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
Rick Spilman
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
Congratulations to all the racers in this year’s Great Chesapeake Bay Schooner Race. In last year’s race, Woodwind, Heron and Prom Queen, the top three Class A schooners (from 40′ to less than 50′) all beat the elapsed and corrected time of the … Continue reading
“All is Lost” a new film by J. C. Chandor, starring Robert Redford is about a solo sailor whose 39-foot sail boat is struck by a floating shipping container while 1,700 miles off the Sunda Strait and which later sinks in … Continue reading
The composite clipper ship, City of Adelaide, which had been renamed HMS Carrick, was officially renamed the City of Adelaide once at a ceremony on the River Thames at Greenwich near London. Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, was accidentally … Continue reading
Toward the end of September, we posted about Matson’s molasses spill in Hawaii and then the Great Boston Molasses Flood of 1919. We would be remiss if we did not also post about the London Beer Flood which occurred on … Continue reading
The Parade of Sail in the 2013 Great Chesapeake Bay Schooner Race starts in a few minutes from Canton, MD in Baltimore harbor. The race begins tomorrow at 1330 just south of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge near Annapolis and ends 127 nautical miles … Continue reading
Oar fish are real “sea serpents.” They can grow to be 50′ long and are the longest bony fish in the world. As they live in deep water, they are rarely seen on the surface. Nevertheless, over the weekend, Jasmine Santana, … Continue reading
Monitor HMS M33, only surviving warship from the Gallipoli campaign of World War I, has received £1.79m from the UK’s Heritage Lottery Fund to allow the ship to be restored in time for the 100th anniversary of the campaign. GALLIPOLI … Continue reading
This sounds like the title of a made-for-TV movie from the SyFy channel. JEROS, Jellyfish Elimination Robotic Swarm, are jellyfish-shredding semi-autonomous robots designed by Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) to round up jellyfish in nets and shred thousands … Continue reading
How far can you sail in a straight line without hitting land? The answer appears to be an almost 20,000 mile voyage from Pakistan to the Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia. The red line on the map, above, shows the voyage. OK, … Continue reading
For the second time in roughly a week, a smuggler’s boat overloaded with migrants from Africa has capsized in the Mediterranean off Sicily, near the island of Lampedusa. At least 27 died, but 221 were rescued from the water. The … Continue reading
For anyone in the New York Area I will be speaking at the New York Shiplore and Model-makers Club on Tuesday night at 7:30 PM on the “AC72 and the Evolution of the America’s Cup.” The AC72 catamarans which raced in … Continue reading