This season, in an effort to be more sustainable and offset the gajillion holiday catalogs I have received in the mail (seriously Brookstone it’s getting ridiculous) I decided to go a different route.

Sacrificing a small stack of old Alert Diver mags, I wrapped this years gifts in an assortment of my favorite squishy creatures.

The post Have you been nautical or nice? Take your present wrapping game to the next level first appeared on Deep Sea News.

Living on the eastern seaboard of the US for many years, Dr. M. has no doubt enjoyed the cool, crisp cocktail regionally known as the Gulf Stream. It’s sort of a southern equivalent of the mimosa, which of course is a respectable excuse to begin drinking on a Sunday morning, and not stop until just before dinner. Delicious, yes, but not nearly strong enough to slake the thirst of our leader. With a few tweaks of the original recipe, here is the Atlantic Gyre:
2 oz. Brandy
2 oz. Dry White Rum (10 Cane, Angostura)
1/4 oz. Blue Curacao
6 oz. Lemonade
Champagne
Mix all the ingredients in a cocktail shaker, excluding the champagne; pour into a pint glass filled ¼ full of course crushed ice. Fill and top off with the champagne, garnish with a thin lime wedge & sprig of mint.

 Dr. M. is a complex man, having more facets than the Hope Diamond. Did you know he is not only obsessed by Southern home-made biscuits, but actually worked as a biscuit baker? To blend his love of biscuits with his love of the sea, here is a rich, smooth cocktail called the Sea Biscuit, after the creamy white, delicious echinoderm of the genus Clypeaster.

In a cocktail shaker add the following:
2 oz. Vanilla Schnapps
2 oz. Premium smooth white rum (Plantation Three-Star or Vizcaya Crystal White)
4 oz Horchata*
4 oz Full Cream Milk
Lightly shake the mix and pour into pint, adding ice to top off the drink, with a mild sprinkle of allspice on the top.
*you can substitute the pre-made product Rum Chata for the horchata & white rums

Other than biscuits, Dr. M’s has another obsession that wrestles him in his sleep and grips his thoughts in daytime. It is his White Whale, an archtypal beast of lore that he has been seeking but has yet to find. Being the largest of the large, the Colossal Squid doesn’t disappoint the imagination of what the deep-sea can conjure, nor the reality it’s based on. To Dr. M. and his beloved cephalopod, here is The Colossus:

2 oz. Pomegranite Liqueur
½ oz. Grenadine
2 oz. Dry White Rum (Brugal, Diplomatico, Matusalem)
1 oz. Gin
Juice of ½ lime
4 oz. club soda
Mix all ingredients together in a cocktail shaker with large ice cubes; shake and strain into a large glass. Add a dash of Cherry Bitters for the finish. Feel the cocktail’s tentacles work their way into your brain.

Some people think they are busy, but Dr. M. must drink more workahol that just about anybody I know. He coordinates with grant-writing teams, acts as a managing journal editor, trains his field crews, communicates with the press, writes scientific papers like a madman, and of course, simultaneously pens several different blogs, including Deep Sea News. As a twist to the old and well-haled drink of yore with the well-fitting name of The Wrangler, here is a version scaled-up to meet the needs of our boss. I call it The Commodore:

2 oz. Rye Whiskey
1 ½ oz. Dark Rum
5 oz. Orange Juice
5 oz. Ruby Grapefruit Juice
5 dashes of Angostura bitters
In a shaker put all of the ingredients except the ½ oz. of dark rum; pour into a pint glass and fill with cube ice to the top; add the remaining ½ oz. of Dark Rum as a float on top, garnish with a small sprig of fresh rosemary. Also fights scurvy.

Over the decade, Dr. M. has posted about his deep, somewhat disturbing, passion for Kraken Rum on the pages of Deep Sea News. Not only does this dusky rum shimmer with the darkness of the abyss, bear the piquant tang of the Spice Islands, and a inflicts a burn that would cause any buccaneer to reel, but their neo-Victorian steam punk meets Ernst Haeckel artwork is worthy of endless tattoos. Indeed, rum is often the fuel of creativity, and without the nourishing and enriching powers of rum drinks, Dr. M. wouldn’t be who he is today, so in honor of our leader, here is The Big Kahuna:

2 oz. Kraken Rum
2 oz. Macamadia Nut Liqueur
1 can sugar cane-based Cola soda
Fill a pint glass ½ full with cube ice, add the Kraken Rum and Macadamia Nut Liqueur, then fill the rest of the way with the cola, stirring lightly.

The post Five New Delicious (and Fittingly Strong) Cocktails in Honor of Dr. M. first appeared on Deep Sea News.

The post My Other Ride is the Belafonte first appeared on Deep Sea News.

Like seashells but are sick of social media?  Hate Facebook but need a hearty dose of marine invertebrates?  Want a bigger malacological meal rather than tiny tidbits of mollusk-based science? Do not worry, you can get all of the “Malacology Monday” posts from the Deep Sea News Facebook page right here on the official DSN website in a tidy & convenient monthly digest without submitting to The F-Book. Here’s what happened last month:

Malacology Monday starts big, really big.
Syrinx auranus, alternately the Australian Trumpet, the Golden Trumpet, and the False Trumpet is the world’s largest living shelled gastropod. This snail is rumored to reach lengths of up to a meter long, but research by members of Deep Sea News can only verify the largest as 72.2 cm (2.36 feet). This specimen from Indonesia is merely 58.2 cm, still nearly two feet in length. What does a snail this size eat? These carnivores tackle large polycheate worms that may grow over a meter in length.

Cloth of Gold, Cloth of…Murder!
In a 1972 episode of Hawaii Five-0, this species of marine snail was used as a murder weapon by a grieving father avenging the death of his daughter at the hands of seedy pornographers. While cone shells have a specialized harpoon & hypodermic needle-like apparatus to deliver toxins to kill their prey, most species are relatively harmless to humans. But some cone species, like the Cloth of Gold, or Textile Cone (Conus textile), can potentially deliver a fatally paralyzing dose of conotoxin to a person handling a live one. However, death can be quite slow, unlike the near-instantaneous demise depicted by those lowlife criminal scum. But not wanting to get nabbed by McGarrett, the mollusk-wielding murderer then turns the venomous gastropod on himself, and the scene fades, with his lifeless body sinking below the placid Oahu waters. Cue the 5-0 theme music…

Bulbous Bling
The Golden Cowrie (Lyncina aurantium) once adorned the kings of Melanesia, and were used as status symbols and units of trade. Their simple beauty and apparent rarity later made them highly sought by museums and private collectors alike, with the shells fetching hundreds of dollars each. It was their cryptic nature and inaccessibility that kept this species safe for a while. Once it was discovered that they were nocturnal, and inhabited the deeper outer reefs from 30-40 meters, they became targeted for the international shell trade. In in some areas, especially smaller islands in the Philippines, specialized Golden Cowrie divers collected them by the hundreds, driving their prices down yet causing local populations of Golden Cowries to plummet. Conservation and management plans are being considered in some areas of the southwest Pacific and Indian Ocean range, but so little is known about their biology that current management plans may not be effective.

Ceremonial Conch
The rather unremarkable looking shell below is actually quite remarkable in two ways. The incredibly thick shell of the Eastern Pacific Giant Conch (Lobatus galeatus) makes it one of the heaviest marine gastropods for its size. But this particular specimen had its spire cut off and made into a pututo, a ceremonial trumpet, and was found in a burial chamber of a lower class member of the Chimu culture of the north-central coast of Peru, about 1300 A.D. Higher-class people often had ornately-carved shells, sometimes with inlays of gems, as part of their burial offerings. The Giant Conch on the right from the Brooklyn Museum is from the older Chavin culture of Peru (about 300 BC) and shows a carving of a man blowing a conch as part of a ceremonial ritual.
All photos, unless otherwise noted, are by Douglas J. Long/Deep Sea News.

The post Malacology Monthly: Pilot Episode first appeared on Deep Sea News.

Historically speaking however, I am not alone in my need to strike up a work tune or two. Though the sailors of old weren’t breaking out J.T. on deck, shantey’s were not uncommon amongst ship crews.

Check out this great new video from Mystic Seaport on the history and purpose of one of our favorite musical melodies, the sea shanty (or chantey if you are Old English like that).

…and to get you through the Monday morning grind….here is one of the best shanty’s of all time. You’re welcome.

The post Bringin' Shanty Back first appeared on Deep Sea News.

Buccaneers, Charlatans, Marauders, and Swashbucklers. Throughout the centuries, our booty-hoarding friends have been branded by many rather dubious labels. Yet seldom does the average gangplank groupie stop to appreciate the secret identities of some of history’s most illustrious “privateers.”

Maintaining a blatant disregard for authority and indifference in adhering to traditional country borders, pirates were free to sail wherever and do whatever they darn well pleased. With the freedom to go where others could not, these men and women explored the world over, many of them documenting all they encountered. Some pirate accounts described maritime navigational patterns incorporating current, wind, and reef patch information so precisely that Royal Navy’s regarded them as convention for over a century. Others documented organisms that had never been seen before with detailed records on size, coloration, behavioral patterns, and most importantly, edibility.

Revered by scientists and seamen alike, pirates were essentially the original gangsters of natural history.

Perhaps the most notorious of these “citizen scientists” was a pirate by the name of William Dampier. Though, in good form and to avoid precarious situations with the authorities, he never formally referred to himself as a pirate, but rather a privateer and hydrographer of sorts. Regarding his many accomplishments, Dampier was the first to circumnavigate the globe three times, becoming one of the founders of the Australian continent in his explorations.  His journals explicitly described the flora and fauna spanning the Galapagos to India and all that laid between. These journals were later compiled in “A New Voyage Round the World” where one could follow Dampier’s adventures. The following excerpt recalls Dampier’s first interaction with a manatee, an educational and somewhat delicious experience.

“This creature is about the bigness of a horse, and 10 or 12 foot long. The mouth of it is much like the mouth of a cow, having great thick lips. The eyes are no bigger than a small pea; the ears are only two small holes on each side of the head. The neck is short and thick, bigger than the head. The biggest part of this creature is at the shoulders where it has two large fins, one on each side of its belly. Under each of these fins the female has a small dug to suckle her young. From the shoulders towards the tail it retains its bigness for about a foot, then grows smaller and smaller to the very tail, which is flat, and about 14 inches broad and 20 inches long, and in the middle 4 or 5 inches thick, but about the edges of it not above 2 inches thick. From the head to the tail it is round and smooth without any fin but those two before mentioned. I have heard that some have weighed above 1200 pounds, but I never saw any so large. The manatee delights to live in brackish water; and they are commonly in creeks and rivers near the sea. It is for this reason possibly they are not seen in the South Seas (that ever I could observe) where the coast is generally a bold shore, that is, high land and deep water close home by it, with a high sea or great surges, except in the Bay of Panama; yet even there is no manatee. Whereas the West Indies, being as it were one great bay composed of many smaller, are mostly low land and shoal water, and afford proper pasture (as I may say) for the manatee. Sometimes we find them in salt water, sometimes in fresh; but never far at sea. And those that live in the sea at such places where there is no river nor creek fit for them to enter yet do commonly come once or twice in 24 hours to the mouth of any fresh-water river that is near their place of abode. They live on grass 7 or 8 inches long, and of a narrow blade, which grows in the sea in many places, especially among islands near the Main. This grass grows likewise in creeks, or in great rivers near the sides of them, in such places where there is but little tide or current. They never come ashore, nor into shallower water than where they can swim. Their flesh is white, both the fat and the lean, and extraordinary sweet, wholesome meat. The tail of a young cow is most esteemed; but if old both head and tail are very tough. A calf that sucks is the most delicate meat; privateers commonly roast them; as they do also great pieces cut out of the bellies of the old ones. (Chapter 3, A Voyage Round the World)”

All in all, Dampier’s accounts were so precise that Charles Darwin himself used them as reference in his studies of the Galapagos, praising Dampier in his writings as a mind of information. Likewise, the members of the Royal Society looked to Dampier and others like him to expand their empire of learning and his journals were key in doing so.

Both merchant and mariner alike were indebted to William Dampier. Among other things he was the first to coin the terms Sea Lion, sub-species, and avocado and his is the first documentation of the effects of marijuana. His nautical descriptions later played a major role in influencing Benjamin Franklin’s discovery of the Gulf Stream. Dampier was also the first Englishman to write extensively about East Asia, becoming often the first and only authority on the region well after his time.

Throughout his travels, Dampier compiled the first affordable map of the world for public use. Unlike maps before his however, he explicitly instructed the mapmaker to only draw the areas in which accurate knowledge of the coastlines had been obtained. Like any objective scientist, no filling in the blanks with out proper data.

Popular writers such as Daniel Dufoe and Johnathan Swift found literary inspiration in Dampier’s maps.  Dufoe penning a tale where his character’s adventures revolved around the map lines in Robinson Crusoe, Swift’s a character focused on exploring in the more imaginary map spaces with Gulliver’s Travels.

Dampier was the embodiment of citizen science and contributed much to the realm of natural history and maritime navigation. His journals accounted for approximately 20% swashbuckling and 80% flora and fauna. Most other so-called “pirates” followed this example.

So where does the Jack Sparrow pirate ideology that we cling to today come from? How did these original naturalists come to be so misunderstood?

Piracy was a bit of a complex career choice. The goods that one “acquired” were really only worth what someone would pay for them. Thus, someone on land had to be willing to pay for stolen goods. Oddly, this system worked for a good majority of the 10-year span known as the “Age of Piracy.” However, when the system started to fail due to various factors of unsustainability that’s when the more radical individuals started to emerge. This history, coupled with Robert Newton’s complete revamp on what a pirate should look and sound like in the 1950’s film Treasure Island has lead to our altered ideology of historical piracy.

Despite our pirate-y misconceptions, it is important to recall their less acclaimed secret lives. Though they may have had swashbuckling tendencies (don’t we all), many pirates were key explorers, historians, and dare I say, scientists. Perhaps this explains why we relate to them so well.

Resources:

“Real Pirates.” An exhibit presented by the San Diego Natural History Museum.

“Pirates: Unlikely Naturalists” By: Dr. Mark G. Hanna, Professor of History at UCSD, San Diego Natural History Museum Lecture Series

“A New Voyage Round the World” By: William Dampier

The post Beyond the Plunder: The Misunderstood Life of Pirates first appeared on Deep Sea News.

On the Jersey Shore…..

Riding in contraptions…

Discussing drug rehab legislation in Parliament…

Judging matters of national importance…

Knight riding…

Enjoying a Filet-O-Fish…

Operating a laundromat…

Modeling swimwear successfully…

…and modeling swimwear unsuccessfully.

The post Pirates in unexpected places first appeared on Deep Sea News.

Welcome to Cocktail Week!  This week we will bring you a fusion of marine science and spirits all shaken not stirred.  Each post will bring you a cocktail recipe and tons of great science.  All week we will use liquor as metaphor and inspiration to discuss the newest research of the ocean realm.

You can participate on Twitter by following the #deepsn hashtag.  Friends of DSN will be contributing to Cocktail Week on their own blog as well.  I will broadcast these posts through Facebook, Twitter, and of course here at the flagship of the DSN armada.

We are also teaming up with fellow marine scientists and lovely libation lovers Lobos Marinos – International Marine Science (& Cocktails) on Facebook. They are actually working on an official book of cocktail recipes.  They are calling for entries from fellow scientists and aquanauts to submit their favorite recipes with an accompanying story of science, adventure, misadventure, scholarship, or depravity.  We will link to and republish the best of those here.

So before we move onto the official Deep-Sea News Cocktail, let’s take a moment to contemplate the linguistic history of the work cocktail itself.  The brief history is that no one can conclusively say where and when the word originated. Of course this has not stopped people from speculating.  My favorites are

Another possibility incorporates the fact that “cock-tail” was once a term for a non-thoroughbred horse.  Their tails were bobbed, or “cocked” to distinguish them from their purebred brethren. It also meant a man who wished to appear to be a gentleman but lacked the breeding to do so. Therefore, some assumed that either these faux-gentlemen’s drinks of choice over time acquired the same name, or a clever chap noted that a non-thoroughbred horse is a mix of breeds and “cocktail” is a mix of spirits and was inspired to give the drinks that moniker.

Or

My favorite theory is that “cocktail” was derived from the 16th century drink “cock-ale,” which had as an ingredient–I kid you not–a dead rooster. A recipe from the 1500s:

Take 10 gallons of ale and a large cock, the older the better; parboil the cock, flay him, and stamp him in a stone mortar until his bones are broken (you must gut him when you flaw him). Then, put the cock into two quarts of sack, and put to it five pounds of raisins of the sun-stoned; some blades of mace, and a few cloves. Put all these into a canvas bag, and a little before you find the ale has been working, put the bag and ale together in vessel. In a week or nine days bottle it up, fill the bottle just above the neck and give it the same time to ripen as other ale.

But now it is time for the DSN official libation.

Deep-Sea News Cocktail

3 oz Beefeater gin

1 oz Dry Vermouth

1/2 tsp Licorice liqueur

1 dash Orange bitters

Garnish with Maraschino Cherry

The post Welcome to Cocktail Week! first appeared on Deep Sea News.

Ever dreamed of owning your own ship? Sail the seven seas? Pillage? Adventure? Explore strange new worlds, seek out new life and new civilizations, boldly go where no one has gone…oh wait…not that ship…but same idea.

If commanding your very own seafaring vessel is on your bucket list, look no further. Thanks to the Maritime Museum of San Diego, you can print, build, and captain your own! To be honest, when I first saw this, I thought it was just a small origami dingy. Not even close. This is a legit replica of  a 16th century Spanish galleon. Well…a lil’ mini one at least.

The museum has provided two downloadable models, Padawan Learner Version and Jedi Master Version, depending on your patience mad crafting skills.

Source: Maritime Museum of San Diego

Beyond a mere arts and crafts project however, this stunning maritime miniature sails to us straight out of the history books. In 1542, Juan Rodriquez Cabrillo sailed the ocean blue was the first to explore the coast I love the most in the much bigger version, his flagship the San Salvador. Equipped with a rowdy crew of 170 men and his 200 ton Spanish galleon, Cabrillo set out on a mission to obtain what all eager conquistadors wanted at the time…booty…lots and lots of booty…probably better known as gold and spices. Heck, even just a route to Asia to get the gold and spices would do.

Though he never found that coveted passage to the Silk Road, metaphorically speaking, he did strike gold. Departing from Puerto de Navida, Mexico, and traveling north, Cabrillo became the first European explorer to reach “The Golden State.” Unfortunately, he ended up kicking the bucket from gangrene, but not before he traveled up California, discovering San Diego, some of the Channel Islands, San Fran, and most of the coast along the way.

Source: A. Warneke

 Now if having the desk-sized version of Cabrillo’s swaggin wagon does curb your maritime fancy, and you live in the So Cal area, you could just go help build the big one. I did. Nestled right along side her original port of call in San Diego Bay and with a team of master builders, volunteers, and experts in marine archaeology, historical archives,

and sailing, a replica of the San Salvador is underway to explore the California coast once again. Currently, two years in the making, I visited the build site the other day to check it out for myself. Not only did I get to help work on the ship, but I also learned so much from various exhibits on sailmaking, nautical warfare (see arrow extractors above), what it was like to be a crewman, and a little something about the native peoples of the Kumeyaay nation who Cabrillo met up with when he got here. I even managed to stake a claim. (Craig, Holly, Rick, Al, and Kim….I think I read in the fine print somewhere this means we get to take her out for a spin whenever we want.)

Estimated at one more year till completion, the San Salvador (outfitted with some modern day touches like two 300 horsepower engines), will be coming to a California city near you as she makes her maiden voyage up the coast. Once her West Coast touring days are over she will join the rest of the Maritime Museum’s fleet and make home port in San Diego Bay (right next to the Star of India for those in the know). However, I highly recommend visiting the build site. They are open at Spanish Landing everyday from 11 a.m.- 4 p.m. and for $5 you can help re-create a small piece of maritime history. I must give props to the museum, this is pretty rad. And even if you can’t make it over there, don’t forget you can just build your own. Or…you can build me one.

Source: A.Warneke

For further information on the Maritime Museum of San Diego and the San Salvador build, check out: www.sdmaritime.org

Resources:

Specially thanks to the MMSD, the Cabrillo Historical Association, and the lovely docents who sat and answered my many, many questions.

The post Building Spanish Galleons 101 first appeared on Deep Sea News.

The post Know Your Tall Ships first appeared on Deep Sea News.