A great video to start the week by Gale Browning aboard the Pride of Baltimore II . The Pride of Baltimore II is a replica of an 1812-era Baltimore Clipper topsail schooner built in 1988 in Baltimore harbor to be a … Continue reading
Rick Spilman
The topsail schooner Clipper City set sail from Manhattan yesterday on a “Craft Beer Tasting Cruise,” which ran somewhat longer than expected. The steel ship grounded in New York harbor, south of the Statue of Liberty. Apparently many of the … Continue reading
The passenger steamer SS Columbia is heading toward New York! The goal is to restore the historic steamer, built in 1902, and to put her in service on the Hudson River. SS Columbia is the oldest surviving passenger steamship in … Continue reading
Award winning film maker David Wittkower has teamed with writer Michael Tougias to create a documentary, “Rescue of the Bounty,” looking at the loss of the Bounty in 2012. Tougias is the best selling author of the book by the same name. Wittkower … Continue reading
On this the official “Talk Like A Pirate Day,” all I can say is, “No, thank you. I would rather not.” The problem is that there are still real pirates plying their trade around the globe, abusing and and too often … Continue reading
Odyssey Marine Exploration Inc. recently wrapped up recovery efforts on the wreck of the SS Central America for the year. In last five months, they have recovered more than 15,500 gold and silver coins, 45 gold bars and hundreds of nuggets, … Continue reading
In 1971, Blue Water, White Death, a documentary about great white sharks hit the big screens. I recall the documentary as thrilling and absolutely terrifying. White sharks were portrayed as monstrous killing machines, swimming in every ocean, ready to gobble us … Continue reading
The Columbia of 1923 was a fishing schooner built at the Arthur Dana Story shipyard in Essex, MA, from a design by Starling Burgess. She was famous for her speed and seaworthiness and for winning international schooner races, including one against … Continue reading
After close to two decades of construction, the frigate Hermione is finally under sail. In 1997, a group of historical and tall ship enthusiasts formed the Association Hermione-La Fayette and set about building a replica of the French frigate, Hermione, which carried Gilbert … Continue reading
On September 14th, 1914, one hundred years ago today, off the Brazilian island of Trindale, one of the stranger naval battles of World War I was fought between two converted passenger liners, one of which was disguised to look like … Continue reading
At around 6AM, 200 years ago today, the British Royal Navy began a fearsome bombardment of Fort McHenry at the mouth of Baltimore harbor. The British had attempted to take Baltimore by both land and sea. The British army attack … Continue reading
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is increasing the size of the Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary in Lake Huron from 448 square miles to 4,300 square miles, doubling the number the number of shipwrecks protected to 200. Located in … Continue reading
We may always associate September 11th with the tragic attacks of 2001. September 11th of 1814, however, 200 years ago today, saw a significant naval victory by the young American Navy at the Battle of Plattsburgh that may have changed … Continue reading
On the thirteenth anniversary of the attacks 9/11, it seems worthwhile to revisit the amazing story of the spontaneous maritime evacuation of somewhere between 300,000 and one million people who were trapped in lower Manhattan on the afternoon of September … Continue reading
An international team of archaeologists and divers wearing an Exosuit will be diving on the Antikythera shipwreck this month. The suit is described as a part robot and part submarine, and evocative of the suit from the “Iron Man” movies and their … Continue reading
The wreckage of one of two missing ships from Franklin’s lost expedition of 1845 is believed to have been found. It is not known yet if the wreck is of HMS Terror or HMS Erebus. The Franklin expedition was an attempt … Continue reading
Despite being hunted from 1905–1971, the California blue whale has rebounded so that today it is approximately 97% of pre-whaling levels. The journal Marine Mammal Science recently published a study, “Do ship strikes threaten the recovery of endangered eastern North Pacific blue … Continue reading
The headline in the South China Morning Post was, at the very least, eye catching — Shanghai to San Francisco in 100 minutes by Chinese supersonic submarine. The article makes it clear that while the Chinese may be researching such … Continue reading
Starting today and running through October 3rd, the 1933 lighthouse tender Lilac, on the Hudson River at Pier 25 in New York, is being transformed into the Floating Library, a mobile device-free salon for reading, writing, research, debate, and fearless dreaming. Created and … Continue reading
A team of US Navy divers recovered five crates of live munitions from the bottom of Lake George, NY, in about 60′ of water. The munitions were found by recreational divers over the Labor Day weekend. The Navy divers are reported … Continue reading