Let’s compare Puget Sound and the Columbia River

A look at the backlog of containerships anchored in Puget Sound right now, and a look at how Puget Sound and the Columbia River compare as waterways: they’re quite different in interesting ways and surprisingly similar in others.

[Photo Credit: The MV Aurora Explorer cruises toward the Seymour Narrows in Discovery Passage between Vancouver and Quadra islands north of Campbell River, British Columbia, Canada. Credit: Wikimedia Commons, Photographer David Stanley, https://flickr.com/photos/79721788@N00/50260397688]

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Ship air pollution linked to increased lightning

More today about lightning and ships: Studies have shown a clear link between ship particulate air pollution and increased lightning activity. Scientists have tracked significantly more lightning strikes in known shipping lanes worldwide.

Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

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Astoria East Mooring Basin causeway collapses

Today a story about a local waterfront causeway and breakwater that finally gave way after years of deferred maintenance, collapsing part of the dock into the water and making it completely unusable. It shows how powerful water and the elements are, and how any structures, whether they be vessels or docks, require constant upkeep.

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Lightning strikes on ships

Today, a listener question about lightning and ships. What happens when a ship is struck by lightning? As it turns out, cargo ships are often good conductors because they are made of metal that is mostly wet. But that doesn’t mean ships are never damaged by a direct hit.

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Remembering the wreck of the Oriole

Today, we commemorate the wreck of the sailing cargo ship Oriole, which sank 168 years ago Saturday on the the Columbia River Bar. She was carrying the materials to build the Cape Disappointment lighthouse.

We’ll hear an account from Long Beach Peninsula historian Frank Lehn about what happened to that ill-fated ship (her crew and captain were saved by the quick thinking of her bar pilot, the famous Captain George Flavel).

And we’ll talk about how the region has changed since sailing cargo ships plied its waters, and how  it still remains one of the most dangerous river entrances in the world.

[Note: image courtesy of the Columbia River Bar Pilots. The buoy is about 16 feet high, so those waves are mighty big!]

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Operation Boatlift: a maritime miracle during 9/11

In the midst of all the sad and horrific remembrances of the 9/11 terrorist attack on September 11, 2001, a some events stand out as triumphs of the human spirit in a time of tragedy. One of those in the maritime realm was Boatlift – a spontaneous and heartfelt response to a call from the US Coast Guard for “all available boats” in New York Harbor, to come to the southern tip of Manhattan Island to help in a rescue effort. More than 600 sailors on 150 different vessels heard the call and immediately converged on the scene. Together they evacuated more than half a million people from the wreckage of lower Manhattan. Today we remember Operation Boatlift.

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Here’s a link to the film “Boatlift”: https://youtu.be/MDOrzF7B2Kg

[Note: Image Courtesy Wikimedia Commons]

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A look at the delta variant and global shipping

The Delta variant seems to be a new ballgame in the pandemic in terms of worldwide shipping, hammering markets that previously seemed to be rebounding. Today we’ll talk about this dangerous variant’s destabilizing effects on the global shipping market, which could affect our 90 percent of everything as the Christmas season approaches.

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Interview Series: A look at cargo holds, Part 5

Today is the final installment in our five-part series on cargo hold inspections, featuring Dan Sealy, a cargo hold inspector who works on ships in the Astoria Anchorage.

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Interview Series: A look at cargo holds, Part 4

Part four in our series about cargo hold inspections with inspector Dan Sealy, who works in the Astoria anchorage.

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