Slushing the Topping Wires

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!

 

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.)

Brown Water Navy: A Chief

 

He looks really mad.

Brown Water Sailor

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

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

 

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!

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

 

ROK Steady

 

 

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

 

Friends of the Cruiser Olympia

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

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

 

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

 

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

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

Marine Cafe Blog

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

 

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

This is the card for my mother...



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

Marine Cafe Blog

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"

 

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

 

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!"

 

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"

 

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

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.

Matlow and the Bolsheviks: Discarded Panel

 

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).