Roughly a year ago, a tug pulling a barge carrying a double-sided 60 foot long LED screen blasting animated, high-definition digital ads for everything from beer to movies, appeared on the Hudson and East Rivers, threatening to turn the riverscape … Continue reading
Rick Spilman
Late season cruises have their own inherent risks. In the case of a recent cruise on the Norwegian Spirit these risks were compounded by the remnants of Hurricane Lorenzo, now a post-tropical storm, which was pounding the Atlantic Coast of … Continue reading
One of the most interesting accounts of a sea serpent is that of the HMS Daedalus in 1848. When sailing in the South Atlantic, some 300 miles from the coast of present-day Namibia, officers and crew aboard the ship saw … Continue reading
Econology is a word that has been floating around the internet recently. A combination of economy and ecology, it refers to technology that is good for the ecology, while at the same time making economic sense. The Dutch firm eConowind … Continue reading
For the past several years, we have followed the construction of the newest and largest square-rigged luxury passenger cruise ship built for the Star Clipper cruise fleet — the Flying Clipper. Recently, the 300 passenger, five-masted bark has been seen … Continue reading
This week, as China looked back at 70 years of Communist rule, its military parade looked to the future with a whole new generation of deadly naval and airborne weaponry. Newsweek reports that in a speech last week, retired Admiral … Continue reading
Following the example of Greta Thunberg, who traveled to a UN climate conference by sail in August, 36 young climate change activists set sail from Amsterdam on October 2, bound for COP25 – the United Nations Climate Conference. Rather than … Continue reading
North Korea appears to be aggressively developing the capacity to deploy a ballistic missile submarine even as it purports to continue to negotiate denuclearization with the current administration. Yesterday, the Washington Post reported that North Korea successfully tested a new … Continue reading
One open question about the Bronze Age in the Middle East was where the tin was sourced. Bronze is an alloy of primarily copper and tin. Recently, scientists identified the surprising source of tin ingots found in three shipwrecks off … Continue reading
Civilian divers were on an archeological dive on the London, a Royal Navy ship built-in 1656 which exploded and sank in 1665 in the Thames Estuary. They were shocked to find a large World War II bomb in the wreck. … Continue reading
Hurricane Lorenzo strengthened briefly to a Category 5 storm over the weekend, becoming the strongest hurricane on record so far north and east in the Atlantic Ocean. On Saturday, we posted about the sinking of the tug-supply vessel Bourbon Rhode … Continue reading
The world’s oldest clipper ship, City of Adelaide, may be one step closer to having a permanent home. Last March we posted about how the clipper ship City of Adelaide was being kicked off Dock 1 in its namesake port … Continue reading
Three sailors have been rescued from a lifeboat following the sinking of the 164′ tug supply boat Bourbon Rhode in Hurricane Lorenzo. The remaining eleven crew members are missing. The tug had sent a distress signal on Thursday and a … Continue reading
In an upcoming PBS documentary, Octopus: Making Contact, a scientist observes an octopus changing color while sleeping upside down in a tank. Is it dreaming? Marine biologist Dr. David Scheel speculates what the dream might be in accordance with the … Continue reading
Van Dam Shipping, based in Spijk, Netherlands, has signed a contract for the installation of an eConowind propulsion system on its 3,600 DWT general cargo vessel Ankie. At first glance, two vertical structures in the graphic of the ship look … Continue reading