UPDATE: The Canadian government is now treating the casualty as an attempt at human smuggling. Toews links N.S. yacht accident to ‘human smuggling’ There are reports of a tragic and strange sailboat accident off Canada’s Nova Scotia coast. Nine men, reported to … Continue reading
Rick Spilman
On January 23, 1960, Jacques Piccard and USN Lieutenant Don Walsh spent twenty minutes at the bottom at Challenger Deep in the bathyscaphe Trieste. Unfortunately, their landing on the sea bed stirred up a cloud of silt which reduced visibility to zero, and they … Continue reading
The Northwest School of Wooden Boat Building in Port Hadlock, WA, is restoring a forgotten piece of sailing history – the Felicity Ann, a 23′ wooden boat, launched in 1949. In 1952-1953, Ann Davison, at 39, sailed the Felicity Ann single-handed across the Atlantic, … Continue reading
Last night, James Cameron became the first person ever to dive in a one man submarine to the very bottom of the ocean, the Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench, 35,755 feet (5.8 nautical miles) below the surface. He is only … Continue reading
Last week we posted about James Cameron’s preparation for his attempt to dive to the bottom of the Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench. Reports are that he is now attempting the dive in his one man submarine, described as … Continue reading
What really happened on the Costa Concordia in the final hours leading up to and following her grounding and sinking off Giglio on January 13, 2012? The first step in definitively answering that question began in early March when an Italian judge … Continue reading
In 1916, Ernest Shackleton and five sailors set off on an 1300 kilometer voyage to South Georgia Island, across some of roughest waters in the world, in the James Caird, a 6.9 meter lifeboat, in a desperate attempt to reach help and to arrange … Continue reading
A 150′ foot long fishing trawler carried away last March by the tsunami off the east coast of Japan has been spotted drifting in the Pacific Ocean, 120 miles off Haida Gwaii, British Columbia, Canada. About 5 million tons of debris … Continue reading
The waters around Tampa Bay may appear to step back in time tomorrow as the World War II Victory ship SS American Victory leaves the dock for her first cruise in nearly three years. The critically acclaimed “Re-Live History Cruise” will feature reenactors, … Continue reading
Divers have found five more bodies in the wreckage of the Costa Concordia which ran aground and sank on January 13, 2012 off the island of Giglio, Italy. The presumed death toll remains at 32, with only two of the roughly 4,200 passengers and … Continue reading
If HMS Hermione, commissioned in 1783, became a symbol of Royal Navy cruelty and bloody mutiny, the French light frigate l’ Hermione, commissioned in 1779, would become a symbol of American independence. On March 21, 1780, the 23 year old Gilbert du … Continue reading
There were two frigates, both named Hermione, both launched within a few years of each other. The British HMS Hermione would become a symbol of cruelty and bloody mutiny, whereas the French Hermione would carry the young Gilbert Motier, better known as … Continue reading
Thanks to Dexter Donham for pointing out this trailer for Vanishing Sail, a documentary still under production and expected to be out in 2013. Filmed in the Grenadines, Vanishing Sail looks at the sailing vessels that once were both the lifeblood of Caribbean commerce. From … Continue reading
The twenty eight year old bulk carrier Oriental Nicety was recently sold for scrap for $16 million. The ship was originally a tanker and has four owners and as many names. She is best known as the Exxon Valdez, the single hull … Continue reading
Earlier this month, 90 year old Winnie Breegle spoke at the 2012 Women’s History Month celebration at the Naval Surface Warfare Center in Panama City, FL. She had quite a story to tell. Not only was she a WAVE (Woman Accepted for Volunteer Emergency … Continue reading
We posted previously about “Pirates and Privateers,” a documentary on CBC’s Land and Sea. The 20 minute documentary is now available on-line. It presents a distinctive view of piracy and privateering from the perspective of the Canadian Maritimes, not often seen by those of us … Continue reading
The luxury cruise ship Silver Shadow may have lived up to its name on Friday morning when it collided with a container ship in Ha Long Bay, Vietnam. There were no reported injuries on the cruise ship, though passengers reported being knocked off their … Continue reading
James Cameron wants to dive to deepest part of the ocean – the Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench, 35,800 feet (5.8 nautical miles) below the surface. To do so, he plans on using a single person submersible designed to dive … Continue reading
Alan Villiers was the great chronicler of the last days of sail. In 1918, at the age of 15, he left home in Melborne, Australia to go to sea. His first love would always be the full rigged sailing ships … Continue reading
In 1904 and 1905, archaeologists Haakon Shetelig and Gabriel Gustafson excavated a burial mound at the Oseberg farm near Tønsberg in Vestfold county, Norway that contained a well-preserved Viking ship. The Osberg ship was reconstructed and has became Norway’s largest tourist … Continue reading