Today is the birthday of Herman Melville, one of the greatest American writers. He was born in 1819 on Pearl Street in downtown Manhattan, almost directly across the Hudson from where I am now writing this post. He will always … Continue reading
Rick Spilman
Congratulations to Joan Druett! Her recent book, Tupaia – The Remarkable Story of Captain Cook’s Polynesian Navigator, was general non-fiction winner in the 2012 New Zealand Post Book Awards. See our review of Tupaia – The Remarkable Story of Captain … Continue reading
In 1730, the third year of the reign of King George II, two brothers, Ralph and Robert Clarke, bought shares in a 300-ton sailing vessel. Their enterprise would become Stephenson Clarke Shipping, which in recent years has specialized in the shipment of short sea … Continue reading
Billionaire and philanthropist, Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen is loaning his 126 metre superyacht Octopus to the British Royal Navy to mount an expedition to locate and raise the bell from the battle cruiser HMS Hood (51) sunk by the German battleship Bismark in the Denmark … Continue reading
Yesterday we posted about the possible discovery of a German WWII submarine sunk in the Churchill River in Labrador, Canada. Now we have learned that the German World War II submarine U-550 has been located in the Atlantic, 70 miles … Continue reading
As far as I am concerned, there are few things, that you can do with your clothes on, that are more enjoyable than sitting on the Maine coast and eating freshly steamed lobster. This Wednesday, August 1st, kicks off five days of … Continue reading
Searchers using side scanning sonar believe that they may have located a German U-boat from World War II on the bottom in the Churchill River not far from Muskrat Falls in Labrador, Canada, more than 100 kilometres from the ocean. German submarines operated … Continue reading
Here is a wonderful short video capturing a day in the life of a deckhand on the schooner Mary Day, sailing the coast of Maine. (Looks someone should cut back on the caffeine.) See also our previous post – Happy 50th Birthday … Continue reading
Earlier this month, we posted how the North Carolina legislature is considering legislating limits to sea level projections, even though recent studies suggest that sea levels are rising faster on the US East Coast than they are in the rest of the world. That hasn’t … Continue reading
The 72 foot long catamarans that will be competing for the America’s Cup in San Francisco in 2013 are both breathtakingly beautiful and slightly terrifying. Powered by a towering wing sail and well capable of sailing at the twice the speed of the … Continue reading
Last April we posted about Australian mining billionaire Clive Palmer’s plans to build a 21st-century replica of the Titanic. I am not sure how I feel about naming new vessels after maritime tragedies. On the other hand, the Titanic may … Continue reading
The Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum’s 5th Annual Chesapeake Folk Festival, this Saturday, July 28th, in St. Michaels, MD, celebrates the Bay’s people, arts, work, and bounty offers a full stage of live music all day long, regional foods, hands-on activities with … Continue reading
Two recent reports look at the actions and inaction of BP and its contractor Transocean before the Deepwater Horizon explosion and the consequences of the resulting spill on the environment. The explosion on the drilling rig Deepwater Horizon killed 11 and … Continue reading
The fire on the containership MSC Flaminia, abandoned in the mid-Atlantic after a fire and explosion on July 15th, is reported now to be under control. The ship is under by the Smit salvage tug Fairmount Expedition at five knots and is roughly … Continue reading
We apologize to industrial vacuum cleaners. (They may not be the national security threat we once thought.) In a previous post we repeated a statement by the Federal investigators that the fire on the nuclear submarine USS Miami, undergoing repairs in … Continue reading
Drivers on the Courtney Campbell Causeway began calling the authorities to report manatees in trouble. There appeared to be around ten manatees on a sandbar not far from the causeway that connects Tampa and Clearwater, Florida. Drivers stopped their cars and pulled over to get a better … Continue reading
This seems like a suitable video for a Monday morning. Tres Hombres is a Dutch 32 meter cargo-carrying brigantine, meant to serve as an ambassador to a new fleet of sustainable hybrid sailing vessels. The video below is beautifully shot … Continue reading
A very interesting interview with Captain Denise Meagher and Dawn Santamaria of the schooner Unicorn and the Sisters under Sail Program at this weekend’s Halifax Tall Ships Festival. Interview: All-female crew on tall ship … Continue reading
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At the end of May, we posted about the “unfortunate economics of tall ships.” All ships, sailing ships included and perhaps, especially, are devilishly expensive to maintain and run, and income is tough to come by, especially in these difficult economic times. One … Continue reading