After 61 years of service, the one of its kind research vessel FLoating Instrument Platform, known as FLIP, has been retired and sent to a scrapyard. I distinctly recall being absolutely fascinated by this engineering marvel when it was almost brand … Continue reading
Rick Spilman
The sad saga of the Littoral Combat Ships (LCS) is winding down. The small surface vessels, built in two classes, and designed for operations near shore, were intended to be inexpensive and flexible. Instead, they proved to be unreliable, relatively … Continue reading
Almost 200 years ago, Charles Darwin set sail from Plymouth, UK, as a naturalist on HMS Beagle on an epic voyage that would prove pivotal in the development of his theories of evolution. This week, the 105-year-old Dutch schooner Oosterschelde set … Continue reading
When Russia annexed Crimea in 2014, at least 100 Ukrainian Navy vessels, representing 75% of the Ukrainian naval fleet, were captured by Russian forces. In the Russian invasion of 2022, much of the remaining fleet was destroyed or scuttled to … Continue reading
Swansea Museum, the oldest museum in Wales, is seeking a new partner to sail the 1909 Bristol Channel Pilot Cutter Olga. Their 5-year loan agreement with Sailing Tectona comes to an end this year, and the vessel will return to … Continue reading
The FSO Safer is now considerably safer. A United Nations operation to transfer more than one million barrels of oil from the decaying floating oil storage vessel into another ship off the coast of Yemen has been completed. Removal of … Continue reading
Lāhainā, a town on the island of Maui in Hawaii, was the capital of the Hawaiian Kingdom in the early nineteenth century, Lāhainā was also a historic whaling port during the whaling boom of the mid-1800s. In recent years, Lāhainā … Continue reading
CNN reports that Tampa Mayor Jane Castor made a big catch while fishing the Florida Keys with family late last month, spotting and hauling in a package containing 70 pounds of cocaine with an estimated street value of approximately $1.1 million, … Continue reading
A recent study published in the journal Nature describes an extinct whale, Perucetus colossus, discovered in the desert in southern Peru, that rivals the blue whale in weight, if not necessarily in length. The Perucetus colossus was a basilosaurid whale … Continue reading
The Loch Ness Centre, in partnership with Loch Ness Exploration, is seeking to recruit a small army of volunteers to join in what is described as the biggest search for the Loch Ness monster in 50 years. The Quest weekend … Continue reading
The US Navy dispatched four destroyers and a reconnaissance airplane after 11 Chinese and Russian military vessels carried out a joint naval patrol near Alaska’s Aleutian islands last week. The combined naval patrol, which the Wall Street Journal first reported, appeared … Continue reading
One hundred and eighty years ago last month, Isambard Kingdom Brunel’s SS Great Britain was launched by Prince Albert in Bristol Harbour. To celebrate the anniversary, Giuseppe Dell’Anno, a winner of the Great British Bake Off unveiled a cake replica … Continue reading
Every year, in “Iceberg Alley“, a stretch of water curving along the eastern coast of Newfoundland and Labrador, hundreds of icebergs drift by. Recently, one such iceberg was caught on video and posted on X (ex-Twitter) where it quickly went … Continue reading
Sailors have always watched the sky. This August, the sky is putting on quite a show. In case you missed it, last night was a supermoon. A supermoon occurs when the Moon is at the closest point to the Earth, … Continue reading
Donald Lawson and his Dark Seas Project was nothing if not ambitious. Lawson, 41, was preparing to set out to break at least 35 sailing records on his ORMA 60 trimaran, Defiant. Lawson is a professional sailor from Baltimore who … Continue reading
Have cruise ships worn out their welcome? Increasingly, port cities around the world are banning or regulating cruise ship dockings and operations in their coastal waters. Amsterdam has become only the most recent to do so. The BBC reports that … Continue reading
Last Friday, July 21, divers dove 110m (361ft) beneath the waters off the Shetland Islands, about eight miles south-east of Lerwick, and positively identified the wreck of the SM UC-55, a German Type UC II minelaying submarine that was sunk … Continue reading
News reports are that salvors fighting the fire on the car carrier Fremantle Highway have been temporarily stopped in their attempt to cool the exterior of the stricken ship with water. There are serious concerns that water from the firefighting could … Continue reading
Near midnight on Tuesday, the car carrier Fremantle Highway, loaded with nearly 3,000 cars, caught fire and has been burning out of control off the Dutch island of Ameland. The Dutch coast guard said one crew member had died and … Continue reading
In 1863, Henry Dodd organized a race between Thames River sailing barges. It has become the longest-running, regularly organized, national racing event for traditional sail in the world. In absolute terms, it ranks as the second oldest sailing race behind … Continue reading