A Publication of Nobscot Sail & Power Squadron, Inc. April 2014 Volume 60 Number8

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Suzan Welch
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1 A Publication of Nobscot Sail & Power Squadron, Inc. April 2014 Volume 60 Number8 As I contemplate the needs of the Nobscot Sail and Power Squadron for the upcoming year as your new commander I can't help but wonder what course we should steer. I look back to my last duty as commander in and have seen a lot of changes, many of which are not encouraging. On the bright side, back then, we had a weak website but thanks to the hard work of my Bridge at that time we now have one of the best in the squadron. As a matter of fact we won the award for the Best Website of USPS! However, as I look beyond that success I see too many warning signs on the horizon of difficult storms that we need to survive. Our membership back around 2008 was about 200 members. Today, it is only 110. When I first joined the Squadron in the late nineties, The Boating Course, had people in attendance. In the last few years we have seen that attendance drop to 2 dozen, then to 1 dozen and now only a 1/2 dozen. Some Squadrons have folded or been absorbed and recently District 18 was absorbed into our own District 12. These are not signs of a healthy organization. We are no different from any other non-profit, volunteer organization. Other volunteer groups are seeing the same type of decline in membership and volunteerism. As look to our future, I ask myself what can be done to stop this decline and to return to a healthy, growing organization. I confess I do not have all the answers but hope others will share their ideas, their talents and their time to get us back on the course to a safe harbor. I see three simple things we must accomplish in the next 12 months: 1. Focus on our Boating Course, the life line of our growth 2. Recruit new members through the Boating Course and other means 3. Inspire members both old and new to lend a hand in making this Squadron a successful one I have a few thoughts on what needs to be done and how we may accomplish this 3 pronged mission but our new bridge ( I use the term "new" loosely here) and I will need everyone's assistance both in ideas and small amounts of time. Do you value your Squadron? Do you want it to survive? Are you willing to provide assistance even in a small way? If the answer is "Yes!" to any of these questions, then I hope you will join your Bridge and me when we call out to you for help. This organization has been in existence for over 50 years and I know we can keep it on course, if everyone chips in a little of their time throughout this coming year! Best wishes and safe cruising, Dave Danehy, Commander 1

2 STATUS REPORT ON CURRENT SOLAR CYCLE By P/R/C Don Hagen, SN, Radio-Tech Officer Where did all the sunspots go? Three years ago I reported that future solar flares would probably disrupt GPS receivers. 1. There were no estimates available of the depth or duration of the possible disruptions. As shown in the graph below, 2. we are now past the peak of this 24 th sunspot cycle, and so far it is the weakest cycle in 100 years. No major outages have been reported. Until January 2014 sunspot activity was running significantly below the NASA prediction. Cycle 24 appeared to be dying. Suddenly it came back to life. In fact, the Sun's second sunspot peak in this cycle might exceed the first, which is unusual. The first smoothed sunspot peak was 66.9 in February The second may be as high as 70. (Note: The "smoothed" sunspot number is a weighted average over a 13-month period.) Scientists cannot explain why solar activity has been so weak. There are several complex theories, but none yet accepted. Historical records show weak cycles at the turn of the 19 th and 20 th centuries, so it could be that solar activity tapers about every 100 years, in what is known as the Gleissberg Cycle. With data points separated so far, it will take centuries to test that theory; and nobody knows why those weak cycles occurred either. So it appears that for two or three years there is still the possibility of solar flares disrupting GPS. Stay alert while navigating with GPS. Keep your dead reckoning and visual piloting skills well honed, just in case. Carry paper charts for back-up. 1. D.L. Hagen, "Solar Flares Expected to Disrupt GPS Receivers", The Rhumb Line, June thepundits.wordpress.com/2014/02/03/sunspots-big-sunspot-peak-to-come 2

MY FAVORITE MARINA By Paul Norquist, PDC Although we no longer are regular boaters, I often think of our good times when boating, and my favorite marina comes to mind.

3 MY FAVORITE MARINA By Paul Norquist, PDC Although we no longer are regular boaters, I often think of our good times when boating, and my favorite marina comes to mind. This is CONANICUT MARINA located in the village of Jamestown on the island called CONANICUT in lower Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island. Years ago when Shirley and I spent the entire summer on our boat, we sailed (sometimes motored) through the Cape Cod Canal, along the Mass southern shore, and entered the east passage of Narragansett Bay. Newport was on our right and Conanicut on the left. We motored up to the marina dock and signed up for a few nights. We knew something about the marina from the old Offshore magazine, but were pleasantly surprised when we toured the marina and the town. Early on we met Bill and May Munger, the resident owners and managers of the marina. They are most pleasant and outgoing people who spend practically all of their summer days at the marina. The fuel dock has gas and diesel provided by an attendant in a quaint little shack on the dock. Just on shore there is the marina office. The floating docks are excellently maintained and the moorings are plentiful and accessible. There are two comfortable launches providing access to and from moorings. Mooring fees include unlimited launch service. A great feature is the quaint ferry launch that travels many times daily to and from Newport. This is the best way to visit Newport. The launch stops at the Rose Island lighthouse just outside Newport harbor. Adjacent to the marina is the town beach. On shore, Narragansett Street leads directly from the marina up the hill through the village, past 5 or 6 restaurants, shops and a store owned by the marina selling boating equipment, clothes, etc. Another street close by the marina has its engine repair facility. I was always impressed by the boat storage yard which is NOT at the waterfront, but up the hill about a mile away from the water, located just behind the police station. It s a fenced in facility with inside and outside storage. Boat owners are most welcome to work on their own boats. In conclusion I must mention the only minor disadvantage of the location is that it is open to easterly winds. This bothered me only once during the 5-7 years that we frequented Conanicut Marina 3

4 THE $3B TREASURE OFF OF P TOWN. by Peter J. Wihtol HOW TREASURE DIVING WORKS. Each new treasure is promised to be the biggest ever found. Investors supply large amounts of money to salvage divers who take money to pay themselves generous salaries, general expenses, and misc. overhead $$. Additionally, purchases are made for specialized diving equipment, and big money is spent during actual diving time. The downside? Often no treasure is found. Greg Brooks was a swimming pool salesman when he cashed in his savings in 1984 and formed Sub Sea Research, Portland, Maine, a salvage and treasure hunting company. Although public records do not exist for all of Brooks treasure hunts, information available in court documents, newspaper stories, his own news releases, and from others who know his operations indicate that he has had little success. The SS Port Nicholson was a 481-foot British cargo vessel sunk by a German U-boat during World War II, just one of thousands of wrecks in the Atlantic. It has attracted little attention for two reasons: The ship has little historical value and its only known cargo was car and machine parts. But Brooks and his supporters believe there is more. He first filed a salvage claim on the wreck in August A judge granted him temporary custody the next year. He began courting investors to fund the task of salvaging a shipwreck. DISINFORMATION. Sometime after Brooks filed the claim, he sent out news releases about another wreck, the Blue Baron (a bogus ship name), approximately 40 miles off the coast of Guyana in South America. His description of the wreck, along with a photo of the Blue Baron looked an awful lot like the Nicholson. He also said the Blue Baron had 70 tons of platinum, the same amount he would later claim was hidden on the Nicholson. In an April 2009 story in the Maine Sunday Telegram, Brooks admitted he lied to the Daily Telegraph of London about the Blue Baron. Brooks believes he found a World War II-era shipwreck with precious metals and diamonds estimated $3 billion. And he has been talking about it for nearly five years. It is supposed to be located about 50 miles off Cape Cod and at a depth of 700 feet. Brooks claimed that the SS Port Nicholson was carrying platinum when it sank. His investors are now suing his company to take over the salvage operation. Early-on it seemed like each time the story was told there were additional claims about the treasure; first 70 tons of platinum, then one and a half tons of industrial diamonds and 16 million carats of gem quality diamonds. If you look at the body of evidence, at what they have claimed and what they have delivered on, there is just nothing there, said Chris Hugo, a maritime historian and master diver from Massachusetts. About ten years ago Chris was a speaker at one of our Bella Costa dinner meetings. He did a slide show about diving at Truk Lagoon, a WWII graveyard for many Japanese ships. BIG TROUBLE: NON-PAYMENT OF THE BILL FOR A CRITICAL PIECE OF EQUIPMENT, (AN ROV) NEEDED TO HELP RECOVER HEAVY BRICKS OF PRECIOUS METALS FROM DEPTHS OF 700+ FEET. In June 2013, a Texas company called Deep Down Inc. filed a separate lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Portland, alleging that Sub Sea Research failed to pay $133,925 for a remote operated vehicle built for the Nicholson salvage. That lawsuit is still pending, but several Sub Sea 4

5 employees have been questioned about the operation and the documents that Brooks and Edward Richard Michaud uncovered. Michaud was the military historian who claimed to have found a Typ XIB, not just a huge WWII German submarine, but hitler s escape submarine (note the lower case h ) sunk a few miles off of the Chatham, MA coastline. The 220-foot ship Sea Hunter, which Greg Brooks has used in his searches for sunken treasure, was listed for sale. The asking price is $2.95 million. According to a person who is a serious recreational wreck diver, comparable used vessels are more likely to sell for about $800K. A criticism was that Sea Hunter was not capable of maintaining position over a wreck-site, at the surface, especially 700-feet above a wreck: no computer/navigational positional controls and no multidirectional thrusters just one bow-thruster and twin screw diesel engines. It was designed for use only as a pipe-delivery and cargo-delivery vessel to be used in the offshore oil-well drilling business. USS PORT NICHOLSON Photo courtesy of UK Daily Mail. Now, Brooks ship is for sale and most of his crew -- and staff -- has been laid off. Their formerly displayed names, titles, and photographs are suddenly missing from his website. A month later, Brooks ed investors to suggest he was abandoning his search because funding for the project had dried up. The sinking of the Port Nicholson will begin at the end of the week, he wrote. Only God can save her now. THE INVESTORS. One month after that, some of those same investors who had bankrolled Brooks salvage efforts to the tune of $8 million filed a complaint in U.S. District Court seeking to gain control of the salvage. Daniel Stochel, head of the New York firm Equitron Capital Management, invested approximately $8 million in Brooks operation on behalf of himself and others, but grew disillusioned. They decided to 5

form their own company, Mission Recovery, and petitioned the court to strip Brooks of salvage rights. Then more investors left Sea Hunters for Mission Recovery 18 in all, according to Stochel.

6 form their own company, Mission Recovery, and petitioned the court to strip Brooks of salvage rights. Then more investors left Sea Hunters for Mission Recovery 18 in all, according to Stochel. Sea Hunters has no experience in deep water salvage operations... and in dealing with a complex recovery effort, the complaint alleges, and yet has insisted on conducting its own salvage operations with substandard equipment or has otherwise mismanaged or frustrated the efforts of thirdparty firms hired to assist in salvaging the Port Nicholson. WHY DID THE INVESTORS SUDDENLY PULL OUT OF THE INVESTMENT WITH SUB SEA? THEY MIGHT HAVE LEARNED ABOUT THE HUGE, QUICK, RECENT SUCCESS OF A DIFFER- ENT TREASURE DIVING COMPANY. Another American treasure diving outfit recovered 60 tons of silver from a depth of three miles and some (not mentioned) distance off of the coast of Ireland. The shipwreck was discovered in The archeologists used old shipping documents, war records and calculated drift to pinpoint the shipwreck. This is the largest precious metal recovery in history: It's worth an estimated $77 million. The first ingot made it to the surface in The final bar, number 2792, was pulled from the wreck mid-july, The Tampa, Fla.-based Odyssey Marine Exploration firm led the quest to find the underwater treasure, which sank in 1941 when the SS Gairsoppa a British steamship that was secretly carrying silver from India to Great Britain to fund the war effort was hit by a German U-boat torpedo. This is the largest precious metal recovery in history: It's worth an estimated $77 million. The first ingot made it to the surface in The final bar, number 2792, was pulled from the wreck mid- July, Silver bars at the wreck site. Photo courtesy of Odyssey Marine Exploration 6

Squadron Monthly Meeting Set the date on your calendar. April 16, 2014 Bella Costa Restaurant Cocktails 6:00PM Dinner: 7:00 PM Speaker to be announced.

7 Squadron Monthly Meeting Set the date on your calendar. April 16, 2014 Bella Costa Restaurant Cocktails 6:00PM Dinner: 7:00 PM Speaker to be announced. Come and meet your fellow boater. Do you have questions regarding boating? More than likely there will be someone at this meeting to assist you in finding the correct answer. Boating is fun. Ask us! 7

8 A publication of the Nobscot Sail and Power Squadron, Inc., a nonprofit organization ded- icated to: Safe Boating Ads, articles, or comments should be directed to: P/C Robert R. Capobianco, JN 15 West Central Street Natick, MA, Telephone: Fax: captcapo@aol.com (please insert the words Rhumb Line in your Subject Matter) Hard Copies Printed By: Curry Printing. Electronic distribution chief: Robert R. Capobianco Photographer: Stephen Eakman, SN Deadline for Articles & Pictures: 15th day of the Month. 8

00- Was One Person Responsible for the Titanic Disaster- Preview of Tim

00- Was One Person Responsible for the Titanic Disaster- Preview of Tim Building the Ship: 30 Apr 1907 J Bruce Ismay and William James Pirrie come up with the idea to build Olympic, Titanic and Brittanic