Two years ago during Cowes Race Week, the skipper of a 33′ sailboat cut across the bow of the 120,000 dwt tanker, Hanne Knutson, traveling down channel. It did not end well. The boat was dismasted. Fortunately, no one died, … Continue reading
Rick Spilman
We recently posted Pedaling on the Water which featured various versions of frames with inflatable pontoons on which one could bolt a bicycle and pedal across the water. I recently came across a very different take on traveling by boat … Continue reading
The schooner American Eagle is for sale. I have long been an admirer of the American Eagle from afar. She was the the last fishing schooner built in Gloucester in 1930. After a long career, the old and tired … Continue reading
According to the folks at the National Aquarium, today is the tenth annual celebration of World Octopus Day. Strange that I didn’t have it marked on my calendar. In honor of this auspicious eight-legged holiday we are reposting a a … Continue reading
John F. Lehman and Christopher M. Lehman have a new plan to save the historic but endangered USS Olympia in Philadelphia. John John F. Lehman served as secretary of the Navy and Christopher M. Lehman served as special assistant for national … Continue reading
A intriguing time lapse of the construction of a Maersk 18,000 TEU 400 meter long container ship. Building the Triple-E … Continue reading
In April, we posted about the Vermont Sail Freight Project, a plan to build a sailing cargo barge to carry non-perishable produce down Lake Champlain to the Hudson River and onward to markets along the river and in New York City. … Continue reading
Recently, a young designer, Judah Schiller, generated considerable attention by riding his bike first across San Francisco Bay and then across the Hudson River in New York City. He didn’t sink during either trip because his bike was clamped to … Continue reading
At least 130 African refugees have died and 200 are still missing after an overloaded boat caught fire and sank off the Italian island of Lampedusa. More than 150 of the migrants have been rescued. Most of those on board were … Continue reading
This is the tale of two very different men, from different places and different times. The first was a Welshman named John Roberts, though he took the name Bartholomew when he began his wildly successful but extremely short career as … Continue reading
In the beginning of September, Vice Admiral Timothy M. Giardina, was secretly suspended from his job as second in command of the United States Strategic Command or USSTRATCOM, as it is known. He is being investigated for attempting to pass counterfeit poker chips at the … Continue reading
Last month, the former captain of the destroyer USS Mustin, a Navy special agent and a Singapore-based defense contractor were charged in an alleged bribery scheme to swap classified ship information for luxury travel and prostitutes. Cmdr. Michael Vannak Khem … Continue reading
Over the weekend, a huge swarm of moon jellyfish shut down the 1,400 megawatt Unit 3 reactor at the Oskarshamn nuclear power plant on Sweden’s Baltic Sea coast. The jellyfish clogged the cooling water intakes, located roughly 60′ feet below the … Continue reading
Back in 2010, we posted that “When and If“, a 1939 Alden schooner built for General George Patton, was for sale, as a result of the then current owner’s divorce. The 63’5” schooner was named “When and If” because Patton … Continue reading
The clipper ship City of Adelaide is supposed to be transported by heavy-lift ship back to Australia in the near future. Scottish taxpayers have already chipped in $1.2 million. The City of Adelaide Trust, however, has been unable to book … Continue reading
In wholly unrelated news, one day after the people of Pittsburgh held a party on the Allegheny River to celebrate the arrival of the Rubber Duck (as well as to kick-off the Pittsburgh International Festival of Firsts), see our recent … Continue reading
We recently posted about a serious molasses spill in Honolulu harbor which has killed 26,000 fish and may have longer term consequences for the harbor ecology. Rick Austin was kind enough to forward an article about a far larger and … Continue reading
A new review from Historic Naval Fiction: Alaric Bond‘s new novel, Turn A Blind Eye, moves away from his ‘Fighting Sail’ series and the Royal Navy to the world of smuggling on the South Coast of England. It follows Commander Griffin … Continue reading
Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman’s inflatable sculpture, “Spreading Joy Around the World,” universally known simply as “Rubber Duck” has arrived in Pittsburgh after spending the spring and summer on Hong Kong. Pittsburgh will be the 14th city on the Rubber Duck’s … Continue reading
The oldest surviving clipper clipper ship, City of Adelaide, was towed on its barge to Chatham where she will be fumigated. In mid-October, the 1864 built composite clipper ship will be moved to Greenwich, near the just slightly younger composite … Continue reading