On Sunday, June 3rd, the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Weekend will culminate with a seven-mile flotilla of 1,000 ships and boats making up the biggest gathering on the Thames in 350 years. One of those vessels will be the sail training … Continue reading
Rick Spilman
It is really all just one big ocean. Low levels of nuclear radiation from the tsunami-damaged Fukushima power plant have turned up in bluefin tuna off the California coast, 6,000 miles from the damaged Japanese nuclear reactors. Small amounts of cesium-137 and cesium-134 … Continue reading
Mystic Seaport has put together a wonderful short video where lovers of sea music speak of just it means to them, just in time for the Seaport’s upcoming 33rd Annual Sea Music Festival from June 7-10, 2012 in Mystic, Connecticut. The three … Continue reading
This seems like a suitable post for a Monday morning. The tide was high, the bridge was low and the ship was light. Captain Guo Lai, 48, was in command of the brand new luxury cruise liner, Pearl No 7, on … Continue reading
The old cliche that a boat is a hole in the water into which you pour money applies far too well to tall ships. They are expensive to build or restore and chronically costly to maintain and keep running. It should come … Continue reading
Scientists have observed, in two different locations off the Hawaiian islands, humpback whales giving dolphins “rides” on their heads. A dolphin will swim up over the top of the humpback whale’s head. The humpback will then gently lift its head … Continue reading
On October 5, 2011, the containership MV Rena ran aground on Astrolabe Reef off Tauranga, resulting in one of the worst maritime environmental disasters in New Zealand history. Yesterday, in a New Zealand court, the captain, Mauro Balomaga, and second officer, Leonil Relon, were … Continue reading
Not quite too sure what to make of this. Of all sports, beachcombing seems like one of the safest. Apparently, a woman, beachcombing with her family on a San Clemente Beach in Southern California, pocketed a few rocks which may have contained … Continue reading
Shipwrecks tend to be pretty stationary. They are not prone to wandering about. Now, however, an Elizabethan shipwreck dating from 1574, which was recovered from the River Thames in 2003, is on the move. The remains of the 16th-century “Gresham … Continue reading
The US Navy’s newest strategic weapon may be a Massive Multiplayer Online Wargame. If it works for HALO and gears of War, why not the Navy? The project is a joint effort between the Office of Naval Research (ONR), Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) and Institute … Continue reading
Simply trying to keep up with what is going on the battle against piracy is not as easy as it might appear. For example, Maersk Texas, a US flag cargo ship came under attack by pirates in the Gulf of … Continue reading
New York harbor is not the only port on the North-Eastern coast of the United States with a wealth of tall ships over Memorial Day Weekend. Greenport, New York is hosting the Greenport Tallships Challenge 2012. Greenport, on the … Continue reading
Crew responded to a fire on the nuclear submarine, USS Miami, at around 5:40 PM last night at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, Maine. This morning, the Navy reports that the fire has been put put. Three shipyard firefighters, two civilian firefighters … Continue reading
The fleet began to appear from the harbor haze around 9 AM and headed north up the inner harbor and the Hudson River. They were a mix of full rigged ships, barques, barquentines, topsail schooners and schooners. Most were naval vessels, but … Continue reading
A portrait of a naval ensign, in a heavy gilt frame, hung in a lonely corridor in the labyrinth that is the Pentagon. The plaque on the portrait read: ENS CHUCK HORD, USNA, CIRCA 1898, LOST AT SEA 1908 Fortunately for Ensign Hord, he … Continue reading
Last night I went out to see some of the participating OpSail tall ships in New York’s Outer Harbor. The trip was organized by the Working Harbor Committee with commentary provided by Richard Taylor and Captain Richard Dorfman. Click on the … Continue reading
Many visitors think of New York as the island of Manhattan. The City of New York is in fact five boroughs, only one of which is connected to the mainland. If Brooklyn, the largest borough, had remained an independent city, as … Continue reading
The visiting tall ships have started arriving in New York’s outer harbor. Tomorrow morning at just after 8 in the morning, the “Parade of Sail” will form up at the Verazano Narrows Bridge and stand north into the inner harbor past the … Continue reading
Two Italian marines, Latorre Massimiliano and Salvatore Girone, are in an Indian jail awaiting trial for the alleged murder of two Indian fisherman. They are at the center of a legal & diplomatic fight over the use of armed guards … Continue reading
A local boater first spotted the bales floating 15 miles offshore near Point Dana, California. When law enforcement went out to investigate, they found between 160-180 bales of marijuana (depending on the news report), weighing close to four tons and worth around $4 million dollars, … Continue reading