Columns
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•May 27, 2015
Secret Nature of Little Egg Inlet; Desperately Seeking an Exterminator
LITTLE EGG INLET STANDS OUT: For mariners duly concerned with the ongoing, pretty much out-of-control shoaling within Little Egg Inlet, have I got an odd background story for you. And don’t shoot the…
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•May 21, 2015
Think You Missed a Chance of a Lifetime?; Don’t Get Pumped Up Over Self-Service Gas
COULDA, SHOULDA, WOULDA: When you fret over missed opportunities, just begin repeating the name Ronald Wayne.
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•May 6, 2015
What’s Left of My First Amendment Rights; When Big Bluefish Get Their LBI Freak On
GOTCHA, VIA GARLAND: It was one of those trying weeks for First Amendment rights. I have Garland-ish questions about the acceptability of letting cartoonishly crazy people openly taunt even crazier…
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•April 30, 2015
Feast for Recyclers, Cannibals Alike; Big Blues Hit High Note for Anglers
I’ve got some truly savory items for experimental meat-eaters – I’m talkin’ insanely out-there eaters.
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•April 16, 2015
Is the War Really Over?
Gen. Robert E. Lee had surrendered, and for most of the New Jersey troops there was a brief period of elation, as they realized that the long war was about to end. But the reality was there was still…
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•April 15, 2015
Callie Cops Acting Horrifically; Captive Dolphin in Petting Pools
I have to begin by touching on a couple newsy things, just for the non-angling hell of it.
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•April 9, 2015
Did Battle of the Wives Change History?
In a quiet section of the Burlington, N.J., historic district stands a modest, two-story house; in front is a sign that states it was the home of Gen. Ulysses S. Grant during the latter days of the…
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•April 8, 2015
Opossum Blood vs. Russell’s Vipers; Wildfires Could Be Blowin’ in the Wind
SAVE ME, POSSUM BLOOD: Picture a decidedly unattractive local mammal being used to save thousands of lives in India.
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•April 1, 2015
Transhumanism to the Night Rescue; Releasing Loads of GMO Mosquitoes
JUST DROPPED IN: I need to pass on possibly the greatest advancement in nighttime fishing since glow sticks, night vision glasses and that successful divorce. It stems from see-in-the-dark eye drops…
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•March 26, 2015
Grant and Sherman Close in on Lee
By March 1865, Union Gen. Ulysses S. Grant’s strategy of attacking the Confederacy on all fronts was beginning to succeed. The 9th New Jersey had landed on the coast of North Carolina, as it had done…
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•March 24, 2015
Rightly Picking the Wrong Finger; Ravens Have History Hereabouts
As we inch and claw toward warmer times, I did get in a bit of revenge – on the first day of spring, much less.
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•March 5, 2015
The Truth About ‘Barnegat Pirates’
Most shipwreck stories end with the rescue of the last survivor or the disappearance of the ship beneath the waves. But the grounding of the three-masted ship Georgia on the southern end of LBI has…
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•March 4, 2015
2015: The Year of the Frozen Wetsuit Selfie and Other Musings From Our Arctic Existence
Beware of anyone who ever says, “I have some good news and some bad news.”
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•February 19, 2015
Life Saving Stations Come to LBI
While the use of the life car in saving 200 lives from the ship Ayrshire in 1850 is well known and the car is in the Smithsonian Institution, the first major use of the apparatus on LBI is less…
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•February 5, 2015
Immigrants’ Voyage No Vacation Cruise
The background for the events of the night of Jan. 12, 1850, on the Jersey coast at a place then called Squan is still being debated. But one thing is clear: The vision that Dr. William Newell had…
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•January 29, 2015
Just Who Invented the Life Car?
The wreck of the immigrant ship Ayrshire on the Jersey Shore was one of the first tests of the volunteer lifesaving service proposed by ex-Manahawkin doctor and Congressman William A. Newell. It was…
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•January 29, 2015
Doing a Full Face-Plant on Maui; Hoping to ‘Urn’ a Life Amid Ashes
Now, that was a pretty blah blizzard. In fact, it was pretty much missing the lizzard, if you get my drift.
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•January 22, 2015
No Merriment in This Christmas
The American Civil War was finally winding down. The Union had captured Atlanta, and William Tecumseh Sherman was marching through Georgia. Abraham Lincoln had won reelection in November, and his…
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•January 7, 2015
Head of Class or Dunce’s Corner?
We made it through one of the warmest and wettest Decembers in memory; the Eagles, Jets and Giants have all cleaned out their lockers and headed for sunny vacations while the rest of us prepare for…
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•November 27, 2014
Lincoln’s Win Means Longer War
The fall of 1864 was a crucial time for the nation and those who fought for the Union. The men of the 9th New Jersey Regiment, whose ranks included most of the men from Ocean County, had received…
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•November 26, 2014
Beware Days With Tiny Words; Finally, a Wedding Gown That Fits
I stayed up late Monday night, watching the social upheaval in Ferguson. Personally, I was aghast over the court’s decision. No, not the indictment. I refuse to ponder that legal malarkey. I was…
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•November 20, 2014
The Dark Summer of 1864
In some ways, the summer of 1864 was the darkest of the entire Civil War. After the failure of Gen. Ulysses S. Grant’s Overland Campaign, Abraham Lincoln adopted a policy of total war. Desperate to…
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•November 13, 2014
The Walker Leads to a Somers Mystery
Sometimes as you dig into one chapter of history you stumble onto another. That’s what happened when researching the sinking of the 132-foot Coast Survey vessel Robert J. Walker off the Jersey Shore…
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•October 30, 2014
Walker‘s Crew Fights to Survive
During the early morning hours of June 21, 1860, in heavy weather, the Robert J. Walker was heading north along the coast of New Jersey toward New York City. The 132-foot, iron-hulled, two-masted…
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•October 23, 2014
Walker Abandoned by Mystery Schooner
It was June 1860 and the nation was watching the Democratic Party splitting, over the issue of slavery, into two national conventions – one at Charleston, S.C., the other at Baltimore, Md. Unnoticed…
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•October 16, 2014
Walker‘s Story a Patchwork One
The recently identified 1860 wreck of the steamer Robert J. Walker in Jersey waters and its being named a national historic site became a starting point for looking into its history and how it got…
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•October 15, 2014
It’s Calming Being So Seedy; Wild Cranberries Go Missing
It is officially Indian Summer, as air temps have gotten well into the 70s this week – after a night of freezing a week or so back. Without a night of 32 degrees or lower, prior to a warm-up, there…
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•October 9, 2014
US Coast Survey Gets the Walker
When NOAA announced last year it had identified the wreck of the Robert J. Walker, sunk in June 1860, south of Long Beach Island and the later designation of it as a national landmark, I decided to…
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•October 2, 2014
‘Obstruction’ Proves to Be Missing Ship
In August 2013, newspapers across the country received a press release from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration dealing with something that belonged to its predecessor, the U.S. Coast…
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•September 25, 2014
British Repulsed From New England Takeover
There are times when history glorifies the unimportant and ignores the significant; so it has been with the year 1814. The assaults on Washington, D.C., and Baltimore were raids, simply a diversion…
