Search

This paper calls for a maritime turn in critical heritage theory. Drawing on recent work on ocean and maritime ontologies, it takes up the idea of the 'ocean in excess' to argue for a maritime imagination that overcomes the separation of land from water, culture from nature. The paper begins by sketching out the terracentric norms that have come to underpin critical theory around cultural heritage. From there, recent insights on ocean ontologies are cited to show how they can open up new ways of thinking about existing strands of critical heritage work. The second half of the paper turns to the issue of ocean governance and the complex politics that arise from competing ontologies. This provides the foundation for a discussion of the transoceanic heritage discourses that are now emerging, as countries seek regional, come global influence in world affairs. Understanding these and other developments requires moving beyond the earthly, such that we more robustly engage with a multivalent heritage politics that operates across air, water and land. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In large-scale naval battles during World War II, sailors sometimes sustained serious lower limb injuries when explosion blast of sea mines was transmitted from underneath through the metal deck of the ships. Some of these sailors were thrown in the air due to the blast and sustained axial trauma of the spine when they landed on the hard deck, which was thus called a deck slap by Captain Joseph Barr in 1946, among others. Nowadays, this peculiar mechanism has shifted to the civilian setting. Tourists unaware of the danger may sustain spine compression fractures when they sit at the bow of speed boats while underway on a calm sea. When the craft unexpectedly crosses the wake of another ship, tourists are thrown a few feet in the air before suffering a hard landing on their buttocks. This historical vignette is presented as a preventive message to help to reduce this poorly known yet avoidable "summer wave of vertebral fractures." [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We studied the migration of Magellanic penguins near the southern tip of the breeding distribution, and for the first time found evidence of partial migration for this species within the same colony. Forty‐three percent of the penguins studied stayed within ~ 290 km of the colony (residents), while others went northwards as far as 2000 km. All penguins spent the same amount of time at sea and traveled similar total distances, but residents experienced colder waters (2°C lower) and habitats with lower Chlorophyll‐a concentrations than migrants. The two habitats are inhabited by different prey items, consequently offering the penguins distinct prey options. We have shown high variability in the non‐breeding dispersion behavior of Magellanic penguins within the same colony; nonetheless, further research is required to understand the proximate and ultimate causes, and the consequences, of this behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Visits to the palace of the sea god are a recurring theme in premodern Japanese narratives, and comparing these stories across time periods reveals shifting perceptions of the supernatural world. The earliest sources for narratives of travel to the palace of the sea god in Japan date from the eighth century, most notably in the stories of Luck of the Mountain and Urashima Tarō. In these stories, the descriptions of the sea god's palace, the relationship of the sea god to the natural world, and even the location of the palace were tied to eighth-century understandings of kingship, weather, and geography. Later adaptations of these stories incorporate features of Buddhist geography, Chinese architecture, Buddhist narrative motifs, and even an alternative vision of supernatural time. These alterations occurred because the eighth-century narratives required adaptation to fit a new political, social, and religious reality. This comparison demonstrates that our vision of the supernatural world is inextricably tied to our understanding of the natural. When our fundamental grasp of the nature of reality changes, our imagination of the supernatural transforms in turn. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Group-living animals must coordinate their behaviour to maintain group cohesion. Therefore, documenting when and how wild animals coordinate their behaviour in groups is important for inferring the cost of collective behaviour. However, previous field studies focused on certain species exhibiting strong social relationships, and limited information is available on species that form fluid groups, which may show different behavioural coordination. Here, using biologging, we examined the stability and mechanism of group cohesion in Adélie penguins, Pygoscelis adeliae , travelling on sea ice. GPS tracking showed that two or three birds in each of three groups departed the colony at the same time, travelled together for several hours and reached the ice edge simultaneously. In all groups, penguins achieved a consensus on travelling speed, maintaining group cohesion until reaching the ice edge. We collected records of three-axis acceleration for a group of three birds, which allowed us to classify their behaviours (resting, walking or tobogganing) and examine behavioural coordination among the group members in detail. Two possible mechanisms of synchronous travelling were speculated. First, the group members match their timing of resting, suggesting that the onset of resting of an individual is followed by that of the others. Second, locomotion modes (walking/tobogganing) and locomotion speed in each mode while travelling in groups differ between individuals. To maintain group cohesion, penguins may adjust either the speed in each locomotion mode or the proportional use of the locomotion mode to match the overall travelling speed. Additionally, the tracked penguins alternated their relative spatial positions and the order of synchronous resting initiation, suggesting mutual social influences. Overall, Adélie penguins actively maintain group cohesion with occasional members by mutually coordinating their behaviours while travelling in groups on sea ice. • The process of behavioural coordination affects the cost of collective behaviour. • We used biologgers to study the collective behaviour of travelling Adélie penguins. • Penguins maintained their group cohesion by regulating their speed with each other. • Movement speed was adjusted by coordinating rest timings and locomotion mode. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Diel vertical migration (DVM) is a widespread phenomenon in aquatic environments. The primary hypothesis explaining DVM is the predation‐avoidance hypothesis, which suggests that zooplankton migrate to deeper waters to avoid detection during daylight. Copepods are the predominant mesozooplankton undergoing these migrations; however, they display massive morphological variation. Visual risk also depends on a copepod's morphology. In this study, we investigate hypotheses related to morphology and DVM: (H1) as size increases visual risk, increases in body size will increase DVM magnitude and (H2) if copepod transparency can reduce visual risk, increases in transparency will reduce DVM magnitude. In situ copepod images were collected across several cruises in the Sargasso Sea using an Underwater Vision Profiler 5. Copepod morphology was characterized from these images and a dimension reduction approach. Although in situ imaging offers challenges for quantifying mesozooplankton behavior, we introduce a robust method for quantifying DVM. The results show a clear relationship in which larger copepods have a larger DVM signal. Darker copepods also have a larger DVM signal, however, only among the largest group of copepods and not smaller ones. These findings highlight the complexity of copepod morphology and DVM behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents the results of comprehensive studies of the hydrological and chemical structure of the Middle and Northern Caspian Sea carried out aboard R/V Issledovatel Kaspiya in September 2022. It is shown, despite the continuing decrease in sea level, that there is no aeration of deep layers and a hydrogen sulfide layer persists with a tendency towards an increasing hydrogen sulfide concentration in the bottom layer. There is an enlargement in the oxygen minimum zone. The changes of the Caspian Sea ecosystem have led to weakening of nutrient transfer from the photic layer into the bottom layers and, as a consequence, to a decrease in the silicon concentration in the bottom layer. The results will make it possible to evaluate trends of ongoing changes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The idea that the sea is a dangerous and alien element in which one is at the mercy of higher powers, is deeply imbedded in Mediterranean culture, and has many parallels in Greek and Roman literature. From an Epicurean point of view, however, such higher powers belong to the realm of irrational beliefs which could threaten one's ἀταραξία ('peace of mind'). What counts in Epicureanism is the rational calculus of all factors in order to minimize the influence of τύχη ('chance') on one's endeavours. This article explores how the Epicureans thought about the sea and its many dangers. It tries to establish under which circumstances the sage will travel by sea and gives special attention to Diogenes of Oenoanda's letter (fr. 71 + NF 214 + fr. 72 + fr. 70) about the shipwreck of Niceratus and his friends' failure to minimize the agency of chance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents the results of applying the a probing complex for recording particles with a study of discovery of an assemblage of euphausiids in the bottom water layer in the Stepovogo Bay in the Kara Sea during cruise 85 of the R/V Akademik Mstislav Keldysh in September 2021. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carbonate nodules were recovered by gravity coring during a complex research expedition conducted in the Sea of Japan aboard the R/V Akademik Oparin (cruise 61), which were identified as pseudomorphs after ikaite (glendonite). This article presents the results of electron-probe analysis and tomography studies of authigenic carbonates and describes gas-geochemical features of host sediments along the continental slope of the Sea of Japan and in the Tatar Strait. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Brief results of oceanological studies in the south-eastern Baltic Sea and Gulf of Finland on cruise 54 of the R/V Akademik Sergey Vavilov (2022) are presented. Hydrological, hydro- and geochemical, hydrobiological, geoecological, geological, and geophysical studies were carried out. New data on the state and dynamics of the Baltic Sea natural complexes under conditions of increasing anthropogenic pressure and climate change were obtained. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines Claude McKay's 1928 journey to Africa under colonial occupation and uncovers how these true events partly inspired his late work of expatriate fiction, Romance inMarseille. By bringing togethermigration studies with literary history, the article challenges and expands existing research that suggests thatMcKay'swritings register the impulse for a nomadic wandering away from oppressive forms of identity control set up in the wake of World War I. The article contends that Claude McKay's renegade cast of "bad nationalist" characters registers a generative tension between the imperial national forms the author encountered in North Africa and the Black nationalist vision of Marcus Garvey's Back-to-Africa campaign. Reading the dialectics of bad nationalisms and Black internationalisms, the article explores how the utopian promise for Black liberation by returning back to Africa, central to the New Negro project of Black advancement, frequently becomes entangled in McKay's transnational stowaway fiction with conflicting calls for reparations, liabilities, and shipping damages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the 2022 R/V cruises in the Yellow Sea, four goby specimens (51.2-63.5 mm) were captured by using an Agassiz trawl at a water depth of about 70 meters. These specimens were identified as Suruga fundicola, mainly by the morphometric characters. Their identification was further confirmed by a molecular phylogenetic analysis based on 12S and COI mtDNA genes. Considering that the four specimens were in good condition and that the original description is brief, a detailed description of the specimens is given. Moreover, the present study presents a preliminary analysis of its phylogenetic position within the Acanthogobius-lineage (Gobiidae). The discovery of this goby in the Yellow Sea enriches our knowledge of the fish diversity and distribution of this region, and sheds some light on the ecological habitat of these gobies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study is to provide an overview of the level of competence of crossing crews in Eastern Indonesia in terms of the fulfillment of CMT and CMHBT Certificates as required by STCW Chapter V Regulation V / 2. This research is a type of Normative Research carried out for approximately 8 months on ships operating on the Sheet-Padangbai, Gilimanuk-Ketapang and Bajoe-Kolaka trajectories with a Judgement Sampling system. The data used is in the form of qualitative data based on the results of a survey of the completeness of CMT and CMHBT certificates from the Crossing Ship Crew. The results of this study found that the competence of Crossing Crew in Eastern Indonesia in terms of compliance with CMT and CMHBT Certificates used as research variables was above 80% of the number of crew surveyed. However, the study also found that there was a misperception regarding the obligation to fulfill the CMT certificate required for all crossing crew and the CMHBT certificate which should only be required for the Skipper, Head of the Engine Room, Mualim I, Driver II and other personnel who fit the Muster List on board passenger ships and Roro-passengers are responsible for passenger safety in emergency situations, which in this case is the officer of the ship. In fact, in the field, CMHBT certificates have also been fulfilled by crew members who are not officers. This does not meet the efficiency aspect in the application of shipping safety or safety. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the most important elements that characterizes the modern age is leaving behind the traditional life forms with the ideal of progress. While the traditional way of life was woven with the perception of the metaphysical world, the determinant of modern life shifted towards a materialistic world perception. This situation is reflected in literary works. Herman Melville, one of the famous writers of American literature, approaches the existential and epistemological questions that individuals experience on the axis of the perception of the metaphysical and materialistic world, and by shaping the space of conflict stemming from the two perceptions around the theme of sea travel, he processes the mental transformation of modern American individual in his novel Moby Dick (1851). Similarly, İhsan Oktay Anar, who is known for his postmodern novels in Turkish literature, also dealt with Turkish modernization as a mental transformation around a sea voyage in his novel Tiamat (2022) and discusses the doubt arising from the tension between the perception of the metaphysical and materialistic world in his work. Within the scope of this study, Melville's Moby Dick and Anar's Tiamat are examined and compared with the qualitative research method. The purpose of choosing this method is to compare the perception of the metaphysical and materialistic world in Moby Dick and Tiamat through the sea voyage theme and characters, and to argue that the suspicion and tension caused by both perceptions sheds light on the modernization experience of American and Turkish individuals. Thus, the similar and different modernization experiences are revealed within the framework of their own social and cultural dynamics, along with the tension between the perception of the sacred and profane world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

New economic criticism has refined our understanding of Shakespeare's engagement with received notions of the gift. Scholars such as Dan Brayton and Steven Mentz have recently vindicated a Shakespearean thalassology reflecting an "oceanic turn" that transformed early modern cartographies and gave rise to new poetic geographies. However, the link existing in the plays between a gift economy of transcendental values and the discovery of the global ocean has not been fully recognised. This article centres on the representation of gold in order to show how evocations of transoceanic voyaging serve to articulate a conception of limitless wealth that underpins Shakespearean discourses of infinite offering and generosity, in particular those of Petrarchan love and divine redemption. It argues that the enactment of the imaginative impact of New World gold is central to Shakespeare's exploration of the value of gift in a culture increasingly governed by the calculating logic of the market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On cruise 61 of the R/V Akademik Ioffe (June 28–July 12, 2022), a comprehensive oceanographic survey was carried out in the Russian sectors of the Southeastern Baltic Sea and Gulf of Finland. In conditions of long-term absence of Major inflows of North Sea water, hypoxia and anoxia continue to develop in deep waters. In the eastern part of the Gdansk Deep, a contourite drift was identified for the first time, formed during the Littorina phase of the Baltic Sea. Together with Kant Baltic Federal University, an integrated study was carried out on the offshore site of the Carbon Supersite 'Rossyanka' and the V International Summer School "Coastal Zone of the Sea: Research, Management, and Prospects" was held. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The hydroacoustic environment of a rapidly warming Arctic Ocean will be impacted by interconnected changes in the physical environment and increased human activity. Previous acoustic calculations will need to be updated to reflect current and future conditions. Earth System Models are important tools for making projections of changes in a wide range of physical processes under future climates. We present a comparison of Arctic acoustic travel times based on output from the Department of Energy's Energy Exascale Earth System Model with measured travel times from the 2016–2017 Canada Basin Acoustic Propagation Experiment and with travel times predicted by empirical temperature and salinity observations. This comparison allows us to test the impact of changes in Arctic sound speed profiles on acoustic travel times and connects Arctic hydroacoustics with the changing Arctic environment as described by a climate model. Plain Language Summary: As the Arctic Ocean changes due to a warming climate and increased human activity, its acoustic environment will also change. Earth System Models that allow interactions between the ocean, sea ice, atmosphere, and other parts of the global water cycle are important tools for investigating conditions under future climates. Measuring acoustic travel time between two points can help constrain the physical properties that control propagation of sound in the ocean. We use the Department of Energy's Energy Exascale Earth System Model to estimate temperature and salinity at different depths in the Arctic Ocean and use these profiles to calculate the time taken for sound waves to travel between a source and a receiver. We compare these estimates to arrival times directly measured in the 2016–2017 Canada Basin Acoustic Propagation Experiment, and to travel times computed for temperature and salinity data measured by instruments in the Arctic. Through this comparison, we test the impact of changes in the Arctic environment on acoustic travel times and demonstrate how a climate model can describe acoustic properties in a changing Arctic Ocean. Key Points: We compare Arctic Ocean acoustic travel times based on an Earth System Model, oceanographic observations, and an acoustic experimentSound speeds in the upper 400 m of the western Arctic Ocean are rapidly changing due to warming and freshening of water layersThe Energy Exascale Earth System Model captures the layered structure of the Canada Basin but not its relative sound speed variations [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reading, like sailing, is a durational experience: reading takes place in time and, if a poem is lengthy enough, reading can thwart absorption and make one notice time passing. Reading time therefore offered William Falconer in The Shipwreck (1762) an overlooked resource for tactfully impressing on non-sailors in his readership what is perhaps the central experience of sea travel in the sailing age: the dull passage of vast stretches of time against an unvaried backdrop of sea and sky. This essay considers how Falconer narrativizes the voyage in his poem and balances the competing demands of truthfully conveying the sailors' experience, including the vast timescales of sea travel, with the engaging of nonspecialists uninterested in the narration of uneventful voyage durations. Close attention to the later authorial editions shows Falconer expanding his descriptions, adding epic similes, and relocating episodes in ways that reveal an effort to make readers view reading time as a proxy experience for voyage time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The capability of path tracking and obstacle avoidance in a complex ocean environment is the basis of the autonomous ocean vehicle voyage. In this paper, a hybrid sea surface path tracking guidance and controller for the autonomous surface underwater vehicle based on the carrot-chasing (CC) and deep reinforcement learning (DRL) is proposed. Firstly, the reference heading angle is provided by the CC algorithm, and then the DRL algorithm is used to combine it with the vehicle-borne sensor information for decision and control. The vehicle's tracking capability is self-developed through a Markov decision process model that includes states, actions, and reward functions, so as to interact and train with the surrounding environment without prior knowledge. The simulation experiments are carried out in high-fidelity sea surface environments with wind, wave and current disturbances, and the experimental results show that the proposed method can converge effectively, has high tracking accuracy and flexible obstacle avoidance ability while avoiding the calculation of complex parameters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper will focus on hajj brokers, also known as Sheikh Haji. The hajj brokers system had existed for so long that it is said to be 'as old as the hajj itself'. They had become a part of the hajj sub-culture and tradition for the Muslims, especially Malays. This article aims to analyse the issues and challenges faced by hajj brokers during the sea travel period up until the establishment of Muassasah. The historical methodology is employed in this qualitative descriptive and analytical study. The study uses primary sources such as the Ordinance of the Straits Settlements (S.S)-1906-1907, files from the State Secretary Office and the Annual Hajj Reports. These documents are examined, interpreted, and organised to form objective arguments. The arguments are also supported by secondary sources. The study found that there were various issues related to the hajj brokers' service, resulting in numerous grievances. The issues include misconduct, neglect, and mistreatment of hajj pilgrims by the hajj brokers. At the same time, the hajj brokers also faced many challenges such as stiff competition among themselves, and changes in the rules and policies of the Saudi government. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Each summer, many vacationers enjoy the Mediterranean Sea shores. Among the recreational nautical activities, motorboat cruise is a popular choice that leads to a significant number of thoracolumbar spine fractures at our clinic. This phenomenon seems to be underreported, and its injury mechanism remains unclear. Here, we aim to describe the fracture pattern and propose a possible mechanism of injury. Methods: We retrospectively reviewed the clinical, radiological, and contextual parameters of all motorboat-related spinal fracture cases during a 14-year period (2006–2020) in three French neurosurgical level I centers bordering the Mediterranean Sea. Fractures were classified according to the AOSpine thoracolumbar classification system. Results: A total of 79 patients presented 90 fractures altogether. Women presented more commonly than men (61/18). Most of the lesions occurred at the thoracolumbar transition region between T10 and L2 (88.9% of the levels fractured). Compression A type fractures were seen in all cases (100%). Only one case of posterior spinal element injury was observed. The occurrence of neurological deficit was rare (7.6%). The most commonly encountered context was a patient sitting at the boat's bow, without anticipating the trauma, when the ship's bow suddenly elevated while crossing another wave, resulting in a "deck-slap" mechanism hitting and propelling the patient in the air. Conclusions: Thoracolumbar compression fractures are a frequent finding in nautical tourism. Passengers seated at the boat's bow are the typical victims. Some specific biomechanical patterns are involved with the boat's deck suddenly elevating across the waves. More data with biomechanical studies are necessary to understand the phenomenon. Prevention and safety recommendations should be given before motorboat use to fight against these avoidable fractures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores how onboard sociocultural practices were shaped by different conceptions of human and external environment on seventeenth- and early eighteenth-century French ships embarking for the Indian Ocean basin or across the Atlantic to the Caribbean. In these environments, in which large numbers of people were confined together, physical conditions shaped the sensory and social dynamics of ocean voyages, while they made ships ambiguous sites for the implementation of spiritual practices. Concepts of society responded to a largely unrecognizable marine environment; shipboard conditions of physical confinement were thought conducive to moral disorder, while ships were conceived of as a source of potentially subversive human energies that had to be channeled. These tensions reached a paroxysm on the slave ships increasingly crossing the Atlantic in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The conditions within early modern ships, this article contends, were exacerbated by multiple external factors, making the ship a uniquely unsustainable environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In January 1834, ten convicts from the secondary penal station of Macquarie Harbour in Van Diemen's Land seized the newly built brig Frederick and sailed it to Chile along an uncharted sea route. One of them, James Porter, knew Chile and the possibilities for starting new lives for all of them, away from the reach of British justice. But their plans began to founder when they ran out of food and had to land at Valdivia, instead of Valparaiso, only to find that the southern port was a trap just like Macquarie Harbour. Six of them eventually managed to escape but four were sent back to Hobart and long prison sentences. It is clear from examining the internal developments of the young Republic of Chile, the hope of the ten fugitives to live without danger of extradition would have been compromised anyway after Britain established diplomatic relations in 1834. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study of comparative cognition bloomed in the 1970s and 1980s with a focus on representations in the heads of animals that undergird what animals can achieve. Even in action-packed domains such as navigation and spatial cognition, a focus on representations prevailed. In the 1990s, I suggested a conception of navigation in terms of navigational servomechanisms. A servomechanism can be said to aim for a goal, with deviations from the goal-directed path registering as an error. The error drives action to reduce the error in a negative-feedback loop. This loop, with the action reducing the very signal that drove action in the first place, is key to defining a servomechanism. Even though actions are crucial components of servomechanisms, my focus was on the representational component that encodes signals and evaluates errors. Recently, I modified and amplified this view in claiming that, in navigation, servomechanisms operate by modulating the performance of oscillators, endogenous units that produce periodic action. The pattern is found from bacteria travelling micrometres to sea turtles travelling thousands of kilometres. This pattern of servomechanisms working with oscillators is found in other realms of cognition and of life. I think that oscillators provide an effective way to organise an organism's own activities while servomechanisms provide an effective means to adjust to the organism's environment, including that of its own body. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

From the concept of "soundscape" (Schafer, 2001) we study the role of musical tracks in tourist cruises and their function as entertainment, within the framework of a "leisure culture" (Morin, 1969). Initially, we present some brief aspects concerning cruises since the Belle Époque, from the apogee to the decline and the revival from the end of the twentieth century. From records collected in the Prata circuit, it is analyzed how the forms of listening and musical consumption occur. Being the musical tracks components of the soundscape and, consequently, of everyday life, this study is justified, as it contributes to better understand some aspects from the present times. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article delves into the mystery of the non-publication of "Venise ! ô ma jolie" by Léon-Paul Fargue, exploring the exceptional qualities of the text, its unique style, and the circumstances surrounding its creation during a Mediterranean cruise in 1924. It reflects on the tension between admiration for Fargue's writing prowess and a certain hesitation stemming from the absence of a first-person narrative, a crucial element in Fargue's work.

This article undertakes a thorough investigation of the assertion in recent publications, both Chinese and foreign, that Zheng He's fleet "discovered" the Americas, and traces it back to its origins. It comprehensively examines all the major arguments that have been made concerning the question of whether Chinese people sailed to the Americas before Cristopher Columbus, from the pre-Qin dynasty to the early Ming dynasty. It reveals both contributions and problems of previous studies of the subject, pointing out how the various theories on this topic and surrounding discussion have evolved, the reliability and dubiousness of the various points of view, and the academic significance of the debate. As the long-standing academic dispute over this question, it has helped collect relevant American archaeological, written, and oral sources as well as other such historical data, and has brought to light related Chinese documents as well as ancient Chinese and foreign maps and other materials. The academic significance of the relevant scholarship also lies in the comparative study of the civilizations of ancient China and the Americas on opposite sides of the Pacific Ocean. Through the identification and thorough study of Chinese and foreign materials, careful, serious, and responsible historians have not only refuted the exaggerated claims for Chinese "discovery" of the Americas, but have also tried to reject the Sinocentrism that arises from these distortions. The scholars in China have also discovered, within the study of Zheng He's maritime expeditions, the true aspects of their history that Chinese people can feel proud of. This article sifts through both the arguments and counterarguments as well as their respective evidence, and it pursues further textual research on relevant documents and materials for the purpose of examining the possibility for Chinese visits to the Americas before Columbus. Seen from the point of view of globalization, even if Zheng He's fleet or other Chinese people reached the Americas before Columbus, their journey (which awaits confirmation) could not have had as much influence on the links between the New and Old Worlds as did those of later explorers. In spite of this, the seven large-scale voyages of Zheng He's fleet in the Indian Ocean promoted maritime links within the Old World before Columbus's great voyages in the Atlantic, making contributions to the history of globalization that are as important as those made later by Columbus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The contemporary law of the sea is not only a making of its own time but also a result of evolutions from the past. Indeed, the LOSC reflects a particular historical trajectory from Grotius's Mare Liberum to UNCLOS III and the historical circumstances under which it developed. Using TWAIL as a theoretical and methodological lens, this article critically analyzes the historical development of the law of the sea from Third World States' standpoint. The article demonstrates that the rules and principles of the traditional law of the sea were conceptualized by and designed to promote the colonial and other interests of the powerful and technologically advanced Western States. Nonetheless, Third World States consistently challenged the old legal order of the sea and played significant roles in the evolution of existing doctrines and the development of new spatial architecture of the oceans and the associated principles. The article concludes that, despite such efforts of Third World States to reorient the law of the sea in a manner to address their interests, the protections that current international law offers to Third World States remain fragile in many areas, which areas continue to be subjects of the ongoing Third World struggle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Brief results of comprehensive studies of the southeastern Baltic Sea on cruises 47–49 of the R/V Akademik Boris Petrov (2021–2022) are presented. Research methods included geophysics, geology, paleogeography, hydrology, hydro- and geochemistry, hydrobiology, and geoecology. New data on paleolandscapes and parameters of long-term monitoring of spatiotemporal changes in the abiotic and biotic components of the Baltic Sea ecosystem were obtained. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 1940s and 1950s were a revolutionary era in both access to and imagination of the underwater environment in the most modernized nations of the globe. This article examines new possibilities in the exhibition of the underwater environment in film thanks to new dive and filming technologies. It focuses on how the depths are portrayed as a setting in Richard Fleischer's 20,000 Leagues under the Sea (1954), by the Disney studio, and Jacques-Yves Cousteau and Louis Malle's The Silent World (1956). In both films, conventions for portraying terrestrial settings are adapted to the resistant conditions of the aquatic environment. Such adaptation unleashes creativity in filmmaking and results in portrayals in which audiences are at once at home in this alien area of our planet and able to assimilate and enjoy its unprecedented vistas and savage life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Issue addressed: The COVID‐19 pandemic has highlighted organised cruise holidays as perfect incubators for microbiological infections due to the constant socialising within closed spaces. Little is known about people's health behaviours and perceptions during cruise holidays. Methods: Narrative group interviews and respondent photo diary exercises were conducted with families (n = 25) residing in different areas across metropolitan NSW, Australia. Guided by a social practice theoretical approach we undertook a thematic analysis that identifies reasons for choosing a cruise, health considerations and behaviours in relation to cruise travel and awareness of official cruise health information. Results: Cruise travel included a licence to abandon cautious behaviours, reinforced by confidence in the cruise organiser's risk management ability. Health concerns were not a high priority for participants and were mainly understood in terms of eating healthy, modest exercise, managing seasickness and having adequate supplies of medications. Awareness of official cruise health and risk information was largely non‐existent. Conclusion: Understanding how travel health practices emerge and are likely to be modifiable produces health‐promoting awareness and intervention efforts that recognise and link with people's ideas about cruise holidays as times of fun, leisure, relaxation, without interfering with or imposing on them. So what?: This study highlights the importance of developing health communication and promotion strategies that are responsive to the interconnected meanings, competencies and materials that have a bearing on how cruise travellers understand and enact health‐related behaviours in preparation for and during a cruise holiday. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: Retracing the ancient human migration routes in the remote islands of the Pacific relies on robust models of the origins and spread of animals that were commensal to long-distance ocean voyages. Domestic pigs (Sus scrofa) in Polynesia belong to a rare mitochondrial DNA group whose geographic origins are disputed. We report new complete genome ancient DNA that suggests all founding populations of pigs in Polynesia, first settled by people about 2800–700 years ago, can be traced back to northern peninsular Southeast Asia. Domestic pigs (Sus scrofa) were first transported to Polynesia through a series of long-distance voyages ultimately linked to the Neolithic expansion of Austronesian-speaking people out of Asia. The descendants of the founding pigs belong to a rare mtDNA group referred to as the "Pacific Clade" that may have originated in peninsular or island Southeast Asia. We report the first whole genome mtDNA from domestic pigs from any of the remote islands of the Pacific. In this brief report, we describe the close link we discovered between ancient mtDNA from archaeological specimens from across Polynesia and from that of modern pigs in northern peninsular Southeast Asia, specifically southern China's Yunnan Province. More complete mtDNA coverage in commensal animals is necessary to improve our picture of the settlement of Polynesia (ca. 2800–700 years before the present) and specify the route, or routes, that pigs took from northern peninsular Southeast Asia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cruise tourism is growing in popularity. Currently, the Mediterranean Region stands as the second most visited destination by cruise lines, following the Caribbean. However, the Black Sea has lots to offer in terms of potential as well. Six countries border along it, and all have ports that visited by cruise ships. Türkiye has 25 such ports - the city-provinces of Trabzon, Sinop, Samsun, and Bartın being particularly popular. This paper aims to delve deeper into this particular topic, and offer ideas about where and how Türkiye could improve. for the improvement of the current potential. We've used both quantitative and qualitative data based on field research that involved travel and observation in Trabzon and Samsun. We also conducted a literature as well to access national and international statistics. Our findings show us that Türkiye's Black Sea offer sufficient potential for cruise tourism, but international issues (e.g. the Russia-Ukraine crisis) as well as domestic issues (e.g. terror acts or infrastructural inadequacies) prevent that potential from being tapped. Hence, we feel that effort needs to be made in order to render the Black Sea safe for cruise lines. Other improvements that ought to be made concern the urban qualities, technical, and operational infrastructure required for cruise tourism in and around ports. The same goes for advertising and branding as well in order to cruise to the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding variability in distributions and habitat-use among populations of anadromous salmonids is essential for their sustainable management. Arctic char (Salvelinus alpinus) is an important cultural and socioeconomic species; however, knowledge of their spatiotemporal habitat-use during the marine phase is limited. Here, a large-scale acoustic telemetry array was used to determine intraspecific variation in Arctic char summer marine habitat-use tied to overwintering lake occurrence in the Amundsen Gulf. Arctic char tagged in the ocean migrated to two main overwintering lakes, corresponding to distinct migration corridors and separate patterns of marine habitat-use, with one individual exhibiting among the longest recorded char marine migration to date (∼330 km). Arctic char that undertook longer migration distances initiated travel in the ocean towards fresh water 11 days earlier than those completing shorter migration distances; mean departure days (±SD) 2 August (±8.1 days) and 13 August (±6.8 days), corresponding to migration distances of 252 and 131 km, respectively. These findings identify that Arctic char from different populations can occupy distinct marine foraging grounds within a region, with consequences for variable interactions with fisheries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

First held in 1998 with only a couple of hundred Armenians in attendance, in its last incarnation in 2020, the Armenian Heritage Cruise (AHC)— the "Original Armenian Cruise" —hosted over 1,000 participants coming from over ten countries including the United States, Canada, Argentina, Venezuela, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, France, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Australia, and Armenia. Based on on-site participant observation and twenty open-ended interviews with cruise attendees between 2007–2015 and the chair of AHC committee in 2018, in addition to the analysis of the AHC promotional and published material (2007–2020), this article argues that the annual AHC is a simulacrum of the organizers' and participants' fantasies of Armenia (Baudrillard 1994, 6). The simulacrum, an exclusive and serviced tropical fantasy in the middle of the Caribbean, catered to passengers with buying power who consumed the messages of an idealized, "better" Armenia. It likewise "freed" Armenians from a marginalization they claimed to experience in the communities where they usually live, even as these places were also a source of pride, had established Armenian institutions, or were even in the "real" Armenia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Unmanned sailboats use wind energy to assist in propulsion during navigation and are featured by the advantages of clean energy and long endurance, making a hotspot of research on maritime unmanned vehicles. Sails are a core component of unmanned sailboats, and most existing studies on rotating sail have the shortcomings of high energy consumption and load. Therefore, this article proposes a novel method to achieve self-balancing sail rotation based on elastic rope and reduce the energy consumption and load of unmanned sailboats, and establishes a model for the self-balancing rotating sail. We introduced the sum of angular thrust of spherical surface S L as a performance evaluation index for unmanned sailboats, which considers both thrust and navigable range. Based on this index, the mechanical and positional parameters of the model are optimized to obtain the optimal solutions. The performance is increased by 24% after the optimization, and by 76% compared with the sailboat with the fixed sail angle when the same initial sail angle of 38° is adopted. Following the optimal solutions, we develop a prototype of the unmanned sailboat with self-balancing rotating sail. Subsequently, wind turbine experiments are conducted to preliminarily verify the correctness of the model for self-balancing rotating sail and the optimization results. Finally, sea trials are conducted to further verify the performance and seaworthiness of the unmanned sailboat under realistic sea conditions, successfully achieving a 15-day voyage under harsh sea conditions of levels 2 to 4. This study to some extent compensates for the shortcomings of existing studies on rotating sail and provides guidance for subsequent theoretical and engineering research in the field of unmanned sailboats. • A design method for self-balancing rotating sail based on elastic rope is proposed. • A performance evaluation index of unmanned sailboat is introduced. • Performance of unmanned sailboat improves by 24% after optimization. • A prototype of unmanned sailboat is developed, achieving a series of sea trials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper presents brief results of comprehensive studies of waters of the Tatar Strait and Sea of Japan, obtained on cruise 79 of the R/V Professor Gagarinsky in May–June 2022. The distribution of geophysical fields was obtained, the block's divisibility of the bottom of the water area was confirmed, and new data was obtained on the distribution of gases in the sedimentary sequence, bottom, and surface water. The electrokinetic parameters of microorganisms for evaluating their relationship with methane concentration was obtained, and micropalentological analysis of sedimentary deposits was performed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For decades, historians have argued that the networks of Indian Ocean travel and commerce were a "man's game." Men ranged widely across the sea in search of wealth and employment while women stayed at home. This article presents evidence that demonstrates such an understanding of female immobility is greatly overstated. Using the Aden records of the Indian Office Library, this essay first challenges the common assumption that women, of any religious confession, were rarely participants in the networks of movement that shaped Britain's Indian Ocean realm. Second, it calls into question the widely held notion that female believers had little legal agency under the double yoke of British colonial authority and Islamic law. As such, this article illustrates the dynamic role of women within the milieu of the modern Indian Ocean and their place as active agents in the construction of transregional communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Early Modern pilgrims, travelling by sea from Western and Central Europe to the Holy Land, had to cross a large part of the Mediterranean basin before they reached their destination. Their ships usually made stops at various islands, including the island of Crete, which was under Venetian rule for a wide timespan (1212–1669). Travellers from the Lands of the Bohemian Crown had taken part in the pilgrim-traffic since the Middle Ages, and often left reports for future generations. There are three well-known travelogues written in the Czech language that contain a detailed description of Crete, namely books by Jan Hasištejnský of Lobkowicz (journey in 1493, travelogue in 1505/1509, not printed), Oldřich Prefát of Vlkanov (1546, 1563), and Kryštof Harant of Polžice and Bezdružice (1598, 1608). Their depictions of the island reflect the basic characteristics of their travelogues. Hasištejnský is mainly concerned with contemporary Crete and its not-so-distant past, reporting almost exclusively information gained during his journey. In addition to describing the current state of the island, Prefát highlights its mythological connections, pointing loosely to further reading. Harant’s account is the most complex one. He links his contemporary experience with the corpus of knowledge that was handed down by authorities, both ancient and modern. His citation method may not be perfect, but his list of referenced authors is vast. Cretan memorabilia mentioned by Prefát and Harant include sites associated with the island’s mythological tradition and its remote (“Minoan”) past which received legendary features in later Greek renditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents the discussion on documents on democracy with Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Topics include airstrikes dropping on civilians' heads across the entire country and the Russian troops crossing Ukraine's borders from the territory of Russia, Belarus; firing cruise and ballistic missiles at cities, attacking with aviation, tanks and artillery, sending subversion and reconnaissance groups.

This article examines representations of polar cruise tourism in the Northwest Passage as climate change extends the geographic range of open waters and increases the number of ice-free days in the Canadian Arctic. It connects current cruise promotion to earlier exploration histories and investigates the paradoxes that arise in the drive to bear witness to climate change while accelerating its impacts through carbon-intensive travel. It also examines some of the ways that Franklin expedition tourism in particular is being used to reinforce claims of Canadian sovereignty over Arctic resources. Overall, the promotion of this kind of maritime tourism highlights many of the key fault lines between visitor expectations and geophysical and cultural realities in a changing North, raising doubts about whether expanded development of such tourism can succeed in creating climate change ambassadors. The article concludes that the potential for developing cross-cultural environmental justice solidarities depends in significant measure on the tourism industry's greater inclusion of Inuit perspectives that understand the Arctic not merely as a place to travel through, but as a homeland of earth, sea, and the shifting ice between. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the Viking Age, the Baltic Sea, which had previously been closed and separated its eastern part from Europe, became a connecting sea. The article draws attention to the narrative tradition of Icelandic sagas, presenting sailing and voyages in the Baltic Sea. In Nordic narrative sources, the focus on the Baltic Sea is seen almost exclusively in the context of the road to the East, and the Baltic Sea itself is perceived as the East Sea – Eystrasalt, Austrmare, and so on. At this stage of the road to the East, not only the strategic interests of Denmark become apparent, but also the activities of the Vends, Curonians and Estonians located on the south-eastern and eastern shores of the Baltic Sea. The article does not focus on the recording of specific episodes of this activity but on the general tradition of actions of this path and its participants formed by the Nordic narrative. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]