpkins depicting Herman Melville and scenes from the book somehow made it into this year’s Jack-o’-Lantern Spectacular on the theme of “Fables of the Great Writers.” Other stories featured include Hansel and Gretel, Snow White, and Rumplestiltskin. Don’t they know Moby Dick was (sorta) real? The literary pumpkins are on display at the zoo through November 1.
Margaret Guroff is editor and publisher of Power Moby-Dick.
Filed under: maritime
Messing About in Ships podcast is back! Last night I interviewed Captain Doug Pine who told an amazing sea story about what happened to him after replying to this ad.
Here’s the rest of the story. Grab a beer and popcorn because it’s a long but good one!
Leadership Lessons from a Modern Day Mutiny(download)
Cross posted at Weekly Leader
Two enterprising Brooklyn residents recently launched Novel-T, a line of baseball jerseys for literature lovers. The first team’s lineup features Moby Dick as catcher and Ahab at the mound, with Bartleby at left field for good measure.
Confidential to M.D.: we’re not sure what Ahab is throwing, but if it looks at all pointy: duck!
Margaret Guroff is editor and publisher of Power Moby-Dick.
