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
Rick Spilman
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
The world’s oldest surviving clipper ship, City of Adelaide, has arrived in Port Hedland, Western Australia. She has been carried from Scotlandon the deck of the heavy-lift ship MV Palanpur, with intermediate stops to load and discharge other cargo. MV Palanpur is … Continue reading
A story has exploded across the UK press about the Lyubov Orlova, a cruise ship which broke free from its tow in a winter storm and was abandoned in the Atlantic in February of last year. What evidence exists suggests … Continue reading
Last June, we reviewed Joan Druett’s Judas Island, the first book her Promise of Gold Series. Here is an excerpt from a recent review by Cindy Vallar from her wonderful Pirates and Privateers blog. Captain Jahaziel “Jake” Dexter believes a pirate’s … Continue reading
When I started this blog, I had intended it to be, at least in part, a book blog of works about ships and the sea. Of late, however, I have been completely negligent in posting reviews. I will attempt to … Continue reading
The two posts today present a jarring juxtaposition. On the West Coast of the United States, dolphins steal the show at a surfing competition while in Japan fishermen are beginning the yearly slaughter of dolphins at Taiji Cove. The beauty … Continue reading
Despite domestic and international protest, the annual mass slaughter of bottlenose dolphins is underway in a cove near the Japanese village of Taiji. In 2010, The Cove, a documentary about the yearly slaughter, won the Academy Award last night for best feature … Continue reading
Terrible news from St. Lucia. Roger Pratt, 62, was killed while defending his wife from intruders on their Premier 41 sailboat, Magnetic Attraction, near the town of Vieux Fort on the island nation of St. Lucia in the eastern Caribbean. … Continue reading
While oceans in Northern latitudes are feeling the icy blast of winter, the antipodes are in the middle of a very hot summer. Indeed, for Australia, there maybe too much of summer’s sun, as the continent suffers under a brutal … Continue reading
Recently there have been multiple articles in the press and across the Internet citing a recent study published in the Danish Journal of Archaeology (Dec. 23, 2013) which claims that grog was consumed in Norway as far back as 1,500 … Continue reading
For the land-bound, the sea is a boundary. For sailors, it is a path to other shores. But how long have humans been sailing? We can be reasonably sure that humans have been sailing in rafts, boats or ships for … Continue reading
Life on a tugboat can be tough. Tugs are small vessels with very big engines, with just enough buoyancy to stay afloat and upright. They generate great forces and move around vessels much, much larger than themselves in often challenging … Continue reading