On January 19, 2023, David Crosby died at the age of 81, following a long illness. He was a founding member of both the Byrds and Crosby, Stills & Nash. Crosby was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice: … Continue reading
Rick Spilman
The SS United States is a ship from another era. One of the last great ocean liners, very different from modern cruise ships, she was designed to carry passengers across oceans. On her maiden voyage in 1952, she set speed … Continue reading
On Saturday, January 14, the US Coast Guard rescued seven crewmembers from the tug Legacy, disabled and drifting about 30 miles off the coast of Ocean City, New Jersey. The Coast Guard reports that the tug Legacy notified watchstanders at Coast … Continue reading
An updated repost — a look back at the twin miracles on the Hudson from fourteen years ago today. On January 15, 2009, US Airways Flight 1549 made an emergency water landing in the Hudson River. If the plane’s pilots, … Continue reading
Marine Log reports that French hospitality giant Accor S.A. has signed a letter of intent with Chantiers de l’Atlantique covering the construction of two very large luxury sailing cruise ships. The shipbuilder says “the order will be signed within a few … Continue reading
Charles Eugene Morgan Jr., 93, known to all as Charley, passed away last weekend, just a few hours after his wife Maurine died. It has been said that Charley Morgan is the only person to ever single-handedly design, build, and … Continue reading
Fifty years ago this November, the residents of Florence, Oregon learned how not to dispose of a dead whale We recently posted about the burial of a dead humpback whale on the beach in Atlantic City. This was the correct … Continue reading
The Maryland Board of Pilots has decided to enact a rule change that forbids on-duty pilots from using their phones after the Coast Guard determined that a distracted pilot’s cell phone use contributed to a container ship grounding. In March … Continue reading
On Sunday, a crowd gathered to watch the examination and burial of the carcass of a beached humpback whale in the sand in the beach at Atlantic City, NJ. It was the second whale to come ashore in the city … Continue reading
The East Bay Light Station Bed and Breakfast Inn, at the entrance to San Pablo Bay from San Francisco Bay, is looking to hire two innkeepers for a period of two years. The joint positions, which start in April of … Continue reading
In 1982 during the Falklands conflict, the Royal Navy commandeered two British container ships and converted them into impromptu carriers carrying Harrier jump jets and Harrier helicopters. Now over 40 years later, the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard is reported to … Continue reading
On December 22, the new Ollis Class Staten Island ferry Sandy Ground suffered an engine room fire at the height of rush hour, requiring the evacuation of 866 passengers and 16 crew members aboard. The ferry was anchored as firefighters … Continue reading
Eight hundred passengers, reported to be mostly Americans, found themselves stranded on the cruise ship Viking Orion off South Australia for seven days after the ship was denied permission to dock in Adelaide, Christchurch, Dunedin, and Hobart, due to marine growth … Continue reading
Happy New Year to all! Here is a poem by Cicely Fox Smith, from Full Sail: More Sea Songs and Ballads, sung as a ballad by Larry Kaplan. New Year by Cicely Fox Smith … Continue reading
Tonight, millions will watch in person, online, or on television, as a jeweled ball drops in Times Square in New York City at exactly midnight to mark the arrival of the New Year, 2023. In recent years, the crowd in … Continue reading
A team of researchers conducted 56 dives over 11 days in September on the wreck of the HMS Erebus from the 1845 Franklin Expedition near Gjoa Haven recovering more than 275 additional artifacts from the historic shipwreck. The newly retrieved artifacts … Continue reading
A disturbing report from Phys.org. Greenland’s glaciers are melting 100 times faster than previously calculated, according to a new model that takes into account the unique interaction between ice and water at the island’s fjords. Published in the journal Geophysical … Continue reading
Was there something missing from your stocking this holiday season? Perhaps the used, but still in good shape, Royal Navy patrol boat of your dreams? Then you could be in luck. Alaric Bond was kind enough to pass along an … Continue reading
We hope everyone is having a joyous holiday season. Here is a repost of a beautiful version of Robert Louis Stevenson’s poem “Christmas at Sea,” performed by Gordon Matthew Thomas Sumner, better known as Sting. Sting – Christmas At Sea … Continue reading
An updated holiday season repost. Saint Nicholas, long associated with Christmas and gift-giving, is also the patron saint of ships and sailors. The St. Nicholas Center notes: “Many ports, most notably in Greece, have icons of Nicholas, surrounded by ex-votos … Continue reading