We recently posted “Beware the Supermoon! Wonder What They Will Blame on it This Time?” We noted that previous perigean full moons, when the moon is closest in its orbit to the earth, have been blamed for ship groundings and … Continue reading
Rick Spilman
On an overcast Tuesday morning, the Barque Picton Castle sailed into New York harbor and tied up at Pier 25 just before the rain set in. under the watchful eye of Captain Daniel Moreland, the crew of mostly young men and women brought … Continue reading
The museum ship SS American Victory will host the FBI, Transportation Security Administration and a half-dozen other law enforcement agencies in bomb detection and disposal training exercises later this month in preparation for the Republican National Convention to be held in … Continue reading
One hundred and fifty years ago today, Robert Smalls, a 23 year old mulatto slave, who served as the pilot of the Confederate armed transport, CSS Planter, led eight fellow slaves in an audacious flight to freedom. They seized the CSS Planter, steamed … Continue reading
The USCGC Stratton is the Coast Guard’s newest cutter. Built at Ingalls Shipbuilding of Pascagoula, Miss., she was acquired by the Coast Guard on September 2, 2011 and officially commissioned on March 31, 2012. Roughly a month after the 418′ foot … Continue reading
We recently posted on “Pouring the Ballast on the Boston Tea Party Ship Beaver.” A follow up video on stepping the masts: Stepping the Masts in Boston [iframe: width=”560″ height=”315″ src=”http://www.youtube.com/embed/Tokg1YDEVYg” frameborder=”0″ allowfullscreen] Thanks to Tom Russell of the Traditional … Continue reading
A settlement has been reached in the civil lawsuit over the deaths of two Hungarian tourists and other passenger injuries when a barge pushed by a K-Sea tug, Caribbean Sea, struck the disabled “Duck boat” DUKW 34 at anchor in … Continue reading
Last month we posted about a stand-off between Chinese fishing vessels and Philippine Coast Guard ships at Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea. Both nations claim sovereignty over the area. Even the island name is in contention. The Philipines refers to Scarborough Shoal as Panatag … Continue reading
Yesterday, we posted the obituary of Claude Holloway, a British Motor Torpedo Boat commander, who heroically saved dozens of sailors in the German attack on Bari, Italy in 1943. Holloway was nearly killed by mustard gas bombs secretly carried aboard the American Liberty … Continue reading
Sailing and sipping single malt scotch are among two of my favorite activities, (though not necessarily at the same time.) It does seem fitting that Old Pulteney Single Malt Scotch Whisky and US Sailing have partnered to introduce the inaugural Old … Continue reading
Claude Holloway died recently at the age of 93. He was one of the most successful motor torpedo boat commanders in the Mediterranean in the Second World War, earning a Distinguished Service Cross for his part in the Caorle Point … Continue reading
Bloomberg is reporting that “Dubai ship builder Dry Docks World and Swiss firm BIG InvestConsult unveiled plans to build a disc-shaped luxury hotel submerged under 10 meters of ocean off the coast of Dubai. Featuring 21 rooms, an underwater dive … Continue reading
Giovanni Soldini and the Maserati Sailing Team have announced that they expect to set sail from the North Cove Marina in New York City between 10:00 p.m. this evening and 3:00 a.m. tomorrow morning in their attempt to break the … Continue reading
The attorneys for Odyssey Marine Exploration have been keeping busy. In February we posted about the end of a multi-year legal battle between Spain and Odyssey Marine Exploration over $500m in gold and silver coins and other artifacts from the wreck of the Nuestra Señora de las Mercedes. … Continue reading
Something is terribly wrong on the coast of Peru. At least 877 dolphins and more than 1,500 birds, most of them brown pelicans and boobies, have died along the coast since February when the government started tracking the deaths. The government says that … Continue reading
Last summer, Yachting Magazine began a monthly series of articles focused on a second-hand 40ft Jeanneau Sun Fizz 40 ketch, which they referred to as their “Crash Test Boat.” They proceeded to capsize the boat, dismast her, cut holes in her, set … Continue reading
In 1865, the CSS Georgia, a Confederate ironclad battery was burned and sunk in the Savannah River to avoid capture and to obstruct passage on the river. (The ship was scuttled not far from where the British sank the frigate HMS … Continue reading
The 98-foot-long solar powered catamaran MS Turanor PlanetSolar returned to Monoco yesterday, completing a 37,286 mile circumnavigation of the globe in 584 days. It is the first circumnavigation under solar power. Along the way, the Turanor PlanetSolar made stops on six continents to promote solar energy. While … Continue reading
Seventy yeas ago, the Japanese and navies of the United States and Australia fought the Battle of the Coral Sea in the waters southwest of the Solomon Islands and eastward from New Guinea in a series of naval battles from May … Continue reading
Update: The final auction price for the Sea Shadow and the HMB1 was an impressive $3.2 million. The Sea Shadow is an experimental 164′ long catamaran “stealth ship” built by Lockheed in the mid 1980s for the United States Navy. For … Continue reading