A beachcomber found the wreck of a ship uncovered by winter gales on a beach in North Carolina. Originally though to the an 18th century Royal Navy ship, the wreck has now been identified as dating from the 1600s, making it the … Continue reading
Rick Spilman
Last week at the Shanghai World Expo, the SunTech Guosheng solarsailor, an innovative 31.5 meter solar-powered passenger vessel sailed on its maiden voyage on the Huangpu River. The vessels is owned by Suntech Power Holdings, the world’s largest producer of … Continue reading
Last Thursday, the mellifluous blast of the SS Normandie‘s steam whistle once gain reverberated across the piers of the South Street Seaport in New York. The blowing of the steam whistle celebrated the anniversary of the arrival of French luxury liner to New York seventy five years … Continue reading
Today is the second annual celebration of World Ocean Day! The only thing that is unclear to me is what and how we should be celebrating. From the World Oceans’ Day website: “In 2009 The Ocean Project started an annual tradition associated with … Continue reading
Julian Stockwin made a comment on Twitter this morning (what is the past tense of “to tweet?” by the way) regarding women on submarines. He noted that Norway has had women serving on submarines for decades. Indeed, the US … Continue reading
The schooner Rachel B. Jackson was on sale on E-Bay this morning. The minimum bid was $175,000 with a “Buy it Now” price of $225,000. The bidding ended at around 8:00 this morning EST without any bids having been … Continue reading
British explorer Robert Falcon Scott was born today in 1868. He died, along with his four companions, on the way back from the South Pole in 1912. They had successfully reached the pole, only to learn that they had been beaten … Continue reading
Though the pelican is featured on the state flag, by the early 1960s, brown pelicans had been pushed to extinction along the Louisiana Gulf Coast by DDT and other pesticides. In 1968 pelicans were reintroduction to Louisiana from colonies in … Continue reading
Women sweep top-sailor honors For the first time, the Navy’s four sailors of the year are women, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Gary Roughead announced Thursday. Roughead noted the achievement as part of a number of milestones for women in … Continue reading
I am not making this up. In the middle of May, a gentleman, whose internet nickname is Aquahound, found a camera in an underwater housing that had washed ashore in Key West. There were still photos and video on the memory card dating back to November of … Continue reading
A book trailer for Alaric Bond’s new book, True Colours which we recently reviewed. True Colours … Continue reading
I am a huge fan of the “sharp-built” privateers that came to be known as Baltimore clippers. They look fast sitting still and under sail, they are nothing less than breathtaking. The Lynx, a replica Baltimore clipper, which was … Continue reading
I’ve just finished reading Julian Stockwin’sInvasion, the tenth of his Kydd series, which features among its cast of characters, Robert Fulton and his Nautilus of 1800. While the Nautilus is often called the first “practical” submarine, it was not the … Continue reading
In response to our post, Tall Ships Hit By Slumping Economy, Will from the Tugster blog and Captain Peter from Nautical Log commented about the potential synergies of tall ships carrying cargo in addition to passengers. Well great minds, and all that. An example of … Continue reading
Not surprising news given the economy but disturbing nevertheless. Flagship might sail elsewhere: Highlander Sea’s future uncertain The tall ship Highlander Sea, a longtime symbol of Port Huron, is not expected to hit the waves this summer. What’s more, its time representing … Continue reading
The English Channel is still the Channel and the 60 or so “little ships” of Dunkirk haven’t gotten any younger. The flotilla of some 60 of the original “little ships” were delayed in their return to Ramsgate after reinacting the crossing to … Continue reading
Hurricane season officially begins today, though Tropical Storm Agatha blew in from the Pacific a day or two early and killed 150 people in Guatemala and opened up a huge sink hole in Guatemala City. Scientists with the National Oceanic … Continue reading
A trivia question – what was the Space Shuttle Atlantis named after? A. The Greek legend of the sunken continent. B. The TV show – Stargate Atlantis. C. Woods Hole’s first research vessel. I will admit that I surprised to learn that it was C. The … Continue reading
Keith Jessop, the salvage diver who recovered the gold from the HMS Edinburgh, died on May 22, 2010, aged 77. Keith Jessop: salvage diver On May 2, 1942, after three days of attacks by German submarines, destroyers and aircraft in … Continue reading
What make this story interesting are not the facts but the reaction to them. A sixty year tradition of Naval Academy plebes climbing a greased obelisk at the end of their first year is coming to an end. So … Continue reading