Happy Earth Day! Then again, I have always thought that we lived on a misnamed planet. The word “earth” is a synonym for dirt while 71% of the planet is covered by water. Perhaps we should be saying Happy Ocean Day! … Continue reading
Rick Spilman
Are passenger ro-ro ferries inherently unsafe? No one knows why the passenger ro-ro ferry Sewol capsized last Wednesday off the south-west coast of Korea. There are indications that poor crew training and inadequate safety and evacuation procedures may have contributed … Continue reading
Recently the folks at Sailing Scuttlebutt commented that it looked as if the boats in the Stark Raving Mad 2014 Heineken Regatta were being sailed by “peeps,” the ubiquitous, if largely inedible, marshmallow candies, sold in the United States and … Continue reading
If you are in the New York area on Saturday, April 26th, be sure to stop by the South Street Seaport to celebrate a Spring revival with the grand reopening of Pier 16 and the Street of Ships. Capt. Jonathan Boulware, … Continue reading
The gillnetter Phyllis A., built in 1925, is the oldest fishing vessel in Gloucester, Massachusetts, which calls itself, America’s oldest seaport. The Phyllis A. Marine Association, Inc.is raising money to promote the history of gillnetting in Gloucester, Massachusetts, through the … Continue reading
Whale sightings in and around New York harbor are getting less and less unusual. Unfortunately, the most recent sighting was of a dead fin whale caught on the bow of a container ship near Port Elizabeth. A necropsy is being … Continue reading
What was intended as a four-day field trip to the Korean resort island of Jeju for high school students and their teachers ended in tragedy when the ferry sank off several miles north of Byeongpung Island, on the west coast of … Continue reading
We posted recently about a rare lunar eclipse tetrad, a sequence of four total lunar eclipses, each six months apart. The first of these total lunar eclipses was last night around 2:30 AM EST. I confess. I didn’t stay up. Fortunately … Continue reading
In March, we posted about “The Captain Rose House of 1773 & Kit Burns Rat Pit of 1870,” at 273 Water Street in Lower Manhattan. In addition to being the third oldest building in Manhattan, the building has a rich … Continue reading
Maritime New Zealand (MNZ) clearly has a sense of humor. Their new advertising campaign harkens back to the glory days of 1980s cop shows to remind us that, like bulletproof vests, lifejackets don’t save people’s lives unless they’re worn. Lifejackets … Continue reading
As part of a new exhibit, Rough Medicine: Life and Death in the Age of Sail, at the South Australia Maritime Museum, sail maker Don Lucas was asked to sew a shroud for a child, actually a child-sized manikin, fortunately, to … Continue reading
A wonderful story. Thanks to Irwin Bryan for passing it along. German Fisherman Finds ‘World’s Oldest Message In A Bottle’ … Continue reading
The Navy’s Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) USS Freedom, the first of her namesake class and one of two different LCS designs, was recently deployed to Singapore for ten months in order to demonstrate the capabilities of the ship described by … Continue reading
On January 9, 2013, we posted about the Seastreak Wall Street catamaran ferry, which slammed into a loading barge at Pier 11 in New York City’s East River in Lower Manhattan at 12 knots, injuring 80 of the 331 passengers and crew. The … Continue reading
I will admit to having distinctly mixed feelings related to the rescue of the Kaufman family on their yacht ‘Rebel Heart.‘ I am obviously pleased that Lyra received medical attention. I am saddened that the boat that was their home … Continue reading
Yesterday, we posted about the arrival of the World War II Destroyer Escort USS Slater at Caddell Dry Dock. The day before, the historic fireboat, John J. Harvey, left Caddell to return to her Hudson River dock after a month of … Continue reading
Could the arrival of the the USS Slater, the last World War II destroyer escort still afloat in the United States, be a sign of spring in New York harbor? We can only hope, although as the sky today remains … Continue reading
Update: As reported by CBS — The Coast Guard says the baby, along with her parents and 3-year-old sister, boarded the USS Vandegrift at 8 a.m. Sunday. The baby girl was in stable condition and was heading to San Diego … Continue reading
The new construction/restoration of the Canadian schooner Bluenose II has not gone well. Years behind schedule and millions over budget. Nova Scotia Premier Stephen McNeil is calling it a “boondoggle” and is demanding an investigation into the project. Recent lawsuits involving the … Continue reading
Sailors watching the sky will see a total lunar eclipse on April 15th in the United States. This is the beginning of a rare tetrad, a sequence of four total lunar eclipses, each six months apart. While this will be … Continue reading