After being postponed for two days by high winds, the 35th America’s Cup is scheduled to start this morning. Many consider the races to be the greatest show on the water — a thrilling, high-stakes extravaganza featuring cutting-edge technology and … Continue reading
Rick Spilman
An interesting video by Vox on coral reefs and the serious threats to the Great Barrier Reef and other reefs around the world. The outlook doesn’t look good but not all is lost. Definitely worth watching. How dead is the … Continue reading
It is Fleet Week in New York City. For a list of the ships participating and where they can be visited, click here. For a schedule of Fleet Week events and activities, click here. Fleet Week Kicks Off … Continue reading
For those near New York harbor, there is a very interesting exhibit opening on the historic USCGC Lilac at Pier 25 in the Hudson River. The exhibit “Great Shipwrecks of New York’s ‘Great’ Lakes and The Hidden Hulks of New … Continue reading
One of the earliest and best ways of predicting the weather was the barometer. The first to measure changes in atmospheric pressure was developed by Evangelista Torricelli in 1643. By 1668 Robert Hooke recognized that a barometer could foretell storms at sea. … Continue reading
I first arrived in New York harbor forty years ago, as a freshly minted naval architect working for Moore McCormack. In those days, the Brooklyn docks were crowded with US flag shipping companies, many with their headquarters or sales offices in … Continue reading
In the summer of 1997, researchers at the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) detected a mysterious ultra-low frequency underwater sound over an acoustic hydrophone array in the Pacific ocean. They had no idea what it was. was it some form of … Continue reading
Here is a fine hornpipe for a Saturday. It is the tune from “Come Ashore, Jolly Tar, With Your Trousers On” played by Gavin Atkin. For the lyrics go to In the Boat Shed. Jacky Tar … Continue reading
For Royal Navy sailors and British soldiers in the West Indies during the 18th century, rum was a refuge for the discomforts of the duties of the day. The rum also may have been killing them. It wasn’t the alcohol, but … Continue reading
Derelicts, abandoned ships often waterlogged and just barely afloat, are fascinating ghosts which wander the seas according to the vagaries of the winds and the currents. They are also significant hazards to navigation. In the later half of the 19th … Continue reading
Yesterday, we posted about signing aboard as trainee crew on the square rigged barque Picton Castle, to sail all or part of the way around the world. But what if you want to sail in a globe girdling ocean race instead of … Continue reading
Let’s say that you want to circumnavigate the world by sail and yet you don’t necessarily have enough experience or even, for that matter, a boat. All the same, you really want to make a-once-in-a-lifetime voyage where you are more than just a … Continue reading
On May 10th, the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Tamaroa was sunk approximately 26 miles off shore from Cape May, NJ to help develop an artificial reef. ; Sinking of the USCGC Tamaroa Built in 1943 as USS Zuni, the 205-foot fleet ocean/salvage … Continue reading
In 2011, we posted about the Rosenfeld Collection at the Mystic Seaport with a particular focus on their maritime photography. Mystic Seaport has a new exhibit of another aspect of the work of the Rosenfelds “On Land and On Sea: A … Continue reading
In an interview with Time, the notional Commander in Chief again showed his willful ignorance by calling for steam catapults rather than “digital catapults” on the new Gerald R. Ford class of aircraft carriers. Aside from the limitations inherent in … Continue reading
In September, we posted about an upcoming voyage on the SSV Oliver Hazard Perry into Canada’s Northwest Passage. Apparently there berths still available for those who would like to join in the adventure. From the OHPRI website: Earn your “Blue nose” … Continue reading
In February, we posted about the strange disappearance of entire wrecks of Dutch and Japanese ships sunk off the coast of Indonesia during World War II. It was believed that grab dredgers might have literally picked the ships apart for … Continue reading
The lost beach of Achill Island has returned after being gone for 33 years. Achill Island’s Dooagh Beach was a sand-covered strand until the summer of 1984 when a series of storms washed all the sand away, leaving a bare and … Continue reading
The oil fields beneath the North Sea are running out of oil. As there is less oil to pump, costs rise per tonne of oil delivered from the now aging offshore platforms. A decline in oil prices only makes the economics … Continue reading
For one Scottish ship’s engineer doing the right thing paid off. In 2013, Christopher Keays risked his entire career when he turned whistleblower shortly after taking a job as a junior engineer on board the cruise ship, Caribbean Princess. At the … Continue reading