In December of 1941, Betty McIntosh was a reporter for the Honolulu Star Bulletin. On December 7th, when the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii was attacked, she was sent out by her editors to report from a “women’s point of … Continue reading
Rick Spilman
The CBC’s Land & Sea is without question the favorite television program that I have never watched on television. While I cannot get Canadian broadcasting on my television, Land & Sea fortunately also puts their programming on-line. We have previously … Continue reading
Following the sinking last night of the car carrier Baltic Ace, the bodies of five sailors have been recovered. Six of the crew are missing and presumed dead in the icy waters of the North Sea. The 485-foot long Bahamain-flagged car … Continue reading
The car carrier, Baltic Ace, is reported to have collided with the container ship, Corvus J, this evening in crowded shipping lanes around 60 miles off the coast of Rotterdam. The Baltic Ace is believed to have sunk. Her crew of 24 took to … Continue reading
Joan Druett, award winning maritime historian and novelist, recently reviewed Hell Around the Horn for Historic Naval Fiction. Those Gallant Seamen Get their Story Told at Last Ringing with authenticity, this nail-biter is a tale of battling wind and weather to … Continue reading
The eight day port strike on the West Coast is over, thank goodness. On November 27th, a group of 450 clerks in the port of Los Angeles/Long Beach, who had worked without a contract for over two years, walked out. … Continue reading
Tensions are rising in the South China Sea, where at least a half dozen nations are asserting a jumble of overlapping claims of sovereignty, fishing and mineral rights. China is now ramping up their claims by announcing that as of … Continue reading
I have great admiration for those whose successfully navigate the rocks and shoals of the bureaucracy in order to get anything done around New York harbor. A Coast Guard press release brought this to mind. The US Coast Guard is … Continue reading
The news this week from the South Street Seaport Museum was good. The Museum’s Bowne Stationers has reopened its doors after being flooded by Superstorm Sandy. There had been serious concern that the 19th century type and letterpress equipment might be seriously damaged or destroyed by the flood. … Continue reading
Amy Mullen has a done a beautiful job producing a 2013 wall calendar in tribute to HMS Bounty. The photos in the 17″x11″ wall calendar were taken by current or former crew of the ship on her adventures and have the location of the … Continue reading
A song in memory of Claudene Christian, Captain Robin Walbridge, and H.M.S. Bounty with lyrics by Mark Skinner, performed by Mike Whitehead and Tom Harrison. Wreck of the HMS Bounty … Continue reading
About a month ago, we posted about the Fireboat John J. Harvey – 2012 Fall Benefit which was originally scheduled for October 22nd. Superstorm Sandy’s arrival the next day, however made rescheduling necessary. It is on again, this Sunday, December 2nd, and it sounds like a great … Continue reading
The SS Badger is a 410-foot long coal-fired passenger and vehicle ferry operating in Lake Michigan on a four hour shuttle service between Ludington, Michigan, and Manitowoc, Wisconsin. She began sailing in 1953 and is the last coal-fired passenger vessel … Continue reading
Here is a wonderful story from Cruising World’s Editor’s Log about the very strange voyage of the 31-foot cruising sailboat, Bela Bartok. Derk Wolmuth was sailing Bela Bartok in last summer’s Singlehanded TransPac race between San Francisco and Kaua’i, Hawaii … Continue reading
An unexpected rescue in the salvage of the Costa Concordia. Scientists discovered rare pinna nobilis mussels at the wreck site and are relocating them so that they are not destroyed by the salvage work. Thanks to Phil Leon for pointing … Continue reading
No one aboard the Titanic took a photograph of the iceberg that sank the famous ship in 1912, but two sailors made sketches of the berg, which had a distinctly elliptical shape. It so happens that two days before, what … Continue reading
At the end of last September, the New York Times quoted un-named “Chinese and other military experts” regarding the Liaoning, the first Chinese aircraft carrier to go into service, that “China does not have planes capable of landing on the carrier and so far … Continue reading
Vincent Riou was forced to retire from the Vendee Globe over the weekend after his boat, PRG, struck a drifting steel buoy, off the coast of South America. Riou had been in third place in the race and was considered a favorite. Riou came in first in … Continue reading
Just six days after Paul Larsen in the Vestas Sailrocket 2 broke the world speed record in Walvis Bay, Namibia, subject to confirmation by WSSRC, he has now sailed a 500 meter course at an average speed of 65.42 knots! This is close … Continue reading
When thinking of sailing speed records, the first vessels that come to mind are Alain Thébault’s hydrofoil trimaran, l’Hydroptere or the aptly named VESTAS Sailrocket 2. Both are highly engineered high tech craft which have been under developement for years. … Continue reading