The USS Forrestal left Phildelphia yesterday, under tow on her way to a scrap yard in Beaumont, Texas. The USS Forrestal (CV-59) was the first US “supercarrier” and the first American aircraft carrier to be built with an angled flight deck, steam … Continue reading
Rick Spilman
The MV Luno, a 4,600 DWT Spanish general cargo ship, lost power in rough seas and high winds and and was blown onto a breakwater south-west of French port city Bayonne. In winds gusting up to blowing up to 110 Km/hr … Continue reading
On Saturday, we posted about a man who drifted ashore in a 22-24′ fiberglass boat on Ebon Atoll in the Marshall Islands, claiming that he had spent the last 13 months lost at sea. He claims that his boat was … Continue reading
The world’s oldest surviving clipper ship, the City of Adelaide, has arrived in her namesake port in Australia. City of Adelaide clipper ship – finally home City of Adelaide clipper ship finally arrives home in Adelaide … Continue reading
Fascinating commentary on the joys and sacrifices of following her dreams by three-time Olympian sailor Nikola Girke, as she prepares for Rio 2016. “It takes guts to dream” – Canadian Olympian – Nikola Girke … Continue reading
The Starz premium cable channel has a new big-budget original series, Black Sails, which appears to be intended as a gritty, realistic look at piracy in the early 1700s in the pirate’s haven of New Providence in the Bahamas. In … Continue reading
Today’s Google Doodle is of Harriet Tubman. Born a slave, Harriet Tubman escaped and would become a leading “conductor” on the “Underground Railroad” which helped slaves escape from bondage in the South to freedom in the North and in Canada, … Continue reading
A man recently drifted ashore in a 24′ fiberglass boat on Ebon Atoll in the Marshall Islands in the northern Pacific. He speaks only Spanish and says his name is Jose Ivan. He claims to have set off from Mexico heading … Continue reading
Princess Cruises announced that the Caribbean Princess would be returning to Houston one day early “because we were informed that dense fog is expected to close the port for much of the weekend.” Others have suggested that it was because … Continue reading
Super Bowl Fever has taken over New York and New Jersey. (Personally, I am sick of it and we are still two days away from the game.) Football fans are swarming all over, on both sides of New York harbor. … Continue reading
It is no doubt not a record that Royal Caribbean would have aspired to. Their ship, Explorer of the Seas, on its voyage from New York harbor to the Eastern Caribbean, from January 21-29, 2014, had the largest outbreak of … Continue reading
The “Left Coast Lifter” has arrived in New York. The Lifter is described by the New York Times as the “superman of floating cranes.” It is a shear-leg crane barge capable of lifting over 1,800 tons, built to help lift … Continue reading
A review by Joe Follansbee of Andrew D. Thaler’s Fleet: The Complete Collection, a fascinating, post-apocalyptic tale of survival in a nautical world. Review: ‘Fleet’ revives sci-fi’s nautical tradition, By Joe Follansbee Science fiction’s nautical tradition goes back to the genre’s origins. In … Continue reading
Pete Seeger died last night at the age of 94. Seeger was a folk singer and song writer, as well as an activist who thought that song just might change the world. It is hard to believe that he has … Continue reading
My next door neighbors left last Tuesday for a 10 day cruise in the Eastern Caribbean on the Royal Caribbean Cruise Line ship Explorer of the Seas. I saw them shortly before they departed. We were both shoveling snow from our … Continue reading
The Vega desperately needs a mizzen mast. Specifically, they are looking for a fir or spruce to shape the 10m x 26cm mast and a shipping company able to transport the wood from either Brisbane, Australia, or Vancouver, Canada, to Singapore. If they … Continue reading
Today, Tampa, Florida will be “invaded” by pirates. Every year about this time, Tampa celebrates the Gasparilla Pirate Fest notionally in honor of Jose Gaspar, reputed to be the “Last Buccaneer.” It is described as “a swashbuckling good time” involving … Continue reading
A recent study by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) published in the journal eLife suggests that of more than a thousand species of sharks and rays in the world, one in four species are at the brink … Continue reading
I may owe Chris Reynolds an apology. In a reply to a comment about our post, Lyubov Orlova, Ghost Ship Crewed by Cannibal Rats Drifting Toward the UK — Phony Hysteria on a Slow News Day?, I suggested that Reynolds, Director, … Continue reading
The Twitterverse has gone crazy (crazier?) over reports of the Ghost Ship Swarming With Cannibal Rats Bound for Britain. Dozens of newspaper websites have feaverishly picked up the story. In all the foolishness, I was reminded of Evelyn Waugh’s satirical novel “Scoop” … Continue reading