A Storm Checklist

[From a friend of the blog author who grew up in south Florida]:

This is the best advice on how to

prepare for an emergency:

1. For a big storm like Irma, you need enough water to drink for a minimum of 7 days. The water does NOT have to be bottled. You can simply buy water containers and fill them with tap water.

2. Get a plastic sheet to line the tub. Then you can fill your tub with water without it leaking out. You'll use this to flush the toilet and for basic cleaning if the water goes out. Use sparingly.

3. Have enough food on hand to eat for 7 days - food bars and other packaged food is good. Canned soup, beans.

4. Buy a large number of Ziploc-like plastic bags - large and small. You'll use them to protect papers and other valuables AND you'll fill them 3/4 full of water and stuff the freezer full. Do that by midweek to be sure they are frozen when/if the power goes out over the weekend. It will keep the refrigerator colder. Do NOT set your fridge on the lowest setting.

5. Get a portable radio that receives AM and FM. NOAA radio is good, but doesn't get you information on evacuations and other instructions. Get batteries.

6. Get LED flashlights and/or lanterns. They run forever on fewer batteries. But you still need plenty of extra batteries.

7. Get large plastic bags. They are invaluable for keeping valuable things dry if you have a leak.

8. Get large plastic boxes. If you put your valuables, photos, and papers in plastic bags inside the boxes, they will likely be okay.

9. Get plastic sheeting and plenty of duct tape.

10. Do your laundry this week! Lol

Just in case.....A few hurricane tricks for those who may need it:

1. Start running your ice makers now and bagging the ice in freezer bags. Fill as much space in between your freezer items as you can.
2. . Freeze regular tap water for pets, cleaning or drinking in tupperware-type containers. REMEMBER to leave a small bit of space between the top of the water & the lids so the ice expands but doesn't crack the container.
3. Start using up your perishables to make more room for ice in the freezer.
4. Fill up all vehicles & check tires & oil.
5. Cash from ATM, at least enough to get you through tolls and gas out of town. Call your bank if you plan on leaving the state so they don't freeze your card for out-of-area "suspicious" transactions.
6. 6. All important docs screenshot & send to your email. Take originals in sealed bags or plastic bins.
7. Pet & livestock food & supplies. Vet records in case you need to shelter then at a storm-safe facility.
8. Evacuation plans and share with family members so they know where you're headed.
9. Consider putting heirlooms & photos in plastic bins in a high place, second floor, or safe room if you don't plan on taking them with you.
10. SECURE ALL FIREARMS & AMMUNITION PROPERLY.
11. Old rags & beach towels on your windowsills. Even with the best windows & shutters, water seeping from the wind pressure happens. A few damp towels is better than soaked drywall or floors!
12. Shutter windows and doors and bring everything outside into your garage or house NOW. Do not wait until the day before. Better to get done early and relax than wait until its too late, ESPECIALLY IF YOU ARE MANDATORY PERSONNEL (hospital employee or first responder).
13. 13. If you don't already have your hurricane supplies, you might want to get them now. Shelves are already empty in most places.
      

Hurricane Irma?  It is now a category 5 storm.

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner (originally The Rime of the Ancyent Marinere) is the longest major poem by the English poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge, written in 1797–98 and published in 1798 in the first edition of Lyrical Ballads. Modern editions use a revised version printed in 1817 that featured a gloss. Along with other poems in Lyrical Ballads, it was a signal shift to modern poetry and the beginning of British Romantic literature.

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner relates the experiences of a sailor who has returned from a long sea voyage. The mariner stops a man who is on the way to a wedding ceremony and begins to narrate a story. The wedding-guest's reaction turns from bemusement to impatience to fear to fascination as the mariner's story progresses, as can be seen in the language style: Coleridge uses narrative techniques such as personification and repetition to create a sense of danger, the supernatural, or serenity, depending on the mood in different parts of the poem.

Inspiration for the Poem

The poem may have been inspired by James Cook's second voyage of exploration (1772–1775) of the South Seas and the Pacific Ocean; Coleridge's tutor, William Wales, was the astronomer on Cook's flagship and had a strong relationship with Cook. On this second voyage Cook crossed three times into the Antarctic Circle to determine whether the fabled great southern continent existed. Critics have also suggested that the poem may have been inspired by the voyage of Thomas James into the Arctic. "Some critics think that Coleridge drew upon James's account of hardship and lamentation in writing The Rime of the Ancient Mariner."

According to William Wordsworth, the poem was inspired while Coleridge, Wordsworth, and Wordsworth's sister Dorothy were on a walking tour through the Quantock Hills in Somerset. The discussion had turned to a book that Wordsworth was reading, A Voyage Round The World by Way of the Great South Sea (1726) by Captain George Shelvocke. In the book, a melancholy sailor, Simon Hatley, shoots a black albatross:

We all observed, that we had not the sight of one fish of any kind, since we were come to the Southward of the streights of le Mair, nor one sea-bird, except a disconsolate black Albatross, who accompanied us for several days ... till Hattley, (my second Captain) observing, in one of his melancholy fits, that this bird was always hovering near us, imagin'd, from his colour, that it might be some ill omen ... He, after some fruitless attempts, at length, shot the Albatross, not doubting we should have a fair wind after it.

As they discussed Shelvocke's book, Wordsworth proffers the following developmental critique to Coleridge, which importantly contains a reference to tutelary spirits: "Suppose you represent him as having killed one of these birds on entering the south sea, and the tutelary spirits of these regions take upon them to avenge the crime." By the time the trio finished their walk, the poem had taken shape.

Bernard Martin argues in The Ancient Mariner and the Authentic Narrative that Coleridge was also influenced by the life of Anglican clergyman John Newton, who had a near-death experience aboard a slave ship.

The poem may also have been inspired by the legends of the Wandering Jew, who was forced to wander the earth until Judgement Day for taunting Jesus on the day of the Crucifixion, and of the Flying Dutchman.

It is claimed that the harbour at Watchet in Somerset was the primary inspiration for the poem, although some time before, John Cruikshank, a local acquaintance of Coleridge’s, had related a dream about a skeleton ship manned by spectral sailors. In September 2003, a commemorative statue, by Alan B Herriot of Penicuik, Scotland, was unveiled at Watchet harbour.

Coleridge’s Comments

In Biographia Literaria, Coleridge wrote:

The thought suggested itself (to which of us I do not recollect) that a series of poems might be composed of two sorts. In the one, incidents and agents were to be, in part at least, supernatural, and the excellence aimed at was to consist in the interesting of the affections by the dramatic truth of such emotions, as would naturally accompany such situations, supposing them real. And real in this sense they have been to every human being who, from whatever source of delusion, has at any time believed himself under supernatural agency. For the second class, subjects were to be chosen from ordinary life...In this idea originated the plan of the 'Lyrical Ballads'; in which it was agreed, that my endeavours should be directed to persons and characters supernatural, or at least Romantic; yet so as to transfer from our inward nature a human interest and a semblance of truth sufficient to procure for these shadows of imagination that willing suspension of disbelief for the moment, which constitutes poetic faith. ... With this view I wrote the 'Ancient Mariner'.

In Table Talk, Coleridge wrote:

Mrs Barbauld once told me that she admired The Ancient Mariner very much, but that there were two faults in it -- it was improbable, and had no moral. As for the probability, I owned that that might admit some question; but as to the want of a moral, I told her that in my own judgement the poem had too much; and that the only, or chief fault, if I might say so, was the obtrusion of the moral sentiment so openly on the reader as a principle or cause of action in a work of such pure imagination. It ought to have had no more moral than the Arabian Nights' tale of the merchant's sitting down to eat dates by the side of a well, and throwing the shells aside, and lo! a genie starts up, and says he must kill the aforesaid merchant, because one of the date shells had, it seems, put out the eye of the genie's son.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Rime_of_the_Ancient_Mariner

Note by the Blog Author

Don’t miss the unforgettable illustrations that were etched for this poem by Gustave Dore.

The Complexity of Solar Energy

Most of our sun’s energy does not come from the release of energy that occurs when hydrogen fuses to create helium.  That’s part of the story but it doesn’t produce most of the solar energy released.  Other reactions produce most of the sun’s energy.  Ethan Siegel explains this quirky series of high temperature chemical transactions in a recent Forbes opinion piece at:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/startswithabang/2017/09/05/the-suns-energy-doesnt-come-from-fusing-hydrogen-into-helium-mostly/#39bb4fee70f9

Entomophagy: Eating Insects

Entomophagy is the human use of insects as food. The eggs, larvae, pupae, and adults of certain insects have been eaten by humans from prehistoric times to the present day.

Human insect-eating is common to cultures in most parts of the world, including North, Central, and South America; and Africa, Asia, Australia, and New Zealand. Over 1,000 species of insects are known to be eaten in 80% of the world's nations. The total number of ethnic groups recorded to practice entomophagy is around 3,000. However, in some societies insect-eating is uncommon or even taboo. Today insect eating is rare in the developed world, but insects remain a popular food in many regions of Latin America, Africa, Asia, and Oceania. Some companies are trying to introduce insects into Western diets. FAO has registered some 1900 edible insect species and estimates there were in 2005 some 2 billion insect consumers worldwide. They also suggest entomophagy should be considered as a solution to environmental pollution.

Definition of Entomophagy

Entomophagy is sometimes defined broadly to cover the eating of arthropods other than insects, including arachnids and myriapods. Insects and arachnids eaten around the world include crickets, cicadas, grasshoppers, ants, various beetle grubs (such as mealworms), the larvae of the darkling beetle or rhinoceros beetle, various species of caterpillar (such as bamboo worms, mopani worms, silkworms and waxworms), scorpions and tarantulas. There are over 1,900 known species of arthropods that are edible to humans.

Recent assessments of the potential of large-scale entomophagy have led some experts to suggest entomophagy as a potential alternative protein source to animal livestock, citing possible benefits including greater efficiency, lower resource use, increased food security, and environmental and economic sustainability.

History

Before humans had tools to hunt or farm, insects may have represented an important part of their diet. Evidence has been found analyzing coprolites from caves in the US and Mexico. Coprolites in caves in the Ozark Mountains were found to contain ants, beetle larvae, lice, ticks, and mites. Evidence suggests that evolutionary precursors of Homo sapiens were also entomophagous. Insectivory also features to various degrees amongst extant primates, such as marmosets and tamarins, and some researchers suggest that the earliest primates were nocturnal, arboreal insectivores. Similarly, most extant apes are insectivorous to some degree.

Cave paintings in Altamira, north Spain, dated from about 30,000 to 9,000 BC, depict the collection of edible insects and wild bee nests, suggesting a possibly entomophagous society. Cocoons of wild silkworm (Theophilia religiosae) were found in ruins in the Shanxi province of China, from 2,000 to 2,500 years BC. The cocoons were discovered with large holes, suggesting the pupae were eaten. Many ancient entomophagy practices have changed little over time compared with other agricultural practices, leading to the development of modern traditional entomophagy

Western Culture

Eating insects has not been adopted in the West, despite attempts to introduce insect based food in Western markets. The most likely early adopters of insects as a meat substitute in Western societies have been profiled as younger males with a weak attachment to meat, who are open to trying novel foods and interested in the environmental impact of their food choice.

Market introduction of insects foods is usually done by small companies, often startups. A few companies have introduced products made using insects, whole or processed into food products. Whole insects as snacks (Jimini's in France) or as novelties (HotLix lollipops in the US) are examples.

In France, the first online shop for edible insects and products with edible insects came online in 2009. They have been offered edible insects from Thailand, Africa and Europe especially as appetizer, a ready-to-cook range but also home made candies and gluten-free protein bars with bugs. In 2011, Micronutris created the first French farm to raise insects. They grow mealworms and crickets in the South of France at Toulouse and craft fine products with them. In 2013, edible insects ready to cook are back with the first recipe book in France, Délicieux ! 60 recettes à base d'insectes. The first North American edible insect online marketplace opened in 2015; and distributes products from entomophagy companies from the US, Mexico, Europe and Thailand.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entomophagy

Basic Facts About Chocolate

Chocolate  is a typically sweet, usually brown food preparation of Theobroma cacao seeds, roasted and ground. It is made in the form of a liquid, paste, or in a block, or used as a flavoring ingredient in other foods. Cacao has been cultivated by many cultures for at least three millennia in Mesoamerica. The earliest evidence of use traces to the Mokaya (Mexico and Guatemala), with evidence of chocolate beverages dating back to 1900 BCE. In fact, the majority of Mesoamerican people made chocolate beverages, including the Maya and Aztecs, who made it into a beverage known as xocolātl, a Nahuatl word meaning "bitter water". The seeds of the cacao tree have an intense bitter taste and must be fermented to develop the flavor.

                                                         Dark, Milk and White Chocolate

After fermentation, the beans are dried, cleaned, and roasted. The shell is removed to produce cacao nibs, which are then ground to cocoa mass, unadulterated chocolate in rough form. Once the cocoa mass is liquefied by heating, it is called chocolate liquor. The liquor also may be cooled and processed into its two components: cocoa solids and cocoa butter. Baking chocolate, also called bitter chocolate, contains cocoa solids and cocoa butter in varying proportions, without any added sugars. Much of the chocolate consumed today is in the form of sweet chocolate, a combination of cocoa solids, cocoa butter or added vegetable oils, and sugar. Milk chocolate is sweet chocolate that additionally contains milk powder or condensed milk. White chocolate contains cocoa butter, sugar, and milk, but no cocoa solids.

Cocoa solids are a source of flavonoids and alkaloids, such as theobromine, phenethylamine and caffeine. Chocolate also contains anandamide.

Chocolate has become one of the most popular food types and flavors in the world, and a vast number of foodstuffs involving chocolate have been created, particularly desserts including cakes, pudding, mousse, chocolate brownies, and chocolate chip cookies. Many candies are filled with or coated with sweetened chocolate, and bars of solid chocolate and candy bars coated in chocolate are eaten as snacks. Gifts of chocolate molded into different shapes (e.g., eggs, hearts) have become traditional on certain Western holidays, such as Easter and Valentine's Day. Chocolate is also used in cold and hot beverages such as chocolate milk and hot chocolate and in some alcoholic drinks, such as creme de cacao.

Although cocoa originated in the Americas, recent years have seen African nations assuming a leading role in producing cocoa. Since the 2000s, Western Africa produces almost two-thirds of the world's cocoa, with Ivory Coast growing almost half of that amount.

Effects on Health

Chocolate may be a factor for heartburn in some people because one of its constituents, theobromine, may affect the esophageal sphincter muscle, hence permitting stomach acidic contents to enter into the esophagus. Theobromine is also toxic to some animals unable to metabolize it (see theobromine poisoning).

Excessive consumption of large quantities of any energy-rich food, such as chocolate, without a corresponding increase in activity to expend the associated calories, can increase the risk of weight gain and possibly obesity. Raw chocolate is high in cocoa butter, a fat which is removed during chocolate refining, then added back in varying proportions during the manufacturing process. Manufacturers may add other fats, sugars, and milk as well, all of which increase the caloric content of chocolate.

Chocolate and cocoa contain moderate to high amounts of oxalate, which may increase risk for kidney stones. During cultivation and production, chocolate may absorb lead from the environment, but the total amounts typically eaten are less than the tolerable daily limit for lead consumption, according to a World Health Organization report from 2010. However, reports from 2014 indicate that "chocolate might be a significant source" of lead ingestion for children if consumption is high and "one 10 g cube of dark chocolate may contain as much as 20% of the daily lead oral limit."

A few studies have documented allergic reactions from chocolate in children.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chocolate

A Tanker Saved Malta

The SS Ohio was an oil tanker built for the Texas Oil Company (now Texaco). The ship was launched on 20 April 1940 at the Sun Shipbuilding & Drydock Co. in Chester, Pennsylvania. She was requisitioned by the Allied forces to re-supply the island fortress of Malta during the Second World War.

                                            SS Ohio enters Grand Harbour, Malta, lashed
                                                  between two destroyers and a tugboat

The tanker played a fundamental role in Operation Pedestal, which was one of the fiercest and most heavily contested of the Malta convoys, in August 1942. Although Ohio reached Malta successfully, she was so badly damaged that she had to be effectively scuttled in order to offload her cargo, and never sailed again. The tanker is fondly remembered in Malta, where to this day she is considered to be the savior of the beleaguered island.

In 1942, Britain was waging war in the Mediterranean against the German Afrika Korps and Italian forces in North Africa. Crucial to this theatre of operations was the island of Malta, sitting in the middle of Axis supply lines and, if supplied with sufficient munitions, aircraft and fuel, capable of causing severe shortages to the German and Italian armies in North Africa. Munitions and aircraft were available—during a brief lull in the Axis attacks, for example, the island's defenses were reinforced by thirty eight Spitfire Mk V aircraft flown in from HMS Furious—but these, along with food and fuel, remained in critically short supply. Successive attempts at resupplying the island had mostly failed; the convoys "Harpoon" (from Gibraltar) and "Vigorous" (from Alexandria, Egypt) saw most of their merchantmen sunk and escort ships damaged. One of the ships lost during "Harpoon" was Ohio's sister ship SS Kentucky, crippled by a German air attack and then scuttled, having her stern blown in by a depth charge dropped by HMS Rye.

On 18 June, following the failures of "Harpoon" and "Vigorous", the Commander in Chief of the Mediterranean Fleet cabled the British Prime Minister Winston Churchill to express his doubts about attempting another convoy. Three days later, Ohio steamed into the mouth of the Clyde, under the command of Sverre Petersen, a former Master in Sail from Oslo, in Norway. In early May 1942, a radio message had reached Captain Petersen which diverted the ship to Galveston in Texas, and then ordered the tanker to proceed to Britain. Before leaving, Ohio was fitted with one 5-inch (130 mm) gun on her stern, and a 3-inch (76 mm) AA gun in the bows. She then moved to Sinclair Terminal, Houston in Texas, where the ship loaded a full cargo of 103,576 barrels (16,467.3 m³) of petrol (gasoline), finally sailing on 25 May. Ohio discharged her cargo at Bowling-on-the-Clyde, then steamed out into the tideway and anchored, awaiting orders.

Here, the captain received a letter from Lord Leathers, the head of the British Ministry of War Transport, bidding the master a personal welcome and "...your safe arrival in the Clyde with the first cargo of oil carried in a United States tanker." However, the euphoria that such a message brought to the crew soon turned into resentment and anger. A telegram was received the same day by the head office of Texaco, from the War Shipping Administration, announcing simply that Ohio was being requisitioned "pursuant to the law". The immediate reaction was a cabled message from Mr. T. E. Buchanan, General Manager of Texaco's Marine Department to the firm's London agent, that on no account was Ohio to leave her discharging port of Bowling-on-the-Clyde. A period of indecision, meetings and debates between the highest American authorities and their British counterparts soon ensued. The master was told that further orders would arrive soon afterwards. The decision was finally taken two weeks later, when a launch sped out to the ship anchored in the Clyde and Texaco's London agent, accompanied by an official of the British Ministry of War Shipping came over the side. They met the Captain, who was informed that the ship was to be confiscated and handed over to a British crew. The American crew and the captain were exasperated by the seemingly outrageous order, but had no other option but to give in, and started to pack their kit whilst British seamen began to take the ship over.

On 10 July, Captain Petersen handed over the ship. There was no formal ceremony, and little goodwill. The American flag was taken down, and Ohio henceforward sailed under the "Red Duster". Overnight, she was transferred from American to British registry. For convenience in management, the tanker was handed over on 25 July to the Eagle Oil and Shipping Company, which was warned of the importance of the impending convoy and that "...much might depend on the quality and courage of the crew.”

Attacks and Damage

The convoy entered Gibraltar in heavy fog on 10 August. A day later, four torpedoes from the German submarine U-73 sank the aircraft-carrier HMS Eagle, killing 260 men, and losing all but four planes. On this day, German bombers attacked the convoy. On 12 August twenty Junkers 88s attacked the convoy, while a further combined strike by 100 German and Italian Regia Aeronautica planes attacked the merchantmen. It was during the ensuing mayhem that the tanker was torpedoed by the Italian submarine Axum and caught fire. The Ohio was hit amidships, where a huge pillar of flame leapt high into the air. Ohio seemed to be out of control. Captain Mason ordered the engines to be shut down, with all deckhands available fighting the fire with the deck waterlines. Lighted kerosene bubbled up from the fractured tanks, while little gouts of flame spattered the deck to a distance of thirty yards from the blaze. Fortunately, the flames were put out and the tanker managed thirteen knots after being repaired. The blast destroyed the ship's gyrocompass and knocked the magnetic compass off its bearings, while the steering gear was put out of action, forcing the crew to steer with the emergency gear from aft.

A hole, 24 feet by 27 feet, had been torn in the port side of the midships pump-room. The explosion had also blown another hole in the starboard side, flooding the compartment. There were jagged tears in the bulkheads and kerosene was spurting up from adjoining tanks, seeping in a film up through the holes in the hull. The deck had been broken open, so that one could look down into the ship. From beam to beam the deck was buckled, but the ship held together. Another sixty Junkers 87 Stuka dive bombers attacked the convoy, focusing on Ohio. A series of near misses ensued as the tanker approached the island of Pantelleria. Bombs threw spray over the decks of the tanker, while aircraft used their machine guns. One near-miss buckled the ship's plates and the forward tank filled with water. The 3-inch (76 mm) gun at the bows was twisted in its mountings and put out of action. A formation of five Junkers 88s was broken up by the tanker's anti aircraft guns, with the bombs falling harmlessly into the sea. Another plane, this time a Junkers 87, was shot down by an Ohio gunner; however, the aircraft crashed into Ohio's starboard side, forward of the upper bridge, and exploded. Half a wing hit the upper work of the bridge and a rain of debris showered the tanker from stem to stern. The plane's bomb fortunately failed to detonate. Captain Mason was telephoned from aft by the chief officer, who told Mason that the Junkers 87 had crashed into the sea and then bounced onto the ship. Mason 'rather curtly' replied: "Oh that's nothing. We've had a Junkers 88 on the foredeck for nearly half an hour.”

As the ship turned slowly to comb torpedoes, two sticks of bombs fell on either side of the tanker. The vessel lifted, and went on lifting until she was clean out of the water. Cascades of spray and bomb splinters lashed the deck, she fell back with a crash. Ohio had differential gearing which slowed the propeller automatically; on other ships, the same effect would have shaken the engines out of their rooms. Continuously bombed, the tanker kept on steaming until another explosion to starboard sent her reeling to port. The engine-room lights went out, plunging her into darkness. The master switches had been thrown off by the force of the explosion, but they were quickly switched on again by an electrician. This time, the ship had not escaped damage. The boiler fires were blown out, and it was a race against time to restore them before the steam pressure dropped too low to work the fuel pumps. The engineers lit the fire starter torches to restart the furnaces.

The complicated routine of restarting went forward smoothly and within twenty minutes Ohio was steaming at sixteen knots again. Then another salvo of bombs hit the ship, shaking every plate, and once more the engines slowed and stopped. The electric fuel pumps had been broken by the concussion. While the crew desperately tried to reconnect the electrical wires and restart the engines via the auxiliary steam system, the engine-room was filled with black smoke until the engines were properly re-lit. The ship was making alternate black and white smoke and, with oil in the water pipes and a loss of vacuum in the condenser, Ohio started to lose way slowly, coming to a stop at 10.50 am. The crew abandoned ship, boarding HMS Penn that had come to Ohio's aid alongside another destroyer, HMS Ledbury. The latter ship was soon to leave the stricken tanker after being ordered to go in search of the cruiser HMS Manchester, which had been crippled by Italian motor torpedo boats.

Under Tow

Penn 's commanding officer, Commander J.H. Swain RN, offered Captain Mason a tow with a heavy 10-inch manila hemp rope. With the tow line in place, Penn moved ahead, straining its engines to the limit; Ohio continued to list to port. The two ships were not making any progress, even drifting backwards due to the easterly wind. Now both ships were sitting ducks, and as another serious attack developed, the destroyer went to full speed to part the tow. A German bomber dived on the tanker and was shot down by Ohio 's gunners, but just before its demise, the aircraft's crew released its cargo. A bomb hit the tanker just where the initial torpedo had hit her, effectively breaking her back, just as night was setting in. The ship was abandoned for the night. The day after, Penn was joined by the minesweeper HMS Rye. The two ships towed the tanker and succeeded in making up to five knots, overcoming the tendency to swing to port. Another attack blasted the group of ships, snapping the tow lines and immobilising Ohio's rudder. Another bomb hit the fore end of the front deck, forcing the engineers out of the engine room. Once more, Mason gave the order to abandon ship, as two more air attacks narrowly missed the tanker. A superficial examination showed that the rent that had developed in the amidships section had widened and that the ship had indeed almost certainly broken her back.

The two ships around the tanker were joined by HMS Bramham and by Ledbury (the latter returning from her search for Manchester). Meanwhile, Rye had again begun to tow Ohio with the newly arrived Ledbury acting as a stern tug. With less pull from Ledbury, a fair speed was maintained, but steering proved impossible. A stabilising factor was needed, thus Commander Swain edged Penn to the starboard side of Ohio. Rye, joined by Bramham, slowly got under way once more, with Ledbury acting as a rudder. Another Axis air attack began just as the group of ships was moving at six knots. At 10.45 AM the first wave of dive-bombers came low over the water. Only one oil bomb landed close to Ohio's bow, showering her with burning liquid. Then came three more echelons of German planes. This time, close air support from Malta was available. Sixteen Spitfires, of 249 and 229 Squadrons from Malta, had sighted the enemy. The first enemy formation wavered and broke. The second formation also broke, but one section of Junkers 88s succeeded in breaking free, making for the tanker. These were swiftly followed by the Spitfires. Three of the German planes were shot down or manoeuvred to evade the Spitfires; nonetheless one bomber held its course, and a 1,000-pound bomb landed in the tanker's wake. Ohio was flung forward, parting Ryes tow, buckling the stern plates of the tanker and forming a great hole.

Arrival in Malta

Ohio was sinking not much more than 45 miles west of Malta. Under the protection of the Spitfires, the danger of enemy attacks receded. After the tow line was parted, Ledbury was still secured to Ohio by a heavy wire which had been pulled round by the heavily yawing tanker, and had ended up alongside Penn, facing the wrong way. After a quick analysis of the possibilities, it was decided to tow the tanker with a destroyer on either side of the tanker. Bramham was immediately ordered to make for port, while Penn remained coupled to the starboard side. The speed was increased but kept to five knots, Ohio's deck was awash amidships. Now under the protection of the coastal batteries of Malta, the group of ships were slowly moving around the island, approaching Grand Harbour. The coastal batteries fired on a creeping U-Boat's conning tower, and scared off a group of E-Boats. Slowly, the group approached the tricky harbour entrance, near Zonqor Point. Here the group dispersed before a British-laid minefield. At 6.00am, with Ohio still hovering on the edge of the minefield, the situation was eased by the arrival of the Malta tugs. With destroyers still linked on either side of the tanker, these sturdy ships made fast ahead and astern and the tanker was soon proceeding up the channel to the Grand Harbour entrance. There, a fabulous welcome awaited them. On the ramparts above the wreck strewn harbour, on the Barracca, St Angelo and Senglea, great crowds of Maltese men and women waved and cheered and a brass band on the end of the mole was giving a spirited rendition of Rule Britannia. Captain Mason, however, standing at the salute on the battered bridge of Ohio, could spare not a moment's thought for the pride of bringing the ship to harbour, since the creaking plates showed that Ohio might still go to the bottom of the Grand Harbour.

Pipes were now hauled aboard and emergency salvage pumps began to discharge the kerosene. At the same time, a fleet auxiliary, RFA Boxol, began to pump the 10,000 tons of fuel oil into her own tanks. As the oil flowed out, Ohio sank lower and lower in the water. The last drops of oil left her and simultaneously her keel settled on the bottom. Her captain, Dudley William Mason, was subsequently awarded the George Cross.

Aftermath

After Ohio reached Malta, the ship broke in two from the damage she had sustained. There were insufficient shipyard facilities to repair the tanker, so the two halves were used for storage, and later barracks facilities for Yugoslavian troops.

On 19 September 1946 the two halves of Ohio were towed ten miles offshore and scuttled by gunfire from a destroyer.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Ohio

 

 

Trans-Pacific Airborne Dust

Pinpointing the Sources of Trans-Pacific Dust

The Geological Society of America -- Boulder, Colo., USA: Airborne dust from Asia travels across the Pacific passport-free, carrying pollution, building soil, and coloring sunsets thousands of miles from its source. Identifying that source is important for understanding atmospheric circulation, contaminant pathways, and climate. But collecting enough airborne dust to pinpoint its source is challenging. Now, a team of researchers has developed a way to match microscopic quartz grains to the desert they blew in from.

The team, led by Kana Nagashima of the Japan Research and Development Center for Global Change, used cathodeluminescence (CL) spectral analysis of tiny quartz grains to distinguish between two major Chinese dust sources: the Gobi and the Taklimakan Deserts. "The cathodoluminescence spectra of single quartz grains provide crystal-chemical features in quartz, such as impurities and imperfections," explains Nagashima. Those features, she says, vary with the conditions of quartz formation and later geological events such as metamorphism.

Compared to the Taklimakan desert, source rocks of the Gobi desert include a high percent of volcanic rock. To determine if that and other differences in source rocks are reflected in dust, Nagashima and colleagues analyzed 268 quartz grains from the Gobi and 311 grains from the Taklimakan. The grains, collected from loess, riverbeds, and sand dunes, ranged in size from 5 to 16 micrometers. That matches the clay to silt size typically blown across the Pacific Ocean.

The results: statistically robust clustering of crystal-chemical characteristics that matched the percent of different rock types from each desert. This suggests a way that very small samples (a few tens of microscopic grains) can reveal big information about the pathways and effects of long-distance airborne dust.

http://www.geosociety.org/GSA/News/Releases/GSA/News/pr/2017/17-41.aspx