East Taunton station

East Taunton station is an under-construction MBTA Commuter Rail station in East Taunton, Massachusetts adjacent to the interchange between the Route 24 expressway and County Street (Route 140). It is planned to open in late 2023 as part of the first phase of the South Coast Rail project.
Middleborough Junction and East Taunton stations were served by the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad and several predecessors until 1927. In 2009, South Coast Rail planning identified Taunton Depot, just north of Middleborough Junction (Cotley Junction), as a preferred station site. A 2017 re-evaluation of the project recommended an interim route through Middleborough, with East Taunton station located just south of the junction. A construction contract was issued in 2020.
Station design.
The station will be located in the southeast portion of Taunton along the New Bedford Secondary, slightly northwest of the Route 24 expressway. The station driveway (an extension of the existing Industrial Drive) will be reached from County Street (Route 140) just north of the Route 24/Route 140 interchange. East Taunton will have a single full-length high-level island platform, long and wide. It will serve the two passenger tracks, with a freight bypass track to the west. Two footbridges – one with stairs, the other with ramps – will connect the platform to the 363-space parking lot, which includes a turnout for Greater Attleboro Taunton Regional Transit Authority (GATRA) buses.
History.
Former service.
The Taunton Branch Railroad was extended to as the New Bedford and Taunton Railroad in 1840. The Middleborough and Taunton Railroad opened from Middleborough to Cotley Junction (Middleborough Junction) – south of Taunton on the New Bedford and Taunton Railroad – in 1856. No station was located at the junction, which was in a relatively unpopulated area. East Taunton station on the Middleborough and Taunton was located east at Old Colony Avenue in East Taunton village. The Middleborough and Taunton was acquired by the Old Colony Railroad in 1874, followed by the former New Bedford and Taunton (after several ownership and name changes) in 1879. The Old Colony was in turn acquired by the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad in 1893.
Local passenger service between Middleborough and Taunton was operated as –Plymouth or –Plymouth trains; it was discontinued in 1927 when service on the Darby Branch ended. East Taunton station was closed; the line was used by New York–Cape Cod trains until 1964, and commuter rail service to New Bedford via Taunton lasted until 1958. Freight service continued on the Middleboro Secondary and New Bedford Subdivision; the state purchased the former line from Conrail in December 1982.
South Coast Rail.
In September 2008, MassDOT released 18 potential station sites for the South Coast Rail project, including two potential East Taunton sites: one just west of Route 24 if trains were routed through Middleborough, and one to the north off Route 140 if trains were routed through Stoughton or Attleboro. The 2009 selection of the Stoughton route included Taunton Depot at the northern site. It was to have an island platform flanked by two passenger tracks, with a freight passing track on the western side. Plans released as part of the Final Environmental Impact Report in 2013 were nearly identical. On June 11, 2010, the state took ownership of the New Bedford Subdivision and several other CSX lines as part of a sale agreement.
In 2017, the project was re-evaluated due to cost issues. The new proposal called for early service via Middleborough by 2022, followed by full service via Stoughton by 2030. The 2017 proposal attracted criticism from local officials across the route, including Taunton officials unhappy that the downtown Taunton station would be delayed until 2030. The January 2018 "Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Report" considered several service patterns: serving Taunton Depot and/or Taunton stations with a reverse move on some or all trains, or a new East Taunton station near the previously proposed southern site. The latter option was chosen for lower costs and shorter travel times.
Two sites just south of Cotley Junction, and one site at Old Colony Avenue (the former East Taunton station location) were considered. The previously-considered southern site (a former sports complex on Industrial Drive at 1141 County Street) was chosen. The site is adjacent to the interchange between the Route 24 expressway and County Street (Route 140). As with the former Taunton Depot plans, the station will have a single island platform with two passenger tracks and a freight passing track.
The sports complex was demolished in 2020 to make room for the station and its parking lot. The MBTA awarded a $403.5 million contract for the Middleborough Secondary and New Bedford Secondary portions of the project, including East Taunton station, on August 24, 2020. Construction was expected to begin later in 2020 and take 37 months, with a late 2023 opening.


USS Lorain (PF-93)

USS "Lorain" (PF-93), a , was the first commissioned ship of the United States Navy to be named for Lorain, Ohio.
Construction.
"Lorain" (PF-93) was authorized as "Roanoke" (PG-201) and laid down as "Roanoke" (PF-93) under a Maritime Commission contract by American Ship Building Company, Lorain, Ohio, 25 October 1943. She was renamed "Lorain" on 7 February 1944; launched on 18 March 1944, sponsored by Mrs. Fred Henderson; and commissioned at Baltimore, Maryland, on 15 January 1945, with Lieutenant Commander James G. Ramsay, Jr., USCGR, in command.
Service history.
"Lorain" departed Baltimore on 28 January 1945 for Norfolk, Virginia, and Bermuda, where the Coast Guard-manned frigate underwent shakedown and training. After further training in Casco Bay, Maine, she sailed on 11 April for NS Argentia, Newfoundland, her base for weather patrols through the following summer. Operating out of Argentia and later Reykjavík, Iceland, she ranged the North Atlantic from the coastal waters of Greenland to waters north of the Azores, reporting vital meteorological data.
"Lorain" returned to Boston on 14 September, conducted a weather patrol off New England in late October, then sailed on 2 December for duty in the Caribbean. An escort run took her to Recife, Brazil, early in 1946, and after two weather patrols east of Bermuda, she returned to Boston on 7 March, and decommissioned there on 14 March 1946.
She was sold on 26 March 1947 to the French Navy and commissioned on the same day as La Place (F-13). Disarmed a year later, she served as weather observation ship in the North Atlantic. Shortly after midnight on 16 September 1950, "La Place" anchored offshore of St. Malo, France. A recent storm had freed a tethered German magnetic sea mine that was left over from World War II. The mine contacted the ship and exploded. "La Place" sank almost immediately and only 42 of her crew of 75 men were rescued.


William Edwards (inventor)

William Edwards (1770–1851) was an American inventor, grandson of Jonathan Edwards, the elder. He was born in Elizabethtown, New Jersey. He introduced a valuable improvement in the manufacture of leather, whereby tanning was accomplished in a quarter of the usual time. He invented machines which greatly advanced the production of leather in America.


French battleship Bouvet

Bouvet was a pre-dreadnought battleship of the French Navy that was built in the 1890s. She was a member of a group of five broadly similar battleships, along with , , , and , which were ordered in response to the British . "Bouvet" was the last vessel of the group to be built, and her design was based on that of "Charles Martel". Like her half-sisters, she was armed with a main battery of two guns and two guns in individual turrets. She had a top speed of , which made her one of the fastest battleships in the world at the time. "Bouvet" proved to be the most successful design of the five, and she was used as the basis for the subsequent . Nevertheless, she suffered from design flaws that reduced her stability and contributed to her loss in 1915.
"Bouvet" spent the majority of her peacetime career in the Mediterranean Squadron conducting routine training exercises. This period was relatively uneventful, though she was involved in a collision with the battleship in 1903 that saw both ships' captains relieved of command. In 1906, she assisted in the response to the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in Italy. "Bouvet" was withdrawn from front-line service in 1907 and thereafter used as part of the training fleet. The ship was the only vessel of her group of five half-sisters still in service at the outbreak of World War I in July 1914.
A significant portion of the French Army was stationed in French North Africa, so at the start of the war, "Bouvet" and much of the rest of the fleet were used to escort troop convoys across to southern France. With this work done by late August, "Bouvet" and several other battleships were used to patrol for contraband shipments in the central Mediterranean. From November to late December, she was stationed as a guard ship at the northern entrance to the Suez Canal. The ship thereafter joined the naval operations off the Dardanelles, where she participated in a series of attacks on the Ottoman fortifications guarding the straits. These culminated in a major assault on 18 March 1915; during the attack, she was hit approximately eight times by shellfire but was not seriously damaged. While turning to withdraw, she struck a mine and sank within two minutes; only 75 men were rescued from a complement of 718. Two British battleships were also sunk by mines that day, and the disaster convinced the Allies to abandon the naval campaign in favor of an amphibious assault on the Gallipoli Peninsula.
Design.
In 1889, the British Royal Navy passed the Naval Defence Act that resulted in the construction of the eight s; this major expansion of naval power led the French government to pass its reply, the (Naval Law) of 1890. The law called for a total of twenty-four "" (squadron battleships) and a host of other vessels, including coastal defense battleships, cruisers, and torpedo boats. The first stage of the program was to be a group of four squadron battleships that were built to different designs but met the same basic characteristics, including armor, armament, and displacement. The naval high command issued the basic requirements on 24 December 1889; displacement would not exceed , the primary armament was to consist of and guns, the belt armor should be thick, and the ships should maintain a top speed of . The secondary battery was to be either or caliber, with as many guns fitted as space would allow. The general similarity of the ships led some observers to group them together as a ship class, though the authors of "Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships" point out that the vessels had "sufficient differences to prevent them from being considered as one class."
The basic design for the ships was based on the previous battleship , but instead of mounting the main battery all on the centerline, the ships used the lozenge arrangement of the earlier vessel , which moved two of the main battery guns to single turrets on the wings. Although the navy had stipulated that displacement could be up to 14,000 t, political considerations, namely parliamentary objections to increases in naval expenditures, led the designers to limit displacement to around . Five naval architects submitted proposals to the competition; Charles Ernest Huin prepared the design for "Bouvet". He had also designed her half-sister , upon which the design for "Bouvet" was based. Before work on "Charles Martel" had begun, the naval command asked Huin to design an improved version. He completed the plans for the ship, which was slightly larger than her half-sisters, on 20 May, and the Navy awarded the contract for the ship on 8 October 1892.
"Bouvet" proved to be the most successful of the five ships, and she was the only one still in active service at the outbreak of World War I. She also provided the basis for the next class of French battleships, the three s built in the mid-1890s. She and her half-sisters nevertheless were disappointments in service; "Bouvet" suffered from stability problems that ultimately contributed to her loss in 1915, and all five of the vessels compared poorly to their British counterparts, particularly their contemporaries of the . The ships suffered from a lack of uniformity of equipment, which made them hard to maintain in service, and their mixed gun batteries comprising several calibers made gunnery in combat conditions difficult, since shell splashes were hard to differentiate. Many of the problems that plagued the ships in service were a result of the limitation on their displacement, particularly their stability and seakeeping.
General characteristics and machinery.
"Bouvet" was long between perpendiculars, long at the waterline, and long overall. She had a beam of and an average draft of . She had a displacement of as designed. Unlike her half-sisters, which had a cut down quarterdeck, "Bouvet" retained a full flush deck. Her superstructure was reduced in size compared to her half-sisters, and she had a pair of short military masts; these changes were made to reduce the top-heaviness experienced with the earlier vessels. She kept the pronounced tumblehome to give the 27 cm guns wide fields of fire. "Bouvet" had a standard crew of 31 officers and 591 enlisted men, though as a flagship her crew grew to 41 officers and 651 enlisted men.
She had three vertical triple-expansion steam engines each driving a single three-bladed screw; the outboard screws were wide, while the center shaft was slightly smaller, at in diameter. The engines were powered with steam supplied by thirty-two Belleville water-tube boilers that were license-built by Indret. The boilers were divided into four boiler rooms, which were placed in two pairs on either end of the magazines for the wing turrets, and divided by a central bulkhead. The boilers were ducted into a pair of funnels. Her three engines were placed side by side and also divided by longitudinal bulkheads.
Her propulsion system was rated at , which allowed the ship to steam at a maximum speed of on speed trials with a light loading, though while on a 24-hour test using normal displacement, she cruised at . Using forced draft, she reached from during the tests. "Bouvet" was fast by the standards of the day; the only British battleship that approached her in speed was the second-class battleship . As built, "Bouvet" could carry of coal, though additional space allowed for up to in total. At a cruising speed of , the ship could steam for .
The ship's electrical system consisted of four 400-ampere/80-volt dynamos that had a combined output of . The dynamos were placed on the platform deck between the ducting for the boilers. Several smaller electric motors, rated at , powered the ship's ventilation system, and motors drove the ash hoists for the boiler rooms. "Bouvet" was fitted with six searchlights: four on the battery deck (two amidships and one each forward and aft) and the remaining two on the masts.
Armament.
"Bouvet"s main armament consisted of two Canon de 305 mm Modèle 1893 guns in two single-gun turrets, one each fore and aft and two Canon de 274 mm Modèle 1893 guns in two single-gun turrets, one amidships on each side, sponsoned out over the tumblehome of the ship's sides. Both types of guns were experimental 45 caliber variants of the guns fitted in her half-sister . The 305 mm guns had a muzzle velocity of , which allowed the shells to penetrate up to of iron armor at a range of . This was sufficiently powerful to allow "Bouvet"s main guns to easily penetrate the armor of most contemporary battleships at the common battle ranges of the day. The 274 mm guns, which were also 45 calibers long, had the same muzzle velocity, but being significantly smaller than the 305 mm guns, produced of iron penetration. The gun turrets were hydraulically operated and required the guns to be depressed to −4° to be loaded. They both had a rate of fire of one shell per minute. Both types of mounts allowed elevation to 14°; for the 305 mm guns, this produced a maximum range of , and for the 274 mm guns, their maximum range was .
Her secondary armament consisted of eight Canon de 138 mm Modèle 1891 naval guns, which were mounted in single turrets in the hull; two were placed just aft of the forward 305 mm turret, four were placed on either sides of the 274 mm guns, and the remaining two were just aft of the rear 305 mm turret. These guns had a firing rate of 4 rounds per minute, with a maximum range of from up to 20° elevation. For defense against torpedo boats, "Bouvet" carried eight quick-firing (QF) guns in individual pedestal mounts with gun shields on the upper deck. Four were located between the funnels, two were placed abreast of the forward bridge, and the remaining two were similarly arranged on either side of the aft bridge. They had a rate of fire of between 7 and 15 shots per minute and they could engage targets out to . She also had twelve 3-pounder guns, and eight 1-pounder guns, all in individual mounts. Of the 37 mm guns, three were five-barreled Hotchkiss revolver cannon and the remaining five were single-barrel QF guns. Four of the 47 mm guns were mounted on the lower platforms of the military masts and the remainder, along with the 37 mm guns, were distributed along the length of the superstructure.
As was customary for capital ships of the period, her armament suite was rounded out by four torpedo tubes, two of which were submerged in the ship's hull; both were located on the broadside close to the bow; they were aimed directly perpendicular to the centerline. The other two tubes were mounted above water, in trainable launchers placed amidships. The fire of these tubes was directed either by armored sights located abreast of the conning tower or unprotected sights on the battery deck. "Bouvet" carried a total of ten torpedoes of the Modèle 1892 Toulon/Fiume type; six were allocated to the submerged tubes, with the other four for the deck launchers. "Bouvet" also carried twenty Modèle 1892 naval mines that could be laid by the ship's pinnaces.
Fire control.
In the early 1890s, before "Bouvet" had begun construction, the French Navy introduced a fire-control system that included rangefinders, observers in the masts, and electric order transmitters to communicate fire control instructions from the control center to the gun crews. "Bouvet" was the first battleship completed with the system; for the purposes of fire control, her gun battery was divided into either individual sections (the large and medium-caliber guns) or groups of two or more guns (the 100 mm, 47 mm, and 37 mm guns). All of the guns were controlled by the "Poste central de commande" (central command post) that was located directly below the conning tower, below the armored deck. The central command post received the range and bearing information from the rangefinders and calculated firing solutions, which would then be sent via the electric order transmitters to direct the fire of individual guns or sections.
Armor.
The ship's armor was constructed with nickel steel manufactured by several firms, including Schneider-Creusot, Saint-Chamond, and Châtillon & Commentry, which allowed the design staff to reduce the thickness of the steel without compromising its effectiveness. Thus, weight could be saved that could be used elsewhere in the displacement-limited ships. The main belt was thick amidships, and tapered down to at the lower edge. Forward of the central citadel, the belt was reduced to (also reduced to 200 mm on the lower edge) and aft of the citadel, it tapered to (reduced to on the bottom edge). The belt extended for the entire length of the hull, and it was backed with 200 mm of teak. Above the belt was thick strake of side armor that created a highly subdivided cofferdam to reduce the risk of flooding from battle damage. The side of the cofferdam was reinforced by two layers of plating. "Bouvet"s main deck was protected with of mild steel, back with two layers of 10 mm plating. Mild steel was used here, as the deck was designed to bend rather than shatter when struck by an armor-piercing shell at an oblique angle. The lower platform deck was thick, with a single layer of 10 mm plating behind it; it was intended to catch splinters that penetrated the main deck.
The main battery guns (both the 305 mm and 274 mm guns) were protected with of cemented armor on the faces and sides, with thick roofs and thick floors. Both the floors and roofs were composed of mild steel. The turrets sat atop barbettes with thick sides. The 138 mm turrets had thick sides and faces, with roofs and floors. Gun shields that were thick protected the 100 mm guns. The conning tower had thick sides, a 20 mm thick roof, and a thick floor. The uptakes for the boilers were protected with coamings that were 300 mm thick.
The ship's armor layout was not as effective as the designers had hoped; at the designed displacement, the belt armor was submerged with just a 3° heel, and training all of the main battery turrets to one side would produce a heel of 2°. Incremental increases in weight during the construction process, which Huin was unable to supervise, left little margin for the belt to remain above the water. These increases forced compromises elsewhere in the ship's armor protection, most notably the barbettes, which were criticized at the time; nothing could be done, however, due to the strict limit placed on displacement. The cofferdam also proved to be highly susceptible to uncontrollable flooding, which would have serious effects on the vessel's stability.
Service history.
"Bouvet" was laid down at the French Navy shipyard in Lorient on 16 January 1893, and was launched on 27 April 1896. After completing fitting-out work, she began sea trials on 5 March 1898. The ship was intended to have conducted her trials from Brest, but she was sent to Toulon to reinforce the Mediterranean Squadron due to the Fashoda crisis with Britain. She was commissioned into the French Navy in June 1898. The ship was named in honor of Admiral François Joseph Bouvet.
Throughout the ship's peacetime career, she was occupied with routine training exercises that included gunnery training, combined maneuvers with torpedo boats and submarines, and practicing attacking coastal fortifications. Since "Bouvet" was one of the most modern French battleships in the late 1890s and early 1900s, she spent this time in the Mediterranean Squadron, France's primary fleet. One of the largest of these exercises was conducted between March and July 1900, and involved the Mediterranean Squadron and the Northern Squadron. On 6 March, "Bouvet" joined the battleships "Brennus", , , "Charles Martel", and and four protected cruisers for maneuvers off Golfe-Juan on the Côte d'Azur, including night firing training. Over the course of April, the ships visited numerous French ports along the Mediterranean coast, and on 31 May the fleet steamed to Corsica for a visit that lasted until 8 June. After completing its own exercises in the Mediterranean, the Mediterranean Squadron rendezvoused with the Northern Squadron off Lisbon, Portugal in late June before proceeding to Quiberon Bay for joint maneuvers in July. The maneuvers concluded with a naval review in Cherbourg on 19 July for President Émile Loubet. On 1 August, the Mediterranean Fleet departed for Toulon, arriving on 14 August.
"Bouvet" was assigned to the 2nd Battle Division of the Mediterranean Squadron, along with "Jauréguiberry" and the new battleship , the latter becoming the divisional flagship. "Bouvet" departed Toulon on 29 January 1903 in company with the battleships , "Gaulois", and "Charlemagne", four cruisers, and accompanying destroyers for gunnery training off Golfe-Juan. At the time, "Bouvet" and "Gaulois" were the 2nd Division, with "Bouvet" in the lead; the other two ships formed the 1st Division. Two days later, when the divisions were ordered to change from two columns to a single line ahead for shooting drills, "Bouvet" failed to take her prescribed position and instead turned too closely to "Gaulois". The latter accidentally struck the former, with "Bouvet" losing a ladder and incurring damage to one of the deck-mounted torpedo tubes. "Gaulois" had two armor plates torn from her bow. Both ships' captains were relieved of command over the incident. In October, "Bouvet" and the rest of the Mediterranean Squadron battleships steamed to Palma de Mallorca, and on their return to Toulon they conducted training exercises.
The year 1904 saw the Mediterranean Squadron visit Souda Bay in Crete, Beirut, Smyrna, and Salonika in the Ottoman Empire, Messina in Sicily, and Piraeus, Greece during a cruise of the eastern Mediterranean in the middle of the year. The following year passed uneventfully for "Bouvet", and on 10 April 1906, she, "Iéna", and "Gaulois" were sent to Italy in the aftermath of the eruption of Mount Vesuvius. The three ships carried some 9,000 rations and their crews assisted the victims to recover from the disaster. The division returned to France in time for a naval review on 16 September held in Marseilles that included detachments from Britain, Spain, and Italy. "Bouvet" and the other French ships then returned to Toulon. The following year, in January 1907, "Bouvet" was withdrawn from front-line service with the Mediterranean Squadron. Now part of the Second Squadron, she was retained on active service for the year, but with a reduced crew. In July 1908, the Mediterranean Fleet was reorganized and "Bouvet" was attached to the 3rd Battleship Division as its flagship, under the command of (Rear Admiral) Laurent Marin-Darbel, along with "Jauréguiberry" and the battleship .
Beginning in January 1909, with the commissioning of the six and s, the Mediterranean Squadron was reorganized into two battle squadrons; "Bouvet" was at that time assigned to the 3rd Division, part of the 2nd Battle Squadron, still the flagship of Marin-Darbel. Her place was taken the following year by "Saint Louis", and she remained out of service that year, with the exception of during the fleet maneuvers conducted in June, which she joined. In January 1911, she returned to service as the flagship of Adam in the 2nd Division of the 2nd Battle Squadron. On 5 October, the fleet was again reorganized and her place in what was now the 3rd Battle Squadron was taken by "Charles Martel". On 16 October 1912, "Bouvet", "Gaulois", "Saint Louis", "Carnot", "Masséna", and "Jauréguiberry" were activated for training duties as the 3rd Squadron of the Mediterranean Squadron; in July 1913, they were joined by "Charlemagne". The squadron was dissolved on 11 November, and "Bouvet", "Saint Louis", and "Gaulois" were assigned to the (Supplementary Division). Training activities continued into 1914, and in March, the division joined the rest of the Mediterranean Squadron, which was now re-designated as the (First Naval Army) for gunnery training off Corsica. Additional maneuvers were conducted beginning on 13 May, during which the fleet visited Bizerte in French Tunisia, Algiers in French Algeria, and Ajaccio, Corsica.
World War I.
Following the outbreak of World War I in July 1914, France announced general mobilization on 1 August. The next day, Admiral Augustin Boué de Lapeyrère ordered the entire French fleet to begin raising steam at 22:15 so the ships could sortie early the following morning. The bulk of the fleet, including the (designated as "Group C"), was sent to French North Africa, where they would escort the vital troop convoys carrying elements of the French Army from North Africa back to France to counter the expected German invasion. At the time, the division was commanded by Émile Paul Amable Guépratte, and it was tasked with guarding against a possible attack by the German battlecruiser , which instead fled to the Ottoman Empire. "Bouvet" and her division mates steamed first to Algiers and then Oran. There, they rendezvoused with one of the convoys and covered its voyage north to Sète on 6 August. From there, "Bouvet" and the battleships proceeded on to Toulon, before departing again for Algiers for another escort mission. Once the French Army units had completed their crossing by late August, the Group C ships were tasked with patrolling merchant traffic between Tunis and Sicily to prevent contraband shipments to the Central Powers.
In November, she and the armored cruiser were sent to relieve the British armored cruisers and as guard ships at the northern entrance to the Suez Canal. She remained there only briefly, however, before she was ordered north to the Dardanelles to relieve the battleship on 20 December. Over the coming months, the Triple Entente amassed a large fleet tasked with breaking through the Ottoman defenses that guarded the straits. During this period, before the start of major offensive operations, the Anglo-French fleet alternated between anchorages at Tenedos and Mudros Bay on the island of Lemnos, and it was tasked with patrolling the entrance to the straits to ensure that "Goeben"—which had by then been transferred to the Ottoman Navy as "Yavuz Sultan Selim"—did not attempt to sortie. On 1 February 1915, the ships sailed to Sigri on the island of Lesbos.
Dardanelles campaign.
By mid-February 1915, the French and British had assembled a fleet of four French and twelve British battleships, including "Bouvet", to lead the assault on the Dardanelles. The plan called for Ottoman defenses to be neutralized to allow the fleet to enter the Sea of Marmara and attack Constantinople directly. The first stage of the attack began on 19 February, which saw "Bouvet" and "Suffren", together with the British battlecruiser and the pre-dreadnought battleships , , and , bombard the coastal defenses protecting the entrance of the straits. During the bombardment, "Bouvet" assisted the battleship "Suffren" by sending firing corrections via radio while "Gaulois" provided counter-battery fire to suppress the Ottoman coastal artillery. Another attempt was made six days later, with "Bouvet" again spotting for "Gaulois"; this attack was more successful, and the French and British battleships silenced the outer fortresses, allowing minesweepers to enter the area and begin clearing the minefields protecting the straits. The French division steamed into the Gulf of Saros on the Aegean coast of the Gallipoli Peninsula on 1 March to scout Ottoman positions in the area. They then covered the British battleships as they bombarded Ottoman positions in the straits on 5 March, before taking their turn the next day, when they attacked the fortification at Dardanus.
On 18 March, the French and British squadrons made another attack on the straits, directed at the inner ring of fortresses that guarded the narrowest part of the Dardanelles. The larger British contingent, commanded by Rear Admiral John de Robeck, was to make the initial attack at longer range, led by the powerful dreadnought battleship ; once the batteries were reduced, the French ships, under Guépratte, were to enter the straits and attack at closer range. "Bouvet" and "Suffren" were to attack the fortresses on the Asian side of the straits, while "Gaulois" and "Charlemagne" were to silence the batteries on the European side. Mistakenly believing the Ottoman guns to have been largely neutralized by the British bombardment, Guépratte led his ships to within of the inner fortresses and engaged in an artillery duel. "Suffren" and "Bouvet" operated as a pair, taking alternating passes at high speed to make it more difficult for the Ottoman gunners to score hits. Nevertheless, by 14:00, "Bouvet" had taken several hits and two of her casemate guns had been knocked out. A serious fire had also been started on her bridge, though she had succeeded in neutralizing the Hamidieh battery. In the course of the attack on the fortresses, "Bouvet" sustained eight hits from Turkish artillery fire. Her forward turret was disabled after the propellant gas extractor broke down.
At around 13:45, de Robeck had ordered Guépratte to withdraw his ships so their British counterparts could take their turn against the Ottoman fortifications. "Bouvet" was at that time battling the fort at Namazieh, and her commander, (Ship of the line captain) Rageot de la Touche, initially did not respond to Guépratte's instruction to follow "Suffren" out of the narrows. After Guépratte again ordered him to break off contact, de la Touche turned "Bouvet" south to withdraw. Shortly thereafter, "Bouvet" was rocked by a major explosion, followed by a large cloud of red-black smoke; observers aboard the other ships could not immediately tell whether she had been hit by an Ottoman shell, torpedoed by a shore-mounted torpedo battery, or if she had struck a mine. The escorting destroyers and picket boats raced to the scene to pick up her crew, but in the span of just two minutes, "Bouvet" capsized and sank. A total of 75 of her crew were pulled from the water; 24 officers and 619 enlisted men died in the sinking. Most of the survivors were rescued by the British destroyer . The ship was in poor condition at the time due to her age, which likely contributed to her rapid sinking, though there was some speculation that her ammunition magazine exploded. Guépratte himself remarked that "that ship must have had poor stability." It was later determined that "Bouvet" had struck a mine, which was part of a field that had been freshly laid a week before the attack, and was unknown to the Allies.
Despite the sinking of "Bouvet", the first such loss of the day, the British remained unaware of the minefield, thinking the explosion had been caused by a shell or torpedo. Subsequently, two British pre-dreadnoughts, and , were sunk and the battlecruiser "Inflexible" was damaged by the same minefield. "Suffren" and "Gaulois" were both badly damaged by coastal artillery during the engagement. The loss of "Bouvet" and the two British battleships during the 18 March attack was a major factor in the decision to abandon a naval strategy to take Constantinople, and instead opt for the Gallipoli land campaign. While the Franco-British forces began preparations for the attack, "Bouvet"s place in the fleet was filled by .
Wreck.
In the early 2010s, Turkish marine archaeologists conducted sonar surveys of many of the wrecks from the Dardanelles campaign, including "Bouvet". Research on the wrecks had long been difficult, as the area is a busy maritime artery and the strong current combine to make diving difficult. The survey of "Bouvet", which lies upside down on the sea floor, revealed that a 305 mm shell from an Ottoman shore battery had struck the ship at the waterline amidships on the same side as she struck the mine, which contributed to the fatal flooding that caused her to rapidly capsize and sink.


Compania de Filipinas

Compania de Filipinas was a Spanish steamship first operated by the Compañía General de Tabacos de Filipinas, and then converted by the nascent Philippine Navy (Revolutionary Navy) as the flagship "Filipinas".
History.
In 1889, the steamship "Compania de Filipinas" was built by Lobnitz in Renfrew, Scotland, and was acquired by the Compañía General de Tabacos de Filipinas the following year. In 1898, while serving as an inter-island steamship, the Revolutionary Navy (later the Philippine Navy) acquired her as their flagship. The Revolutionary Navy was initially composed of a small fleet of eight captured Spanish steam launches refitted with Gonzalez Hontoria de 9 cm (mod 1879) guns, and then received a donation of five merchant ships, namely the "Taaleño", the "Balayan", the "Bulusan", the "Taal" and the "Purísima Concepción", prior to having the "Filipinas". The acquisition was made possible by the Filipino crew of the ship, who launched a mutiny under the Cuban Vicente Catalan. Catalan, in turn, proclaimed himself "admiral." When the Filipino flag was hoisted by the ship, the East Asia Squadron contested it and claimed the ship for Germany. Despite an impending naval incident, the ship remained under Filipino control until the Philippine–American War proved the naval superiority of the American Asiatic Squadron and decimated the Revolutionary Navy. The vessel continued to be in the service of the Compañía General de Tabacos de Filipinas until 1942, when World War II opened in the Pacific theater. In 1942, "Compania de Filipinas" was captured off Fortune Island and incorporated by the Japanese government to the nation's merchant marine as a cargo ship. She was renamed . On 3 July 1945, it was sunk by an aerial mine near Jindo Island. While this ship was the only "Hoei Maru" that was a cargo ship, there are other Japanese vessels with the same name:
Technical details.
The tonnage of the "Compania de Filipinas" vary from 655 to 900 grt. It had one triple-expansion engine, a drive shaft, and a propeller. Her hull number is 342.


Henry S. Parmelee

Henry S. Parmelee (c. 1846 – 1902), was president of the Fair Haven and Westville Street Railway Company and was a piano maker from New Haven, Connecticut. He took the idea of Sir Hiram Maxim and then invented the second automatic fire sprinkler system in 1874, to protect his piano factory. While other patents for fire sprinklers predated Parmelee's work, he is credited with the first automated sprinkler head. His piano company, Mathushek Piano Manufacturing Co., is credited as being the first building in the United States to be equipped with a fire suppression system.
Biography.
He was born in about 1846 in Ohio to Spencer T. Parmelee (c. 1805-1875) and his wife Zeriah A. (born c. 1812). He died in 1902.


Morgan Hill station

Morgan Hill is a Caltrain station located in the downtown area of Morgan Hill, California. The station is only served during weekday peak hours, with northbound trains in the morning and southbound trains in the evening.
Th original Southern Pacific station opened in 1899 as Morganhill — the railroad closed the station in November 1958. VTA rebuilt the station for an extension to Caltrain in 1992.
The station will eventually be served by Amtrak when the "Capitol Corridor" is extended to Salinas station.


Yogi Nath

Yogi Nath is a Shaivism-related group of monks which emerged around the 13th-century. They are sometimes called "Jogi" or simply "Yogi", and are known for a variety of siddha yoga practices. Their tradition is known as Nath Sampradaya.
History.
The yogis were primarily associated with the Yogic-traditions promoted by the great Nath saints, e.g. Matsyendranath, Gorakshanath, Chauranginath etc. Hatha yoga is considered as the prominent part of those traditions promoted by these great Nath masters. The Nath Sampradaya is considered as a development of the earlier Siddha or Avadhuta Sampradaya, an ancient lineage of spiritual masters. The Nath yogis are classical followers of Shaivism; it was not a caste it is followed by different communities it was a sect within Hindu religion.
In 1567, Jogis (Giris) and Sannyasi (Puris) battled each other as detailed in the Tabaqat-i-Akbari, both are 2 of the 10 akharas (orders) of Dashanami Sampradaya. Puris were outnumbered by 200 to 500 by Jogis, Akbar asked his soldiers to smear ash and join Puris to help them, this led to the victory of Puris.
Organization.
The principles of Yoga philosophy of Nath tradition are stated in Sanskrit texts such as Gorakshagita, Goraksha Paddhati, Siddha Siddhanta Paddhati, Amaraugha Sasana, Amaraugha Prabodha, Mahartha Manjari, Gheranda Samhita. Hatha yoga includes disciplines, postures (asana), purification procedures (shatkriya), gestures (mudra), breathing (pranayama), meditation (dhyana), samadhi.
The Nath tradition is a syncretic Yoga and Vedanta schools of Hindu philosophy based Shaiva tradition, that reveres Shiva and Dattatreya. Its founding is attributed to the ideas of Matsyendranath and Gorakshanath, developed further with an additional seven other Siddha Yoga Gurus called "Naths" (literally, lords). The Nath Yogi "sampradaya" and monastic organizations grew starting with the 13th century, with its matha headquarters in Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh. Many of their mathas are found in the northern, central and western states of India particularly in the Himalayas, but archeological inscriptions suggest their mathas existed in south India as well. The early Nath monks received endowments in Karnataka, for example, between the 10th and 13th century, which later became a temple and Shaiva matha hub for them near Mangalore. The Kadri matha, for instance, is one of the legendary monasteries in the Nath tradition which attracted converts from Buddhism and infusion of Buddhist ideas into Shaivism.
Nath Shaiva monastic organization was one of those Hindu monk groups that militarized and took up arms following the Muslim conquest of India, to resist persecution. They were scorned and persecuted by Mughal Empire officials, and by social, cultural and religious elites. However, the Nath yogi monks have been very popular with the rural population in South Asia since medieval times.
The Nath tradition of Shaivism is credited with establishing numerous Shiva Hindu temples and monasteries, particularly in Gujarat, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, north Bihar, and Nepal.
Yogi Nath in Bengal.
In British colonial census, Yogi Nath were classified as a Bengali Hindu caste descended from the Nath Sampradaya (sect). Many of them then settled in the outlying tracts of eastern Bengal, especially in the districts of Sylhet, Tipperah, Noakhali, Chittagong, Mymensingh and Dhaka. Many of the yogis adopted weaving as profession.


HMS Bagshot

HMS "Bagshot" was a Hunt-class minesweeper of the "Aberdare" sub-class built for the Royal Navy during World War I. She was not completed in time to participate in the First World War and survived the Second World War to be sold for scrap in 1947.
Design and description.
The "Aberdare" sub-class were enlarged versions of the original Hunt-class ships with a more powerful armament. The ships displaced at normal load. They had a length between perpendiculars of and measured long overall. The "Aberdare"s had a beam of and a draught of . The ships' complement consisted of 74 officers and ratings.
The ships had two vertical triple-expansion steam engines, each driving one shaft, using steam provided by two Yarrow boilers. The engines produced a total of and gave a maximum speed of . They carried a maximum of of coal which gave them a range of at .
The "Aberdare" sub-class was armed with a quick-firing (QF) gun forward of the bridge and a QF twelve-pounder (76.2 mm) anti-aircraft gun aft. Some ships were fitted with six- or three-pounder guns in lieu of the twelve-pounder.
Construction and career.
HMS "Bagshot" was built by the Ardrossan Dry Dock & Shipbuilding Company and was launched on 23 May 1918. She temporarily became depot ship "Medway II" 1 April 1945 to 28 February 1946.


Logan Pass

Logan Pass (elevation ) is located along the Continental Divide in Glacier National Park, in the U.S. state of Montana. It is the highest point on the Going-to-the-Sun Road. The pass is named after Major Willian R. Logan, the first superintendent of the park.
The Logan Pass Visitor Center is open during the summer season just east of the pass. The pass is a popular starting point for hiking and backpacking trips. The most popular trail is the Highline Trail which heads north along the west side of the continental divide, through an area known as the Garden Wall, due to the proliferation of wildflowers which grow there during the summer.
Just east of the pass, an area known as Big Drift often records over 100 feet (30 m) of snowfall, much of which has been pushed over the continental divide by the prevailing westerly winds during the winter. The pass is closed during the winter due to avalanche hazards and the virtual impossibility of keeping the Going-to-the-Sun Road open, yet is generally open from mid-to-late June until mid October.
A record wind gust was recorded at Logan Pass on April 9, 2014, of 139 miles per hour. The pass was closed at that time. "The previous record gust recorded at Logan Pass was 133 mph, on Dec. 13, 2006. The average wind speed during the hour the record gust was recorded was 66 mph."
The pass provides an excellent vantage point to view wildlife. A visitor is almost guaranteed to spot a mountain goat as they have become adjusted to summertime human visitation.


USS Commodore Jones

USS "Commodore Jones" was a ferryboat acquired by the Union Navy during the American Civil War. Ferryboats were of great value, since, because of their flat bottom and shallow draft, they could navigate streams and shallow waters that other ships could not.
She was outfitted by the Union Navy as a heavily armed gunboat and assigned to the blockade of the waterways of the Confederate States of America.
Purchased in New York City in 1863.
"Commodore Jones" — an armed, side-wheel ferry — was purchased at New York City in 1863 and commissioned on 1 May 1863, Lieutenant Commander J. G. Mitchell in command.
Civil War operations.
Assigned to the North Atlantic Blockade.
Serving with the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron, "Commodore Jones" operated in Virginia's rivers and on her coast from 11 May 1863. She performed picket and patrol duty, dragged for torpedoes (mines), skirmished with enemy cavalry, shelled shore installations, and captured contraband goods with her shore parties.
She joined in the evacuation of West Point, Virginia from 31 May-1 June, in the expedition up the Mattapony River from 3–7 June, in the Chickahominy River demonstration of 10–13 June, and put to sea in search of CSS "Tacony" from 13–19 June.
"Commodore Jones" strikes a mine and sinks.
She patrolled the James River frequently in the course of her service, and there on 6 May 1864, she was destroyed by an electrically-fired mine.


Riggs Road station

Riggs Road is a light rail station that is currently under construction. It will be part of the Purple Line in Maryland. The station will be located at the intersection of Riggs Road and University Boulevard.
History.
The Riggs Road station is expected to open to the public in June 2023.
Station layout.
The station consists of an island platform on the median of University Boulevard just east of Riggs Road.


Strap wrench

A strap wrench is any of various types of wrench that grip an object via a strap or chain being pulled in tension around it until it firmly grips. High static friction keeps it from slipping.
Many strap wrenches have built-in handles. Others are made to receive the square drive of a ratchet wrench.
The strap or chain can have various forms. Some straps are made of polymers, and are smooth, highly flexible, non-marring, high-friction straps. (Before the era of commercial polymers, the straps were of leather or rubber.) Other straps are bands of spring steel, moderately flexible, slightly firmer and more likely to mar than the polymer variants. The chains tend to be of the roller chain type (like a bicycle chain).
Types.
Oil-filter wrenches.
Many oil-filter wrenches are actually strap wrenches. Others are of the socket type or the pliers type.
Chain whips (e.g., for bicycle work).
A chain whip is a tool used to tighten and loosen threaded sprockets on a bicycle. It is called a chain whip because it has a short section of chain used to grip the sprocket. An alternative method to tighten sprockets is the rotafix method, which uses no tools.
Piston-ring compressors.
Piston-ring compressors are strap wrenches that evenly squeeze (compress) the piston rings around a piston long enough to slide it into a cylinder. They look a lot like an oil-filter wrench of the strap type ( Except they are a flat piece of metal that wraps around the piston). If no wrench is available, an old piston ring snapped into two halves can be used to compress each of the new rings as the piston is inserted.


Ellen Louise Demorest

Ellen Louise Demorest ("née" Curtis) (November 15, 1824 – August 10, 1898) was a US fashion arbiter. She was a successful milliner, widely credited for inventing mass-produced tissue-paper dressmaking patterns. With her husband, William Jennings Demorest, she established a company to sell the patterns, which were adaptations of the latest French fashions, and a magazine to promote them (1860). Her dressmaking patterns made French styles accessible to ordinary women, thus greatly influencing US fashion.
Early life.
Demorest was born November 15, 1824 in Schuylerville, New York. She was the second of eight children born to Electra Abel Curtis and Henry D. Curtis. Her father was a farmer and the owner of a men's hat factory. At eighteen, Demorest set up a millinery shop in Saratoga Springs with the help of her father. After a year, she moved her business to Troy before relocating again to Williamsburg, Brooklyn. In 1858, she married William Jennings Demorest, a thirty-six year old widower with two children. Demorest gave birth to a son in 1859 and a daughter in 1865.
Career.
Early in their marriage, the Demorests ran a Philadelphia emporium. Ellen and her sister Kate were working on a system of simplified dress making when they saw the Demorest's African-American maid cutting a dress pattern out of brown paper. Ellen was inspired by the idea to create tissue paper patterns of fashionable garments for the home sewer.
The family relocated to New York and began manufacturing patterns. In the fall of 1860, they launched a quarterly magazine, "Mme. Demorest’s Mirror of Fashions". They also opened a women's fashion emporium at 473 Broadway.
"Mme. Demorest’s Mirror of Fashions" and "Demorest’s Illustrated Monthly Magazine" soon reached a circulation of 60,000. The magazine was well-timed, coming as sewing machines became common in middle-class homes. Articles in the Mirror of Fashions gave home sewers helpful tips and encouraged readers to believe in their own ability. Readers felt "emancipated... from dependence on milliners and dressmakers."
The fashions worn by Empress Eugenie were of particular interest to the readers of "Demorest’s Illustrated Monthly Magazine" and "Mme. Demorest’s Mirror of Fashions". Correspondents reported on every dress the Empress wore and her gowns were reproduced for a semi-annual New York show.
Journalist and women's rights advocate Jane Cunningham Croly edited "Demorest’s Illustrated Monthly Magazine" from 1860 to 1887. Under her leadership, "Demorest’s Monthly" advocated for female education and employment. Croly promoted female accomplishment with a monthly "What Women Are Doing" column. The column claimed to take "note of every woman rancher, banker, dentist or businesswoman... who came to light in a distinctive way in any part of the country." Other contributors included Louisa May Alcott, Theodore Dreiser, and Robert Louis Stevenson.
In 1863, Ellen designed the wedding trousseau of circus performer Lavinia Warren.
In 1876, the year of their height in popularity, the Demorests' company distributed and sold over 3 million patterns. Offices in Europe, Canada and Cuba distributed Demorest patterns.
An ardent abolitionist and women's rights advocate, Ellen Demorest employed both black and white women in her enterprises. Those who objected to her politics were asked to shop elsewhere.
Later life.
In 1876, Demorest turned her attention to philanthropy. Along with Jane Cunningham Croly, Ellen was a founding member of Sorosis, the first professional women's club in the United States.
Ironically, the Demorests failed to patent their paper pattern but another inventor, Ebenezer Butterick, did. Initially Butterick confined his patterns to men's and children's wear, but by 1867 he expanded to women's patterns as well. By 1874 his empire extended from Europe to North America with over 100 branch offices. It remains the center of the paper pattern industry today.
Family history.
Ellen Louise Demorest ("née" Curtis) was born November 15, 1824, at old Saratoga, otherwise known as Schuylerville, New York. She was the second of eight children (6 girls 2 boys) born to Henry D. Curtis and Electa Curtis, née Abel. She was known from girlhood as Nell.
One of her father's eighteen siblings — Charity — (1834–1919, married to Jeremiah Shonts) was the maternal grandmother of Charles B.J. Snyder, a renowned American architect who served as Superintendent of School Buildings for the New York City Board of Education from 1891 to 1923.
Ellen became the second wife of William Jennings Demorest, a widower, and a stepmother to the two children born to his first marriage: (i) Vienna Willamina Demorest (1847–1913) — who married Dr. James M. Gano (1842–1895) and Henry Clay Demorest (1850–1928). Two more children were born to Ellen Louise Demorest and W. Jennings Demorest: (iii) William Curtis Demorest (1859–1933) and (iv) Evelyn Celeste Caradora Louise Demorest (1865–1960) — who married Alexander Garretson Rea (d. 1926) of Philadelphia.


Battersea Power Station tube station

Battersea Power Station (previously proposed as Battersea) is a London Underground station under construction in Battersea, London, as part of the Northern line extension to Battersea (NLE).
Partially funded by the redevelopment of Battersea Power Station, the new station will serve the redevelopment site, as well as Battersea itself. The station will be located on Battersea Park Road, close to Battersea Park railway station and a short walking distance from Queenstown Road (Battersea) railway station. It is due to open in autumn 2021.
Services.
The future station will be located in Zone 1, and will be served by the Northern line as part of the extension from Kennington to serve the redevelopment of Battersea Power Station. Trains from Battersea Power Station will only run via Charing Cross as the branch will be an extension off the Kennington loop. The station will serve as the terminus for the new branch, although provision has been made for a possible future extension to Clapham Junction railway station. The station will also serve as an out-of-station interchange with Battersea Park railway station.
Design.
The station will be designed and built by Ferrovial Agroman Laing O’Rourke, with station entrance architecture by Grimshaw. Art on the Underground has commissioned the artist Alexandre da Cunha to install a permanent piece of artwork in the ticket hall of the station: a 100-metre-long kinetic sculpture, using the obsolete technology of the rotating billboard.
Construction.
The station was given final approval by the Secretary of State for Transport in November 2014, and construction began in 2015, with completion originally scheduled for 2020.
Tunnelling of the NLE began at Battersea, with the two tunnel boring machines, Helen and Amy, departing the site in March 2017 to dig the running tunnels of the extended line.
In the draft edition of the TfL "Business Plan 2014", issued as part of the TfL Board papers for their meeting on 10 December 2014, the map "TfL's Rail Transport Network at 2021" labelled the terminus as "Battersea Power Station", instead of just "Battersea" as had appeared on previous publications. In December 2015 TfL confirmed that the name of the station will be "Battersea Power Station".
In December 2018 the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, announced that the project will be delayed until September 2021 at the earliest, "to increase the station's capacity to cope with a higher number of passengers than originally forecast".
By June 2019, major tunnelling and track works had been completed, with an engineering train running on the extension for the first time. By February 2020, construction of the station was nearly complete, with platforms, escalators and the London Underground roundel installed on the station. The first London Underground train ran onto the extension over the 2020 Christmas period, marking the start of the signal testing period.


Tom Schnackenberg

Thomas William Schnackenberg (born 11 May 1945) is a New Zealand sailor and yacht designer best known for his involvement with the America's Cup. He was inducted into the America's Cup Hall of Fame in 2000.
Schnackenberg attended Auckland Grammar School before gaining a masters in physics from the University of Auckland and the University of British Columbia.
Having served in the Auckland Grammar School Sea Cadets, Schnackenberg joined the RNZNVR later acquiring a commission as a Reserve officer at HMNZS Ngapona.
Schnackenberg was first involved with the 1977 America's Cup as a sail designer for "Enterprise".
He was involved with as a sail designer for "Australia" in the 1980 America's Cup before being promoted to sail co-ordinator for "Australia II" in the 1983 America's Cup. "Australia II" won the cup, becoming the first team to defeat the New York Yacht Club. Schnackenberg was again the sail co-ordinator for "Australia III" and "Australia IV's" unsuccessful defence of the America's Cup in 1987 before joining New Zealand Challenge to help design "KZ1" for the 1988 America's Cup. He was a part of the Spirit of Australia challenge at the 1992 Louis Vuitton Cup before joining Team New Zealand as the design co-ordinator and navigator for their victory at the 1995 America's Cup. 1995 was his first on-board role at an America's Cup. During this period, he also coached the New Zealand yachting team for the Olympic Games in 1992 and 1996.
He remained with Team New Zealand for their defence at the 2000 America's Cup and was promoted to syndicate head for the unsuccessful 2003 America's Cup defence, where he was credited as a designer of "NZL 82". He remained with the team for the 2007 America's Cup, working as a design and data analyst.
Schnackenberg received an honorary Medal of the Order of Australia, for service as sail designer for the successful 1983 America's Cup challenge, in the 1984 Australia Day Honours. In the 1995 New Zealand Queen's Birthday Honours, he was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire, for services to yachting, and in 2001 he was awarded an honorary Doctor of Engineering by the University of Auckland.
Schnackenberg worked with Artemis Racing in the lead up to the 2013 America's Cup as their head of performance and design.


Douglas Glen station

Douglas Glen is a planned and approved CTrain light rail station in Calgary, Alberta, Canada part of the Green Line. Construction will begin in 2022 and complete in 2027 as part of construction stage one, segment one. The station is located in the suburban residential and commercial community of Douglasdale/Douglasglen.
The station will be located along 114 Avenue SE between 29 Street SE and 27 Street SE. The site of the station is currently used as a transit hub for buses and will be rebuilt to accommodate rail. The station is one of only three stations in stage one to feature a park and ride.


Houston station (Texas Central)

Houston is the planned southern terminus of the Texas Central Railway high-speed line. The station is located in the Lazybrook/Timbergrove neighborhood of Houston, Texas, northeast of the Interstate 610 and U.S. Route 290 interchange at the site of the former Northwest Mall. The station is about from the METRO Northwest Transit Center and about from Downtown.
Planning.
Three alternatives were considered for the Houston passenger terminal: the former Northwest Mall, the industrial site directly southwest of the mall, and the nearby METRO Northwest Transit Center. The mall was chosen as the station site in 2018.


Arthur E. Morris

Arthur E. Morris (born 1946) is an American politician and professional engineer. Arthur Morris was the Pennsylvania State Mile High School Champion in 1963. He earned a B.S. degree in Civil Engineering from Penn State University (where he was a member of Alpha Epsilon Pi) and an Honorary Doctor of Science from Franklin and Marshall College.
Morris designed flood control structures as a Hydraulic Engineer for the Pennsylvania Department of Forest and Waters from 1968 to 1970. He then worked for the City of Lancaster, Pennsylvania first as the City Engineer and later as Director of Public Works from 1970 to 1980.
On January 7, 1980 Morris was sworn as the youngest mayor in Lancaster history at the age of 34. He served as the mayor of Lancaster, Pennsylvania from 1980 to 1990. He served as President of Acer Engineers and Consultants from 1990 to 1993. From 1994 to 1996, Morris served as Vice-President for research and membership of Public Technology Inc. Since 1997, he has been President of Keystone National Alliance and Utility Solutions.
Morris chaired the Board of the Lancaster County Convention Center Authority and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s Advisory Committee for the Decontamination of Three Mile Island.
From 2002 until December 31, 2006, Morris served on the board of the Sustainable Energy Fund of Central Eastern Pennsylvania, which was founded by the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission.
In January 2008, former Lancaster County Commissioner Molly Henderson sued Morris, Lancaster Newspapers, Inc., and eight newspaper employees claiming that they injured her reputation during her tenure as Commissioner. The dispute centered around building a downtown convention center, and followed her defeat in a 2007 re-election bid. On June 7, 2011 the Court of Common Pleas, Chester County, Pennsylvania entered a judgement in favor of Morris which judgement was affirmed by the Superior Court of Pennsylvania on September 28, 2012. The "Arthur Morris Lancaster Mile" Race is held in his honor as a fund raiser for his legal defense fund.


Noah Cooke

Noah Cooke (born 8 March 1831) was an English poet known as "The Weaver Poet". He was born in Kidderminster, Worcestershire, the son of a journeyman weaver. Cooke followed his father into the weaving industry, and he eventually became a carpet weaver in his home town. At the time, about half of the town's population was connected with the carpet industry. He was also involved in the local trade union.
Cooke was encouraged to start writing poetry in the 1850s by his brother-in-law Benjamin Riley, who was a writer. From 1870, Cooke's works appeared frequently in the "Poet's Corner" section of the "Kidderminster Shuttle". He published a collection of poems in 1876 under the title "Wild Warblings". Although he wrote hundreds of poems, no other collections were published.
Most of Cooke's poems are short, although he did write a few longer poems, such as the religious poem "Life", which was printed privately in 1916. The main theme of his works was nature, although he also wrote about the weaving industry and the working conditions of other labourers. His works were intended to be read by a working-class audience. Nothing is known about Cooke's process of composition, although it has been suggested that he created lines of poetry while he worked.
Cooke's poetry generally only reached a local audience, where he was well known, and he was known locally as "The Weaver Poet". He gained some national attention by contributing poems to labour publications.


List of energy storage power plants

This is a list of energy storage power plants worldwide, other than pumped hydro storage.
Many individual energy storage plants augment electrical grids by capturing excess electrical energy during periods of low demand and storing it in other forms until needed on an electrical grid. The energy is later converted back to its electrical form and returned to the grid as needed.
Most of the world's grid energy storage by capacity is in the form of pumped-storage hydroelectricity, which is covered in List of pumped-storage hydroelectric power stations.
This article list plants using all other forms of energy storage.
Another energy storage method is the consumption of surplus or low-cost energy (typically during night time) for conversion into resources such as hot water, cool water or ice, which is then used for heating or cooling at other times when electricity is in higher demand and at greater cost per kilowatt hour (kWh). Such thermal energy storage is often employed at end-user sites such as large buildings, and also as part of district heating, thus 'shifting' energy consumption to other times for better balancing of supply and demand.
For a list of systems and forms of energy storage see energy storage and grid energy storage.
Largest energy storage plants.
Table is by default sorted by storage capacity in MWh. Minimum capacity for inclusion is either 10 MWh or 10 MW.


Mike Tavioni

Mike Tavioni (born 1947) is a Cook Islands artist and writer. A master carver, he has been described as a "taonga" (treasure). His role in the pacific art community is recognised from New Zealand to Hawaii.
Tavioni was born on Rarotonga. He was educated at Tereora College, then at Northland College, Kaikohe and Massey University in New Zealand, graduating with a degree in Agriculture & Horticulture. After working as a public servant in the Agriculture Department, he became a full-time artist. In 2019 he graduated with a Master of Fine Arts from Auckland University of Technology.
He has worked in a wide variety of mediums, including printing, painting, wood, stone, and bone, as well as traditional tattooing. In 1975 he began printing t-shirts using wooden blocks. He experimented with other mediums, but initially found it difficult to obtain tools and materials. In 1996 he oversaw the creation of the Punanga Nui market. In 2002 he published a poetry collection, "Speak Your Truth". His work is displayed at the Punanga Nui in Avarua and the University of the South Pacific campus. In 2016 he was commissioned, alongside New Zealand-based artist Michel Tuffery, to create a carved wooden gateway for the RSA memorial cemetery to commemorate the centenary of Cook Islands participation in the First World War.
Tavioni now runs a gallery and art school in Rarotonga, where he teaches traditional "vaka"-making.
Tavioni unsuccessfully stood as a candidate for the Unity party in the 1978 Cook Islands general election. He later stood as a candidate for the Te Kura O Te ʻAu People's Movement in Avatiu–Ruatonga–Palmerston in the 2010 election.


The Shoemaker

The Shoemaker is a play written by Susan Charlotte, first staged at the off-Broadway Acorn Theater on 24 July 2011. The play was directed by Antony Marsellis and starred Danny Aiello as The Shoemaker, Alma Cuervo as Hilary, Lucy Devito as Louise and Michael Twaine providing Offstage Voices.
Production history.
"The Shoemaker" was first produced at the Acorn Theatre in New York City on 24 July 2011. It was directed by Antony Marsellis. The cast was as follows:


Armand Couaillet

Armand Couaillet (1865–1954) was a French clock maker from Saint-Nicolas-d'Aliermont in Normandy.
In 1890 Couaillet started a business producing carriage clocks; shortly afterwards his three brothers join the business. By the turn of the century, the company employed about 100 workers and were producing 4000 carriage clocks each month.
On the eve of World War I, The Couaillet brothers employed 300 people and their catalog listed 250 models of clocks, but during the war, the focus of production switched to precision mechanical components for fuses, parts for aircraft engines and field telegraph systems.
In 1919, after a trip to the United States, he designed and began the production of the “Électricar”, a lightweight, three-wheeled, one-person electric automobile. Only 250 units are sold; the market demanded an internal combustion engine. At the same time, he relaunched his horological business, producing primarily alarm clocks and timers. In 1925 that business was bankrupt, and closed down.


Highline Trail (Glacier National Park)

The Highline Trail is a scenic hiking trail in Glacier National Park, Montana, United States. The trail stretches from Logan Pass to Granite Park Chalet, and continues another from there to Fifty Mountain Campground. The trail follows the Garden Wall ridge and the continental divide for most of its length. The trail offers scenic views of glaciated U-shaped valleys. A round trip side trail takes hikers up the side of the Garden Wall to an overlook to Grinnell Glacier.


Jean-Marc Vacheron

Jean-Marc Vacheron (1731–1805) was a Swiss horologist and a founder of the Vacheron Constantin watch company. He was a close friend of leading Enlightenment philosophers Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Voltaire due to their common interests in philosophy, science and watchmaking.
Early life.
Jean-Marc Vacheron was born in 1731 in Geneva, Switzerland. His father was Jean-Jacques Vacheron.
Career.
Vacheron opened his watch shop in 1755.
His timepieces naturally bore the name "Jean-Marc Vacheron". At that time he was 24 years old and was one of many "cabinotiers"-watchmakers who specialized in the production of certain components, selling them to so-called "etablisseurs". The watchmakers were called "cabinotiers" in honor of the well-lit "cabinets" on the top floors of the houses in Geneva's Saint-Gervais neighborhood, where they worked.
Personal life.
Vacheron had five children. His sons Louis Andre (born in 1755) and Abraham (born in 1760) followed in his footsteps.
Death.
He died in 1805.


Tengah Park MRT station

Tengah Park MRT station is a proposed Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) station on the Jurong Region line located along the boundary of Tengah and Bukit Batok planning areas, Singapore.
History.
On 9 May 2018, LTA announced that Tengah Park station would be part of the proposed Jurong Region line (JRL). The station will be constructed as part of Phase 2, JRL (East), consisting of 7 stations between Tengah and Pandan Reservoir, and is expected to be completed in 2028.
Contract J108 for the design and construction of Tengah Park Station and associated viaducts was awarded to John Holland Pty Ltd – McConnell Dowell South East Asia Pte Ltd Joint Venture (JV) at a sum of S$265.4 million in March 2020. Construction will start in 2020, with completion in 2028. Contract J108 also includes the design and construction of Tengah Plantation station and Bukit Batok West station, and associated viaducts.
Initially expected to open in 2027, the restrictions on the construction due to the COVID-19 pandemic has led to delays in the JRL line completion, and the date was pushed to 2028.
Location.
The station complex will be situated next to Bukit Batok Road, before the junction with Bukit Batok West Avenue 3. It is located at the boundary between the Tengah and Bukit Batok planning area in the Brickworks Subzone, opposite Dulwich College Singapore.
Access to the station will be via 5 exits on each side of Bukit Batok Road.


Buffet family

The Buffet family was a family of French musical instrument makers.
Denis Buffet-Auger.
Denis Buffet-Auger, born Denis Buffet, was born 28 July 1783 in La Couture, near Dreux into a family of woodturners. He became known as Buffet-Auger after his marriage to Marie-Anne Auger. In 1825 he set up a workshop in Paris making instruments, a business that was to become the Buffet Crampon company, still in operation and one of the foremost manufacturers of woodwind instruments. Jean Louis Buffet was his son. Denis Buffet-Auger died on 24 Sep 1841 in Paris.
Auguste Buffet "jeune".
Auguste Buffet "jeune" (full name Louis-Auguste Buffet) was born 6 August 1789 in La Couture, a younger brother of Denis Buffet-Auger. Auguste was making musical instruments in La Couture by 1813, but by 1830 had moved his workshop to Paris. In the 1830s he designed and built two new bass clarinets, developed an improved Boehm system flute (with flutist Victor Coche), and, with H.E. Klosé, invented the so-called Boehm system clarinet, the system still most commonly in use outside of Germany, Austria, and Russia for clarinets. In the early 1840s, with P.J.R. Soler, he developed a Boehm system oboe; this, however, was less successful. Louis-Auguste Buffet was his son. Auguste Buffet "jeune" died on 30 Sep 1864 in Anet.
Jean Louis Buffet.
Jean Louis Buffet, also known as Jean Louis Buffet-Crampon, was born 18 July 1813 in La Couture, son of Denis Buffet-Auger. By about 1830 he had begun to work at the musical instrument manufacturing firm established by his father, and at the latter's death in 1841 he took over the company. Buffet married Zoë Crampon in 1836, and by 1844 his firm was known as Buffet Crampon. He died in Paris on 17 April 1865.
Louis Auguste Buffet.
Louis Auguste Buffet was born 15 July 1816 in Anet, son of Auguste Buffet "jeune". By 1845 Auguste (as Louis Auguste called himself) was working in his father's workshop in Paris. Between 1859 and 1862 he was awarded several patents relating to woodwind instrument making, and in 1864, when his father died, he took over operation of the business. He died on 7 April 1884 in Paris.


Ethel Mairet

Ethel Mary Partridge, Ethel Mary Mairet RDI, or Ethel Mary Coomaraswamy (17 February 1872 – 18 November 1952) was a British hand loom weaver, significant in the development of the craft during the first half of the twentieth century.
Early life.
Ethel Mary Partridge was born in Barnstaple, Devon, in 1872. Her parents were David (a pharmacist) and Mary Ann (born Hunt) Partridge. She was educated locally and in 1899 she qualified to teach piano at the Royal Academy of Music. She then took up work as a governess, first in London and later in Bonn, Germany.
Introduction to textiles.
She met the famed art historian and philosopher Ananda Coomaraswamy. The couple married on 19 June 1902 and travelled to Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), where he conducted a mineral survey. The couple recorded the arts and crafts of each village, and Mairet kept meticulous journals, photographing each craft she observed. They returned to England in 1907 and published their investigations into Ceylon crafts.
Until 1910 they lived in Broad Campden where the arts and crafts architect Charles Robert Ashbee had established a community of artists and craftspeople. This Guild and School of Handicraft in Chipping Campden included Ethel's brother Frederick James Partridge, a jeweller. Ashbee renovated a Norman chapel as the Coomaraswamy home. The couple visited India, where they added to the textile collection they had begun whilst in Ceylon.
Weaving and dyeing.
Aside from some rudimentary lessons in Ceylon and the British Isles, Ethel Mairet was self-taught as a weaver, spinner and dyer.
Mairet made her first experiments with weaving and dyeing in 1909 in Chipping Camden. She studied vegetable dyes in the Bodleian Library, Oxford and is said to have travelled to the Lake District to learn weaving during this period. Her knowledge of dyes and mordants were likely compounded by her father (a chemist) and her husband Ananda Coomaraswamy (a botanist).
Over the winter of 1910 Mairet and Coomaraswamy travelled to India. She wrote to the Ashbees over this period, and kept a journal detailing her discoveries of rare textiles and decorative jewellery, noting the vegetable dyes used.
In 1910 Coomaraswamy began openly having an affair and their marriage ended. Ethel then built a house near Barnstaple complete with studios for textile dyeing and weaving. In 1913 she married Philip Mairet and together they established The Thatched House a joint home and studio near Stratford upon Avon. The studio provided a base for her first weaving workshop. The following year she was visited by Mahatma Gandhi, who knew of her work in Ceylon and was interested in using simple textile techniques in India (see Khadi).
In 1916 she published "A Book on Vegetable Dyes" printed by Hilary Pepler at the Hampshire House Press in Hammersmith, London.
Ditchling.
In 1916 she visited Hilary Pepler in Ditchling. Mairet was so impressed that she set about moving there. In 1917 she completed "An Essay on Crafts and Obedience" and oversaw the production of the second edition of "A Book on Vegetable Dyes", both published by Hilary Pepler at St Dominic's Press in Ditchling.
"Gospels", Mairet's third and final building project was completed in late 1920. During the 1930s and 1940s she trained people in weaving and dyeing at her Ditchling studio. Mairet's seminal training at her workshop is said to have influenced all of the aspiring hand weavers of that generation including Hilary Bourne, Valentine KilBride, Elizabeth Peacock, Petra Gill and Peter Collingwood.
The Swiss weaver Marianne Straub came to work with her and to learn more about hand loom weaving; Mairet taught Straub about hand dyeing and spinning as well. Straub introduced a variety of double cloth weaves and developed a friendship with Mairet. Mairet learnt in turn from Straub and this underwrote her belief that hand loom weaving could be used by industry. Straub and Mairet went on three European holidays during the mid 1930s. Straub frequently returned to Mairet and "Gospels". A surviving journal written by Mairet from a European journey with her husband in 1927 illustrates how her observations were dominated not by whom she met but what they were wearing.
In 1921 Bernard Leach and Shoji Hamada visited Mairet at Gospels.
A member of both the Red Rose Guild of Craftsmen and the Guild of Weavers, Spinners and Dyers, in 1937 she became the first woman awarded the Royal Society of Arts title of Royal Designer for Industry. In 1939 she published "Handweaving Today, Traditions and Change". She taught at the Brighton College of Art from 1939 until 1947.
Mairet remained active throughout her life, and continued mentoring pupils and sending examples of her oeuvre to schools across the country.
Legacy.
Mairet died in Ditchling Common in 1952 and she was buried in Brighton, at St Nicholas' churchyard.
Mairet influenced a generation of weavers. The "Oxford Dictionary of National Biography" quotes the Japanese potter Shoji Hamada who called Mairet "the mother of English hand-weaving". Ditchling Museum of Art + Craft exhibits artifacts related to Mairet and other artists who worked locally.
She is the subject of a biography, "A Weaver's Life: Ethel Mairet".
The Ethel Mairet archive is housed at the Crafts Study Centre. It includes documents and memorabilia from 1872–1952. Personal documents, travel journals 1910–1938. business and personal letters, books of account and photographs are included and are still a subject of academic study.


Gobelin

Gobelin was the name of a family of dyers, who in all probability came originally from Reims, and who in the middle of the 15th century established themselves in the Faubourg Saint Marcel, Paris, on the banks of the Bièvre.
The first head of the firm was named Jehan Gobelin (d. 1476). He discovered a peculiar kind of scarlet dyestuff, and he expended so much money on his establishment that it was named by the common people "la folie Gobelin". To the dye-works there was added in the 16th century a manufactory of tapestry.
The family's wealth increased so rapidly that in the third or fourth generation some of them forsook their trade and purchased titles of nobility. More than one of their number held offices of state, among others Balthasar, who became successively treasurer general of artillery, treasurer extraordinary of war, councillor secretary of the king, chancellor of the exchequer, councillor of state and president of the chamber of accounts, and who in 1601 received from Henry IV the lands and lordship of Brie-Comte-Robert. He died in 1603. The name of the Gobelins as dyers cannot be found later than the end of the 17th century.
In 1662, the works in the Faubourg Saint Marcel, with the adjoining grounds, were purchased by Jean-Baptiste Colbert on behalf of Louis XIV and transformed into a general upholstery manufactory, the Gobelins Manufactory.
In various languages 'gobelin' is synonymous for 'tapestry'.


Pieter van Aelst III

Pieter van Aelst or Pieter van Aelst III (c. 1495 – c. 1560) was a Flemish tapestry weaver whose workshop commenced by his grandfather was one of the leading weavers of Flanders in the first half of the 16th century.
He should not be confused with Pieter Coecke van Aelst (1502-1550), a Flemish painter who was also a significant tapestry designer.
Life.
He was likely born around 1495 in Brussels (possibly in Aalst) as the son of Pieter van Edingen van Aelst (also referred to as (Pieter van Aelst the Younger'). His father and grandfather were both tapestry weavers. Pieter joined the workshop that his father had set up in Brussels in 1493 and was trained there.
He became the purveyor of tapestries to the Spanish king Charles V, the then ruler of Flanders. This was likely upon the death of Pieter's grandfather Pieter van Aelst I.
In 1509 he was mentioned as a restorer of the collection of tapestries of Margaret of Austria, the governor of the Habsburg Netherlands. In 1517 he was paid for tapestries of David and John the Baptist made for the English king Henry VIII.
The most famous set his workshop produced was that designed for the Sistine Chapel in Rome, following the Raphael Cartoons, which now belong to the British Royal Collection but since 1865 have been on loan to the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. The cartoons are designed by the High Renaissance painter Raphael in 1515–16 showing scenes from the Gospels and Acts of the Apostles. The workshop made four further recorded sets over the following decades, for the kings of France, Spain and England, and Cardinal Ercole Gonzaga. These helped the van Aelst workshop gain other important commissions.
A tapestry after Raphael's "Bearing of the Cross" produced by the van Aelst workshop in 1520 played an important role in the introduction of the Italian Renaissance style in Flanders. In 1520 Pope Leo X commissioned a series of 20 tapestries of "Children’s Games and Medici Symbols" from van Aelst. The contract required the background of the tapestries to be completely filled with gold. The price of the gold accounted for 14,000 ducats in the total price of 17,600 ducats (i.e. 80%) payable for the series. The series of Children's Games depicted winged spirits with attributes and emblems representing the emblems of the House of Medici and the Pope himself.
In 1547 and 1548 he was still listed as a tapestry maker for the court of Charles V. Around 1550 van Aelst was commissioned by the Polish king Sigismund II Augustus to make a large and lavish work consisting of 18 tapestries representing various episodes in the book of Genesis. These works were made in collaboration with six other Brussels workshops.
As in 1560 his workshop was sold by his heirs to the prominent Brussels weaver Willem de Pannemaker, it is likely that he died not long before.
Work.
The mark 'pva' of his workshop appears on four tapestry series, which were made in collaboration with others: on five of eight "History of Noah" tapestries (Wawel Castle, Kraków), on seven of 10 "History of Abraham" tapestries, after designs from the circle Bernard van Orley (Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna), on two of eight "History of Odysseus" tapestries (Hardwick Hall, Derbys, NT) and on three of six "History of Moses" tapestries (Legion of Honor museum, San Francisco).


Land mines in the Falkland Islands

Approximately 30,000 land mines were laid in the British overseas territory of the Falkland Islands by Argentinian forces following their 1982 invasion. Some of the mines were cleared immediately following the successful British operation to retake the islands but following a series of accidents demining operations ceased. In the following years the mine fields were fenced off and, with human access limited, became havens for Falklands flora and the native penguin population. The British government ratified the Ottawa Treaty in 1998 that required the removal of all mines within its territory. Demining operations, which had to be carried out by hand due to the climate and local condition, restarted in 2009. The last mines were cleared in October 2020.
Background.
Argentinian forces invaded the Falkland Islands, a British overseas territory located in the South Atlantic, in April 1982. British forces retook the islands by 14 June in the Falklands War. One of the first actions taken by the Argentinians after the invasion was to lay mine fields to assist in the defence of the islands. Despite rumours that land mines were scattered randomly by helicopter the majority of the mine fields seem to have been laid in a professional manner and the locations of individual mines recorded. Approximately 30,000 land mines – of which there were at least 20,000 anti-personnel mines and 5,000 anti-tank devices – were laid in 146 separate mine fields. The mine fields were focussed around Stanley and Goose Green on East Falkland and Port Howard and Fox Bay on West Falkland.
The United Nations declares that nine different land mines were laid on the Falkland Islands. The anti-tank mines were the Israeli No. 6; the Italian SB-81; the Argentinian FMK-3; the Spanish C-3-A/B and the American M1A1. The anti-personnel mines were the Israeli No. 4; the Italian SB-33; the Argentinian FMK-1 and the Spanish P-4-B. The SB-33 mine has been described as particularly widespread. During demining work a tenth type of land mine was recovered, this was an Argentinean-manufactured copy of the M1A1.
One of the most heavily mined areas was Surf Beach, located just to the north of the capital Stanley, where 1,000 mines were laid just to the rear of the beach. Much of Stanley Common, a public access area, was also mined and remained out of use for many years. One abandoned building, located near the Murrell Peninsula minefield, was suspected of being booby-trapped and fenced off. During the demining operation at least six improvised booby traps were recovered, consisting of tripwires connected to TNT charges.
Demining.
Initial efforts.
Initial demining efforts by British and Argentinian engineers began in the weeks following the British victory. The mine fields around Goose Green, site of a major engagement in the war, were cleared by the end of 1982. Accidents resulted in six deaths or serious injuries amongst the demining teams and, with many of the mine fields located in non-essential areas, the demining operation was halted in 1983 as the small benefit gained was not considered to be worth the risk. At this point some 20–25,000 land mines remained, split across 117 mine fields.
Many of the mines laid were well preserved and remained active and dangerous for decades. Around 80% of mines were in sandy or peat areas and so individual mines, which could have moved from the location originally laid, were hard to spot. The mine fields were signed and fenced, maps were issued and all visitors to the islands briefed on the dangers. As human access had been prevented to these areas they became de facto nature reserves, popular with Magellanic and gentoo penguins who were not heavy enough to trigger the mines. Native flora also thrived in the mine fields. The UK government stated that the socio-economic impact of the land mines on the Falklands was negligible. No civilians, not involved in mine clearing work, have ever been wounded by land mines in the Falklands.
Later clearing.
The United Kingdom ratified the Ottawa Treaty that prohibits manufacture and use of land mines on 31 July 1998. The treaty required that the UK clear all land mines from its territories by 1 March 2009. Many of the Falkland Islanders opposed the demining operation. They stated that as the mine fields were clearly marked and there was little demand for the land it would be more cost effective and better for the environment for the mines to remain. There were fears that opening up the mine fields to tourists and farmers would lead to habitat destruction. Some islanders supported the resumption of demining work as it would allow once popular beaches to return to use.
The Falkland Islands lost their air link to South America, provided through Chile, in March 1999 following the October 1998 arrest of former Chilean president Augusto Pinochet in London. The British subsequently engaged with the Argentine government to improve co-operation in the South Atlantic and, on 14 July 1999, issued the Anglo-Argentine Joint Statement. Under the agreement the Argentines arranged for the air link to Chile to be restored (with occasional flights to Argentina also) in return for the British allowing visits to the Falklands Islands by Argentine nationals. The statement also specified that Argentina and Britain would jointly investigate the removal of mines from the territory. This measure was opposed by the Falklands Islands Government as it would require an Argentine presence on the island.
Britain and Argentina reiterated their commitment to carry out a joint feasibility study on demining in 2001 and 2006. This study was presented to the 2008 Ottawa Treaty Conference in Jordan. The British government commenced unilateral demining operations in 2009. The demining operation was funded by the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office. The Ottawa demining deadline was subsequently amended, at the request of the British government, to 1 March 2019 and then to 1 June 2021, due to the high cost and slow outputs of clearance work.
Methodology.
Owing to the climate, ground conditions and detectability most of the clearance was carried out by specialist civilian deminers manually prodding the ground. The SB-33 mine in particular is described as "almost impossible to detect by any means", owing to its largely plastic construction. In some instances remote controlled mine flails were used to verify that areas were clear of mines, as at Goose Green where manual verification proved difficult. Windy weather prevented the use of mine-detecting rats as had been trialled successfully in Mozambique and Tanzania. Recovered mines are made safe or else disposed of by controlled explosion or burning in small batches.
The manual clearing processes commenced in 2009 with Dynasafe-Bactec (renamed Safelane Global in 2018) carrying out the clearance work and Fenix Insight conducting quality, safety, environmental and progress monitoring. More than 100 demining team members, largely Zimbabwean, were involved in the operation, each working for six-hour days in which they cleared around 5 linear metres (16 feet) of a mine field each. Argentinian mine-laying records and maps created by the British Army's Royal Engineers after the war were used to guide the demining operation. The Argentinian records are not entirely reliable, as they were made at a time of great activity on the Falklands and later translated from Spanish by the British Army. Records for mine fields on West Falkland were less complete than those on East Falkland and many required additional intensive surveys to determine the extent and density of mines. Once a mine field was cleared the warning signs were removed and, in most cases, the fences pulled down. After clearance the land was restored, as near as possible, to its previous condition.
One area that proved difficult to clear was Yorke Bay where sand dunes had progressed across the mine field, shifting mines or burying them deeply. This area required large scale excavation and sifting with armoured machinery. Works were carried out in the winter to minimise disruption to the penguin population, who spend that season at sea.
Progress.
Early operations were largely focused on the mine fields closest to Stanley, many of which were on public-access recreation land. By 2016 the teams had cleared 30 mine fields, removing 4,000 anti-personnel and 1,000 anti-tank mines, which allowed of land to be returned to use. By this point all mine fields adjacent to main roads, at risk from errant vehicles, had been cleared.
During the 2016/17 season, seven teams cleared 3,000 anti-personnel and 150 anti-tank mines from 47 mine fields. By December 2017 70% of all known land mines had been removed. In the same year the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Ministry of Defence committed a further £20 million of funding for future clearance works, the works had cost £16 million up to that point. One of the demining operatives was injured by an explosion on 27 February 2017 after hitting the side of a mine with a tool. He avoided serious injury, only requiring stitches to his hand and a finger.
In February 2018 Goose Green became the first settlement on the islands to be fully cleared of mines. At the end of 2018 some 35 areas remained to be cleared. These comprised 27 known mine fields (totalling ) and 8 areas suspected to be mined but where an additional technical survey was required (). The expected completion date for demining operations was March 2020, though this was later extended to December 2020 after removal operations were hindered by the COVID-19 pandemic. The last land mines were lifted in October 2020 and a celebratory event to mark the occasion took place in November 2020 at Yorke Bay, which was the final area to be cleared. During that event the last recovered land mines were ceremonially detonated.
The British Foreign Office announced on 10 November 2020 that as the removal of the final land mines was complete the country had now completed its obligations under the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention, with no known land mines remaining on any British soil. After completion of the works the UK committed to provide £36 million to fund land mine clearance in other countries, including Zimbabwe. In November 2020 the Argentine government criticised the British operation, claiming that it was a violation of the 1976 United National General Assembly resolution 31/49 that called upon the two countries to "refrain from taking decisions that would imply introducing unilateral modifications in the situation". Argentina had previously raised formal complaints at the annual Ottawa Convention regarding the British operation.