Nautical Oddities

[GordMay]

Originally Posted by StuM

Polymita picta, common name the Cuban Painted Snail, or The Oriente Tree Snail, is a species of large, air-breathing land snail, a terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusk in the family Helminthoglyptidae.
And this is a NAUTICAL ODDITY how?

Ya got me!


The Cuban painted snail is only found along a narrow coastal strip in eastern Cuba.
The Cuban painted snail (Polymita picta) prevailed with 10,092 votes and thus 62% against the four other species standing for election.
The sea butterfly (Cymbulia peronii) came in second with 2,773 votes, followed by the naval shipworm (Teredo navalis) with 1,643 votes. The barge-foot (Fustiaria rubescens) received 1,115 votes, the sediment snail (Telescopium telescopium) 765 votes.

[hpeer]

It is nautical because sailors are wanders and thus this thread has wandered to new and interesting places.

[GordMay]

[GordMay]

[GordMay]

A rare piece of WWII history

In the 1970s, the remains of a Lockheed 'P38 Lightning', World War II fighter plane were revealed, on a beach, in Wales.
The American fighter plane, known as the “Maid of Harlech”, crashed off the coast of Wales, in 1942, when its engine cut out, during training exercises. The plane's pilot, Robert Elliott, walked away without any injuries.
The historic remains have actually been uncovered three times: in the 1970s, in 2007, and then in 2014, when weather conditions were just right. Due to its historical importance, the Welsh government has given it protected status, the first aircraft wreckage site in the UK to have this. With no plans to salvage the wreck, its exact location is being kept secret.

More ➥ https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/...otected-status

And ➥ https://tighar.org/Projects/P38/welshplans.htm

[CaptTom]

There's a similar situation at a nearby beach. The wreck of an old ship appears every so often. I saw it in 2018, but missed it the previous time it was uncovered:


One researcher claims to have found the name of the ship. There's a decent article about it here, and that article links to one published around the time the above picture was taken.

[GordMay]

The underwater “eye” that is unlocking ocean secrets

A marine biologist built a stealth camera that’s collected images of some of the most elusive deep sea animals.

More ➥ https://www.vox.com/science-and-heal...ra-giant-squid



Much of Edith Widder’s career has focused on studying bioluminescent creatures in the ocean, to understand how — and why — animals glow. Courtesy of Edith Widder

[gamayun]

Originally Posted by Therapy

In all my days I have never heard an air mass called that.

Dunno where I have been.

I never heard them either before moving to California. In Florida, we just call them rain storms. But if the San Francisco Bay area gets more than two or three inches in 24 hours, it's catastrophic...

[gamayun]

Only 1.5 acres and it's unusable between October and mid-May, but you're surrounded by ocean.

For sale in Maine: Private island, inward journey — yours for $339,000

https://www.washingtonpost.com/natio...land-for-sale/

[CaptTom]

Originally Posted by gamayun

Only 1.5 acres and it's unusable between October and mid-May, but you're surrounded by ocean.

I thought that article looked familiar:
https://bangordailynews.com/2022/01/...re-joam40zk0w/

Maybe it's just click bait, or a realtor trying to get some free advertising. But if it's true no-one would have been able to buy it back in January, so I suppose writing about it now is fair game.

[Oeanda]

Originally Posted by GordMay

A loose barge got blown into the seawall, near Sunset Beach, on Monday afternoon, as heavy winds hit Metro Vancouver, following an atmospheric river rainstorm.
The storm, that has hit much of the province. has battered Vancouver, with the city closing Stanley Park, and the Seawall, for fear of strong waves in the area.
Video ➥ https://twitter.com/i/status/1460353593630879744
And ➥ https://twitter.com/i/status/1460352421801070593

Still there, as they argue over the logi$tic$ of cutting it up and removing it.

[GordMay]

Biggest Earthquake in Human History

Archaeologists have found evidence of the largest known earthquake in human history — a terrifying magnitude-9.5 mega-thrust ‘quake, that caused a 5,000-mile-long (8,000 kilometers) tsunami, and prompted human populations to abandon nearby coastlines, for 1,000 years, a new study [1] finds.

The earthquake struck about 3,800 years ago, in what is now northern Chile, when a tectonic plate rupture lifted the region's coastline. The subsequent tsunami was so powerful, it created waves as high as 66 feet (20 meters), and traveled all the way to New Zealand, where it hurled car-size boulders hundreds of miles inland, the researchers found.

Until now, the largest earthquake ever recorded was the 1960 Valdivia earthquake, which hit southern Chile with a magnitude between 9.4 and 9.6, killing up to 6,000 people, and sending tsunamis barreling across the Pacific Ocean. The rupture that caused the Valdivia earthquake was enormous, extending as far as 500 miles (800 km) in length.

But, as scientists detail, in research published April 6/22, in the journal Science Advances [1], the newly discovered ancient megaquake was even bigger, coming from a rupture roughly 620 miles (1,000 km) long.

Evidence for the giant quake was found in marine and coastal items — such as littoral deposits (boulders, pebbles and sand native to coastal regions) and marine rocks, shells and sea life — that the researchers discovered, displaced far inland, in Chile's Atacama Desert.

"While this had a major impact on people in Chile, the South Pacific islands were uninhabited when they took a pummeling from the tsunami 3,800 years ago," Goff said. "But they are all well-populated now, and many are popular tourist destinations. So when such an event occurs next time, the consequences could be catastrophic unless we learn from these findings."

More about:“Scientists discover ancient earthquake, as powerful as the biggest ever recorded” ~ Statement from Southampton University
➥ https://www.southampton.ac.uk/news/2...arthquake.page

[1] “Did a 3800-year-old Mw ~9.5 earthquake trigger major social disruption in the Atacama Desert?” ~ by Diego Salazar et al
➥ https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.abm2996

[GordMay]

Immortal jellyfish

The lifespan of a Greenland shark: up to 500 years.
The giant barrel sponge: over 2,000 years.
But the longest-living animal on planet Earth?
The immortal jellyfish [Turritopsis dohrnii - NOT Turritopsis nutricula, nor Turritopsis rubra*], a creature that can seemingly escape from death altogether.

Could this tiny jelly hold the secret to curing cancer? Smaller than a pinky nail, this sea creature has the Benjamin Button-like ability to revert back to a polyp stage when threatened with starvation or injury, earning it the nickname “immortal jellyfish” for how it outsmarts death. Although the species had been known about for a hundred years, it wasn’t until the 1990s that this incredible phenomenon was discovered. Scientists still are unsure exactly how its cells are able to regress and regrow, but the immortal jellyfish could hold promise for fighting diseases like cancer in humans.

“The secrets of the immortal jellyfish, Earth's longest-living animal”
➥ https://www.sciencefocus.com/nature/immortal-jellyfish/

“Immortal jellyfish: the secret to cheating death”
➥ https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/immor...ing-death.html

* Chances are, that if you ever hear about the nutricula [from Caribbean] being immortal, it is in fact the dohrnii [from Mediterranean], but a picture of a rubra [from New Zealand] will be attached.

[GordMay]

Trained Russian Navy Dolphins are Protecting Black Sea Naval Base, Satellite Photos Show

Russia has deployed trained dolphins during its invasion of Ukraine to protect a Black Sea naval base, USNI News has learned.
The Russian Navy has placed two dolphin pens at the entrance to Sevastopol harbor, sheltered just inside a sea wall. The pens were moved there in February, around the time of the invasion of Ukraine, according to a review of satellite imagery.

More ➥ https://news.usni.org/2022/04/27/tra...te-photos-show

More reporting about:

Why Russia is using dolphins to guard its navy ships. No, that’s not a code name.
➥ https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinio...ched-rcna26523

Russia deployed trained dolphins to guard Black Sea naval base, satellite images show
➥ https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/r...lite-rcna26413



Satellite images appear to show dolphin pens at Sevastopol Bay in Crimea. Credit: Maxar Technologies

[GordMay]

Swedish tech company Candela recently unveiled its "flying electric craft," called the C-8.

The electric boat actually uses hydrofoils — wings or fins that lift most of the boat out of the water — to significantly reduce drag, allowing the C-8 to use roughly 80% less energy than a conventional boat, the company says.

The C-8 is expected to reach a top speed of 30 knots, or roughly 35 miles per hour, and travel nearly 58 miles per charge. The nearly 28-foot craft is designed to fit eight passengers, and even has a front cabin that sleeps four.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, it also isn't cheap. The C-8 comes with a starting price of 290,000 euros, which currently equates to just over $305,000. Candela expects to begin delivering the boats to customers this summer after already selling more than 100 units in the U.S., Europe and Canada, the company said on Thursday.

Candella Press Release ➥ https://www.mynewsdesk.com/candela-s...cannes-3178447

And ➥ https://candela.com/introducing-the-...0high%20speeds.

C-Pod Drive Train➥ https://candela.com/technology/