Fire Island is a thirty mile long barrier island on the south shore of Long Island, east of the entrance of New York harbor. Last week, Le Papillon, a 50′ steel pinky schooner, went ashore on the beach on Fire … Continue reading
Rick Spilman
After 66 days at sea, Anthony Smith and a crew of three friends arrived in St. Maarten on a voyage from the Canary Islands on the raft “An-Tiki“. Smith celebrated his 85th birthday during the voyage. The crew of the An-Tiki … Continue reading
My wife and I are celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary in a week by having dinner at Le Bernardin. I had proposed in the Le Bernardin, when the restaurant was still in Paris, so it has always seemed a great place to celebrate anniversaries. … Continue reading
The Tall Ship Elissa was built was built in Aberdeen, Scotland in 1877 by Alexander Hall and Co. She has been fully restored and is currently sailing out of Galveston, Texas. She recently successfully completed drydocking and inspection. A small piece of … Continue reading
A boat overloaded with migrants sailing from Libya capsized south south of the island of Lampedusa , off Sicily, early today. Fifteen are confirmed dead and between 130 and 250 are believed to be missing. Migrant boat sinks off Italy, up to 250 … Continue reading
A disturbing report from New Zealand on abusive conditions for seamen aboard chartered fishing vessels in New Zealand waters. Slavery at sea exposed Alerted to terrible conditions on foreign fishing vessels after nearly 30 people lost their lives, Michael Field began asking questions. … Continue reading
HMS Bounty is making ready to sail from San Juan, Puerto Rico tomorrow to begin this season’s European voyage. She will be calling at ports in the UK, Ireland, Belgium, Poland, Sweden, Germany and Russia, before returning to the US around October. For her … Continue reading
Recent articles on the power of the tsunami that recently struck Japan say a lot about both the power of the tsunami waves and the challenges of trying to cope with a constant threat from the ocean. Japan’s first line … Continue reading
After over two years and three failed searches, an international team, including specialists from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, in partnership with French authorities, have located the primary wreckage of Air France Flight 447 which disappeared over the Atlantic Ocean on May … Continue reading
Laura Dekker, the 15 year old Dutch sailor who is sailing rather leisurely alone around the world on her yacht Guppy, has been by all appearances handling the sailing part of her journey without too much difficulty. If she completes here multi-stop circumnavigation prior … Continue reading
“Sailors and Society in Georgian England : The Home of Lord Nelson, Jane Austen & Jack Aubrey” – It sounds a bit like someone’s history thesis but in fact is a ten day luxury tour organized and escorted by British maritime scholar and author of more than thirty books, … Continue reading
The fascinating story of the last running World War II motor torpedo boat, the PT 658, an historic relic rescued, rebuilt and restored by a group of gray-haired ex-PT boaters. Save the PT Boat PT Boat 658 [iframe: title=”YouTube video player” width=”425″ height=”349″ … Continue reading
Fewer than 300 people live on the Tristan da Cuhna island chain, the most remote inhabited archipelago in the world, 2,816 kilometres from the nearest land. An estimated 200,000 penguins, however, including roughly half of the world’s endangered Northern Rockhopper penguin, call the … Continue reading
The Ark Royal is for sale, presumably to a scrap yard but “alternatively the vessel may be purchased for re-use/refurbishment for non-warlike purposes.” The main engine, most machinery and all weapons will be removed. She will be available for inspection in early May and all bids … Continue reading
On April 2, 1801 at a key moment at the Battle of Copenhagen, Admiral Sir Hyde Parker, in overall command of the British forces, sent a signal to Vice-Admiral Horatio Nelson to withdraw. Nelson is said to have lifted his telescope to his blind eye … Continue reading
We recently posted about “Women At Sea: Screening, Conversation, Reception,” which was held last Wednesday in Manhattan. The program included a fascinating documentary Shipping Out, the Story of America’s Seafaring Women and a panel discussion with a number of women … Continue reading
Astrodene’s Historic Naval Fiction Log Book, a monthly newsletter on naval and nautical fiction and non-fiction is out for April. Books due for release this month are the novels, The Mountain of Gold by J. D. Davies, and Honor Bound by Robert … Continue reading
Times have been tough for Horizon Lines, the US Jones Act container shipping company that was spun off from Sealand in 2003. In addition to suffering decreased revenues in the general economic downturn, in late February Horizon agreed to plead guilty to a felony charge … Continue reading
Does the wind seem to blowing harder and the waves growing ever higher? Perhaps they are after all. A new study finds that wind speeds and wave heights have been rising significantly over the last two decades. Study finds oceanic … Continue reading
Last summer we posted about a breaching Southern Right whale that landed on a sailboat off South Africa. This week, boaters off the Florida Keys and in the Gulf of Mexico off Texas got surprise visitors. Off the Florida Keys a 200 … Continue reading