Only 2 Kindle subscribers - I appreciate you guys very much but I no longer have the time to blog for just two people.
This blog will be removed from the Kindle tomorrow.
Monday, January 16, 2012
Friday, January 13, 2012
The voyage to building North America’s first concrete ship in Montreal in 1917
From the Daily Commercial News: The voyage to building North America’s first concrete ship in Montreal in 1917
North America’s first self-powered vessel made of concrete sailed through waters in the early 1900s.
In his book Captains of Concrete, Ottawa author Sonny Moran takes readers through memorable moments of the Canadian Government Ship (CGS) Concretia’s experiences as a government marine and fisheries ship and then refit as a recreational vessel.
“I believe the Concretia marked an important part of Canadian history because it demonstrated Canada’s innovative capacity during a time of world war,” explained Moran, whose great-uncle served as captain of the vessel.
“The Concretia was an example of the Government of Canada successfully partnering with the research community, in this case McGill University, and a private sector construction company to break new ground in shipbuilding design and durability in North America.”
Concrete ships had been built for use in Europe, but Canada was the first country to bring this form of shipbuilding to North America. The United States soon followed by building a fleet of concrete merchant marine vessels during WWI.
Concretia was completed in 1917 in Montreal. It was built out of concrete, technically known as ferrocement, as a World War One experimental vessel due to a shortage of wood and steel in Canada. The vessel passed all of its sea trials in 1917 and its existence was officially announced in 1918.
The hull was 18 inches thick on the sides and 24 inches thick at the keel. It was 132 feet long and typically employed a crew of 14.
“Many readers of my book have expressed surprise to me when they learned concrete can float,” said Moran.
Moran described the vessel as a “huge success” as it served as a Department of Marine and Fisheries lighthouse and navigation buoy maintenance ship from 1920 to 1931. It maintained the lighthouses and navigation buoys critical to ensure safe shipping lanes through the Thousands Islands Region in the St. Lawrence River and into Lake Ontario. The CGS Concretia was stationed in Prescott, Ont., which is now the location of a Canadian Coast Guard Base.
When it was refit in the late 1970s/early 1980s and renamed the Onaygorah, it was believed to be the largest Canadian pleasure craft registered with Transport Canada, said Moran.
In today’s pleasure craft industry, there are more than 500 boats registered with Transport Canada as having concrete construction, said Moran.
“When steel and wood became plentiful again after the conclusion of World War One the shipbuilding industry did not continue to use ferrocement for use in the construction of commercial merchant ships,” he explained.
“Their heavy hulls became too expensive to operate because they needed too much fuel to push them through the water. As well, concrete merchant vessels have little or no salvage value.”
Moran said writing the book gave him a better understanding of the concrete shipbuilding sector in North America and Europe, “and Canada’s significant role in the industry, that I never knew existed.”
His book has drawn international interest from libraries and maritime museums.
For more information, visit http://captainsofconcrete.web.officelive.com/
North America’s first self-powered vessel made of concrete sailed through waters in the early 1900s.
In his book Captains of Concrete, Ottawa author Sonny Moran takes readers through memorable moments of the Canadian Government Ship (CGS) Concretia’s experiences as a government marine and fisheries ship and then refit as a recreational vessel.
“I believe the Concretia marked an important part of Canadian history because it demonstrated Canada’s innovative capacity during a time of world war,” explained Moran, whose great-uncle served as captain of the vessel.
“The Concretia was an example of the Government of Canada successfully partnering with the research community, in this case McGill University, and a private sector construction company to break new ground in shipbuilding design and durability in North America.”
Concrete ships had been built for use in Europe, but Canada was the first country to bring this form of shipbuilding to North America. The United States soon followed by building a fleet of concrete merchant marine vessels during WWI.
Concretia was completed in 1917 in Montreal. It was built out of concrete, technically known as ferrocement, as a World War One experimental vessel due to a shortage of wood and steel in Canada. The vessel passed all of its sea trials in 1917 and its existence was officially announced in 1918.
The hull was 18 inches thick on the sides and 24 inches thick at the keel. It was 132 feet long and typically employed a crew of 14.
“Many readers of my book have expressed surprise to me when they learned concrete can float,” said Moran.
Moran described the vessel as a “huge success” as it served as a Department of Marine and Fisheries lighthouse and navigation buoy maintenance ship from 1920 to 1931. It maintained the lighthouses and navigation buoys critical to ensure safe shipping lanes through the Thousands Islands Region in the St. Lawrence River and into Lake Ontario. The CGS Concretia was stationed in Prescott, Ont., which is now the location of a Canadian Coast Guard Base.
When it was refit in the late 1970s/early 1980s and renamed the Onaygorah, it was believed to be the largest Canadian pleasure craft registered with Transport Canada, said Moran.
In today’s pleasure craft industry, there are more than 500 boats registered with Transport Canada as having concrete construction, said Moran.
“When steel and wood became plentiful again after the conclusion of World War One the shipbuilding industry did not continue to use ferrocement for use in the construction of commercial merchant ships,” he explained.
“Their heavy hulls became too expensive to operate because they needed too much fuel to push them through the water. As well, concrete merchant vessels have little or no salvage value.”
Moran said writing the book gave him a better understanding of the concrete shipbuilding sector in North America and Europe, “and Canada’s significant role in the industry, that I never knew existed.”
His book has drawn international interest from libraries and maritime museums.
For more information, visit http://captainsofconcrete.web.officelive.com/
Thursday, January 12, 2012
World War I Dog Tag Returned To Chase County
From Kake.com: World War I Dog Tag Returned To Chase County
Thanks to the work of a couple of French citizens searching for World War I artifacts, a Kanas family is now in possession of a loved one's World War I dog tag.
Ninety-four years after it was lost in the trenches of France, the dog tag has been returned to Cottonwood Falls in Chase County.
From the trenches of France to the Flint Hills of Kansas comes the dog tag of a Cottonwood Falls soldier who lost it in World War I.
Kent Potter, a Chase County farm boy, joined the army in 1917 to fight in World War I. He went to france and was a mule cart driver, hauling war supplies. World War I was known for its extreme carnage, up-close fighting in trenches and for chemical warfare with mustard gas, which could have contributed to Private Potter getting separated from his dog tag.
"As a soldier, it's your only identification, basically," said Col. (Ret.) Charles Rayl. "It's called dog tags."
But Potter returned from the war to Kanas without his dog tag, got married and raised a family in Butler County. His 75-year-old son Dale Potter of El Dorado never heard his dad talk much about the war or his missing dog tag.
"We didn't even know it was lost," Dale said.
But recently, two French men, Michael Toussaint and Jean Claude Fonderflick found the tag and got it returned to the U.S. There's an old Cavalry saying that a good soldier takes care of his horse or mule before he takes care of himself.
"We think there's a possibility he put the has mask on the mule before he put it on himself," Potter said.
And it's believed he lost the tag during a mustard gas attack. It's not certain that's the case. Dale Potter is just happy to receive the dog tag after all these years.
"But I hope that this dog tag will remind each of us and the items in this museum and other museums of the sacrifice so many gave over the many years," he said.
For now, the tag is on loan to the Chase County Historical Museum to be on display. Dale Potter's thanks goes out ot those French men for their efforts to get it returned.
Dale vows that the dog tag will not get lost again and plans on keeping it as a family heirloom.
Thanks to the work of a couple of French citizens searching for World War I artifacts, a Kanas family is now in possession of a loved one's World War I dog tag.
Ninety-four years after it was lost in the trenches of France, the dog tag has been returned to Cottonwood Falls in Chase County.
From the trenches of France to the Flint Hills of Kansas comes the dog tag of a Cottonwood Falls soldier who lost it in World War I.
Kent Potter, a Chase County farm boy, joined the army in 1917 to fight in World War I. He went to france and was a mule cart driver, hauling war supplies. World War I was known for its extreme carnage, up-close fighting in trenches and for chemical warfare with mustard gas, which could have contributed to Private Potter getting separated from his dog tag.
"As a soldier, it's your only identification, basically," said Col. (Ret.) Charles Rayl. "It's called dog tags."
But Potter returned from the war to Kanas without his dog tag, got married and raised a family in Butler County. His 75-year-old son Dale Potter of El Dorado never heard his dad talk much about the war or his missing dog tag.
"We didn't even know it was lost," Dale said.
But recently, two French men, Michael Toussaint and Jean Claude Fonderflick found the tag and got it returned to the U.S. There's an old Cavalry saying that a good soldier takes care of his horse or mule before he takes care of himself.
"We think there's a possibility he put the has mask on the mule before he put it on himself," Potter said.
And it's believed he lost the tag during a mustard gas attack. It's not certain that's the case. Dale Potter is just happy to receive the dog tag after all these years.
"But I hope that this dog tag will remind each of us and the items in this museum and other museums of the sacrifice so many gave over the many years," he said.
For now, the tag is on loan to the Chase County Historical Museum to be on display. Dale Potter's thanks goes out ot those French men for their efforts to get it returned.
Dale vows that the dog tag will not get lost again and plans on keeping it as a family heirloom.
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
Kevin Myers: Executions of 1916 still form toxic staple of brainwashing that passes for education in schools
An opinion piece From Independent IE: Kevin Myers: Executions of 1916 still form toxic staple of brainwashing that passes for education in schools
Some Dublin friends had builders in last May, for a job to be completed in July. So, of course, they spent the third week of December desperately trying to get the builders to finish by Christmas. And the really serious problem with this story is the effortless ease with which Irish readers know it is possible. Moreover, Irish builders -- not being parachuted down from Mars -- are probably a fair representation of the standards in much of Irish life.
Lying to ourselves is like concealing tumours from a doctor, yet it is what we repeatedly do. This year we begin a decade of anniversaries of largely calamitous events, the choicest of which will be officially suffused with a roseate glow of approval. But if you canonise historical tragedy, you should not be surprised if others then seek sainthood by repeating the bloody blunders of the past.
All of Europe has reason to remember the catastrophic events of a century ago; but only in Ireland will they be commemorated with pride. In part, this is because people have been lied to by their school textbooks, and their political masters.
Nationalists still do not know that Home Rule had been legally established in 1914. They do not know that there were no British regiments in Ireland in 1916, and that the 1916 Rising was directed solely at Irishmen, who for the most part didn't join the army to defend the UK, but to fight for Belgium and Home Rule.
They do not know that all the violence between 1916-l923 finally resulted in largely the kind of parliamentary democracy that Home Rule would have produced anyway: whatever the differences were, they were not worth a single life, never mind the thousands of dead and the economic ruination resulting from the abominable civil wars of 1916-23.
The executions of 1916 still form the toxic staple of the brainwashing that passes for education in our secondary schools. Were you taught about the other executions, of the 77 helpless anti-Treaty prisoners taken from their cells, and shot in batches, as a means of ending the Civil War? Were you taught about the thousands of protestants chased from their homes in the 26 counties between 1919-23?
Did you learn about how the IRA evicted around 100 children from the two protestant orphanages in Clifden in 1922, and burnt the buildings down, while the Royal Navy had to send in a warship to save the homeless waifs? Did you learn about the protestants abducted in Cork City, murdered and secretly buried in the farm of an IRA leader who was to be a Fianna Fail TD for over 40 years?
Yes, we all know about the Black and Tans, and the Auxiliaries. They are part of the educational staple, are they not? And no civilised person can today celebrate the burning of Cork or the Croke Park butchery. Yet just over a year ago, we had the minister for defence officially endorsing fancy-dress re-enactments of the ambushes in which Irish RIC-men were slain by Irishmen. This is barbaric.
No one else in Europe will actually be CELEBRATING the dreadful events of a century ago. That melancholy distinction falls to the Irish; so is it surprising that we are endlessly reliving different versions of the same story of bloody failure? Those annual gatherings at Bodenstown and Beal na mBlath and the GPO are nothing more than the semi-religious and wholly pagan sanctification of homicide.
And where do the builders come in this story? Why, because they are the living embodiment of the culture of moral imprecision that officially allows us to ignore the Ten Commandments of our choice. Some revere paramilitarism; or semi-states bosses who fiddle their expenses, and bank regulators on whose watch the State was destroyed, are allowed to retire early on full pension; or in the HSE, sick-leave = Monday hangovers.
Yes, I go on about this culture, and yes, I do so, ad nauseam. Why? Because it guarantees a return to failure, that familiar pit of sloth and dirges, where an addictive commemorationalism unfailingly provides the blueprint for Plan B.
Freed from the shackles of this perverse and dysfunctional domestic ethos, the Irish are probably the most successful ethnic group in the US. Yet 20th Century independent Ireland has historically been the least successful state in Western Europe. All other countries, including the North, increased their populations by 40pc between 1920 and 2000: ours, though boosted by an atypical decade of the Celtic Tiger, increased by just 20pc. But demographic growth up to 1980 was actually half that.
Revelling in bad history makes for a terrible future. And I can see it unfolding over the coming months; an orgy of self-pitying and ahistorical hubris over events of a century ago. Just about everywhere in Europe passed through a Golgotha between 1912 and 1923, and many countries experienced terrible civil wars. But only one country will actually, albeit selectively, rejoice in the deeds of that time: the one where even in an economic meltdown, builders promise to leave by July, and are still there in December.
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