Just about 40 years ago, while a student studying naval architecture, I had a summer job working for a major oil company in New York City. One weekend, two friends and I took a train out to visit Mystic Seaport. … Continue reading
Rick Spilman
We posted in June 2012 about protests over the docking of large cruise ships in Venice, Italy. The arrival of the MSC Davina at 139,400 GT, almost 1,100 feet long, about 125 feet wide and carries up to 5,329 passengers and crew, … Continue reading
For the last thirty five hundred years, Peruvian fisherman have paddled boats called caballito de totora, the little reed horses, out through the surf to cast their nets offshore. At the end of the day, they ride the waves back to shore … Continue reading
The recent sinking of the Concordia yawl, Winnie of Bourne, brought to mind just how remarkable this class of boats indeed is. Winnie of Bourne was raised from the bottom near the entrance of Nantucket harbor just two days after she sank, … Continue reading
Last night, my wife and I took to a two hour sail on the schooner Pioneer to watch the “super moon” rise over New York harbor. The “super moon,” is in scientific terms referred to as a “perigee moon,” a … Continue reading
On Friday morning, near the entrance to Nantucket harbor at around 10:30 AM, someone made a very bad mistake. The 40′ Concordia yawl, Winnie of Bourne, and the 46′ Swan, Dragon, collided, sending the Concordia yawl to the bottom. The four … Continue reading
A remarkable video of gannetts, sharks, dolphins & divers diving on the sardine run on the Agulhas Bank off South Africa. Shark Explorers – Sardine Run 2013 From Scuba Diver Life — Gearing Up For South Africa’s Sardine Run Exactly … Continue reading
Hawaii survived a near miss with two hurricanes. On Friday, Hurricane Iselle, downgraded to a tropical storm, hit the Big Island of Hawaii. Hurricane Julio is expected to pass roughly 200 miles to the north of the islands on Sunday … Continue reading
A very well-made short documentary by Keven A. Fraser about David Welsford’s life on an Herreshoff 28, Lizzy Belle. Twenty Eight Feet: life on a little wooden boat from kevinAfraser on Vimeo. … Continue reading
On Tuesday, the New York Media Boat‘s 2pm Adventure Sightseeing Tour was interrupted just off South Street Seaport, when the boat captain, Bjoern Kils, spotted three people in the water near Pier 15. They immediatey went to help. Bjoern describes what happened next in … Continue reading
Captain Francesco Schettino recently gave a two-hour lecture on emergency procedures to criminal science masters candidates at Rome’s Sapienza University. Yes, this is the same Capt. Schettino who ripped open the side of the cruise ship Costa Concordia on a reef, then … Continue reading
In the press, they have been described as “sister ships” which is not literally true. Falls of Clyde, an iron-hulled four masted ship built in 1878 in Port Glasgow, is older and larger than Glennlee, a three masted steel-hulled barque, also built in … Continue reading
Last Saturday, I was helping my son move to a new job in Wisconsin. We spent the night in a motel just outside Toledo and woke to find that we couldn’t take showers, brush our teeth or have a cup of … Continue reading
In early July, the 114-foot long Draken Harald Hårfagre, the largest Viking replica ever built, was sailing across the North Sea, from Haugesund in Norway. Three days out, in high seas, the ship’s mast failed and went over the side. No one … Continue reading
My favorite place in New York’s American Museum of Natural History is the Milstein Hall of Ocean Life, where a 94 foot long blue whale appears to be swimming through space. The whale is a 21,000-pound fiberglass model of a female blue … Continue reading