After almost 51 years in service, twice its expected lifespan, the nuclear powered aircraft carrier USS Enterprise is winding up its 25th deployment and will be heading back to Norfolk to be deactivated on December 1 and decommissioned once all reusable items are removed. USS Enterprise was the … Continue reading
Rick Spilman
Beluga whale ‘makes human-like sounds’ Sailors once called beluga whales the “canaries of the sea.” Sailors could hear the “song” of the beluga, a range of chirps and whistles, through the wooden hulls of their ships. There is a fascinating story … Continue reading
This Sunday there will be a full day benefit for the historic Fireboat John J. Harvey on Pier 66 (26th and the Hudson River) in New York. It looks like lots of fun. The festivities are divided into two parts. From 1-5pm the … Continue reading
While pre-trial hearings are underway in an Italian court, an Italian-American engineering consortium has begun salvage operations to remove the cruise ship, partially capsized off the island of Giglio. It will be the first time a ship of this size has been salvalged … Continue reading
Patrick Roy Bates, better-known as Prince Roy of Sealand – the title he awarded himself – died earlier this month at the age of 91 in Leigh-on-Sea,Essex, UK. In 1967, Major Roy Bates, a veteran of WWII, occupied a derelict … Continue reading
Today, on the 207th anniversary of Lord Nelson’s victory at Trafalgar, the Jubilee Sailing Trust‘s 55-meter three masted barque, Lord Nelson, sets sail from Southhampton, UK on a 23-month 50,000 mile journey around the world. The ship will visit more than 30 countries on all seven continents and cross … Continue reading
To commemorate the 200th Anniversary of the War of 1812, the schooner Lynx, “America’s Privateer,” will be visiting New York harbor from October 25th through October 31st. The 122-foot top-sail schooner will sail into North Cove Marina on the Hudson … Continue reading
A relaxing video for a Saturday morning. HMS Bounty slides gracefully back into the water at Boothbay HArbor Shipyard last Thursday. Thanks to Tom Russell on the Linked-in Traditional Sail Professionals group for pointing it out. In other news, HMS Bounty will be returning … Continue reading
Yesterday we posted about the Google Doodle honoring Herman Melville‘s Moby Dick on the anniversary of its publication. The reviews of Herman Melville’s Moby Dick when it was published in 1851 were decidedly mixed. There were indeed positive reviews to balance the … Continue reading
It has been a good couple of days for air search and rescue in the Pacific. U.S. Coast Guard C-130 airplane stationed at Air Station Barber’s Point on Oahu spotted three fishermen 70 nautical miles west of the Pacific atoll … Continue reading
Today the Google Doodle honors Herman Melville‘s masterpiece, Moby Dick, on this the 161st anniversary of its publication. Ironically, the book that has garnered Melville immortality also effectively ruined his career. Known as a writer of semi-autobiographical stories, neither the critics … Continue reading
In our previous post about the Great Chesapeake Schooner Race we focused on the Class AA schooners, the big boats over 50′. Big boats sail faster, right? Not necessarily. (Thanks to Paul Caroll for pointing out our oversight.) This year, the Class … Continue reading
I have chaperoned my son’s class on a trip on the Hudson River Sloop Clearwater. They have a wonderful program for school groups – teaching kids history, ecology, and a bit of seamanship while also having great fun on a … Continue reading
If you haven’t seen this yet, it is definitely worth watching. It is a visualization developed by NASA/JPL of ocean surface currents around the world between 2005 and 2007. Fascinating. NASA | Perpetual Ocean … Continue reading
On one schooner, the 2012 Great Chesapeake Schooner Race ended in tragedy. Shortly after the 43-foot Cuchulain crossed the finish line at Windmill Point, at just after 4 p.m. on Friday, Paul Stephen Case, 68, of Racine Wisconsin was knocked overboard and drowned, while … Continue reading
In the 22nd Great Chesapeake Bay Schooner Race, thirty nine schooner raced from 127 nautical miles down the Chesapeake Bay from Baltimore, Maryland to Portsmouth, Virginia. Summerwind, the 100′ 1929 John Alden designed schooner owned by the United States Merchant Marine Academy at Kings Point, … Continue reading
On Friday, we posted that the windjammer Peking is in need a new home. The 101 year old four masted steel ship has spent the last 37 years as a museum ship at New York’s South Street Seaport Museum. The … Continue reading
This has not been a good few months for Aegis missile cruisers. In August, USS Porter collided with a VLCC (a large tanker) near the Strait of Hormuz. Yesterday at around 3:30 PM, during routine operations, the Aegis cruiser USS … Continue reading
The Peking, a steel-hulled four-masted barque built in 1911, which has been a largely neglected fixture at New York’s South Street Seaport for almost the last 40 years, is now in desperate need of a new home. The South Street Seaport Museum thought that … Continue reading
In writing historical fiction, researching the history can be challenging. When researching my novel, Hell Around the Horn, I discovered that the three primary sources for the history behind the novel, two memoirs and the Official Ship’s Log, disagreed with each other in significant details and … Continue reading