Lewis Bennett, 38, a British engineer, was recently arrested by the FBI on charges related to possession of stolen rare silver and gold coins. The story behind the arrest gets very strange, involving a Caribbean theft, a missing wife, and … Continue reading
Rick Spilman
The last of Corpus Christi’s Columbus replica ships has sunk. In 1992, the quincentenary of Columbus’ first voyage, replicas of his ships; the Niña, Pinta and the Santa Maria; arrived in Corpus Christi, Texas after sailing from Spain and touring the US … Continue reading
The boats and the circumstances are all different and yet each in its way is the same, from the “little ships” of Dunkirk, to the Manhattan Boat-Lift of 9/11, to the jon-boat navy of the Texas Gulf coast. When people … Continue reading
Two high tech guided missile destroyers charged with protecting the fleet from incoming missiles somehow failed to avoid collision with two slow-speed commercial vessels. Tragically, seventeen sailors died in the collisions. Some immediately blamed cyber-hacking, although a Navy investigation has turned … Continue reading
The arrogance is as impressive as the yachts themselves. Rather than paying for dockage, in recent years, billionaire Russian oligarchs have taken to anchoring their yachts in the public anchorage in front of the Statue of Liberty while in New … Continue reading
Remarkably, Scotland’s Mylne Yacht Design was founded by Alfred Mylne I in 1896 and has been in continuous operation for more than 120 years. Alfred Mylne designed over 400 yachts in his career. Here is a short video of classic … Continue reading
For those in and around New York harbor, the 25th Annual Great North River Tugboat Race & Competition, sponsored by the Working Harbor Committee, is coming up on Sunday, September 3rd. The Parade of Tugs starts on the Hudson River at 10 … Continue reading
PortSide New York is a non-profit based in New York harbor on the historic tanker Mary A. Whalen. Their goal is to create a new kind of maritime destination in NYC, one that sets a new standard for how to … Continue reading
Following the recent collision of a tanker with the US Navy destroyer USS John S. McCain, in which 10 sailors are missing, the US Navy has dismissed Vice Admiral Joseph Aucoin as commander of the 7th Fleet. There have been four significant casualties involving … Continue reading
The “Fat Leonard” Navy bribery and corruption scandal just keeps rolling on. In September of 2013, Navy investigators arrested a 350 pound Malaysian businessman, Leonard Glenn Francis, who was CEO of Glenn Defense Marine Asia (GDMA), a contractor that provided port … Continue reading
Updated: Danish police have announced that DNA from a headless torso found washed up on an island near Copenhagen matches that of missing Swedish journalist Kim Wall. We recently posted about the strange saga of the UC3 Nautilus. The private submarine, … Continue reading
In the second major collision between a US Navy destroyer and a merchant ship in the last three months, the USS John S. McCain was damaged in a collision with a tanker near Singapore. Five sailors were injured and 10 are missing. … Continue reading
Paul Allen, billionaire co-founder of Microsoft, announced that wreckage from the USS Indianapolis was discovered on Aug. 18 by the expedition crew of Paul G. Allen’s Research Vessel (R/V) Petrel. The Indianapolis was found 5,500 meters below the surface, resting on the floor of … Continue reading
The Dutch three-masted topsail schooner Oosterschelde will be 100 years old next year, but she is still fast. She just finished first in the trans-Atlantic race from Halifax to Le Havre. After a voyage of 2,500 nautical miles (4,500 km) the ship … Continue reading
The USS Fitzgerald, seriously damaged in a collision with a container ship on June 17th that killed seven U.S. sailors, will be transported back to the United States for repairs. The destroyer will be carried via heavy lift ship between mid-September and … Continue reading
Lloyd’s Register (LR) announced recently that it has joined the Quadriga sustainable shipping project – an initiative from Hamburg-based Sailing Cargo, which aims to build a sailing car-carrier, which would be the world’s largest sailing cargo ship. The 170-meter long design … Continue reading
For several years now, we have followed the progressive decline of the battleship USS Texas, commissioned in 1914. She is the only remaining World War I-era dreadnought battleship and is one of only seven remaining ships and the only remaining capital ship … Continue reading
Edward Allcard, an English naval architect, marine surveyor, yachtsman and author, died at the end of last month at the age of 102. We will probably be best remembered as the first person to sail solo across the Atlantic in … Continue reading
On Saturday, we posted that the Danish inventor Peter Madsen has been held on suspicion of murder following the disappearance of Kim Wall, a Swedish journalist, and the sinking of the privately owned submarine UC3 Nautilus on Friday off Denmark. Madsen claimed that he … Continue reading
Here is some lovely drone footage of the boat parade from the 2017 Mystic Seaport Antique & Classic Rendevous. The recently restored 1908 steamboat Sabino leads the parade. Mystic Seaport Antique & Classic Boat Parade 2017 … Continue reading