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
Rick Spilman
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
Four years ago, workers excavating at the new World Trade Center site in lower Manhattan uncovered the remains of an 18th century wooden merchant ship. The ship was found 20 feet below street level, is roughly 30 feet in length and was probably buried intentionally as land … Continue reading
Is it safe to go into the water? Officials with the Florida Department of Health are warning that vibro vulnificus, a flesh eating bacteria, poses a threat to those who eat uncooked seafood or go into the state ocean water with cuts or … Continue reading
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey reportedly spent more than $100 million on a Perimeter Intrusion Detection System, which was intended to protect the local airports from terrorist attack. (Some sources put the cost at $300 million.) How … Continue reading
Great news, for a change. The historic schooner Ernestina, ex-Effie M. Morrissey will sail again. Private donors, Bob Hildreth and Gerry Lenfest, have committed to contribute $2.8 million to the restoration of the historic schooner. The new donations more than match the State … Continue reading
We recently posted “The Dazzle Ships, Then and Now,” about the use of wild geometric patterns painted on ships, which do nothing to hide the ship, but are/were meant to confuse enemy weapons targeting. Recently, the artist, designer, and entrepreneur, Adam … Continue reading
Ocean Classroom Foundation, a non-profit organization based in Maine, has run educational programs for students aboard schooners for almost 20 years. Sadly, it will be closing down at the end of the summer; it’s three schooners will be put up for sale … Continue reading
In 1665, HMS London, a 64-gun second-rate ship of the line of the English Royal Navy, exploded in the Thames Estuary off Southend. Recent dives on the wreck have recovered a wide range of artifacts and remains. As reported by the … Continue reading
The bad news just keeps coming. The Virginia Maritime Heritage Foundation has announced that the schooner Virginia will be suspending the remainder of her 2014 season and will be returned to Hampton Roads in August, where she will be put up … Continue reading
In 2009, we posted about the “bloop.” What is the “bloop,” you well may ask? The “bloop” was an mysterious ultra-low frequency underwater sound detected by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) several times during the summer of 1997. NOAA … Continue reading
The Costa Concordia has begun her final voyage from the Tuscan island of Giglio to the scrapyard in Genoa, Italy, the port city where the ill-fated cruise ship was built. The ship sank and partially capsized in January 2012 after striking … Continue reading
Last April, we posted about the capsizing and sinking of the South Korean ro/ro ferry Sewol with the loss of over 300, dead and missing. Yoo Byung-eun, the effective owner and manager of Chonghaejin Marine Company, which operated the ferry, had been the … Continue reading
PortSide New York, the organization behind the historic tanker Mary A. Whalen, is having an amazing marine hardware fundraising sale. From their press release: If you think a full-sized bollard makes the perfect doorstop, or that a collection of shackles … Continue reading
Isabelle Autissier is a French sailor who has sailed around the world four times. In this TED talk, she shares some of what she has learned about life and living from the sailing the world’s oceans. She speaks of the … Continue reading