Today, the SS United States Conservancy purchased the S.S. United States from Norwegian Cruise Line. As we posted last July, the sale was made possible by a reported $5.8 million pledge by Philadelphia philanthropist H.F. “Gerry” Lenfest. The sale was delayed when the … Continue reading
Rick Spilman
There are an estimated two million protesters in the streets on Cairo today; most rail, trucking and buses are shut down across Egypt, yet the Suez Canal, which can represent up 8 percent of global seaborne trade, remains open and in operation. Military escorts for protection … Continue reading
Mumbai can be tough on container ships. Last August the bulk carrier Khalijia 3 steered into the containership MSC Chitra , sinking her, causing a significant spill and closing the port for five days. Yesterday, the Indian warship, INS Vindhyagiri and Cyprus-flagged … Continue reading
Last July, we posted about North Carolina’s oldest shipwreck which was moved to the Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum for preservation. Now the curators at the museum are trying to learn,as quickly as possible, how to preserve the crumbling … Continue reading
The New York Daily News reported good news this morning: Whales return to New York City: Massive mammals appearing again in seas near city; draws sightseers … Continue reading
An update to a post from last week: A backlog of close to 400 ships is still bottled up on the Rhine River following the capsizing of the 110M chemical tank barge, Waldhof, on January 13th near the Lorelei … Continue reading
Before video games and personal computers, there were gamebooks. They were novels where at critical scenes you as the reader were given a series a choices. “A troll comes out of the cave carrying a large club. You will … Continue reading
Museums on two coasts have special Valentine’s Days events planned for sailors. The Penobscot Marine Museum in Searsport, Maine is offering a sailor’s valentine workshop for adults on Saturday, Feb. 12, just in time for Valentine’s Day. In San … Continue reading
A wonderful post from John Edwards’ Ocean Liners blog. Captain John asks the question, “what if Hitler made a Titanic movie? ” He then answers it, “he did.” A heavily fictionalized and equally anti-British version of the … Continue reading
The Indian Navy has launched its second sail training ship, INS Sudarshini. The name means “beautiful lady.” She will be a three masted barquentine and will join INS Tarangini, the Indian navy’s other sail training ship which was commissioned in 1997. Both ships … Continue reading
Earlier this month we posted about a report which features dire warnings about the condition of HMS Victory. Thanks to David Hayes for passing along an update on the restoration work planned for the old ship. Restoration work for HMS … Continue reading
The great challenge of ship preservation in these times always seems to be largely financial. SS Shieldhall, the UK’s “2009 Flagship of National Historic Ships” is in danger of scrapping unless funds can be raised to complete and upcoming drydocking. Historic … Continue reading
Last Saturday, we posted that the commander of the German sail training ship, Gorch Fock, had been dismissed from his command and ordered home after reports of a mutiny in November, following the death of a cadet. Now there is a very disturbing article in … Continue reading
A grand piano appeared recently on a sand bar in Biscayne Bay. It has been the subject of considerable discussion. Mysterious grand piano found on Biscayne Bay sandbar Here’s a mystery that gives a whole new meaning to the phrase … Continue reading
The Australia Day Regatta was held today in Sydney harbor and featured more than 50 classic wooden yachts, many gaff-rigged, and several built more than a century ago. The Australia Day Regatta is the oldest continuously-conducted annual sailing regatta in … Continue reading
The old expression goes “I love work. I could look at it for hours.” The web cams at the Lunenburg Shipyard give us a fine glimpse of the work being done rebuilding the Bluenose II. There are actually three webcams, a … Continue reading
Divers in Ireland have located the intact hull of German World War I submarine, the UC42, in Cork harbor. The discovery of the intact ship came as a surprise as the submarine was believed to have been destroyed by Royal Navy divers with explosives in 1919. The … Continue reading
U.S. Navy Captain Mark Kelly, Congresswoman Gabby Giffords’ husband, has been by her side since she was tragically shot in Tucson earlier this month. We posted previously about how Captain Kelly, who is a NASA astronaut, went to the United States Merchant … Continue reading
Five sailors aboard the catamaran Pineapple, which had been reported missing last Tuesday have arrived in the port of Maasin on Leyte Island, in the Philippines after being escorted in by the Philippines Coast Guard. The 38 foot catamaran suffered rudder damage in … Continue reading
The Morgan Library & Museum in New York city has a new exhibition that opened on Friday, “The Diary: Three Centuries of Private Lives,” which chronicles three hundred years of diaries and journals of the famous and the obscure. In … Continue reading