Around without instruments:Marvin Creamer celebrates the 25th anniversary of his circumnavigation

Map of the route taken by Globe Star

courtesy globestar.org

Globe Star

courtesy globestar.org

Heavy weather

courtesy globestar.org

and here

courtesy globestar.org

Marvin being feted

courtesy Liz Lourie

Marvin Creamer

courtesy Liz Lourie

Marvin explaining 'Transit Meridean' to me

courtesy Liz Lourie

There was a party for Marvin Creamer last Sunday. Celebrating the 25th anniversary of Marvin's amazing circumnavigation without using instruments. No sextant, no compass, certainly no gps. No clock! Only an hourglass for timing watches. Marvin first conceived this adventure during long night watches while cruising, mainly in the Atlantic. He put his ideas into practice on three Atlantic crossings prior to his circumnavigation. A geography professor at what was then Glassboro State College (now Rowan University), the professor worked out the problems such a voyage represented using mathematics  the stars, wave direction, bird life and in the daytime, using an "overhead point and sky geometry". He had read David Lewis'  'We the Navigators', he told me, from cover to cover. Marvin says the real motivation here was not to win glory but rather the intellectual challenge of working out such problems and the satisfaction of having done so. And satisfied he is. At 93, Marvin seems as intellectually sharp as he must have been at the time of his excellent adventure. He's a seemingly inexhaustible source of stories and anecdotes and is adept at explaining his methods to those of us less navigationally gifted.

While these ideas had most certainly been fermenting somewhere in the recesses of the professor's mind, it was chance which really brought them forward. My chronology may be off here, but it went something like this...during a cruise to England and back to NJ, the failure of a compass light gave Marvin the opportunity to use the stars to sail by, and he contemplated what it would be like, what it would feel like, to cruise without the 'toys'. In 1978 he deliberately made a return voyage from Ireland using no instruments and arrived at his destination only 4 miles off his mark. Feeling that his ideas and techniques were thus confirmed, he set off for Pico, off the coast of Africa in 1980. On that voyage he turned back (a little) early due to protestations from crew about 35' seas. The return was made again without instruments and Marvin was able to find both the Cape Verde Islands and Bermuda on the way back to NJ.
He was ready, and shortly after retiring, Creamer, now in his mid 60's, and crew set off from Red Bank Battlefield on December 15, 1982 having received much help in their preparations from local people. Initially sceptical they were undoubtedly won over by Creamers confidence and enthusiasm for his project, which remains unabated today. They returned May 2o, 1984, proving Marvin's theories and having never opened the sealed package of instruments carried on board. The biggest challenge, said Marvin, was how to get 'round Cape Horn in overcast.

You can delve into the solution of that problem, and many others by purchasing a DVD put together by Ralph Harvey, webmaster for the Globestar website.  The DVD includes powerpoint presentations by Ralph, the entire Furled Sails interview w/Marvin, and an unpublished manuscript of Creamer's book The Voyage of the Globe Star. Contact Ralph" here. Marvin says that prospective publishers have declined the project, because there is too little tragedy in the book, and the adventure is primarily an intellectual one. So if anyone is interested, contact me. I'd like to thank Ralph for inviting me to the celebration, giving me the opportunity to meet himself and Marvin and hear his story firsthand and for hosting the website. And of course,I'd like to thank Marvin himself and congratulate him on his marvelous achievement.

I would have posted this story much earlier but for difficulty in posting video on blogger. Ultimately I am unable to do so, always encountering error messages. Any readers who know how to work around these problems, please write me.

 Thomas

Green Machine

Mike at Timmynocky has posted a link about an exciting new development based in Norway which has the potential to supply green electricity by exploiting the chemical differences between salt and freshwater to produce a kind of battery based on the reverse osmosis principles now in use at desalination plants. The technology,  if practicable, would be appropriate for most large estuary's worldwide. Lab tests have been run and the project managers are ramping up for full scale tests. Click the title bar or better yet, visit Timmynocky to delve a little deeper. Seems promising, but I am not a scientist or engineer. All opinions will be given space here. Let me hear from you.

Kayak 1.7 The Historians: Captain George Comer, Whaling Anthropologist

George Comer in the rigging, courtesy Mystic Seaport

Inuit Family,  photograph George Comer, courtesy Mystic eaport

Hudson Bay Inuit carving, collected by George Comer, courtesy Canadian Museum of Civilization

Hudson Bay Inuit carving, collected George Comer, courtesy Canadian Museum od Civilization

Netsilik Family, George Comer photograph, courtesy Mystic Seaport

Netsilik Kayak drawing courtesy Canadian Museum of Civilization/Dr. Eugene Arima

Replica and photograph courtesy Harvey Golden

Captain George Comer's life story is as unlikely as it is interesting. Born in Quebec in 1858 to a seafaring father, he emigrated to New England around age five, with his mother. At age seventeen in 1875 he had found his way to New London, where he shipped out as a green hand on the Nile, a whaling barkentine bound for the Arctic whaling grounds. Though it would be over a decade before he returned to the arctic, the trip was seminal and set the course for the arc of George Comer's life and adventures. After several seasons of sealing from Cape Horn to the Indian Ocean, Comer returned to the Arctic with his original captain, John Spicer, with three annual whaling trips to Hudson Bay in the Era, a 91  ft. topsail schooner. In '93 he returned (as second mate aboard the Canton) to winter over in the Hudson Bay for the first time. It was a significant experience which fed a growing interest in the natural world and anthropology. Long winter hours. Inuit camped nearby. He collected.

His life changed in 1897 when the father of American anthropology, Franz Boas contacted Comer's former captain Spicer for information about the Hudson Bay Inuit. Spicer referred him to Comer, who had taken over as captain of the Era. It was, as stated by Fred Calabretta in "Sea History" magazine, Comer's 'defining moment'. Asked to put together a collection of Eskimo artifacts from the Hudson Bay area, Comer impressed Boas immensely. He went on to become a highly regarded figure in North American anthropology under Boas' tuteledge, taking over 300 pictures of Canadian Inuit and recording the first Inuit voices in Canada, telling stories and singing songs. His closest friend among the Inuit was a Shaman, Ippaktuk (shaman) Tasseok, andhe had a longtime female Inuit companion, Nivisinaaq.

In 1916, while icebound in north Greenland, near Qaanaaq, or Thule, Comer discovered a kitchen midden which yeilded the first evidence of a paleo-Eskimo civilization, ancestors of the modern Inuit, which became known as the Thule Culture.

The kayak, or more properly qajaq seen above was collected by Comer in 1913, a year after he had retired from whaling. It's a Netsilik or Natlinglimuit style, and one of the only two qajaq I'm aware of him having collected ( the other was also built in replica by H. Golden, see his Caribou Inuit Kayak here). There may have well been more. This is a Caribou Eskimo craft, used in lakes and rivers for hunting caribou.

This kayak has struck my imagination and I am planning to build a replica, or near replica of this fine example of Inuit craftsmanship and creativity. It was my interest in this boat that led me to discover and research George Comer. I found valuable and facinating information on Comer from a variety of sources, especially the above mentioned magazine article , but also at the Mystic Seaport, where there is a large exhibit devoted to Comer, see website, the Canadian Museum of Civilisation, and the Dartmouth College Library. The replica was built by Harvey Golden, to plans found in "Inuit Kayaks in Canada" by Dr. Eugene Arima. My thanks to all .

Tsunamichaser: Thomas Nielsen

Thomas Nielsen is active. In the last year he's finished his Wharram Tiki 26 Tsunamichaser, he's built an Ulua for himself and his wife to paddle, and one  for his daughter, both from a Gary Dierking design, is currently finishing a hollow strip built bamboo surfboard and is planning a traditional skin on frame kayak for his daughter. Whew, I am tired just writing it all. Keep in mind he's doing this in a small (1o'x20' or so) garage. Thomas also has ambitions beyond mere boatbuilding. There are many homebuilders of Wharram catamarans. James Wharram is a very popular designer, and rightly so. What makes Thomas stand out is that his boat has been specifically built to achieve a purpose, a scientific endeavour. to wit:

In 1985 Tom spent the summer in the Canadian Arctic doing geological research and village resupply aboard the CCGC Nahdik. Since then Tom has been following the ice maps and can attest to a significant decrease in polar ice every year. His intention is to retrace his original journey, photographing along the way to document the changes. He has lots of material from the '85 trip to verify the evidence and contrast with current conditions. This is a serious scientific undertaking and is being supported by ROBOsky.com . Seriousness aside Thomas plans to take his family along as crew. Wouldn't you like to have such a dad? The voyage will begin at Great Slave Lake, one of the five deepest lakes on our planet at 614m. and is the fifth largest lake in North America, tenth largest in the world. Tom plans to trailer the boat to the Hay River and take this up into Great Slave. Across the lake to Yellowknife, where he may leave the boat to overwinter. He hopes to start this coming July and spend about two months this year exploring Great Slave. Then he'll resume giong  from Yellowknife to the Mackenzie and out into the Beaufort Sea, then over to the Bering, through the Straits and then the Aleutians, down through the Inside Passage and home to Seattle. Ambitious. He plans to bring along Spot technology which can, among other things, track his progress at 20 minute intervals. We've talked about the possibility that we may be able to track his progress here on 70.8% and on his Tsunamichaser weblog. Should be a great deal of fun! 

Postscript: Thomas gave me a correction, he also! built an Ulua for his wife and himself to paddle. I stand corrected, and also, a little in awe.