http://gcaptain.com/pirates-of-the-caribbean-tall-ship-sinks-off-st-lucia/



An iconic two-masted, square-rigged tall ship famously featured in the Pirates of the Caribbean movies has sunk off St. Lucia.

According to reports, the TS Brig Unicorn sank early Saturday morning as it sailed from St. Lucia to St. Vincent & the Grenadines for dry docking, a short journey of about 18 miles.

St. Lucia Times reports that the ship sank within a matter of minutes of first taking on water. So far there is no official determination as to the cause of her sinking.

All 10 crew members including the captain abandoned ship and were rescued by the St. Vincent & the Grenadines coast guard some time later. No injuries were reported.

In an interview with the St. Lucia Times, a spokesman for the St. Vincent & the Grenadines coast guard said the ship had already sunk upon their arrival at the scene.

The 138-foot long Brig Unicorn was built in the late 1940’s in Finland. The ship was featured in at least three of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies (although not as the Black Pearl), as well as in the 1970’s TV series Roots.
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http://gcaptain.com/shipyard-personnel-freed-fire-axe-10m-motor-yacht-capsizes-launch-images/

The 85-foot expedition style motor yacht Bäden took two and a half years to build in meticulous detail, but it was all for nothing as she capsized and sank last Sunday night after being launching at Northern Marine Industries in Anacortes, Washington.

Reports indicate there were four or possibly five shipyard personnel on board the vessel at the time of the incident who became trapped on board as the vessel rolled over. They were subsequently rescued through a portlight after breaking it with a fire axe.

Roddan Engineering, a firm which had been engaged “to review build progress, track weight and prepare an Intact Stability analysis” notes in a letter dated 19 July 2013 that the vessel was “lighter than other Northern Marine builds of similar length, thus requiring more ballast to sit on a desired waterline.” The firm recommended “that partial ballasting be done currently, with final ballasting for trim and desired waterline to be performed at launch.”

What exactly occurred during and after launch however, is still unclear.

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http://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/2014/05/18/odd-news-general-motors-banned-words/9262367/

DETROIT – What do the words "safety," "chaotic" and "problem" have in common?

They're all on General Motors' list of banned words for employees who were documenting potential safety issues.

The revelation of the 68-word list is one of the odder twists in GM's ongoing recall of 2.6 million older-model small cars for defective ignition switches.

On May 16, the U.S. government slapped GM with a $35 million fine for failing to report the deadly defect for more than a decade. The government also released a 2008 GM training document that includes the list and warns employees to stick to the facts and not use language that could hurt the company down the road.

The word "defect," for example, "can be regarded as a legal admission" and should be avoided, the company document says.
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August 26, 1953. Summary from the Paley Center: "In this edition, Bill Downs and Edward P. Morgan, both of CBS news, interview U.S. stateswoman and former first lady Eleanor Roosevelt. Topics discussed in this program include the following: foreigners' attitudes toward Americans and the basis for these attitudes; reasons for America's suspicion of the United Nations and the world's expectations of the UN; Secretary of State John Foster Dulles's recent remarks regarding the UN charter; the Security Council veto; defining "liberal" and the Liberal movement; and how to prepare oneself for life during a Cold War. Includes a Longines commercial for Wittnauer watches.

http://www.cnn.com/2014/05/09/us/penny-for-an-aircraft-carrier/

(CNN) -- For the second time in two years, the U.S. Navy is parting with one of its aircraft carriers for a penny.

The Navy announced Thursday it's paying ESCO Marine of Brownsville, Texas, one cent to take the former USS Saratoga off its hands for dismantling and recycling.

The warship was decommissioned in 1994. It is now at Naval Station Newport in Rhode Island and is expected to be towed to Texas in the summer, the Navy said.

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The Saratoga will follow the former USS Forrestal to dismantling in Texas. That ship was towed to All Star Metals of Brownsville earlier this year, with the Navy paying a penny to the ship recycler under a contract awarded last October.

The recyclers make money from selling the metal they salvage from the warships.

A third carrier, the former USS Constellation, is expected to meet a similar fate soon, according to a Navy statement.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pullman_Strike


Striking American Railway Union members confront Illinois National Guard troops in Chicago during the Pullman Strike

The Pullman Strike was a nationwide railroad strike in the United States in the summer of 1894. It pitted the American Railway Union (ARU) against the Pullman Company, the main railroads, and the federal government of the United States under President Grover Cleveland. The strike and boycott shut down much of the nation's freight and passenger traffic west of Detroit, Michigan. The conflict began in Pullman, Chicago, on May 11 when nearly 4,000 factory employees of the Pullman Company began a wildcat strike in response to recent reductions in wages.

Most factory workers who built Pullman cars lived in the "company town" of Pullman on the South Side of Chicago, Illinois. The industrialist George Pullman had designed it ostensibly as a model community.

When his company laid off workers and lowered wages, it did not reduce rents, and the workers called for a strike. They had not formed a union. Founded in 1893 by Eugene V. Debs, the ARU was an organization of unskilled railroad workers. Debs brought in ARU organizers to Pullman and signed up many of the disgruntled factory workers. When the Pullman Company refused recognition of the ARU or any negotiations, ARU called a strike against the factory, but it showed no sign of success. To win the strike, Debs decided to stop the movement of Pullman cars on railroads. The over-the-rail Pullman employees (such as conductors and porters) did not go on strike.

Debs and the ARU called a massive boycott against all trains that carried a Pullman car. It affected most rail lines west of Detroit and at its peak involved some 250,000 workers in 27 states. The Railroad brotherhoods and the American Federation of Labor (AFL) opposed the boycott, and the General Managers Association of the railroads coordinated the opposition. Thirty people were killed in response to riots and sabotage that caused $80 million in damages. The federal government secured a federal court injunction against the union, Debs, and the top leaders, ordering them to stop interfering with trains that carried mail cars. After the strikers refused, President Grover Cleveland ordered in the Army to stop the strikers from obstructing the trains. Violence broke out in many cities, and the strike collapsed. Defended by a team including Clarence Darrow, Debs was convicted of violating a court order and sentenced to prison; the ARU dissolved.