1 May The ongoing nightmare following the „Deepwater Horizon” continues with oil giant BP coming under ever increasing pressure from all sides and strong criticism of its handling of the growing oil spill. Reports suggest around 5,000 barrels per day are leaking from the well head in the Gulf of Mexico. This disaster has led some to summarise the strategy in this (possibly NSFW) way: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2AAa0gd7ClM

1 May A report commissioned by the French Appeals Court in Rennes into the sinking in January 2004 of the trawler “Bugaled Breizh” causing the death of five crewmembers finds that an unnamed US submarine may have collided with the vessel and caused the sinking. It is alleged that the submarine may have been spying of a shipment of weapons grade nuclear materials being transported from Cherbourg to Japan on board a British vessel.

2 May Following the sinking of the South Korean warship “Cheonan” on the 26th March, South Korea’s Defence Minister announces that those responsible must expect to pay a price for their actions. It is widely believed that North Korea is responsible for the loss of the “Cheonan” and the deaths of the 46 crewmen that died in the incident.

2 May One of the fighting factions in Somalia has taken over one of the pirate havens at Haradhere forcing the pirates based there to move three of the vessels currently held in captivity.

5 May Unwanted treasure: a planned auction of 270,000 relics recovered from a 10th Century Chinese shipwreck discovered of the coast of West Java fails to attract one single bid, despite some expressed interest, no-one was willing to stump up the US$ 16 million deposit required to enter bidding.

5 May Carnival Cruises announces orders for two new cruise ships to be built at Italy’s Fincantieri shipyard. The two unnamed vessels are due to enter service in 2013 and at approximately 141,000GT will be the largest vessels in carnival’s fleet.

6 May Russian forces storm the pirate-captured 96,000GT oil tanker “Moscow University” after it was captured on 5 May by Somali pirates. The 23 crew had locked themselves into a secure room on the vessel after disabling the vessel. Ten pirates were captured and one was killed during the operation carried out by forces based on the Russian warship “Marshal Shaposhnikov”.

7 May Remember the mystery over the “Arctic Sea”? The vessel rumoured to have been carrying an arms shipment destined for Iran? A new development as a Moscow court sentences one of the 8 persons charged over the disappearance and subsequent rediscovery of the vessel last July. Andrei Lunev was found guilty of piracy and sentenced to five years imprisonment.

7 May The 25th occurrence of the highly successful South African Marine Forum gets kicks off in Johannesburg with a record attendance of almost 100 delegates.

7 May Mitsui OSK lines 178,739 GT bulker “Bright Century” laden with iron ore from Australia collides with the Liberian registered freighter “Sea Success” east of Shangdong in China. The “Bright Century” subsequently sank, all 23 crewmembers on board were safely rescued.

8 May Floating dry-dock “Scotia Dock II” belonging to Irving Shipbuilding Halifax Shipyard sinks during a submerging operation. The dock is 183 metres long and 31 metres wide, it was built by Vickers in 1958, plans are under way to re-float the dock as soon as possible.

8 May The Marine Forum concludes after a very successful meeting which included special guest appearances by Sandra Bullock and Ricky Martin – you really had to be there to appreciate this!

10 May Tough justice: the ten pirates captured by Russian forces during the operation to release the hijacked ship “Moscow University” were subsequently released due to “imperfections in international law”. Now it seems that their release may not have been fortuitous with reports that all ten may have perished after being released with an inflatable boat but no navigational equipment: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8675978.stm

13 May Last one out please turn out the lights, Trinity House in the UK announces that two lighthouses will be switched off, the Blacknore Point Lighthouse in Somerset which has been in operation since 1894 and Orford Ness lighthouse in Suffolk will no longer shine out as from 2015. Trinity House claims that modern navigational aids render the lighthouses unnecessary. Perhaps we should organise a whip round for one of those new fangled low energy (cost efficient) light bulbs?

14 May The Space Shuttle “Atlantis” lifts off on its planned 12 day duration final flight to deliver supplies and equipment to the International Space Station. Atlantis will be retired after this flight following 25 (yes 25) years of service. Only two more shuttle flights are planned and are expected to be completed this year so if you want to view a launch there’s not much time left.

18 May In 1775 General Benedict Arnold captures a British sloop and renames it “Enterprise” during the American War of Independance. Later, in 1779 Arnold switched sides and joined the British army, his name later became synonymous with treachery.

18 May The port of Hamburg reports strong growth during the first quarter of the year with a total of 28.6 million tons of cargo handled, an increase of 4.6 % over the same period last year. Full details with plenty(!) of facts and figures can be found on the port’s website here: http://www.hafen-hamburg.de/en/news/port-hamburg-cargo-handling-figures-first-quarter-2010

18 May A public consultation report on how best to preserve the remains of the English Flagship “HMS Victory” lost during a storm in 1744 concludes that amateur and unauthorised salvage or souvenir hunting is the biggest threat to the future of the vessel. The wreck lays outside British territorial waters in the English Channel, it’s exact position has however not been revealed to try to avoid plundering of the wreck site which is also the final resting place of the 1,000 men that were lost with the vessel.

18 May More tough justice, a Yemeni court sentences six Somali pirates to death and jails six others for the hijacking of a Yemeni flag tanker which was subsequently recaptured by Yemeni forces. On this same day in New York, Mr Abdilwalih Abdiqadir Muse pleads guilty to seizing the American flagged “Maersk Alabama” and of kidnapping the vessel’s captain last year, to be sentenced in October of this year he faces a minimum of 27 years imprisonment.

20 May An international investigation into the sinking of the South Korean “Cheonan” (see 2 May above) concludes that the vessel was sunk by a torpedo of North Korean manufacture. The North Korean reaction to this announcement is so far one of indignant denial accompanied by belligerent rhetoric and sabre rattling.

20 May Two bills are submitted for amendments to OPA 90 – one to remove the possibility for a responsible party to limit their liability and the second to raise the cap for economic damages resulting from an oils spill, more fall out from the “Deepwater Horizon” incident can certainly be expected.

24 May Queen Boadicea (the 2nd) to miss party. An apparent lack of friends prevents this Little Ship from joining a Dunkirk evacuation memorial marking 70 years since the flotilla of such ships helped evacuate troops from the continent. A shame that in this penny pinching age the funds required couldn’t be found but then, it’s not as if there’s a war on you know. More on the re-enactment of Operation Dynamo here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/kent/8705304.stm

25 May Malaysian flagged tanker “Bunga Kelana 3” is in collision with the St Vincent and Grenadines flagged Bulker “MV Waily” in the Straits of Singapore resulting in a oil spill of an estimated 2,000 tons. Control booms are erected to contain the spill.

25 May Five alleged Somali pirates go on trial in the Netherlands accused of attempting to hijack the Netherland Antilles flagged vessel “Samanyolu” in January. In their defence the accused argued that they were merely fishing when attacked by the cargo vessel. Hmmm, not all that convincing an argument so far, perhaps they can back it up by showing that the fishing boats documents included a copy of “Fly Fishing” by J.R. Hartley?

31 May A convoy of six ships carrying aid to the Gaza Strip is stopped by Israeli forces enforcing the blockade. Israeli soldiers boarded the largest vessel in the fleet and in an ensuing gun battle nine people are killed.





Finally, here’s an interesting website to have a look at some unusual ships: http://uglyships.wordpress.com/



That’s all folks, more to come during July.