There is a new threat to our nautical heritage and our nation’s defense! In 2007, the composite tea clipper Cutty Sark, built in 1869, was ravaged by fire. An investigation revealed the culprit – an industrial vacuum cleaner. Now, it appears … Continue reading
Rick Spilman
The Normandy landings, on June 6, 1944, was the largest amphibious invasion in world history, with over 160,000 troops and 195,700 Allied naval and merchant navy personnel in over 5,000 ships. Normandy Invasion D-Day Landings, 6 June 1944 … Continue reading
MSC’s newest passenger ship, the MSC Davina, recently called at the Venice lagoon setting off a storm of protests. The protesters think that such a large ship creates too much pollution and could damage the fragile environment of the lagoon. The MSC Davina is 139,400 GT, … Continue reading
After damaging a wingtip that extended beyond the side of the barge when the Space Shuttle Enterprise was moved from Kennedy Airport on Sunday, today the shuttle was moved to a larger barge for its last and shorter leg of … Continue reading
The Space Shuttle Enterprise has not had an easy time in New York. When it was barged last Sunday between Kennedy Airport and Bayonne, New Jersey, prior to its final move to the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum, it suffered minor damage to one wingtip when the barge … Continue reading
Patrick O’Brian is a well known name in nautical fiction. Now another Patrick O’Brien, with a different spelling of his last name and an American, rather than an Englishman pretending to be Irish, is making a name for himself as a marine artist. Here … Continue reading
On June 5th and 6th, depending on where you are in the world, there will be the last transit of Venus, where the planet Venus visibly passes between the earth and the Sun, until the year 2017. The previous transit of Venus … Continue reading
The Space Shuttle Enterprise was built as a prototype. As such it never flew in space. That is not to say, however, that it hasn’t traveled. In April, we caught it on video taking a ride on a NASA 747 up … Continue reading
An estimated million spectators lined the Thames to watch what has been described as the largest river pageant in history to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the reign of Queen Elizabeth, who, at 86, is England’s oldest reigning monarch. Over 1,000 … Continue reading
Gareth Glover, the skipper of the yacht New York, was good enough to sit down yesterday and provide a glimpse of sailing in the Clipper Round the World Race. Clipper Round the World Race – Interview with Skipper Gareth Glover [iframe: width=”580″ … Continue reading
In anticipation of tomorrow’s Thames Diamond Jubilee Pageant, a map from LondonTown.com. Click on the map below for a larger version. [iframe: src=”http://www.londontown.com/London-Maps/Thames-Jubilee-Pageant/EmbedJubilee/?width=580&height=214″ width=”580″ height=”214″ frameborder=”1″ scrolling=”no”] On Sunday 3rd June 2012, over one thousand boats will muster on the River … Continue reading
When a storm destroyed Xerxes the Great’s bridge across the Hellespont in 480 BCE, he ordered that the sea be flogged with chains. Now, the North Carolina legislature is playing Xerxes. Some North Carolina legislators do not like the estimates of the … Continue reading
Seas of Peace is a remarkable sail training and leadership program that brings together Middle Eastern and American youth for a summer of sailing and conflict resolution training. This year, in their second summer of operation, they hope to bring together 18 young sailors on … Continue reading
Last October, we posted about the MV Miner, ex Canadian Miner, a Great Lakes bulk carrier whose tow rope snapped on the way to the scrap yard. The ship drifted onto Scatarie Island, off the coast of Cape Breton in Nova … Continue reading
Two Roman-era shipwrecks have been found in water slightly less than a mile deep off the western Greek islands of Corfu and Paxoi. The two third-century wrecks were discovered earlier this month during a survey of an area where a Greek-Italian gas pipeline … Continue reading