The plan for a new artificial reef was wonderful, and beautifully executed until the very last minute. Artist Chris Wojcik had constructed a 47-foot-long, 25,000-pound concrete sculpture of a horseshoe crab, which was welded to two barges and was to be sunk … Continue reading
Rick Spilman
Neil Armstrong, the first man to set foot on the moon, best known for navigating the Sea of Tranquility, began his career as a Navy aviator. Armstrong, who died on August 25, at the age of 82, will be buried at sea as per his … Continue reading
On August 29, the multipurpose US flag cargo ship, M/V Ocean Atlas, arrived in Maracaibo, Venezuela. Not long after, the ship was detained by Venezuelan security forces and was repeatedly searched by agents from Interpol and the Venezuelan drug enforcement agency, reportedly based on a tip that … Continue reading
Sad news. Dr. Edmund ‘Ned’ Cabot, 69, a retired surgeon and a lifelong sailor, drowned on Saturday off the coast of Newfoundland when his sloop Cielita was knocked down by a “rogue wave” and he was lost overboard. Edmund ‘Ned’ Cabot, Boston … Continue reading
The first reports spoke of a “mystery shipwreck” uncovered by Hurricane Isaac on an Alabama beach about six miles from Fort Morgan. It turns out the wooden vessel is not so mysterious after all. Local historians identified her as the 150 feet … Continue reading
The sea ice in the Arctic has melted to a record low this year. Yachts are not voyaging where once only large icebreakers could travel. Recently, the three man crew of the Belzebub II, a 1976 built Hallberg-Rassy Monsun 31 sloop, … Continue reading
The 20th Annual Great North River Tugboat Race & Competition was again a great success. For full and complete coverage check out Will’s Tugster blog. Great photographs and commentary. For those in the area who still haven’t had your fill of tugboats, you may want to head … Continue reading
Recently a number of newspapers have run an Associated Press article titled, “New York’s new environmental ‘hero’ – the oyster.” The article describes how researchers are reseeding oysters in New York harbor Each oyster can filter about 50 gallons of water a … Continue reading
The Greenheart Project is now raising money to build a 32 meter sailing cargo ship for small ports and lesser developed countries. The design is extremely impressive. It is low-cost, has zero-emissions and is also efficient to load and unload. Cargo operations may seem … Continue reading
Alaric Bond’s The Patriot’s Fate, the fifth in his Fighting Sail series, is an exciting nautical adventure that is also a rich and fascinating voyage through the history, politics and complex divided loyalties of Britain at the end of the … Continue reading
Two great schooner festivals and regattas are now underway on Massachusetts’ Cape Ann and Cape Cod. On Cape Ann, the Twenty-Eighth Annual Gloucester Schooner Festival began yesterday with the arrival of the schooner fleet. Today there will be dockside events … Continue reading
The 20th Annual Great North River Tugboat Race and Competition will be held again this year on the Hudson River at Pier 84 (off W44th Street) in Manhattan. The festivities begin with a Parade of Tugs at 10:00 am with the tug boat race, from the … Continue reading
Tonight’s sky will be graced by a “blue moon.” It is the first blue moon since New Year’s Eve 2009. The next blue moon won’t appear until July 2015. Tonight’s full moon won’t actually be blue for most of us. … Continue reading
Linda Collison’s recently released “Barbados Bound,” begins provocatively, “I came aboard with the prostitutes the night before the ship set sail.” The year is 1760 and not yet 17 year old Patricia Kelley is, quite literally, seeking to find her … Continue reading
A wonderful story about private citizens in their own small boats in Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana, who came the rescue of their neighbors during Hurricane Isaac, guided by often by information from Facebook, earning the nickname, the ‘Cajun navy.’ ‘Cajun Navy’ … Continue reading
Tomorrow, Friday August 31 through Monday September 3, 2012, the Maritime Museum of San Diego will host the Festival of Sail 2012, the largest tall ship festival on the west coast, transforming San Diego’s North Embarcadero into a nautical theme park. More … Continue reading
If you are near New York harbor, there is a closing party for the “Ships of New York Harbor: Marine Art of Christina Sun and Frank Hanavan” exhibit on the historic lighthouse tender Lilac tomorrow evening September 30, from 6 to 10 PM at Pier 25 … Continue reading
One hell of a day for storms at sea. Just after noon today, Isaac was upgraded to a Category 1 hurricane as it slowly moved north in the Gulf of Mexico toward Louisiana and the city of New Orleans, on a track disturbingly similar … Continue reading
Last January we posted that the composite clipper ship City of Adelaide would begin her voyage by barge and then ship to her namesake city in Australia by March, “if all goes well.” As is not unusual is this sort of project, … Continue reading
I have a distinct recollection a photo of Thomas Lipton on one of his Americas Cup challengers sipping a cup of the tea on which his fortune was based. I can’t find the photograph, so perhaps I shouldn’t trust my memory. … Continue reading