Published February 11, 2011

NOAA has released images and video from its recovery of the Two Brothers, a Nantucket whaling ship that sunk near Hawaii almost 200 years ago.

Marine biologists discovered the wreck by happy accident at Papahānaumokuākea (PA pa huh NOW muh KOO uh KAY uh) Marine National Monument. The evidence found helps tell the story of poor George Pollard, a sea captain with terrible luck.

“The captain of the whale ship Two Brothers is a pretty famous whaling captain — famous for his misfortune,” said Kelly Gleason, the lead researcher, in a WBUR interview.

In 1820, Pollard was captain of the Essex, a ship that was attacked and sunk by a sperm whale. Pollard and his crew survived the wreck but nearly died while lost in the Pacific. After 95 days, driven by starvation, Pollard cannibalized his own cousin. He somehow made it back to Massachusetts.

A friend told Herman Melville the incredible tale, and the story of “Moby-Dick” was born.

Amazingly, Pollard and two men from his crew took to the high seas again, this time on the Two Brothers. (These are the same crew members who watched their captain eat a man.) Disaster struck again, or rather, the ship struck disaster, when the Two Brothers ran aground on the French Frigate Shoals, in the northwest Hawaiian islands.

Pollard survived again, but he would never embark on another mission.

“The community of Nantucket really did give this man and the entire crew kind of a second chance, and they didn’t pass judgment right away,” Gleason said. “But after that experience with the Two Brothers, he really was marked as an unlucky man. And sailors are pretty supertitutions.”

Pollard ended his career as a night watchman in Nantucket.

NOAA produced a video interview with Gleason about the remarkable discovery, which you can watch on our YouTube page.

Published February 11, 2011

Brady, Allen, Ortiz (AP Photos)

Time slows. Fans fidget. Everyone wants to scream, but no one wants to distract the offense, so that pent-up energy is released through their legs, arms and fists — until, finally, Tom Brady throws a strike to the end zone. And the stadium erupts.

Those, for me, are special moments. They’re moments that make stop and say, “Remember this. Being a sports fan will never be better than this. No matter how long you live, your favorite teams won’t be this good.”

Every time Ray Allen rises quickly above a defender to shoot a three-pointer, I say a silent prayer of thanks. When David Ortiz rounds first base as flashbulbs sparkle, tiny legs churning like pistons in overdrive, I can’t help but smile.

That’s why I declared Brady, Allen and Ortiz the three Wonders of the Boston Sports World.

But as commenter “Gogreen” wrote Wednesday:

my one issue is… just 3 wonders? what about a paul pierce step-back elbow jumper?

We all have our moments, our favorite memories. So I want to hear yours. What are your Wonders of the Boston Sports World? We’ll break it down into wonders past and present. Respond in the comments or on twitter @jeremybernfeld.

Published February 10, 2011

On May 25, 1775, as the American Revolution was just getting started, a young Boston physician wrote of victory at Fort Ticonderoga and a somewhat egotistical colonel named Benedict Arnold.

Joseph Warren was the patriot from Roxbury serving as president of the first Provincial Congress of Massachusetts. He sent the good news from Watertown in a letter to the revolutionary Committee of Safety, asking that it be forwarded to the good Gen. Henry Knox.

Warren’s letter has been missing since the 1950s, when it was stolen from the Massachusetts Archives. On Thursday, the commonwealth got it back for $8,000.

[sidebar width=”200″]

Watertown May 25 1775

Gentlemen
Upon my Arrival here just
this Minute I had the Pleasure
of being informed that our worthy
Friend Col’l Arnold, not having
had the sole Honor of reducing
Ticonderoga and Crown Point
determined upon an Expedition
against St Johns in which He
happily succeeded — the Letters
were directed to the Committee
of Safety but were supposed to be
necessary to be laid before the
Congress, I have not yet seen them
but you will have the particulars
from the Bearer — I have also
received A Letter from the Congress
at New Hampshire informing
me of a Resolve to raise forthwith
2000 Men and more if it should
be necessary — the Troops, at least
one company with a Train of Artillery
from providence are in the upper
End of Roxbury to say the Truth
I find my Health much mended since
the Morning

I am Gentlemen your
most obed’t Servant
J Warren

PS you will be kind enough to communicate the contents of this Letter to General Knox as I love to give Pleasure to good men[/sidebar]

“We were simply anxious to get our hands on the document,” said Secretary of State William Galvin, who talked to me by phone. “It’s obviously worth a great deal more. The costs of securing it will be minimal now that it’s in our hands, but obviously it was important for the state to get it back.”

Just three weeks after Warren sent the letter, his death in the Battle of Bunker Hill would galvanize the colonists. Warren is immortalized there today as a statue, not far from the oldest tavern in Massachusetts, the aptly named Warren Tavern.

For years, historical documents like the Warren letter were kept on Beacon Hill in a building with lax security. Priceless documents would go missing, many of them turning up years later in private collections and auction houses around the country. Galvin’s office routinely scours the Web for artifacts that belong to Massachusetts.

Warren’s letter recently turned up in a catalog for a Sotheby’s auction. Alan Cotes, the state’s supervisor of public records, negotiated to get the document back from a private collector in California.

“Whenever we see (documents) in the name of the commonwealth, I lay claim to them,” Galvin said. “Sometimes we have to make some financial accommodations. Obviously they’re our documents, but if there are costs attendant we are willing to pay them.”

Galvin could not be more excited about getting the letter back.

“He’s laying out some of the major events that are coming to pass in the Revolution,” Galvin said. In the letter, Warren celebrates the battles for Fort Ticonderoga and Crown Point, at the edge of Lake Champlain in New York. Warren had authorized Benedict Arnold and Ethan Allen to seize the large stock of artillery there.

“Of course, this artillery that was captured and brought down to Boston was critical in the final defeat of the British in Boston in 1776 — on March 17, 1776, Evacuation Day — when Washington put the same artillery at the heights of Dorchester Heights,” Galvin said.

Arnold apparently wasn’t willing to share his glory, Warren remarks, perhaps sarcastically:

I had the Pleasure of being informed that our worthy Friend Col’l Arnold, not having had the sole Honor of reducing Ticonderoga and Crown Point determined upon an Expedition against St Johns in which He happily succeeded

“The issues that Warren is dealing with in his letter — the concerns about a possible invasion from Canada, how the provincial army was to be strengthened — all of these issues, I think, demonstrate the depth of his intellect. He was thinking ahead as to how this revolution would proceed,” Galvin said.

Warren reports that New Hampshire was amassing 2,000 troops to fight an incursion from the north, and that troops from Providence were stationed in “the upper part of Roxbury.”

Warren’s letter is fragile and not available for public viewing, Galvin said. Today the Massachusetts Archives are carefully stored, catalogued and guarded at a facility in Columbia Point.

Related Stories:

• Radio Boston: Joseph Warren and the story of Bunker Hill

Published February 9, 2011

The MSPCA has had a unique view of the economic downturn.

Since 2007, the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals has seen a dramatic shift toward financial constraints as a primary reason people give up pets.

In 2007, 111 animals were surrendered to the Boston shelter due to owner cost concerns, spokesman Brian Adams told me. In 2010, that figure more than doubled — to 258. Across the MSPCA’s four shelters, the trend was similar: 278 animals surrendered due to cost concerns in 2007; 456 in 2010.

The organization keeps detailed records about why owners give up their animals, including moving to housing that isn’t pet-friendly, divorce and allergies. But in 2008, with the recession first striking, the MSPCA felt compelled to create a new category: foreclosure.

Full Pooch Disclosure: A family member's new dog, a 4-year-old Border Collie/German Shepherd mix, was surrendered to the MSPCA following a foreclosure.

“Prior to 2008, we would hear that people were being foreclosed on, but it was very rare,” Adams said. “However, in 2008, much like the entire nation, foreclosures became much more prominent, and people started citing foreclosure to us more, at which point we decided, ‘We need to add a category for this.’ ”

In 2008, 27 animals were surrendered to the Boston center specifically because of foreclosure. The last two years saw 44 more animals surrendered to the city shelter for that reason.

Despite the shift toward cost-driven surrenders, the MSPCA says it’s caring for roughly the same number of animals over the past few years.

Surrenders due to financial concerns present specific challenges for the MSPCA. Allergy information provided to owners, for example, can help keep an animal in the home. For financial surrenders, the options are limited. Adams said certain low-cost services can help pet owners get over “small humps,” but a major decrease in an owner’s finances is harder to combat.

Further, many animals surrendered to the MSPCA for financial concerns require “extra care,” Adams said, perhaps to make up for a surgery cash-strapped owners could not provide.

It’s an emotional situation that’s become more common for the shelter.

“The one constant that comes with surrenders, especially for foreclosure or financial concerns, is you’re dealing with people who, on a very gut level, do show a sense of shame as if they have not been able to provide for this animal that they love very much,” Adams said.

The MSPCA, which also cares for thousands of stray animals every year, has felt the pinch itself. In 2008, its private-supported endowment lost nearly 26 percent, or more than $11 million, which led to the closure of shelters in Brockton, Martha’s Vineyard and Springfield. Adams said the organization worked with entities in those communities to “ensure animal welfare programs would continue.”

Published February 9, 2011

When Ray Allen made his first NBA three-pointer, “The Macarena” was the hottest song in the country.

“Home Improvement” was a top-10 TV show. It was still weeks before Tom Cruise and the rest of the world fell in love with Renee Zellweger, Jerry Maguire’s secretary.

Ray Allen showcases his beautiful shot against the Bulls in 2008. (AP)

Los del Rio have long since faded away and Tim Allen now only exists in digital form as Toy Story’s Buzz Lightyear, but Ray Allen’s jumpshot still has more legs than Zellweger’s career.

Allen, the Celtics’ shooting guard, continues his march into the record books Thursday when he becomes the NBA’s all-time leading three-point shooter against the arch-rival Lakers at the TD Garden.

Right now, Allen’s 2,559 career three-pointers leave him just one short of the the league’s record, but he won’t be there for long. In Allen’s 14+ seasons in the NBA, he has made an average of 2.4 three-pointers a game.

That first three-pointer came in Philadelphia, when Allen was a rookie with the Milwaukee Bucks. In the next day’s newspapers the Associated Press made no mention of either of the two threes Allen sunk, but it did highlight Allen’s key contributions as a rookie starter in his first NBA game:

Allen, who finished with 13 points, scored 6 during a stretch late in the fourth quarter that turned a close game into a 111-103 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers in the season opener tonight.

Allen also hit the game-winning foul shot to ice the game after Allen Iverson, also a rookie, was tagged with a technical. For basketball fans, looking back at that is poetic.

Since then, Allen’s been known as a fitness freak with a shot as sweet as his bald ‘do. Along with an Ortiz double off the wall and the crowd at Gillette during a Tom Brady 2-minute drill, Allen’s jump shot is one of the current Three Wonders of the New England Sports World.

In his second NBA game, Allen’s Bucks beat the Celtics. Twelve years later, Allen helped lead the C’s to their NBA-record 17th championship. Now, as Allen cements his place in the NBA record books, the 35-year-old’s boundless energy is re-charging the Celtics’ hopes for banner No. 18.