Cold is the Sea

Norwegian Ninja: A Review

2012-01-29T19:50:00.014-05:00

(click to enlarge)

After I wrote the bulk of this review I found a piece with a similar structure, using an American political figure to illustrate the plot of “Norwegian Ninja”. That piece is here. I debated changing mine, but I believe my analogy is more apt, so I’m keeping it. Enjoy:

Ok. Speaking to my fellow Americans, imagine this for the plot of a movie:

It’s 1985. Chief Warrant Officer John Anthony Walker, a sailor in a sensitive communications billet for SUBLANT (Submarine Force Atlantic) is being arrested for one of the worst acts of betrayal (if not the worst- and certainly the one with the largest possibility of mass destruction) in American history. For 17 years he has been giving away classified information to the Soviet Union for filthy lucre. Through Walker, the Soviets have gained so much knowledge about our submarine capabilities, they have been able to engineer a new class of boat- able to outfox ours -and as a result, redress the imbalance (skewed towards us) in nuclear warfare capability. They can now sneak around our underwater defenses and put missiles closer to our shores than ever before.

Following me? It’s a movie plot. Stay with me.

Ok. Here’s where the movie gets weird…John Anthony Walker turns out not to be a traitor- but a patriot. For years he has been leading a clandestine force of ninja held in readiness to engage in secret combat against those who would threaten the American way of life. In this case it is a shadow army of villainous men who would dubiously lead us into war to maintain global hegemony. (You caught the part about the secret Ninja force, right?) So, in this movie, why does our "hero" Walker end up in jail? Well…to tell you that would be a spoiler, but it’s a necessary part of the plan.

Got it? Sound like a good flick? Something you’d see?

Well. You can. Sort of.

Just substitute John Anthony Walker (I spit on the ground at his name!) with real life former Norwegian Labour Party diplomat Arne Treholt and you have Thomas Cappelen Malling’s film “Norwegian Ninja”. Treholt was caught in an act of espionage with the Soviets that was severe enough to put him in prison for 20 years. (He was pardoned after 8).

Enraptured by a trailer I couldn’t understand, I eagerly awaited the film's arrival at my local art-house theater. If it showed up, I missed it. “It’ll be be on Netflix for sure.” I thought. No dice. Why, why, why!? I wondered. Who wouldn’t want to see a Norwegian action flick that bucks the Viking stereotype? The trailer gave me tantalizing glimpses of Ninja commandos clad in amazing knitwear, doing battle amongst picturesque Norwegian fjords...I had to see it.

So, eventually I caved and I bought it. (Who has the money for frivolous DVD purchases in this day and age?) Turns out if I had waited a little longer, I could’ve gotten it on Netflix. Oh well.

But, I think I have an answer as to why it didn’t immediately break big into the American film scene. There is a bit of…how can I say this? “Anti-American Sentiment” in the film. It’s subtle. You have to read between the lines but it’s there. (I’m kidding, it’s actually very obvious.) It was soon very clear that this was not a silly film about Ninjas and spies. Malling’s Treholt is Noam Chomsky in tabi boots. (with throwing stars and a Mauser, riding a Maiale.)

In the film, Arne Treholt’s Ninja Force is desperately trying to prevent a CIA-sponsored campaign of propaganda-by-deed/false-flag-terrorism (the alleged “Operation Stay Behind”) intended to draw the Scandinavian countries (Norway in particular) closer to the American bosom and further from their Soviet neighbors. Sound like a good Psy-Op?

Malling does a good job of integrating real terrorist events (and other suspicious looking calamities) into the plot of his film. Did the CIA blow up the Bologna train station and the Alexander L. Kielland drilling rig in 1980? I doubt it. It may have been the Cold War, with a lot of intelligence agencies doing nutso stuff out there in Europe, but I don’t think that the CIA would have gone to those lengths to turn the Norwegians (or Italians) away from the Soviets. Certainly, we wouldn’t have wanted Soviet sub bases in Norway. However I doubt that Norway was a strategic priority that would have necessitated measures of that severity. (Can I see the CIA asking Norwegian citizens like Hans Otto Meyer, to cache weapons for a “stay-behind” guerilla force in case of actual Soviet occupation? Yes, I can. )

The premise of the film raises an unpleasant specter for Americans. Do we secretly sponsor terrorism to achieve our national security aims? Was the scene where a "Stay Behind" pilot aims his plane at Oslo's two-towered City Hall Malling’s way of saying that 9-11 was an “inside job”? I have always rejected that theory and its inclusion in the film deeply soured it for me. It's easy to embrace conspiracy theories when you're predisposed to do so. I mean, by that same logic, one could connect the dots and work out a theory that Anders Behring Breivik conducted his massacre at the bidding of a secret cabal of left wing Norweigan politicians, in order to create an atmosphere of empathy that would be conducive to pushing legislation through for looser immigration laws. It makes total sense, right? (For the record, I don't really believe that.) Truth is in the eye of the beholder, I suppose.

I can understand where Malling is coming from though. Remember those submarines with nuclear missiles we were talking about at the beginning of the review? During the Cold War their patrol areas skirted Norway. Neighboring Finland was, for all intents and purposes, a dormant Soviet satellite. The potential threat of invasion to Norway was as real as anywhere in Europe. I can understand why Arne Treholt (the Ninja version) would want to balance with the Soviets, instead of against them. In America, protected by two oceans, a Soviet invasion would have been impossible (despite Hollywood's attempt to convince us otherwise) and accorded us a certain degree of emotional insulation. The fear and paranoia in 1980's Norway must've been palpable.

What comes through in this film is a strong sense of Norwegian pride and independence. They can afford to have it- they aren’t dependent on anyone for oil and only 2% of their population is non-European, which allows them to emotionally disengage from the world to a certain degree. The standard of living for Norwegians is good, due to an equitable distribution of tax rates. They aren’t a member of the EU and apparently they are incredibly self-sufficient. This, primarily, is why the threat of being suborned by the CIA is anathema to (Ninja) Treholt. After a long history of occupation (first the Danes, then the Swedes, zen ze Germans) it’s no wonder that (Ninja) Treholt puts his life on the line to "beat the shit out of those who [would] mess with the Norwegian way of life”.

So, aside from the conspiratorial insinuations, I enjoyed the film. Stylistically, I loved it. At first, coupled with soft lighting and faux-80’s aging, it had the feel of Megaforce (Deeds not Words!) meets the Royal Tennenbaums. Treholt’s top-secret Ninja commandos train on a peaceful island (Grassy Island in Oslo Fjord) protected by a Feng Shui force field. In lieu of the Megaforce’s flying motorcycles, they have maiali and amphibious cars. Each member of the team has a specialty- from sharpshooting to combat driving to pacifism. (And, believe it or not, the pacifist ninja plays a key role). King Olav V (The People's King) is also a character in the film. He is often seen relaxing at Grassy Island and conferring with Treholt.

In terms of “action”, there’s enough of it, though I wouldn't classify this an "action film". There's an intense “selection” scene, where two apprentice ninjas vie for full membership in the Ninjatroppen (which also makes you wonder what selection for Norwegian SF must be like- skip ahead to 3:01). There are plenty of fight scenes, especially when Operation Saga Night really begins. But I don’t want to ruin too much. (If you rent the DVD, make sure you watch the extras for how they filmed the squirrel suit footage.)

Once I put aside my feelings about the anti-American tone of the film, I was able to enjoy it. (It's always instructive to know how the world views us). It was exceedingly well done for a movie that probably had access to an infinitesimal fraction of a Hollywood budget. And, I'm always a sucker for labors of love that come to fruition. Despite my mixed feelings, Malling's Norwegian Ninja is a fantastic entry into the genre of Cold War films.

Sketchbook: British Sailors WWII

2011-12-27T07:00:00.000-05:00

Sea Stories Redux

2011-11-26T14:46:00.010-05:00

A Bootleg Maakie

2011-10-15T21:55:00.010-04:00

Right click on image and hit "view image" for best results.

(WTF, Blogspot?)

And just remember folks, the real Maakies is here: Maakies.com http://www.maakies.com/

Jack Tar Magazine in Print: It Has Arrived

2011-09-06T06:06:00.001-04:00

I only (virtually) met Kim Carver a couple of years ago, but at that time it seemed she had already been well into the effort of bringing her vision- a maritime culture magazine- into physically tangible existence. Well...now it's here and available at MagCloud. (Also available digitally.)

I don't think anything else I could say would do it justice. Head on over to Jack Tar's virtual home to read Kim's rationale for creating the magazine.

So again, congratulations Kim! Looking forward to a long run in print (not to mention, more calenders). -CITS

NSFWish: Captain's Daughter

2011-08-11T22:37:00.001-04:00

Are you a fan of Tony Millionaire's "Maakies"? If so, I'm sure you're familiar with Captain's Daughter- who causes no end of agony for our friend Uncle Gabby...Anyways. Tony had a contest to see who could draw the sexiest Captain's Daughter, and I couldn't resist. All of you Tall Ship sailors, please don't abuse me for my portrayal of the rigging, carpentry details, etc. I had a hell of a time finding good images of a cannon on a quarterdeck. (If you've visited the HMS Victory lately and DO have good images of their quarterdeck...please send them to me.) Anyways, I give you...Captain's Daughter.

Author Beach: An Appraisal

2011-07-21T20:08:00.001-04:00

(Captain Edward L. Beach Jr. Submarine commander, Author. Photo taken from Wikimedia Commons.)

While things are slow here at Cold is the Sea, I thought I would reprint a comment that was recently left in a post that's almost exactly 51 weeks old. The aforementioned post was my take on Captain Beach's novel "Cold is the Sea", which I appropriated for the title of this blog. The author of the following comment is a former Navy scientist, and I figured since he knows of what he speaks, it was worth reprinting in its very own post. There are SPOILERS within, so be warned. So here you go Topper, you have your very own guest book review on Cold is the Sea (the blog, not the novel). Thank you for your service!:

"It's almost a year since I made my first comment following your post about "Dust on the Sea." (DOTS) It took me a while to find a copy of "Cold is the sea," (CITS) and when I finished it I decided not to immediately come back to your site to give you my update, as you had invited me to do, but to wait until I reread "Run silent, run deep" (RSRD) again, to try and find some overall perspective. Here is what I now think:

(1) RSRD is a truly excellent novel. It draws on the authors extensive experience of undersea warfare, and his evidently deep technical expertise, which are then coupled with a remarkable narrative flair, to produce a deeply convincing and enjoyable story.

There is only one slightly critical comment I can find to say about RSRD, and I think I am really being unfair in even raising it. Beach, in his prefacing remarks to the novel, states that all the events portrayed are fictional, although technically feasible. He obviously based them on his own personal experiences, as well as those of other submarine commanders that he heard about, or was told about, during his period of service. He then, very cleverly, arranged and fictionalized them to construct his narrative. The main character, Richardson (clearly based on Beach himself), is the main protagonist in most of these events. However, there are so many of them that, as I approached the end of the story, I find my credibility being stretched a little to believe that one man could have accomplished so much. At the very end, when Richardson personally directs his sub, alone on the bridge, to ram the lifeboats in his fanatical quest to kill Bungo Pete, and then (a few pages later) jumps off the sub to save three airmen from drowning, and then (a few pages again) goes to Washington to receive the Congressional Medal of Honor, I really thought Beach might be succumbing to the temptation of self-glorification.

The reason I say this comment is "unfair" is that Beach, of course, was trying to create an exciting story for his readers, which he clearly succeeded in doing. The positive qualities of the story overwhelm such trifling quibbles.

(2) It is clear from the finale of RSRD that Beach did not originally intend to write a sequel. But such was its success, that his publisher probably offered him a lot of money to do so. He may have had the problem that he had used up most of his best material on RSRD, and therefore had to resort to more pure invention (which he wasn't quite so good at) in DOTS, which didn't quite ring true when compared to the authentic stuff related in the first story. It is perhaps for this reason that you found: "the book took on the turn of a Boy's Own adventure and just became so unbelievable I couldn't really get into it." I still feel more forgiving though, probably because I am enthralled by the technical navy stuff (I'm a retired navy scientist).

(3) CITS is clearly a work of pure fiction, as far as the naval action goes. Beach, however, again uses his ability to weave in his own personal experiences, together with his expertise, in a very engaging way. I found the interactions with Brighting (i.e., Rickover) absolutely compelling, and very believable. While I never met anyone as exalted as Rickover during my career, I did deal with several people of that personality type. The navy bureaucracy has (or, at least, had) many prickly martinets, both in and out of uniform. They could be difficult to work with, but they got the job done!

I also read the articles on both Beach and Rickover on Wikipedia which, if you haven't already seen them, are worth a visit. The interaction between the two of them is covered in the Beach article. I didn't realize that, at the time of his retirement, Rickover was the longest serving US Navy officer ever (63 years). Nobody was able to retire him! Finally, it took a gentle nudge from President Reagan (who Rickover probably liked and trusted) to get him to go. He sure left a great legacy for the United States."

SWAG: Arctic Convoy T-Shirt

2011-07-08T16:47:00.005-04:00

Those of you who know me well, know that I have a t-shirt problem. I love t-shirts. I have mounds of t-shirts from all over the world. From shit-hole punk rock bars in NYC to the US Embassy in Saudi . However, a quick survey of my closet reveals that the "maritime pile" is the largest, so you can imagine my delight when I espied this "Arctic Convoy" t-shirt (below) from Philosophy Football. Their range offers t-shirts celebrating everything from Mario Vargas Llosa, to William Blake's Jerusalem.

Considering that I had an Uncle who was a Merchant Marine during WWII, the shirt below has an extra special place in my heart. All of you real, former or armchair sailors, seafarers or seamen, check it out:

ARCTIC CONVOY 70th ANNIVERSARY T-SHIRT

When Hitler invaded the USSR on 22 June 1941 the response of Britain and its allies was almost immediate. Crucial supplies were provided via the Arctic convoys. The first of which, 'Dervish', left from Iceland on 21 August arriving in Archangel ten days later. This superb anniversary T-shirt depicts HMS Halcyon which provided part of the naval escort and lists all the Royal Navy and Merchant Navy ships plus solitary Dutch vessel which formed this first convoy. Available from www.philosophyfootball.com

Full Disclosure: I got a free t-shirt for writing this post. I'm actually wearing it right now. It's a VERY cool tee.

What's in a Name?: Seaman vs. Seafarer

2011-07-05T05:54:00.003-04:00

Today in the Marine Cafe, Barista Uno tackles the semantics of the title "Seaman vs. Seafarer". Have an opinion? Head on over there and add your voice to the conversation.

Burma

2011-06-27T14:48:00.000-04:00

I took this photo by the Rangoon River in Rangoon, Burma in 2000. This was an event where citizens of Rangoon were forced to attend a ceremony marking the arrival of "Southeast Asia's Biggest Buddha", a Buddha so big and heavy that the Junta didn't have the equipment to hoist it up the hill where it was to stand. Note that the soldier is carrying an M1 Carbine, which the Burmese received in abundance in a US aid package probably in the 1950's.

From the Vaults: The Siege at Kham Duc

2011-06-01T16:30:00.002-04:00

Hello poor neglected blog.

Been digging through a mountain of stuff in my Man Cave/Landfill and found these two pages from an unfinished story I started doing in 1997. It was about a Vietnam War battle whose origin sprung from the Tet Offensive. I think in '97 I was actually in touch with a participant of the battle and was working from something he'd written. Yet another project that overwhelmed me in its magnitude and remained unfinished. Oh, what could've been.

For more information on the Battle of Kham Duc and the super-ballsy relief operation check out these links:
The Battle of Kham Duc (Wikipedia)
Rescue at Kham Duc (MilitaryPhotos.Net)
Kham Duc (Sgt. Mac's Bar)
Mort's Rescue at Kham Duc (Flying in Crosswinds)

On Twitter: @coldisthesea

2011-05-04T07:47:00.004-04:00

School is winding down, so soon I'll be back in the swing of things with this ever evolving blog.
I've just had my first taste of Twitter "crack" and I'm loving it.
If you want to follow me, I'm @coldisthesea .

Oh yeah. Regarding recent events in the international security environment:

Still lots of work to do, but the sentiment symbolized above goes out to all the people who put in an excruciating amount of hard work to make it happen (I'm mostly referring to the people in the IC who put the pieces together). I'm not a meathead-Republican-frat-boy who was out whooping it up when the news came in (I vote Democrat), but I am someone who lived in NYC for 9 1/2 years leading up to September 11th, 2001. That was a heavy day. And given my travels over the last 10 years, I can guarantee that no one felt it as much as people who lived, worked, commuted, loved and flourished in the immediate area. The events of Monday provided me with a modicum of closure. But like I said...I'm very cognizant there are lots of problems out there yet to deal with.

Anyways. To everyone from the IC to JSOC and anyone else involved, "BZ".

Seaman Molloy: Angst

2011-04-18T17:26:00.002-04:00

Click "Seaman Molloy" tag for previous pages.

Riding the Shaft: Preliminary Sketch

2011-03-27T21:16:00.003-04:00

This is a rough quick preliminary sketch for my next undertaking (suggested by a former sailor, machinist and fine art devotee, CB)... Machinist Mates "Riding the (propeller) Shaft"...Don't get caught...don't get hurt... Anyone in blogland ever do this for real?

Plug: US Navy Tailor Made Dress Blues, Liberty Cuffs and Sailor Folk Art

2011-03-06T07:37:00.008-05:00

One of the most popular images on this site is my illustration of a pair of US Navy Liberty Cuffs which I couldn't have done without the information from Navy Collector, a site by Dan Smith SCPO, USNR(Ret). Dan recently messaged me with information about his new book "US Navy Tailor Made Dress Blues, Liberty Cuffs and Sailor Folk Art", so I thought I'd give him a plug. Thanks for your site Dan! I'm looking forward to the book. Order information is at the bottom of the image posted above.

EDIT 04/21/11: While there is a lot of fascinating stuff in this book- plenty of photos and history- and while it is obviously a labor of love- I think I should note that this is not a "traditional coffee table book". It is not bound like a hardcover (or softcover) book. (It has a spiral binding). Given that I've provided the plug above, I think I should provide (relatively) full disclosure here. If there are any publishers, graphic designers or book packagers out there looking for a potentially remunerative project, I think this book is it. I encourage you to get in touch with Dan Smith and help him out on the design and presentation angle.

A Breton Fisherman

2011-02-25T23:05:00.000-05:00

Seaman Molloy, Pg. 4

2011-02-15T17:15:00.001-05:00

Seaman Molloy, P. 3

2011-01-27T09:59:00.001-05:00

Our Bed is a Boat: If only he was that quiet.

2011-01-07T16:48:00.001-05:00

Seaman Molloy: Page 2

2010-12-16T16:56:00.002-05:00

Salty Walt and the Rattlin' Ratlines.

2010-12-15T21:39:00.005-05:00

Months ago, Salty Walt approached me and asked if I'd like to do some art for his sea chantey band...Not having done any band flyers since my East Village days where I (unconsciously) channeled Raymond Pettibon at the behest of Sweet Diesel's bassist, I struggled with how to portray Salty Walt and the boys... In the end, with the aid of Herbert Asbury's true-crime book "The Barbary Coast", I decided to portray them doing what 19th century sailors did best...and that's have a good debauch while ashore... Walt, Ratlines, I hope you guys have a good sense of humor...

Seaman Molloy

2010-12-07T17:26:00.002-05:00

The Pleasures of the Harbor

2010-11-30T15:31:00.000-05:00

Happy 235th Birthday, Marines.

2010-11-10T13:32:00.004-05:00

EDIT 04/25/11: This is a digital-media version of a drawing I did that was initially going to be the basis for a watercolor. I was going to do it for a Vietnam Vet friend of mine (it's him) but never finished it, because I was afraid of fucking it up. Anyways, contact me if you'd like a signed giclee! coldisthesea09@yahoo.com.

When I first posted this, it was the 235th birthday of the United States Marine Corps. So I'll leave you with the last line of the initial post: "Wherever you are today Marines, be safe!"

The Cat and the Barely Started Painting

2010-11-05T19:30:00.001-04:00

The cat's been pretty agitated lately. Because of inclement weather he hasn't been getting out much, but at least tonight he calmed down enough to take a little time to contemplate the artistic process.

Work Doodles

2010-10-29T20:46:00.003-04:00

Didn't get a lot of sleep last night, so by mid-afternoon I felt like the walking dead. I had a bit of free-time, and once secured from view, I commenced to doodle.

You'll notice a couple of Guernsey sweaters in there. Being a traditional sailors garment dating back to the 18th century as a uniform item for the Royal Navy, they're made out of "oiled wool", presumably for it's water resistant property. I just ordered one- didn't get the traditional Navy blue version, but Desert Rat-ecru. (Can't have all of my clothing looking like Navy surplus). Hopefully it'll get across the pond soon, because it feels like the snow is getting ready to fly up here.

On the lower right-hand corner is an image inspired by this passage from John Dos Passos' "1919":
"Joe Williams put on the secondhand suit and dropped his uniform with a cobblestone wrapped up in it, off the edge of the dock into the muddy water of the basin...he walked slowly out to the beacon and watched the fleet in formation steaming down the River Plate. The day was overcast; the lean cruisers soon blurred into their trailing smokesmudges."

Having crapped out while reading "Manhattan Transfer", I'm only reading the "Joe Williams" chapters of 1919 (I'm skipping the "camera eye" parts and everything else) so I'm having a great time with it. I'm also rationing it out. I don't want to finish it quickly.

Joe is a great archetypal sailor- his life follows a pattern- he goes out to sea- eventually gets fed up with it- comes back to the beach and tries to get a straight job. But the pull of life at sea is always too irresistible and he always ships out again. The scene above describes his desertion from the Navy in the beginning of the book. Someday I'd like to make that an illustration...apologies to Reginald Marsh.

Troubled Water

2010-10-24T21:09:00.007-04:00

"If you doubt for one moment that I understand your problems, if you doubt for one moment that I am a sincere black man..."...He could see the contempt in their eyes, the way they looked at him with disgust and scepticism.

With a sudden burst of resolve, Cloud reached down to a man...and took his weapon, a heavy piece of steel...

"The first man in this crowd that for one moment does not believe my sincerity, I hold this weapon and I bare my back for you to take this weapon and beat me into submission right here!"

...Cloud stood there for a moment, the weapon held high, his heart racing and his lungs heaving, wondering if one of the sailors would suddenly charge. He knew that if one man attacked, the whole crowd was likely to follow and he would die an agonizing death, right there on the deck of the Kitty Hawk, at the hands of his own men. -From "Troubled Water: Race, Mutiny and Bravery on the USS Kitty Hawk" by Gregory A. Freeman

One thing I love about a good sea story is that it takes you away from your troubles. It doesn't put your mind on your money woes. It doesn't make you think about politics, health care or "the education crisis". It doesn't make you think about anything real, like military policy in Afghanistan, transnational Takfirist terrorism , or our ascendant peer-competitor, China. It doesn't make you think about anything too aggravating.

"Troubled Water " by Gregory A. Freeman is exactly the opposite of that kind of sea story.

This book cuts to the core of one of America's most turbulent times- the early 1970's, when the anti-war and civil rights violence of the 1960's was still fresh in the American consciousness. In 1972 Vietnam was still raging- even though American troops had been reduced by 2/3 from their peak- and ships like the aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk were still sending in sortie after sortie over Vietnam.

It is often said that an aircraft carrier, due to the size of its manpower (5000 men) is a microcosm of American society- nothing could be truer here. "Troubled Water" details a "perfect storm" of 60's angst (the draft, racism, drugs, radicalism, anti-war sentiment) , the decline of military discipline and the strain of an incredibly long, extended deployment aboard the USS Kitty Hawk.

Gregory Freeman writes that in the early 1970's race riots, radical activism and sabotage against military equipment- especially anything headed to Vietnam- were increasing in frequency within the US military. Aboard the Kitty Hawk anger over real and perceived racial incidents fueled an explosive atmosphere which erupted as the Kitty Hawk cut short a much needed port call in Subic Bay to head back to Yankee Station. Still tense over a racial incident which evolved into a riot in Subic, many (but not all) African-American crew members aboard the Kitty Hawk became worked up to the point where they picked up improvised weapons (everything from fog foam nozzles to tie-down wrenches) and started roaming through the ship severely beating any white sailors they came across- including those in showers, their racks or in sick bay- which was assaulted en masse several times throughout the night. Some sailors were beaten so seriously that they had to be medevac'd into Vietnam for treatment.

On the military side of things, the book is a study in the failure of the unity of command. The riot evolved slowly and sporadically. Information was spotty, and communication between the Captain, the XO (LCDR Benjamin Cloud pictured above) and the officer of the Marine detachment, was non-existent during the crux of the violence. So naturally, rumors flew and panic mounted. Officers were missing or not at their appropriate stations. Orders were given and countermanded over the 1MC. No plan had been created for this contingency, so none was implemented. Chaos and confusion reigned aboard the Kitty Hawk. During the heat of the riot, some African-American crewmen voiced their intent to take over the Kitty Hawk and sail it to San Diego.

Mutiny you say? Definitely not, says the Navy. Since they were unsuccessful I think this only qualifies as an "attempted mutiny". Still- the Navy downplayed and buried the incident- as did the other services. "Chickens coming home to roost" after a couple hundred years of slavery, segregation and racist violence perpetrated against African-Americans? You can make up your own mind about that.

There's a lot more I'd like to say about "Troubled Water". Robert McNamara's Project 100,000 was also a factor in the Kitty Hawk riots, but time does not permit to muse on this anymore tonight. If you were in the military around this time, or have any reminiscences about racial incidents during the Vietnam War-era, please leave them in the comments.

The Battle of the Atlantic: Hell and High Water

2010-10-09T15:35:00.005-04:00

"...for it was the weather that was the most violent enemy of all. For eight days they steamed straight into a westerly gale: five hundred miles at a grindingly slow pace, buffeting through a weight of wind that seemed to have a personal spite in every blow it dealt." -Nicholas Monsarrat, The Cruel Sea.

It was the logistics train that saved Europe. From 1939-1945, lightly armed, newly built Liberty Ships and an array of Allied (mostly British and Commonwealth) naval vessels with air support constituted the "sinews of war" that brought gas, guns, food, ammunition and everything else a ground army needs to win, to the shores of Britain, Africa, North Russia and then later, continental Europe.

German Admiral Karl Donitz identified the logistics lines across the North Atlantic as the center of gravity for the Allied war effort against the Third Reich. He then set about to sever them. U-Boats hunted the Allied merchant ships in groups called Wolf Packs and sent 36,200 Allied civilian and military sailors to their deaths. My Great-Uncle (an engine room snipe) was one of them. U-482 put two torpedoes into the side of his bulk-fuel carrier, the SS Jacksonville, 50 miles north of Londonderry. Two men survived, only because they were topside.

But the U-Boats weren't the only enemy. The weather and sea conditions also tormented the Allied crews as we can see in another passage from The Cruel Sea (whose author lived it, by the way):

"Aboard Compass Rose conditions were indescribable. She rolled furiously, with a tireless malice allowing no rest for anyone. Cooking was impossible...Everything was wet through: some water had come down a ventilator and flooded the wardroom: forward, the mess-decks were a crowded hell of saturated clothes, spare gear washing around their feet, food overturned- and all the time the noise, the groaning slamming violence of a small ship fighting a monstrous sea. Compass Rose caught in a storm that could take hold of her bodily and shake her till the very rivets loosened: a storm that raged and screamed at her until they were in the shelter of land again: Compass Rose adrift on a malignant ocean, seemed doomed to ride it together."

The Cruel Sea is full of passages like that. U-Boats aside, it is a testament to the skill and the emotional endurance of those sailors that they went through horrendous conditions like that, day in and day out for 6 years, all the while being hunted by submariners of the German war machine.

Technological advances made dominance in the Battle of the Atlantic go back and forth. Radar and sonar were a great boon to the Allies, but then the German schnorkel and the acoustic torpedo swung the balance back momentarily. In the end, it was the compromise of the German Enigma code that many historians credit with giving the Allies the best success in hunting, finding and killing German submarines. There were a plethora of other stratagems such as the convoy system and the coordination of air and sea power that drove the rest of the nails into the coffin of the U-Boat service of the Kreigsmarine.

But again, I think we have to give the most credit to human endurance in the face of "wrath of god"-style weather that enabled the Allies to succeed in the Battle of the Atlantic.

"...he...felt the gale whipping and tearing at his face...Compass Rose lurching under his feet as if the world itself were drunk, it was with a body from which every instinct save dumb endurance had been drained...the water crashed and thudded against their side, and the wind howled at them out of the blackness as if it had a conscious intention of terror. Round them there was nothing but a waste of sea, a livid grey whipped up here and there to white foam; and then beyond it, like a threatening wall, the surrounding dark, the chaos and flurry of the night."

Duffle Coat Experiment

2010-09-30T21:28:00.002-04:00

This was just an experiment in digital color for me. I am super not happy with the results, but it's a baby step, and I'll try again.

Greek Sailor

2010-09-23T19:32:00.000-04:00

A History of the Gadsden Flag

2010-09-05T07:54:00.016-04:00

This is a joint venture conceived by Monkey Fist (of Maritime Monday fame), written and photographed by Tugster (Will Van Dorp) and illustrated by yours truly.

Let's let the Tugster take it away:

For this first launch, let’s do Q and A format: Doesn’t the yellow rattlesnake flag so common in political rallies recently have a maritime history? What IS that maritime history?

Below is an example of the flag, flying over a great coffee, beer, and lunch place up in Cold Spring, New York (across the river from West Point) .

These yellow flags with rattlesnakes you may have started seeing everywhere. . . they are not new. I trace them back to the contrarian from Pennsylvania who played with lightning, yes … Benjamin Franklin. He also extolled the health benefits of skinnydipping and created bifocals, without which we older folk couldn’t exist. His wit generated such gems as “fish and visitors stink in three days” and “beer is evidence that God loves us.”

Franklin liked rattlers, even proposed they become our national symbol because they were honorable beasts who –if they felt tread upon—would communicate, would rattle a warning of an impending strike if said-treading continued. Before the “French and Indian” War (1754—1763), Franklin published a quite famous political cartoon featuring a rattler chopped into eight pieces with the caption “Join, or Die,” probably an earlier draft of his aphorism: “we must hang together or we shall hang separately.”

The next North American war saw colonists fighting the British Empire. The first commander-in-chief of the fledging “colonist’s navy” was Commodore Esek Hopkins. By then, the rattler flag (a version that had an uncoiled rattler superimposed onto a red-white striped field) had gained the support of Continental Colonel Christopher Gadsden of South Carolina. In 1775, Hopkins was instructed to use the flag to signal an engagement with British warships on the Delaware River. As such, it became the first Navy Jack. The rattler symbol also decorated the drums carried by the five companies of Marines in Hopkins’ fleet.

In 1980, the rattler flag took on new significance as a result of the directive from the Secretary of the Navy that the flag be flown by the naval vessel in longest active status.

The August 31 NY Times ran an article about Andy C. McDonel, who was told by the Avalon Village Community Association that he could not fly the rattler flag. This is a non-story, I think: community and neighborhood associations everywhere enforce charters or covenants about such things as how many cars can be parked in a driveway or what hues of which colors you may paint your house. They can tell you you’ve planted the wrong flowers or cannot grow corn in your garden!

What’s not discussed though a strong undercurrent, it seems, between McDonel and the Community Association is the new set of associations the flag has taken on, as the appropriated symbol of the “Tea Party” movement, which explains why we’re seeing it so much these days.

That’s how it is with symbols; with time, they acquire new associations. I have a yellow t-shirt with a rattler. I used to wear it partly as tribute to the First Navy Jack and partly as reflection of my years in libertarian New Hampshire. I think I might retire it for awhile. And given my admiration for Franklin, I might just find one with a turkey, the beast he wanted to see as our national bird. Either that, or—much more fun– I’ll pay my tribute to Franklin and go dipping skinny.

Cold is the Sea, here. By the way, I just couldn't let the opportunity pass to link you to Kate Beaton's excellent take on Ben Franklin's conception of the Gadsden flag's predecessor, the "Join or Die" political cartoon...

USS Kirk on NPR

2010-09-01T21:08:00.009-04:00

Boy was I shocked and surprised today to hear NPR do a story about the role of the USS Kirk in the evacuation of Vietnam...I would love to do a little art for this, but time does not allow and my eyelids are heavy...Fascinating and poignant sea story there. I was also surprised to hear about the role Richard Armitage played in directing the rescue of RVN Navy personnel and their families. Listen to the NPR story- especially this segment- and learn what happened to the pilot of the foundering Chinook featured above after it smacked into South China Sea.

Matlow v. The Bolsheviks ...One Panel at a Time...

2010-08-31T22:09:00.004-04:00

I've been wanting to continue on with my "Matlow v. The Bolsheviks" project for a while now and I decided that what was holding me back (among many things) was my desire to get everything 100% historically accurate and write the story first. Well, I'm a busy guy. I just don't have time for any of that! So here we go with the new format, fast, on the fly and barely accurate. :) Story (sort of) follows from here.

Matterhorn

2010-08-15T09:59:00.006-04:00

I've been tearing through Karl Marlantes' Vietnam novel "Matterhorn", which set my mind and pen wandering to draw this sketch. (This is taken from Larry Burrow's Pulitzer Prize winning photo taken atop "Mutter's Ridge" in 1966.) Having read a ton of Vietnam novels in my day, I can offer the informed opinion that "Matterhorn" is one of the best Vietnam novels, if not one of the best war novels ever written. There's no hackneyed patriotism or testosterone fueled chest thumping manly action. The bravery and heroism displayed in the book are demonstrated by men who simply survive horrific, grueling conditions that are sometimes (often) created by the whims of the 'politically' ambitious.

A poster on Terminal Lance (who I assume knows from whence he speaks) says that the novel could have taken place during our current war, implying that the more things change the more they stay the same. Indeed, Marlante's publishers urged him to change it and make it about Iraq or Afghanistan.

What makes it unique from most Vietnam fiction is that racial tension is one of the main drivers of the story. (Marlantes says that in early drafts he tried to avoid it but couldn't.) In James Webb's Fields of Fire (which I consider to be the best novel about Vietnam), racial issues create some of the conflict, but not to the extent they do in "Matterhorn". I chose to sketch the image above, because it exemplifies how Marines in line units transcended racial friction- even though Marlantes says that once they were out of the field, that same tension became impossible to ignore.

There are parts of the book which are grueling and exhausting to read and make you wonder how anyone could have survived. Very little war literature (with the exception of "The Thin Red Line") approaches the vivid detail and intensity in which the suffering sustained by Marlantes' Marines (and Sailors) is illustrated.

Anyways. Hell of a book. I'm glad it made it into print.

"If you have a problem, if no one else can help, and if you can find them..."

2010-08-10T21:46:00.007-04:00

Moments ago (moments people!), the incredible Monkey Fist (of Casco Bay Boaters, Maritime Monday and the brand-spanking new "Adventures of the BlackGang" fame) emailed me and asked "Where the hell's the maritime art?" (she didn't really ask that...).

So, I'll share with you a few of the remotely maritime snippets of a commission I've been working on for the last couple of months (months? yikes...better step on it).

Above you see the visages of USMC Gen. James Mattis, JCS Chairman Adm. Mike Mullen and the legendary Gen. Victor "Brute" Krulak. What do all these guys have in common? Well, you'll just have to wait and find out. Hopefully, you won't be waiting forever... <:)

Today's Inspiration: Carl G. Evers

2010-08-05T12:13:00.004-04:00

Whenever I need some illustration inspiration (which is every day) I head over to Leif Peng's "Today's Inspiration" where he showcases illustrators from the the unparalleled era of the 1940's and 1950's.

Today, he showcased Carl G. Evers, a maritime artist who I'd never heard of, who painted in gouache! I paint in gouache a lot and let me tell you...even contemplating trying to approach Evers level of mastery over that medium is a daunting prospect.

Anyways, if you want to see some really fantastic maritime art, head on over to Leif's place for Charlie Allen's retrospective on Carl G. Evers.

Tugster: My Babylonian Captivity

2010-08-03T05:55:00.005-04:00

Hi folks. No art update today as I'm still trudging through a challenging commission.

What I would like to do is introduce you to a new blog by Will Van Dorp (author of the amazing Tugster blog) entitled "My Babylonian Captivity". Will has the unusual distinction of surviving the opening salvos of the 1990-91 Gulf War as a human shield held by the Iraqis in Kuwait. His new blog will present excerpts from a previously completed manuscript detailing his captivity.

Fascinating stuff. Head on over and take a look.

Cold is the Sea: THE NOVEL (and a little TMI)

2010-07-27T20:09:00.012-04:00

A few years ago I read Captain Edward L. Beach's novel, Run Silent, Run Deep. Loved it. Not only a page turning classic WWII novel, but how many men have actually experienced war beneath the waves and lived to write about it? So, you can imagine my excitement when I ran across the sequel, Dust on the Sea in a flea market in Red Bank, New Jersey? ...Now, imagine my disappointment when the book took on the turn of a "Boy's Own" adventure and just became so unbelievable I couldn't really get into it.

Fast forward a couple of years and I find out that Captain Beach wrote a third sequel to the Run Silent/Dust-on-the-Sea series, a novel called Cold is the Sea...I am reluctant to read it because Dust kind of sucked...but the title is so catchy...it sticks in my brain and eventually I begin to use it as my nom du guerre (nom du art?) for this incarnation of my sketch blog.

PRESENT DAY: A few days ago I had finished my serious book (Koran, Kalishnikov and Laptop), my bedtime book (Shadow Divers) and my gym bag book (Lord Jim), and lo and behold I needed something to read.

Now, this confluence of book-finishing transpired on an especially humid, miserable hot day (not DC humid-miserable, but close) and the cover of Beach's Cold is the Sea, with a submarine breaching some sea ice seemed so...inviting... I figured that the time had come to read the novel that I had named myself after. I would just grit my teeth and grind through it...but soon I found out I was reading a gem.

So far (and I'm only about 60-some odd pages in) the novel appears to be a fictionalized account of Captain Beach's pissing contest with the famously irascible Hyman G. Rickover. For those who don't know anything about Rickover, he was the father of the nuclear navy (i.e., the singular driving force that got reactors on subs)- and apparently a very "prickly" personality. Prickly like a steel brush. (Read Sherry Sontag's Blind Man's Bluff for more about Rickover.)

From what I can tell, Beach and Rickover had a little clash of egos. Rickover was the Engineer. Beach was the WWII Hero Sub Ace. Rickover was born in a Polish shtetl that was the target of pogroms. Beach was an Academy ring-knocker and the son of a Naval hero. This book is kind of like reading about a star quarterback complaining about the valedictorian math nerd.

"Ok", you say, "that sounds incredibly boring." But not to me! I love this shit! It's actually kind of funny, though Beach obviously had an axe to grind- although to his credit he does grudgingly acknowledge and praise the contributions Rickover made to the Navy.

As I said, I don't know the whole real story- or Rickover's side- but so far it's good reading. I do know that the rest of the novel is based on Beach's experience commanding the first nuclear sub to circumnavigate the globe completely submerged (Operation Sandblast). The caricature above (l to r: Rickover, Beach) kind of sums up my impression of their relationship so far...

William Golding, circa 1957

2010-07-18T19:37:00.007-04:00

Great NYT review today on a new William Golding biography. (I had no idea he was a school teacher! But, duh- who else could've written a book like "Lord of the Flies"?)

I also didn't know that he had served in the Royal Navy during WWII, and was present for D-Day and the lesser known Battle of Walcheren.

I thought this tidbit was interesting:
“…his war in the navy was profoundly destabilizing for him in various ways (both personally and artistically), and many of the key themes in his work can be traced to these formative and disturbing experiences.”

You can read the whole review here: "Man as an Island"

Maritime Blogger Portrait Series I: TUGSTER

2010-07-09T17:11:00.007-04:00

I'm no great hand at writing profiles, so I'll keep it short...

Will Van Dorp is the champion and chronicler of New York City's "sixth boro" (a phrase I believe he coined)- the vast, twisting and teeming waterways that surround the aforementioned metropolis on his blog "Tugster".

This inspiration for keeping this living document? Primarily it was out of Will's lifelong interest with all things related to the water- and a strong desire to delve into the history of NYC's "working water"- its history and where it stands in a global context. Will also enjoys the sense of community he feels with those kindred spirits who share his passion.

The bulk carrier MV Alice Oldendorff (pictured here, riding high in the water) was the ship that Will chose to be portrayed with...He has a strong affinity for her, and was the subject of his very first blog post.

--

As for the making this piece it took a lot longer than I thought it would... I was very fortunate to secure a non-Maritime related commission a few weeks ago, and I fear it's going to take the rest of the summer (haha)... at a minimum...But, I'll probably put up the odd sketch or two here and there. I had a whole list of people to do for this project...but I've got to put it on the back burner. I'm determined to keep painting maritime-bloggers (Kim, you're next, I promise...) but I've got a ton of other stuff to clear first...

Our Bed is a Boat: Hey Mack...

2010-07-01T16:46:00.003-04:00

This is how I draw when I'm in shock.

Slushing the Topping Wires

2010-06-30T06:09:00.004-04:00

I have often been stymied when trying to find photos of Merchant Marines at work. A devoted reader of this blog recommended a bunch of sites including the Seafarers International Union where I pulled the photo-reference for this quickie sketch (thank you CB). I drew this to clear some frustration I was feeling after several attempts at drawing a Spek anchor on a bulk carrier for a more involved piece. Wish I had done this on a larger piece of paper in order to show this guy towering above a gray misty ocean on the Washington Express.

Kon Tiki! Plastiki!

2010-06-24T06:32:00.004-04:00

When I was a kid (it must've been middle school) one of our teachers brought us down to the library and spread out on all the tables were books that hadn't been checked out in years. We had to pick one and do a report on it, I chose "Kon Tiki" by Thor Heyerdahl. The book was a memoir about Heyerdahl proving his theory that South Americans could have traveled to Polynesia on a boat made out of reeds by actually making a boat out of reeds and sailing across the freakin' Pacific.

Now, this book didn't spark my interest in maritime culture/history (and, oddly we had a lot of that for a Midwestern school) but I do remember being fascinated and empathetically terrified for poor Thor as he crossed the Pacific in his boat of reeds...

...anyways, today Kim Carver of Jack Tar Magazine posted a video of some chipper bastard waking up Thor's grandson Olav for his watch on a boat called The Plastiki! Apparently, a new group of stalwart sailors has made a boat out of recylcable plastic and is going on something called the "The Plastiki Pacific Voyage" through the Great Garbage Patch of the Pacific to Oz and back to San Francisco. Think they're trying to make a point?

Wow. Good on ya, mates! Seems like a helluva project. I'm glad they don't have any swag for sale because I'd hate to break my Wife's injunction against the purchase of new t-shirts....

(The above cartoon is taken from an image of Thor on the cover of his book "Fatu-Hiva". I have no idea what he's wearing on his head. Behind him is the Kon-Tiki at dockside.)

Slowing Down and The McChrystal Thing

2010-06-23T09:32:00.007-04:00

I'm working on a bunch of very time consuming stuff at the moment, so the blog here will experience a little slow-down.

In news not related to anything maritime- the military/int'l affairs blogosphere and news-o-sphere in general is abuzz with the best President v. General showdown since Truman fired MacArthur. In my humble opinion, I think McChrystal shot himself in the foot on purpose. Realistically, we don't have the ability to "nation build" or stabilize Afghanistan in any meaningful way. The war is not going to end well, and if you were in charge...would you rather shoulder the blame for eternity (at least in Beltway logic) or (keep in mind you're a hardcore Ranger) go out getting fired by a Democrat president? Which is more face saving and as the kids these days say, which would give you more swag? Especially with the troops. Seriously, would you want to be the last man in the room, holding the bag when the lights go out? (I think that last sentence is my record for multiple metaphors in one sentence.)

You and I both know that McChrystal didn't design military policy in Afghanistan from the beginning, and truth be told I really wonder if he was always a believer in the COIN thing, or was it just foisted upon him? He's got an SF tab right above the Ranger one on his uniform- but which means more to him? And what's his conception of what "SF" means anyways? To his credit, he did implement a COIN strategy in Afghanistan (which is very unpopular with a lot of the troops- protecting the population as your number one concern always decreases the safety of the warfighter) in a very complex, ambiguous and difficult geo-socio-political environment.

Regardless, he's getting called on the carpet today and he's probably going to get the sack. President Obama wants to wind down in Afghanistan- so does it really matter? If my ass-u-mption is right, I can hardly blame him. I wouldn't want McChrystal's job if you paid me a million bucks and paid off my student loans on top of it. Good luck General, you did as well as anyone could.

Brown Water Navy: A Chief

2010-06-17T08:13:00.002-04:00

He looks really mad.

Brown Water Sailor

2010-06-16T13:24:00.003-04:00

This is a Vietnam War US Navy Brown Water Sailor receiving an award.
Dig the relaxed grooming standard...Must've been the Zumwalt era...

gCaptain: Maritime Monday

2010-06-14T11:40:00.007-04:00

Do you use the site gCaptain? It's an incredibly comprehensive resource for anyone interested in professional maritime issues, and their regular blog feature Maritime Monday is a great weekly compendium of maritime news, art and photography. They've really been on top of all the news relating to the Deepwater Horizon nightmare in the Gulf. Go check it out.

Sailor Girl Pinup

2010-06-09T16:45:00.000-04:00

I'm working on a very involved project right now, but I don't want to let the blog idle while I'm doing it. So here's a very light sketch of something, uhm, "vaguely" nautical.

The Cartoon Grill!

2010-06-04T14:49:00.007-04:00

Amazing artist Jeff Spangler just started a new blog called "The Cartoon Grill" where he'll be venting his spleen via political cartooning. He's sharp and angry, so keep an eye on his blog!

VBSS part 2

2010-06-04T12:55:00.010-04:00

Joshua Keating's article on ship boarding in Foreign Policy magazine corrects some of my amateur observations on the practice from the previous post.

I also just had an email exchange with a good friend of mine who is a former Surface Warfare Officer (SWO), who's had real-world experience leading VBSS teams. I was planning on illustrating some of his comments but at the moment, time does not allow.

My thoughts on the Flotilla, Israel's defense policy and Hamas' strategy have evolved, but I don't have the time to get into it. Keep in mind, I do have a great deal of empathy for what the average Palestinian in Gaza has to endure, but I also understand and respect the concerns of the Israelis. Additionally, I have no love for Hamas. It's complicated. I've thought about avoiding the issue here but I can't- especially as the second Flotilla is currently nearing the Israeli naval blockade.

The above sketch is old. Apologies if I've posted it before. (and it's a SEAL attired for VBSS, which...is also ironic considering my last post...)

VBSS: There's a right way, a wrong way...

2010-06-02T20:44:00.030-04:00

...and the Israeli way...

I'm not a big fan of discussing Israel here on the blog (or in real life for that matter) but the "Peace Flotilla Disaster" has been weighing heavily on my mind for many reasons. Today I had the luxury of being able to read a bevvy of articles that ranged from micro to macro analyses...and in my opinion the best big picture analysis is George Friedman's at Stratfor. Even the pros down in the Beltway hold George Friedman in high esteem so it's worth checking out.

Aside from the big picture aspect, I had a conversation with a friend who knows a bit more about Naval traditions (i.e., blockades and boarding) than I do and I came to the conclusion that the Israeli Naval Commandos probably thought the protesters would scatter like mice if they came fast roping down onto the deck with lightening speed in the dark of the night, splattering paintballs in every direction.

So, I'll be an armchair quarterback, far removed from danger and say while I deeply respect the men of the special operations community, I think everyone would have been better served if the Israelis had saved the James Bond stuff and done their visit, board, search and seizure the unglamorous way, in daytime, from hull-side - much like regular American sailors do out in the Gulf of Aden and other hot spots almost every day. (Or, the Israelis could address some of the deeper, root causes of the Flotilla Fiasco, also saving some headaches...but that's a "land" conversation...and this blog is only about the "sea"...If only someone could remove Hamas from the equation...).

My sympathy for the people aboard the flotilla is nil mostly because they brought children and infants with them. That's unforgivable considering they were headed into the teeth of a naval blockade manned by a military with the stated policy and a track-record of using lethal force against similar provocations. However, let's drop the pretense. According to the US Department of the Treasury at least one of the groups who funded the Flotilla has ties to Hamas, so it's pretty clear why they put children aboard- and why they initiated this incident in the first place. It was a clever, blindingly obvious stratagem and the Israelis fell for it hook, line and sinker.

I'm tempted to say more (a lot more) but I'll leave it at that.

Memorial Day Edition: "Corpsman in Anguish"

2010-05-31T14:30:00.000-04:00

I found myself with a curious and oppressive lack of downtime this weekend, so I didn't get to spend nearly a fraction of the time I would have liked to on a Memorial Day piece.

As usual, but especially today, I was bothered by the concept of how to represent war in an illustration without glorifying it. As I was reflecting on this Catherine Leroy's iconic photo "Corpsman in Anguish" came to mind. When I was a young boy, I found this photo in a Life magazine in the attic and it had an incredible impact on me. Though my memory is faint (and probably colored by my current perceptions) I seem to recall that the image evoked a melancholy feeling. Now when I look the photo of HM/3 Vernon Wike bending over the formless mass of a fallen Marine I imagine he's thinking "What the FUCK!?!" And "WHY HIM?". The story about what Wike did next seems to justify my assumption.

So, on this day of days, please take a moment to contemplate the cost of war and those who serve. Let the endeavor of war never be something we enter into lightly.

ROK Steady

2010-05-27T17:38:00.008-04:00

Had a lot of time to kill at work today. Spent a lot of time all over the internets reading about the mounting tension between North Korea, South Korea and us. Pretty nerve wracking, but I'm sure that given our established pattern of dealing with DPRK violence (such as the US soldiers hacked to death in the "Tree Trimming Incident" of '76 and the downing of Korean Airlines Flight 007 among many others) which generally results in a lot of saber rattling, but no decisive action, this incident will probably end up much the same.

Why? Because we, and the international community are willing to let Kim Il Jong be a loose cannon in order to prevent a limited nuclear war in the region and keep Seoul in one piece. I'm sure in the highest corridors of power, the caluculus is something like, "So what if the North Koreans kill a few ROKs and/or US military personnel here and there- as long as the nukes don't start flying and those big artillery tubes don't turn Seoul into dust." I guess...it's a good trade off...until the North Korean regime (whether it's Kim, or his son "Brilliant Comrade") does something really really nuts, like giving a nuke to a Takfirist organization, or launching one on the South.

The two drawings above show a ROK sailor manning a port-side M-60 during a patrol of the South Korean maritime border. The other drawing is of a US 7th Fleet Aviation Boatswain's mate during helicopter flight operations.

I hope the situation stays stabilized, or that we figure something else out that creates a beneficial long term solution. (Or some mediation occurs...)

Noseriding

2010-05-26T19:37:00.002-04:00

Friends of the Cruiser Olympia

2010-05-24T17:57:00.003-04:00

The bloggers at the Navy Times "Scoop Deck" just did a post on the effort to save the USS Olympia. They provided a link to the Friends of the Cruiser Olympia who are running a grass-roots campaign to save the ship. When I get my next paycheck, I'm definitely sending them $25. I'd send more if I could, believe me.

If the plight of the ship moves you, please contribute (it's tax deductible). This is an amazingly well preserved 19th Century steel battleship and a very important piece of maritime history.

Old Salt Blog: Olympia May Be Sunk as Artifical Reef

2010-05-23T16:04:00.004-04:00

I just learned from The Old Salt Blog that the USS Olympia may be sunk to become an artificial reef because the Independence Seaport Museum can't find anyone to financially support much needed maintenance.

That's sad. That sucks. It's one of my favorite ships and I hope I can get to it before they sink it. Just look at that photo- that's one damn beautiful ship. What a shame.

USS AD-18: Tender Sailor and Banjo

2010-05-16T21:35:00.002-04:00

Even though I'm in the middle of a couple of big projects right now, I needed to do a little sketch tonight to bleed off some of that creative steam and get a quick fix of external validation. ;)

Today, as I was out and about, I saw a license plate that read "USS AD18". So of course I couldn't resist looking it up when I got home. The AD-18 or, USS Sierra was a Destroyer Tender that served from 1943 to 1993. That's a hell of a long time, wouldn't you agree? Being a "freshwater sailor", I don't know that much about the shelf life of Navy ships, but that seems pretty impressive.

As I was looking up photos of the Sierra, I found one with this sailor and a banjo, with a waterfront in the background that reminded me of New Jersey or Brooklyn. So, in lieu of working on my long term projects, I decided to bang this one out. I drew the gentleman next to our banjo player- but he didn't work out so well...(photo was dated 1959 btw).

Dirt Sailors: Seabees At Work

2010-05-14T18:31:00.017-04:00

I had a couple minutes in a room alone with a computer today at work, so I decided to do some sketching. Unfortunately, I didn't have a lot of time (I didn't want to completely wolf down my sandwich just to draw) so I didn't get as much "information" into this one as I would've liked.

Obviously, I'm still thinking about my Great Uncle (his funeral was well attended, poignant and appropriately funny). Given that he was (happily) surprised to hear that the unit was still active (understandably he didn't pay much attention to military stuff after he was discharged), I wonder what he would have thought if he knew the Seabees went coed...

Regardless, this is a portrait of a Seabee putting in some wiring in, in a new facility at Camp Krutke, the evolving Seabee camp adjacent to Camp Leatherneck. The Seabees are adding a lot of value to the COIN effort with local construction projects, so it's only natural that they're building their own digs in Helmand. (I do think it's interesting that they built the base for the Marines first...but I guess you can't have development if you don't have security first...). If you're interested in the efficacy of COIN in Afghanistan, take a look at this article. Now, I'm a hardcore COINdinista myself, but the leaked memo in that piece gave me a moment of pause. Anyways. It's a conversation for another day.

(Also, there's a great piece on Afghanistan here by a soldier/contractor who spent 6 1/2 years there. Scroll down to the contents and click on "Building Bridges". It will enlighten you as to the difficulty that anyone- especially our Seabees- have doing development/construction work in Afghanistan.)

Stay safe Seabees. Keep up the good work.

Our Bed is a Boat

2010-05-11T21:27:00.002-04:00

All dialogue guaranteed, 100% REAL. (allegedly).
(click for larger size!)

Marine Cafe Blog

2010-05-10T20:39:00.000-04:00

Barista Uno at the Marine Cafe Blog gave this site and my work a generous review today. If you're looking for maritime news and analysis with a focus on the Philippines, the Marine Cafe Blog is the place to go...Thanks Barista Uno!

Requiem for a Seabee

2010-05-10T19:50:00.025-04:00

My Great-Uncle, spinner of self-effacing, humorous tall tales passed away today after a long fight with the many complications that come with old age. The son of immigrants who (literally) escaped from Tsarist Russia, he was a WWII Seabee and Pacific Theater Vet, yet he was not a very Seabee-like Seabee: he wasn't good with his fists, didn't have a tattoo ("But I thought if I ever got one, it would be that Bee character!") and he avoided strong-drink and loose women.

However, he did have some very sailorly qualities:

He often made it a habit to hide from his Chief in order to find a safe, dry place to take a nap. He traded his beer and cigarette allotment that he didn't want for various and sundry items that he did. He also enthusiastically engaged in the thriving business of decorating combat knives for sailors who wanted to appear a little more salty.

Most importantly though, by crossing the Equator on his way to war he endured a centuries old ritual and was formally initiated into "the Mysteries of the Royal and Ancient Order of the Deep" earning the title of "Shellback". Some men serve for an entire career in the Navy and never earn that honor.

Though he wasn't one of those Seabees that went right in with the first wave, he did have a couple of close shaves (aside from those times where he was sniper-bait while constructing oil and water storage tanks):

Once, a newly minted Ensign "accidentally discharged" his shiny new .45 perilously close to Uncle Art's head. The terrified Ensign offered to do anything for Uncle Art as long as he didn't tell. Uncle Art said "I didn't really need anything, so who was I going to tell? What was he going to do for me, send me home?

Another time he was at the end of a dock made out of floating pontoon sections when he heard the unmistakable sound of a Betty. It quickly appeared and started strafing, making a run towards the ship being unloaded at the end of the dock. As Uncle Art was running for safety he said that he started thinking about a gap somewhere between two of the pontoons. "I couldn't remember where it was and then... I found it." He broke his leg, but fortunately that was the extent of his injuries.

And finally (in transit to somewhere) his C-47 transport plane lost an engine (and for a brief time, both of them- one on fire) and was forced to land on Peleliu. When exiting the plane he looked at the sweat-soaked pilot and said, "Boy, I'm glad I wasn't in your shoes!"...

As I sat with him at his nursing home over the last year or so we chewed the fat, he cracked a lot of "groaner" jokes and I became the recipient of many sea stories and assorted family gossip. He was one hell of a guy and I'll miss him.

Fair winds and following seas, Art.

Mother's Day Edition

2010-05-08T23:02:00.002-04:00

This is the card for my mother...

...and here's the one for my mother-in-law...

Marine Cafe Blog

2010-05-06T06:20:00.003-04:00

Recently I was having a discussion about sea literature with the proprietor of the Marine Cafe Blog which sparked this post about the dearth of maritime lit by Filipino writers, and the state of the Philippines maritime community and capabilities. The Marine Cafe Blog is a fascinating site which in their own words provides "analysis of global maritime trends with special focus on the Philippines". I encourage all of you to check out.

Thuong Nguyen: "Life is Difficult"

2010-05-04T20:32:00.003-04:00

One of the reasons I read a lot of sea literature- and why maritime history and culture is interesting to me in the first place- is because of the type of people who take to the sea. Generally, in any good sea story (real or imagined) there is adversity and a person who willingly or not, has to deal with it. This is a portrait of just such a person. Meet Thuong Nguyen, a man who's been through so much adversity he has "Life is Difficult" tattooed on his arm.

According to the article, Thoung escaped Communist Vietnam in a small boat "crammed with three dozen others for 11 days. Little water. Vomiting. People praying to Jesus and Buddha. You cannot imagine.". Upon reaching America he worked in a battery factory, migrated to Louisiana, worked with a relative as a shrimper and eventually saved enough to buy his own boat. Katrina wiped out his home (and what I find most poignant- destroyed irreplaceable family photos from Vietnam) but not his boat. He rebounded from Katrina, returned to shrimping and now of course, is at the mercy of the BP Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill which has put his livelihood on hold.

If all that doesn't make a compelling sea story, I don't know what does. If you haven't followed the first link in this post, go to the New York Times and read Thuong's story. To me, this disaster is yet another in a long running catalogue of environmental calamities that seem to lose their front page cachet too quickly. In a global context, it seems like a little thing to wish that hopefully the damage will be squared away and Thuong can get back out to sea as soon as possible.

Coldhauser of the USS Virgo

2010-04-25T21:09:00.001-04:00

I've really been dying to get back to the watercolors (oils, not so much) but fate conspired against me this weekend.

So, here's a portrait of a Korean War-era sailor named "Coldhauser". I wonder what he would think of today's digital camouflage working uniforms, fleece/gore-tex foul weather jackets and 8-point covers...

"Captain, it is I, Ensign Pulver, and I just threw your stinkin' palm tree overboard!"

2010-04-21T19:52:00.004-04:00

You'll never guess what. Go ahead. Guess. C'mon. G'head.
Yes! You got it! I found a website for the ship (the USS Virgo) that was the inspiration for Thomas Heggen's USS Reluctant of "Mister Roberts" fame! It's pretty incredible I think. Apparently the USS Virgo saw service until 1971 when it was decommissioned. If you haven't read the book, or seen the movie go run to your nearest bookstore or get it from the Netflix. Truly a great novel and a great film.

Anyways. I was poking around on the Virgo's crew photos section where I found some very cool unrep photos (check out the wooden deck!). I really wanted to do this as a watercolor- and I just might at some point- but I am seriously, seriously, under the weather (never get on an airplane with a head cold). So, even though even though I've been lolling around at home watching my favorite cartoon sailor battle triads, mad unsurrendered Tsarists and cossacks (Red and White) in Manchuria, I haven't had too much energy to do more than this pen sketch. I really want to get back to the watercolors or the oils, but ...I don't have the juice right now. So. Enjoy.

"Commence Refueling"

2010-04-11T19:29:00.012-04:00

Three adjectives currently define my oil painting: "tacky" (which can be taken more than one way), "dull", and "ashen".
I wanted to prove to myself that I could still draw and had some type of sense of color, so I whipped up this quick (and it was relatively quick) watercolor.

Since I still like what other people can do with oil paint, I'm not giving up- but right now, I'm very far from happy with what I can do.

What we have here in tonight's illustration is an Electrician's Mate signaling an aircraft carrier to commence refueling. I chose this guy because he doesn't look like he's having a great Navy day. ...and of course, I thought his demeanor was a good subject to paint and immortalize. (Source photo is from Navy.mil, btw).

Edit (04-12-10): Today The Scoop Deck posted a blog about the UNREP on the USS Freedom where I got my source photo from...

The Battleship Potemkin

2010-04-11T08:29:00.010-04:00

For those of you who haven't seen it, "The Battleship Potemkin" is the story of a Russo-Japanese War-era Russian Navy crew who mutinies after their officers attempt to punish them for not eating maggot infested provisions. One of the principal mutineers of the mutiny links their plight to the burgeoning political upheavals in Russia, exhorts them to rise up and...the action ensues. It's a true story- and as a side note, the last survivor of the crew lived to be over 100 and started a fish and chips chain in Ireland.

I chose this shot to illustrate because it was so striking. Towards the end of the film the Potemkin is met by a squadron of Russian ships sent to intercept it. The Potemkin and the squadron train their respective guns on each other and through signaling, the Potemkin attempts entreat their brother sailors to join them in revolution. The tension is extreme as the Potemkin begins to pass through the squadron, during which there is a shot of a sailor holding a scarred shell, ready to load it and commit fratricide. I won't spoil it (any more than I have), but it was a fascinating film- albeit one made solely for propaganda purposes. Stalin actually ordered the film to be shelved when he decided that he didn't want to be in the business of encouraging foreign navies to revolt.

Anyways. Great flick. If you want to see some Dreadnought-era battleship porn (the movie was filmed in 1925, the real Potemkin was "pre-Dreadnought"), I highly recommend it.

USS Olympia Destroyerman: Wet on Wet Action

2010-04-07T13:01:00.007-04:00

OMG. This thing is so saturated with safflower oil, I think I'm going to see a lot of old school cracking before this is over.

Had some issues with this baby this week. I had a revelation that real pea-coats aren't baby blue AND they're double breasted. I started sobbing inwardly at this epiphany, so I'm beginning some major reworking. You'll notice some distortion along the chest area where some buttons will go. And then all I have to do is make it look more like wool and less like an oil-skin.

Other than that...This medium is still frustrating to work with- and when I have time to paint, I rush in headlong instead of thinking about what I'm doing. I need to invest in a book or two. All those white bits you see in the photo is actually the glistening effect of the safflower oil. I should've done the whole thing with linseed oil which I hear is better for laying down layers of transparency. Oh well, the beat goes on.

I did figure out what I'm going to do with the background. A nice little map-outline of Arkhangelsk and the mouth of the Dvina River.

Other than that, Russophile week continues with a sketch I'll post later tonight regarding the "Battleship Potemkin", which if you haven't seen, offers some cool Dreadnought-era ship-porn. (The real Potemkin was a pre-Dreadnought, but I'm guessing the one in the movie is...)

Matlow and the Bolsheviks: Discarded Panel

2010-04-05T12:14:00.002-04:00

Here's a panel from "Matlow and the Bolsheviks" that I decided not to use. In the process of creating this comic I'm doing everything I'm not supposed to - i.e., doing things off the cuff without a lot of planning. Real comics are written first, laid out in thumbnails, and then taken to the drawing board. Obviously, I'm not following that very logical procedure- which is why it's not getting done. So, here's a piece that I did and decided...I didn't like it. Too boring. Poorly executed, etc. (But, I do like the dock hand).

USS Olympia Destroyerman

2010-04-01T19:49:00.011-04:00

I got some painting time in today. I need to block out more time to do paint- you know when you spend as much time cleaning your brushes as you do painting, something's gotta change.

So. Now that I had my underpainting done, I got into using some safflower oil to mix with the paint. I have to say I had some "happy accidents" and it's interesting stumbling through this learning process...but, I'm going to have to by a book or two because there's a lot to learn, obviously.

I didn't know what to do with the background- so in the middle of the night I thought, "Why don't you paint it in three stripes reflecting the current color scheme of the Oly?" That would be, red lead "red" (at the waterline), white (on the hull) and buff (on the upper parts of the architecture). After I did the red, I figured I'd hold it and let it sit before I add the buff stripe up top.

Long way to go on this baby, but I'm enjoying the process, frustrating as it is.

2 April, Update:

Today in Navy History

2010-04-01T08:12:00.006-04:00

Today in Navy history ...The rate of Chief Petty Officer (1893) and the US Naval Command in Vietnam (1966) were established. (Thank you US Navy Calendar). April Fools!!!!!!! These drawings have nothing to do with any of that. (And speaking of Vietnam I noticed I got a visitor from Hanoi!!!!!!!!!! Awesome! Attention visitors from far-flung places: Please leave a comment, even if it's just "Hello"!)

I didn't get a job this morning, so I'm killing some time before I attempt to put in some laps at a pool with blood warm water. These are some old sketches. The bearded sailor is from a collection of photos from the WWII-era USS West Virginia (after it had been rehabilitated, post- Pearl Harbor). Apparently the Captain allowed them to grow beards to foster a "Mountaineer" espirit de corps. (I love those old school deck jackets, btw). One of the other sketches might be a Marine, but that's "maritime" in my book. I'm definitely going to do some oil painting later today...Update on that will be forthcoming.

And...I also have to say that the April photo in the 2010 Jack Tar Calendar is much cooler than the one in the Naval Historical Society's. Just sayin'...

Cheonan: They Know

2010-03-28T05:02:00.003-04:00

Is it me, or is the lack of news coverage surrounding the sinking of the Cheonan a little unsettling. I mean...a South Korean naval vessel is sunk by a very mysterious explosion in contested waters and the story is buried in all major news outlets.

Of course, there's a practical reason to all of this. If South Korea makes it an "issue" the potential for the escalation of violence (that could consume the whole peninsula) is very real.

Once, a long, long time ago in an international affairs school far, far away, I found myself writing a scenario for the invasion of South Korea by the North as part of a midterm exam. One of my classmates was a former ROK Special Forces soldier with whom I was friendly.

"Kim," I said, "What would you do if you saw a whole bunch of DPRK soldiers coming south towards the DMZ?" His face lit up into wide smile, and he didn't hesitate to answer, "I would run."

The sketches above are of North Korean sailors patrolling near the South Korean border. The source photo was taken yesterday. I imagine that the guy mugging for the camera and the one smoking his cigarette warily looking at the photographer both exhibit the same kind of attitude: They know what happened to the Cheonan...

Let's hope this doesn't go nuclear. I'm with Robert Farley at Information Dissemination, I'm betting it's just going to be classified as an accident.

Oly Destroyeman Underpainting Part II

2010-03-20T19:47:00.002-04:00

I had a conversation today with a fellow artist who convinced me that given the nature of my job, I shouldn't count on having large blocks of time to do my work. So, I'm trying to work in increments. It's not satisfying, because when I start making art, I want to keep jamming until I'm burnt. (However, working in short bursts of time may stop me from overworking things.)

So, here we are. Session two of teaching myself how to work with oils. I could definitely use a mentor on this. I have very little clue as to what I'm doing. I'm using the oils like I'd use watercolor...(but then again, maybe I was using the watercolors more like opaque paints...). I have no idea how to use the glaze, liquin and safflower oil I bought to augment the paints. If I remember correctly, in college we only used the oil paints and turp.

And let me tell you...cleaning up after oil painting...that's 30 minutes right there...Oh well. I never promised myself a rose garden with this medium. I'm pretty happy with how it's shaping up- even though I've probably only put 45 minutes tops into this thing over 2 weeks. Time and money. That's all I need. Until either of those two things are fulfilled in abundance in my life, I'll just keep chipping away.

An Oly Destroyerman

2010-03-14T19:47:00.004-04:00

I've started my first oil painting since college. As my first subject, I decided to paint a sailor from a group photo of Destroyermen from the USS Olympia landing party that went ashore during the beginning of the North Russia Expedition. 50 sailors (and a couple officers) went on an incredibly complex mission to Archangel which I believe was to safeguard the Czech Legion. The Czechs had been allies of the Czar and were suddenly unwelcome (and trapped) in Russia after the October Revolution. Their story is actually very fascinating, as they criss-crossed Russia on trains trying to fight their way out.

So. I'm oil painting again. It's every bit as challenging as I remember it, especially in my ill-lit and unventilated basement. (Let's hear it for odorless turpentine, shall we?) We'll see how far I get.

Oh yeah! By the way, I was told that gCaptain was going to feature my Liberty Cuffs piece tomorrow on Maritime Monday. gCaptain is a fascinating and informative site (as well as Casco Bay Boaters) which you should make part of your daily maritime reading. Check 'em out!

Piloto Pardo: The Man Who Saved Shackleton's Crew

2010-03-10T05:51:00.005-05:00

I was recently reading "Tommorrow The World" (a novel in John Biggin's amazing series about a Flashman-like (but less cowardly) Naval officer (and sometimes aviator) of the Austro-Hungarian Empire) in which there is a sequence where the hero (as a stripling Naval cadet)and his shipmates are assisted in their navigation of the Drake Passage by a Chilean Naval pilot. So, of course, it got me thinking about how little I knew about Chilean maritime history and culture. With a little research, I found the amazing story of "Piloto Pardo", a Chilean Naval officer who successfully rescued Ernest Shackleton's crew, who were marooned on Elephant island at the northern tip of the Antarctic Peninsula. A fascinating story which you can read here.

From the Vaults: The Sub and the Skipper

2010-03-09T06:12:00.003-05:00

Here's another oldie. A sketchy figment from some half-baked story idea floating around in my head while reading about submarines in the Cold War, or subs and merchant shipping in WWI. I must've been reading "Blind Man's Bluff" judging from the fairwater planes on the sail- but then there's a deck gun I can't explain...hmmm...Maybe I was reading "A Sailor of Austria". Who knows.

Coastie or Navy?

2010-03-02T21:11:00.002-05:00

I drew this from a photo of a joint VBSS team composed of Coast Guard and Navy personnel. The Navy guys are from the cruiser USS Chosin and the Coast Guard sailors are from the Maritime Safety and Security Team. (I have no idea which service the sailor driving the boat is in.) They're in the Gulf of Aden hunting pirates...truly an occupation as old as seaborne commerce.

Anyone have $30 Million I can borrow?

2010-03-01T06:10:00.005-05:00

...I'll pay it back after I take care of my student loans.

... ...

....But, on a serious note, one of the beloved heroes of my never-to-be-finished "Matlow v. The Bolsheviks", the USS Olympia, is going on sale. Apparently Philly's Independence Seaport Museum can no longer afford to maintain her. Article is here. I can't imagine that the ship that fired the first shots in the Battle of Manila Bay (not to mention that they landed the first American combat troops on Soviet soil) will be going to the ship-breakers yard...but you never know. If you're reading this and have the liquidity to save her, PONY UP ALREADY. I guess this means the Wife and I are going on a road-trip to Philly sooner than expected...

Liberty Cuffs

2010-02-26T16:33:00.004-05:00

Recently someone requested I do an illustration of "Liberty Cuffs", an old school Navy tradition where sailors had handmade patches sewn inside the cuffs of their jumpers. SCPO Daniel D. Smith's article on "Liberty Cuffs" can give you a full rundown on the history of this sartorial practice. Navy uniform threads on Military.Com and the US Militaria Forum have some personal photos of Liberty Cuffs and anecdotes about getting and wearing them by real, gen-u-ine sailors.

For these cuffs I decided to illustrate the submarine warfare badge (because it's so cool) and a mermaid (how could I not)...I also tried to paint in red and green stitching on the wearer's port and starboard sleeves to mimic running lights. Didn't work out so well, but I know what I'd do different next time.

(And for those of you visiting for around the country and around the world, don't be shy and leave a comment! Thanks for stopping by.)

EDIT 050411: Signed giclee prints of this image are available! Drop me a line at coldisthesea09@yahoo.com to inquire!

From the Vaults: More from the Surf Craze of Aught-Seven

2010-02-26T06:11:00.000-05:00

I've been working like a dog all week so I can have time to draw and paint on Sunday...We'll see...here's another oldie.

From the Vaults: The Adventures of Bud Dry

2010-02-25T06:04:00.000-05:00

You know, all of this working for a living crap, sucks.
I'd really like to do some art again...However, in lieu of such an opportunity (and until I win the lottery) I present you with a vaguely maritime themed comic I did some years ago for a friend. It would take too long to explain as I have to run off to work. It's not meant to make sense outside of it's context- so don't worry if you don't get it. There are surfboards in the next scene...if I could only find it...

From the Vaults: Surfing is sort of Maritime, no?

2010-02-23T21:03:00.000-05:00

Work has been kicking my ass, and I really haven't had enough juice to get into any drawing in the last few days. BUT, I did just drop some major coinage on some oil paints, so LOOK OUT, maybe in about 6 months maybe you'll see a real painting. Maybe.

This one is an oldie. I was really into drawing from surfing magazines there for a while there. Maybe tomorrow I'll post some of my short lived, comic-book-femme-fatale-surfing-spy "Swedish Kay". Good stuff.

Holystoning

2010-02-16T21:00:00.002-05:00

Often when I drift off into a Walter Mitty-like reverie about putting to sea, holystoning is not something I fantasize about. That gig must've SUCKED. Seriously. When looking for holystoning pictures, I found some as recent as 1965. Far out man. For some strange reason (maybe "sloth"), I left the pencils in on this one.

Bosun's Mate: Pitching In

2010-02-14T05:48:00.002-05:00

I think my art hiatus is over. Ater that last painting I just felt drained- and, my responsibilities at work have cranked up a little so there's no time to draw during the day (aw, boo-hoo, I know. I hear tiny violins playing, etc.) and when I get home I'm just bushed.

This was a sketch I did during the US Navy's humanitarian aid operation to Haiti. I know the Carl Vinson has left the area, but I don't know who's left on station, or what shape American aid is currently taking in a situation that by all accounts is worsening. Here's an interesting article on why foreign development aid to Haiti fails to do what it's supposed to. It was written well before the earthquake. It's from the the Nitze international affairs school at Johns Hopkins, so I consider it to be quality thinking on the matter.

This is an Aviation Bosun's Mate, clearing debris somewhere in Haiti. I tried to get a little more abstract with the figure this time. The crinkling on the paper was an unfortunate accident I caused while erasing...

Cold is the Sea Ship's Chandlery

2010-02-07T14:47:00.017-05:00

Due to popular demand, I've opened up a store at Cafe Press. I'm also trying to open one up on Zazzle because I really like those t-shirts- but it's hard manipulating an image for use on their products. I'm going to keep working at it though. (I'm a fan of Zazzle products). But in the meantime, here's my Cafe Press store: http://www.cafepress.com/coldisthesea. Don't forget to order a beer stein and undies with your order. (The beer stein's are very cool- I have one from another project and use it regularly...) Here's the original image, by the way.

Please take some time to stroll through my site and give me your two cents about what images you'd like to see offered on apparel, better venues than Cafe Press, etc. This is a work in progress.

Here's the Zazzle Store- http://bit.ly/JollyJackTarTeeOpaque needs some tweaking. I'm having a hard time with the contrast here...Not a very user-friendly interface. But you get more options with Zazzle including American Apparel tees. I'm guessing the contrast is off in the image because they manipulate it to fit on the contours of the model's shirt. (This is getting way too "Rene Magritte" for me to process...)

Haiti Doc

2010-01-20T20:19:00.020-05:00

What drew me to the source photo for this image was the physical tension on this Corpsman's brow. If you look closely at the source photo, you can see all sorts of muscles straining on her forehead.

Obviously, I don't know anything about this Corpsman. Maybe she looks like that all the time. However, since she's on Haiti, I'm going to guess that hers is a look of pure concentration, strain, sorrow or all three. It must be very difficult to keep a cheerful mien when you're helping a dehydrated child sip water after a disaster of the magnitude that recently occurred in Haiti. Additionally, how many people has she already tended to? When was the last time she slept? etc. A situation like that has to take its toll.

Having read a book or two in my time about America and Haiti, (The Immaculate Invasion, Mars Learning, The Savage Wars of Peace and The White King of La Gonave) I have to say that despite the contentious relationship between the US military and the Haitian people for the last 100+ years, at least we're there now doing some good, necessary work. How long we'll stay, or how much good we'll do in the long run remains to be seen. In my opinion, I'm sure we'll do as much as we can, given that having a destabilized country in chaos to our south isn't an attractive prospect, especially with the current international security milieu (how long do you think it will take for criminal elements in Haiti to start shaking down passing maritime traffic a la the Somalis? I'm sure the Coast Guard and Navy have a handle on that, otherwise I'm sure they would've tried it by now).

But, what do I know. Time will tell.

Meanwhile, check this out:

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

I saw this linked on the excellent Casco Bay Boaters Blog, which is one of my daily reads.

Also, here are a couple of essays on humanitarian assistance/disaster relief operations from the Small Wars Journal. The author has an extensive background from the military side of things: Some Advice for Military Humanitarians and Don’t Call it CMOC.

Stick a Fork in It...

2010-01-20T14:37:00.010-05:00

...I'm done. It's been a great learning experience though. Haven't done anything like this in years. (Click on the image for full size).

The ideas for the tattoo of the sextant and the turtle (a Galapagos) seemed better in the conception stage than after their execution. The bowsprit of course is a little "erect", but...let's chalk that up to a crappy tattooist. There are about a million other things I could pick at, but, I won't. (Maybe someday I'll get that Kraken tattoo for myself...)

Don't forget to check out Jack Tar Online Magazine...

The Illustration that Wouldn't Die: Almost There

2010-01-16T11:01:00.001-05:00

I decided to add a tattoo of a Kraken devouring a Spanish galleon.
The eyes have become a major problem on this one and I'm almost at the point where I think the painting can't be salvaged. The placement of the eyes looked fine when I drew it, but now are so off balance with each other and asymmetric- I can't even look at this painting. I'll try and figure something out.

The Bosun Mate's Coffee

2010-01-09T17:47:00.003-05:00

This is the latest addition to my Bosun's Mate's series. When looking at the source photo for this sketch, you see an UNREP being conducted with three ships. This is a very complicated maneuver in which mistakes can cost people their lives or seriously damage the ships. The Deck Division guys in the photo seem very alert, maybe even tense- but totally focused on the ship next to them. As I was looking at the photo, my eye wandered and picked up an incongruous shape on the gun mount. It was barely noticeable at first, but when I saw it I couldn't help but laugh. It was probably one of the most important weapon components on a naval vessel...a stainless steel coffee travel mug. Recently I was reading Robert Kaplan's "Hog Pilots and Blue Water Grunts" in which he interviewed a Chief on a destroyer who said something to the effect of, "In the Age of Sail the Navy used to give sailors free rum. Now it's free coffee.". Well. if our Navy runs on coffee, I suppose it's best that they keep it on hand everywhere.

The Illustration that Won't Die

2010-01-09T17:18:00.001-05:00

Boy, I can't wait until I can sit down and just finish this baby. The time is coming soon. For some reason, I have a serious mental block about completing work...But I'm an artist, so I'm allowed some neurotic eccentricities.
Anyhow. This is the first time in years I've sat down to do watercolors like this. It's been a difficult experience relearning how to do this stuff.

The Heaving Line

2009-12-31T14:57:00.001-05:00

Yet another in a series of Boatswain's Mates. Here a Bosun's Mate throws a heaving line to the pier beside his ship. Quickie sketch.

Hong Kong Liberty and The Purpose of Sketchblogging

2009-12-30T10:48:00.007-05:00

This is a sketch I did a few weeks ago during a particularly slow day at work. My source material came from somewhere on the USS Franklin Delano Roosevelt (CVB-42/CVA-42/CV-42) website which has a great trove of photos. These guys were on liberty in Hong Kong, and must've been posing on Victoria Peak overlooking the harbor, or bay. (Hard to tell from my drawing...). Having visited Hong Kong, I can't imagine it being cold enough there at any time of the year for peacoats and gloves. But, then again, I was only there in the summer.

Anyways. I recently read a review on Peter Kuper's Diario de Oaxaca by Brian Heater on The Daily Cross Hatch and he wrote a pretty good explanation of what a sketchbook is- which also explains my idea behind keeping this blog:

"A sketchbook is a secret thing, a collection of unfinished and often times abandoned ideas never intended for public consumption—at least not in their current state. It’s a private space for honing one’s craft and workshopping, separating good ideas from those best left unexplored"

Obviously, the major difference, is that I'm putting my sketchbook out in "public", because honestly, it makes me more productive knowing that someone, somewhere is cognizant of it. I start to think "What is everyone else seeing in this?" and it helps with my own introspective constructive criticism. So, that's the idea behind this sketch blog. Just FYI.

Gunner's Mate 1919

2009-12-30T07:50:00.002-05:00

This is a Gunner's Mate standing next to his 6 inch gun aboard the USS Powhatan in 1919. Certainly a good model for my Matlow vs. The Bolsheviks project. I've noticed a precipitous decline in the quality of my sketches the earlier in the day that I do them. My afternoon sketches are definitely better than my pre-dawn work. Excuses, excuses. Just another muscle to build.

Dirt Sailors: Hearts and Minds

2009-12-29T06:31:00.002-05:00

In this quickie sketch, a Navy doctor is administering aid to a Pashtun local deep in the much contested Helmand Province of Afghanistan. Something, I suspect forward deployed Navy doctors have been doing since time immemorial. Cross posted at "In Every Clime and Place".

Chipping Paint Pt. 2

2009-12-28T07:04:00.003-05:00

Another quickie for today. I figured I'd make a drawing of chipping paint in the era before portable power sanders. Not that the work seems to suck any less. This is from a photo taken aboard the USS Bayfield in 1954. I was familiar with the practice of allowing locals on the Asiatic Station to help out with shipboard duties up to WWII ("The Sand Pebbles" being my main source of reference here), but was unaware the practice continued after the war. If anyone knows of any memoirs by sailors deployed to WESTPAC (especially with visits to Vietnam) in the 1950's, please let me know. They would make an interesting read.

Chipping Paint

2009-12-26T07:27:00.001-05:00

Quick one for today. This sailor is removing paint on the USS Blue Ridge while underway.

Greasing the Catapult Bolts

2009-12-25T10:01:00.000-05:00

I think painting in a background here obscured some nice, delicate, subtle linework. Oh well. Something to work on next time.

Merry Christmas Sailor

2009-12-24T20:24:00.002-05:00

Somewhere out on the Pacific Ocean an Aviation Boatswain's Mate is securing the flight deck for the day and thinking, "You know, I've had more fun on Christmas Eve...". Regardless, we here at Cold is the Sea thank her for her service to her country.

Conrad's Eyes

2009-12-17T19:01:00.006-05:00

I've been feeling like reading some Conrad again. Back in high school I found Conrad difficult to get through, but I'm in the mood for something challenging. So, with Conrad on the brain, I decided to experiment with some inking techniques on a portrait. It didn't go so well...and was about as far from what I conceived as you can get, but getting back into this art thing is a process of evolution.

Update 12/30/09: Now that I've had a few years to accrue more knowledge of the context and time in which it was set, I'm enjoying "Lord Jim" quite a bit. (It's much funnier than I remember...)