Today in 1956 the Italian line SS Andrea Doria collided with the Swedish American Line’s SS Stockholm resulting in one of the most famous maritime disasters of all time. Remarkably, while over 1600 passengers and crew were aboard the Andrea Doria, only 46 lives were lost as a result of the collision even though half her lifeboats were inaccessible due to the severe list she took on after the incident. Much of this can be attributed to the improved maritime communications post-Titanic and the close proximity to the United States mainland and nearby vessels who quickly rendered assistance.

A week or so after the casualty, a team of divers located the Andrea Doria on the ocean’s floor and, led by a young Louis Malle, they were able to shoot the first underwater footage of the vessel in her final resting place.

Of course, Malle developed into a prolific and awarded film director who was nominated for three Oscars and won several awards at Cannes. One of his earliest successes was Le Monde du Silence (The Silent World) which he co-directed with famous underwater explorer Jacques Cousteau and which won Canne’s prestigious Palm d’Or (Golden Palm) in 1956. Here’s an snippet for this groundbreaking film.

While the Andrea Doria met her end 52 years ago, it’s amazing that the SS Stockholm continues to sail today under the name MS Athena for Classic International Cruises; not surprisingly, there’s no mention of her special place in maritime disaster history which probably is a sound marketing strategy.

For another famous director who launched his career doing maritime movies check out the previous post Stanley Kubrick and The Seafarers.

PBS – The Secrets of the Dead – The Sinking of the Andrea Doria

Andrea Doria – Tragedy and Rescue at Sea (some annoying pop-ups here)

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Here’s a dramatic photograph from the The Daily Mail UK (July 19, 2008 ) – The winds of change – the moment a Tall Ship faced up to modern wind turbines.

The solitary figure wading out into the sea is actually a sculpture by British artist Antony Gormley who may be most readily known for his monumental sculpture Angel of the North which is celebrating it’s 10th anniversary this year. Gormley was also awarded the Tate Gallery’s prestigious Turner Prize in 1994.

Antony Gormley’s “Another Place” (BBC’s h2g2 April 21, 2008 )

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This guy’s insurance company gave him a very limited navigation warranty in his policy. I guess he can’t get into too much trouble but he still should probably wear a life jacket. Just another reason not to like jet ski’s. Hope he’s not your neighbor!

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ISO 50 The Visual Work of Scott Hansen brings us Kick Ass Speed Boats, a must see collection of photographs from the 1970’s.  When I was a kid I remember this being pretty popular; not quite up there with Evil Knievel but still exciting. Check it out!

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Here’s the latest graphic that was used in an internal Microsoft conference about the upcoming $500 million Windows Vista marketing campaign as reported by the NY Times Bits blog this afternoon (Microsoft Tries to Polish Vista) and ZDNET last night. (First hints of Microsoft’s “fight back” ads appear)

Of course, we love the maritime theme and can only wonder if it was in someway influenced by the American Sail Training Association’s TALL SHIPS CHALLENGE Series which recently made several ports of call in their neighborhood. Probably not but it’s cool anyway. Too bad they didn’t use a photograph of an actual tall ship like the USCG Barque EAGLE or the more local Lady Washington or Adventuress. That could have brought some much appreciated attention to the good work that these vessels do in preserving our country’s rich maritime heritage. And wouldn’t it be great if Microsoft took a few bucks from the $500 million earmarked for this campaign and used it to support the youth programs of these and other Pacific Northwest tall ships.  Now that would be super corporate social responsibility. Okay, I know I’m dreaming but what the heck, it’s worth blogging about.

Like they say, “At one point, everyone thought the Earth was flat.” But then they got on a tall ship and the rest is history (or maybe science).

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(58 minutes)

Download MP3:Messing About In Ships episode 26 (July 21, 2008 )

Subscribe Via iTunes HERE

Shownotes: Messing About In Ships blog

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One of my all time favorite commercials.

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Leadership can be a very complex and messy subject but in the end it’s really about one simple thing: bringing about positive change within a system. The system could be a team, family, organization, community, nation or, in rare cases, the world. It’s most impressive when this change is effected by someone who stands outside the traditional bounds of the formal authority of the system.

In my lifetime no single individual embodies this notion of leadership more than Nelson Mandela and today he celebrates his 90th birthday.

Time Magazine has a knack for effectively simplifying complex subjects and has done so this week with it’s cover article Mandela at 90 – The Secrets of Leadership. This is the 4th occasion that Mandela has graced the cover of Time.

The article was written by Time Managing Editor Richard Stengel who helped Mandela write his popular autobiography Long Walk to Freedom. He also wrote an interesting sidebar A Leader for the Ages in which he accounts his personal experiences working with Mandela and there is a great slide show which he narrates entitled Nelson Mandela: Modern Hero.

The subtitle for the article is “Eight Lessons from One of History’s Icons” and true to form Time lays things out in a simple way with each effectively illustrated by a story from Mandela’s life. Please make sure you read the entire article to get the full measure of Mandela’s lessons. Any leader would benefit from employing them.

1. Courage is not the absence of fear — it’s inspiring others to move beyond it
2. Lead from the front — but don’t leave your base behind
3. Lead from the back — and let others believe they are in front
4. Know your enemy — and learn about his favorite sport
5. Keep your friends close — and your rivals even closer
6. Appearances matter — and remember to smile
7. Nothing is black or white
8. Quitting is leading too

Mandela’s leadership lessons may be simple but they are never easy.

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]]> http://sea-fever.org/2008/07/18/happy-90th-birthday-nelson-mandela/feed/ Peter Time cover w Mandela http://sea-fever.org/2008/07/17/has-that-superduper-yacht-turtled-wall-street-journal/ http://sea-fever.org/2008/07/17/has-that-superduper-yacht-turtled-wall-street-journal/#comments Thu, 17 Jul 2008 04:07:00 +0000 Peter A. Mello http://seafever.wordpress.com/2008/07/17/has-that-superduper-yacht-turtled-wall-street-journal/

Robert Frank has written an interesting page one article for today’s (June 17, 2008 ) Wall Street Journal entitled Smooth Sailing Gets Ugly With Russian Billionaire’s New Yacht. (subscription required)

The article profiles 36 year old Russian billionaire Andrey Melnichenko latest contribution to the SuperDuper yacht category and it’s another example that money does not necessarily equate with taste.

IMHO, this Philippe Starck designed yacht, which is simply named “A”, looks like a turtled battleship. I love a lot of Starck’s work including the classic Ara III he designed for his own use in Venice and which is named after his daughter but he should probably stick to projects on dry land because this is one of the most hideous vessels ever to sail the seas.

Frank writes:

While longer than a football field, A barely ranks among the 10 largest private yachts in the world, trailing just behind Octopus, the 416-footer owned by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen. The cost — at least $300 million — is also not a record. Eclipse, the unfinished yacht of fellow Russian Roman Abramovich, is more than 500 feet long and cost at least $100 million more. Mr. Melnichenko’s boat, at cruising speed, burns about 691 gallons of diesel fuel per hour.

The reason A is stirring up the boat world is its radical design. Created by Philippe Starck, the superstar French designer of lemon squeezers and luxury hotels, A is a deliberate slap in the face to an industry known for its classic conformity.

Here’s a YouTube video of “A”

One can only ask “Why?”

Photo credit: Monoco Eye

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Go to YouTube to watch the higher quality version.

From Where the hell is Matt?

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