A short video reminder of how quickly things can change. One Australia’s AUS-35 boat was racing in the Louis Vuitton qualifying matches in the America’s Cup of March 1995, when it suddenly broke in half and sank, in less than two minutes … Continue reading
Rick Spilman
In August we posted about the current boom in the lobster catch in Maine and about concerns that it could end in a bust. After years of averages catches of around 20 million pounds of lobster per year, Maine’s 5,500 lobster-men … Continue reading
This morning we posted about a new video game, Assassins Creed IV : Blag Flag, which takes notable liberties with history. One of the characters in the game, Edward Thatch, is based on the historical pirate, Edward Teach, better known as … Continue reading
My younger son, a senior in high school, mentioned to me a few mornings ago that the newest version of the historical action-adventure video game, Assassins Creed, which is Assassins Creed IV – Black Flag, has a feature that lets … Continue reading
In our recent review of Robert Redford’s new movie, All is Lost, about a solo sailor in a sinking sailboat, we noted various glitches, mistakes and omissions which distracted from an otherwise gripping and engaging movie. Readers who commented on … Continue reading
Just a few miles from the gleaming glass towers of lower Manhattan is the old Witte yard, a graveyard of ships, a little known, slightly surreal assemblage of ghostly remains along the waterway known as Arthur Kill. Gary Kane and … Continue reading
Award-winning architect Dame Zaha Hadid has designed a family of super-yachts with a skeletal superstructure for the German shipbuilders Blohm+Voss. These are the first super-yachts designed by Hadid who is known for a wide range of project including the Roca London Gallery, … Continue reading
Earlier this week we posted about the Vermont Sail Project barge Ceres calling in New York harbor. Here is a wonderful short video from documentary filmmaker Thomas Halaczinsky capturing a portion of the first voyage of the Ceres down the … Continue reading
Google has been causing quite a stir on the waterfront. Two mysterious barges have appeared, one on the Pacific in San Francisco bay and one on the Atlantic coast in Portland, Maine. The San Francisco barge is reported to be 250 feet … Continue reading
Today is the first anniversary of Superstorm Sandy hitting the Northeast. It is also the anniversary of the sinking the Bounty off Cape Hatteras on the coast of North Carolina. Recently, survivors of the Bounty returned to the site of the sinking, … Continue reading
The Vermont Sail Freight Project sailing barge Ceres called in New York harbor this weekend with a cargo of non-perishable produce from a total of thirty farms from Vermont and the state of New York. The had sailed the barge down Lake … Continue reading
For those who missed the powerful documentary, Blackfish, it is being rebroadcast in the U.S. on CNN at 9PM on Sunday night. When first broadcast on Thursday, the documentary swept the ratings among every group under 55 years old. An interview with … Continue reading
Last week, two rare oarfish washed up (or in the case of the first was dragged up) on the shores of Southern California. Yesterday, Japan was stuck by a 7.3 magnitude earthquake. A coincidence? It seems that there is Japanese … Continue reading
There are many hazards of the sea. One of the least dangerous, yet still highly annoying and somewhat mysterious is the loud humming sound heard coming from the sea on summer nights by residents of coastal towns, in boats or … Continue reading
Pirates are reported to have seized the captain and chief engineer from the US Flag offshore supply vessel, C-Retriever, which was attacked in the Gulf of Guinea off the coast of Nigeria early Wednesday. Both the captain and chief engineer are … Continue reading
The first US Navy “supercarrier,” the USS Forrestal was recently sold for scrap for the sum of one penny to the All Star Metals scrap yard in Beaumont, Texas. The Navy offered the carrier as a museum but did not … Continue reading
On Thursday October 24th, at 9PM E.T. in the United States, CNN will broadcast the documentary, Blackfish, directed by Gabriela Cowperthwaite. Blackfish looks at the almost 40 year history of orcas in captivity, leading up to the killing of SeaWorld trainer Dawn Brancheau … Continue reading
A second rare oarfish has washed up on the California coast. Last week a dead 18 foot oarfish was found by a snorkeling marine science instructor off Catalina Island. On Sunday, a second 14′ long oarfish washed up on a … Continue reading
October 21st is a busy day in nautical history. In addition to being the anniversary of the Battle of Trafagar of 1805, it was also the day that the the USS Constitution was launched in 1797. A three-masted US Navy heavy frigate, … Continue reading
Happy Trafalgar Day – the celebration of the victory won by the Royal Navy, commanded by Vice-Admiral Horatio Nelson, over the combined French and Spanish fleets at the Battle of Trafalgar on October 21, 1805. Nelson died in his greatest victory. … Continue reading