That’s not a bigger boat!
QUESTION What became of the boat used in the film Jaws?
Captain Quint’s boat, Orca, featured in many scenes in steven spielberg’s 1975 film Jaws, in which a great white terrorises a tourist town.
two boats were used in the production. the first, a lobster boat called Warlock, plied its trade out of Marblehead, Massachusetts, 100 miles up the coast from Martha’s Vineyard, where Jaws was filmed.
it was revamped with paint and the addition of a mast pulpit — nicknamed ‘granny bars’ because it looks like a Zimmer frame. this boat was used in most of the film’s fishing scenes.
a fibreglass replica, Orca 2, with a detachable stern, was used in the stunt scenes, such as when Jaws gets his teeth into Quint.
One of the most famous quotes from the film was ‘You’re gonna need a bigger boat,’ by Roy scheider as police Chief Brody when he gets a good look at the size of the shark circling the fishing boat.
Orca 2 ended up in the hands of Lynn Murphy, a marine mechanic who had towed the robotic shark and fixed the electronics on the underwater platforms used for the film’s action scenes.
He stored it on a private beach near Martha’s Vineyard for 30 years.
after he discovered trophy hunters were dismantling it, he broke it up into foot-long sections and sold them at auction in 2005. Recently, one of these sections was re-sold on eBay for £1,200.
Orca 1 was shipped to universal studios in Hollywood. after the success of Jaws, the first $100 million-grossing movie, spielberg claimed he was suffering from post-traumatic stress and would visit the boat to calm himself down.
‘Orca used to be sitting on the universal lot for at least the first 20 years after the film was released in 1975. i used to periodically come and just get in to allow myself to have an anxiety attack,’ he said. He was devastated when the boat was destroyed. ‘One day, i came up here to have an appointment with my flashbacks and the Orca was gone.
‘i walked over to the end of the dock and just saw pieces of wood floating on the water. i called [universal boss] sid sheinberg and said: “What happened?”
‘sid said: “i’ll find out.” then we both found out that because of the amount of mildew, rot and an infestation of termites, someone had taken it upon themselves to chop the Orca into a million pieces.’
all that remains of this piece of film history are the steering wheel, one of the propellers and the anchor, which are in spielberg’s private collection.
Tim Corston, Portsmouth.
QUESTION Why is reheated rice considered to be dangerous?
it’s not reheating that’s the problem, but the way the rice has been stored.
uncooked rice is impervious to microorganisms such as bacteria and mould, as it doesn’t hold enough moisture for pathogens to proliferate. But cooked rice is warm, humid and filled with nutrients.
Like other starchy foods, uncooked rice can contain spores of Bacillus cereus, which is known to cause food poisoning. these can survive when rice is cooked.
if it is left standing at room temperature, the spores can grow into bacteria. these will multiply and may produce toxins that cause vomiting or diarrhoea.
the longer cooked rice is left at room temperature, the more likely bacteria or toxins could make it unsafe to eat.
Cooked rice should be refrigerated as soon as possible. to be safe, it must be at a consistent temperature of 80c/165f. Following these rules, i’ve eaten reheated rice often, with no ill-effects.
Dan Holroyd, Bath.
QUESTION Have the Russians changed the weather by doing experiments based on scientist Nikola Tesla’s research?
tHe Russians have been known to change the weather using cloud seeding technologies, but this has nothing to do with tesla and only affects local rainfall.
no personality in the history of science has been mythologised more than the serbian-american electrical engineer nikola tesla (1856-1943).
His most famous plan was a global wireless power system. He envisaged utilising the extremely low frequency of the earth’s electromagnetic field so that a handheld coil could receive electrical power for free anywhere in the world.
He claimed this system would also be the basis of a global communications network and have the ability to alter the weather, putting an end to droughts.
However, the farthest he got with his ideal was the partial construction of the tesla tower at Wardenclyffe, new York, an experimental wireless transmission station intended for communication across the atlantic. Debts mounted and the tower was dismantled.
physicists now consider tesla’s concept to be unworkable.
Cloud seeding uses chemicals such as silver iodide fired towards or dropped into clouds to disperse them or force them to rain earlier or in a different place than would have occurred naturally.
in 2016, the Russian government spent £1 million to make sure it didn’t rain during the May Day celebrations.
L. B. Smith, Swindon, Wilts.
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