The Thames sailing barge was a remarkably efficient cargo carrier that lasted well into the 20th century before being replaced by diesel trucks. We have followed the rebuilding and the relaunching of the Thames sailing barge Cambria, which was the last British … Continue reading
Rick Spilman
The USS George HW Bush, the tenth of the Nimitz class, is the US Navy’s newest aircraft carrier. It cost $6.2 billion to build and is powered by two nuclear reactors which can develop 260,000 shaft horsepower. The carrier can … Continue reading
The Maritime Museum of San Diego brags that the Star of India is the oldest active sailing ship in the world. This weekend they demonstrated how they can make that claim. The Star of India, built at Ramsey Shipyard in … Continue reading
There have been several interesting art projects on and/or soon to be under the water around New York harbor. Late last month a Harvest Dome built of discarded umbrellas was unexpectedly shipwrecked on Riker’s Island in New York’s East River. A day … Continue reading
A yacht to rule the waves! Two weeks ago the Mail launched a campaign for a new Royal Yacht. Here we unveil the truly majestic blueprint Since 1660, Great Britain has had 83 royal yachts. The last was the HMY Britannia, … Continue reading
Yesterday, we looked at the Bugis phisini, a modern sailing ship built using traditional wood ship building methods that date back a thousand years or so. Today, a look at the other end of spectrum – wood sailing ships that … Continue reading
For centuries, the Bugis people have sailed from South Sulawesi across the shallow seas of the Indonesian archipelago. They would sail east and west on the monsoons, regularly trading as far as Northern Australia in their two masted ships, known … Continue reading
I am not one for cute pet videos. And I am not a huge fan of cats. Nevertheless, for this video I have to make an exception. The video was shot in at the Theater of the Sea, a marine animal park in … Continue reading
“HMS” Bounty, the replica of the ship of the mutiny fame, built for the Marlon Brando movie of 1965, is on her way home from her European Summer cruise. Doug Faunt, with whom I briefly sailed on the Rose, has been … Continue reading
I love the headline in the article in Sail-World – Britain set to introduce sailing ships to counter emissions. The first paragraph reads: It’s official. The days of sail may be just about to recommence. The UK’s Committee on Climate Change has come out with … Continue reading
Happy Veterans Day. Sadly the “war to end all wars” that ended on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month of 1918 did not not live up to its billing. Nevertheless, we celebrate the sacrifices made … Continue reading
A fitting tribute to the 29 men who went down with the Great Lakes ore boat, the SS Edmund Fitgerald, which sank 36 years ago today in Lake Superior. I am having a hard time believing that she sank that many years ago. The … Continue reading
The image on the right is a new poster for the London 2012 Olympics featuring a section of the River Thames. The image on the left is a photo of the roughly the same section of the river. Notice a difference? (Click … Continue reading
A fascinating story from Wales. Sometime between 1743 and 1745, a smuggler from Llanfairynghornwy on the isle of Anglesey, rescued two boys, in stormy seas in the middle of the night – the only survivors of an apparent shipwreck. Both boys had … Continue reading
The American movie, Top Gun, starring Tom Cruise, won 8 Academy Awards and earned over $300 million at the box office. The movie was inaccurate in several ways, not the least of which was the addition of a sexy female … Continue reading