One celebrity at Weymouth during the Weymouth Leviathan was the tall ship Earl of Pembroke. The barque has been featured in seventeen movies of TV shows. Unfortunately, like so many other movie stars, the ship was not accessible, behind locked … Continue reading
Rick Spilman
From 1862 to 1956, yachts competing in the America’s Cup were required to sail to the races “on their own bottoms.” My, how things have changed. Today, the AC 45 foiling catamarans sailing in the current America’s Cup Races … Continue reading
I am attending the Weymouth Leviathan, a maritime literary festival, in the lovely, historic port at the mouth of the River Wey in Dorset on the south-western coast of England. It is a fitting locale. Most of the writers attending … Continue reading
The headlines are great. “Iceberg that Sank the Titanic 100,000 years old” and “Titanic iceberg was a 100,000-year-old giant” and “Iceberg that sank the Titanic was 100,000-years-old and of monstrous size” and so and so on. Dozens of headlines and … Continue reading
Congratulations to Linda Collison! Her novel Water Ghosts is a Foreword Reviews’ 2015 INDIEFAB Book of the Year Award Finalist. In our review from last May we wrote: In Linda Collison’s new novel, Water Ghosts, seven troubled teenagers embark on a vintage … Continue reading
I am on my way to the Weymouth Leviathan, a maritime literary festival on the south-west coast of England. I am looking forward to seeing old friends, as well as meeting many fine writers who I know only through the … Continue reading
Originally posted in gCaptain by Rick Spilman. Reposted with permission. In Alaric Bond‘s most recent novel, HMS Prometheus, the eighth of his Fighting Sail series, the Mediterranean is a dangerous place for the Royal Navy. In the autumn of 1803, the … Continue reading
A week ago, we posted about the corpse of a German sailor aboard the yacht SAYO, a Jeanneau Sun Magic 44, which was found adrift off the Philippines on around the end of February. The body was described as “mummified,” … Continue reading
We recently posted about Scott Kelly, the American astronaut who spent almost a year in space on the international Space Station. Scott Kelly is an alumnus of the State University of New York Maritime College at Fort Schuyler. Before graduating … Continue reading
The Fictional Café is publishing three audio excerpts from V.E. Ulett’s Captain Blackwell’s Prize as a podcast. The first went up last Friday and the will continue for the next two Fridays, followed by an interview with the author on the fourth and … Continue reading
Scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) have spotted a translucent white octopod at a depth of 4,300 meters while collecting geological samples with a remote-operated vehicle on Necker Ridge in the Hawaiian Archipelago. Described as a “remarkable … Continue reading
For the last few years, we have followed the sad saga of the “rebuilding” of the schooner Bluenose II. The latest development involves the replacement of the existing steel rudder and steering system at an estimated additional cost of $1 … Continue reading
Originally posted on gCaptain by Rick Spilman, on March 3, 2016. Reposted with permission. Rogue waves are real sea monsters. Rising many times higher than surrounding waves, they have the power to sink ships and to cripple offshore platforms. Recently, … Continue reading
Day before yesterday, we posted about the body of Manfred Fritz Bajorat, 59, a German sailor, who had been found adrift on his yacht off the Philippines. The body was a dusty grey in color and the sailor was widely … Continue reading
For several years now we have been posting about Scott and Mark Kelly, the identical twins who both graduated from merchant marine academies and served in the Navy. Each became astronauts and both have traveled in space. Recently, Scott Kelly … Continue reading
Two fisherman came across a macabre scene on a dismasted derelict sailboat, drifting 40 miles off the coast of Barobo in Surigao del Sur in the Philippines. A figure, the color of dry plaster, was slumped over the chart table … Continue reading
Last week, the 1895 lumber schooner C.A. Thayer, the last surviving West Coast lumber schooner, returned to her berth at San Francisco Maritime‘s Hyde Street Pier, after having three masts and a bowsprit installed by the Bay Ship and Yacht … Continue reading
Has Royal Caribbean Lines learned its lesson? Just days after a passenger filed a lawsuit against RCL for knowingly sending the cruise ship Anthem of the Seas into a winter storm off Hatteras in early February, the cruise line cut … Continue reading
$9.99 with Dave Evans is a weekly program which explores fun things to do and see in New York City for under ten bucks. Recently, he stopped by the ex-USCG Cutter Lilac at Pier 25 in Manhattan on the Hudson … Continue reading
What has been referred to as the Second Battle of the River Platte, may be coming to an end. In 2010, we posted about a legal battle over the salvaging of the German pocket battleship Admiral Graf Spee which was scuttled … Continue reading