One year ago today, the ultra-large container ship Ever Given ran aground, blocking the Suez Canal for six days. The grounding resulted in a traffic jam of roughly 400 ships and cost an estimated $10 billion per day in lost … Continue reading
Rick Spilman
NPR reports that researchers say they have found the oldest known relative of octopuses and vampire squids, in a fossil dug up decades ago in Montana. The official name of the newly discovered species is Syllipsimopodi bideni, named after President Joe … Continue reading
The Patriots Point Naval & Maritime Museum in South Carolina has decided after years of debate to scrap USS Clamagore, a Cold War-era submarine, and save some of its artifacts for an exhibit. “Unfortunately, we cannot financially sustain the maintenance … Continue reading
When Janet MacPherson started surfing around 1955, she was a rarity in a sport dominated by men. In those days, male surfers would sometimes throw rocks at her because they didn’t want a woman on their waves. She overcame the … Continue reading
A cruise on the Norwegian Escape that sailed from Port Canaveral, Florida last Monday didn’t go well, and for a change, had little to do with Covid 19. On the second day of the cruise, the ship ran aground in … Continue reading
The Royal Navy patrol ship HMS Spey was on a mission to check and update charts of waters around British Overseas Territories scattered around the globe. It recently observed that Henderson Island in the South Pacific is one mile south … Continue reading
On St. Patrick’s Day, a post about another Irish saint, St. Brendan the Navigator, and the adventurer who sought to replicate his epic voyage. Who was the first European to sail to North America? According to Irish tradition, it was … Continue reading
Spain has recently seized three Russian superyachts believed to be subject to EU sanctions, including the 48-meter-long $7 million Lady Anastasia, which was partially sunk when sabotaged by its Ukrainian chief engineer. Taras Ostapchuk, 55, the engineer was said to … Continue reading
Almost one year ago, the container ship Ever Given ran aground, blocking the Suez Canal for six days. Now, another ship operated by the same shipping company, Evergreen Marine Corporation, has run hard aground. The Ever Forward, a 1,095-foot, 12,000 … Continue reading
During Women’s History Month it is worthwhile remembering Eleanor Creesy, the navigator of the clipper ship Flying Cloud, who with her husband, Captain Josiah Creesy, set world sailing records for the fastest passage between New York and San Francisco. Eleanor … Continue reading
Russian billionaire Andrey Igorevich Melnichenko’s superyacht Sailing Yacht A is nothing if not distinctive. It is one of the largest sail-assisted vessels afloat, with a singularly terrible name, and is arguably the ugliest large yacht in service. It is also … Continue reading
On the first day of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Russian naval vessel Vasily Bykov ordered the 13 Ukrainian border guards on Snake Island in the Black Sea to surrender. The border guards replied, “go f*** yourself“. The warship … Continue reading
Military.com reports that a federal judge in Florida has ruled that the US Navy cannot do anything to remove a commander of a destroyer, despite testimony that he has flouted the service’s rules for COVID-19 mitigation while seeking a religious … Continue reading
The Endurance22 Expedition announced yesterday that they have discovered the wreck of Sir Ernest Shackleton‘s ship Endurance, which was crushed by pack ice off Antarctica in 1915. The ship was in remarkably good condition. How is it that the ship is so … Continue reading
The Endurance22 Expedition announced today that they have discovered the remarkably intact remains of Sir Ernest Shackleton‘s ship Endurance, which was crushed by pack ice off Antarctica in 1915. A team of marine archeologists, adventurers, and technicians on the icebreaking … Continue reading
As Western governments scrabble to identify the luxury yachts of sanctioned Russian oligarchs, the ownership of Scheherazade, a 495′ long superyacht, docked in Marina di Carrara, a small Italian town on the Tuscan coast, remains a mystery. Valued at $700 … Continue reading
In honor of both Women’s History Month and last month’s Black History Month, an updated repost about the barrier-shattering naval engineer Raye Montague, who died at the age of 83 in 2018. At the age of 7, she was inspired … Continue reading
During Women’s History Month, it is a good time to honor Winnie Breegle who celebrated her 100th birthday last month. She served in World War II as a WAVE (Woman Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service) cryptographer and a Navajo code … Continue reading
Last week, representatives from 175 nations agreed to begin writing a global treaty that would restrict the explosive growth of plastic pollution on land and sea. The agreement commits nations to work on a broad and legally binding treaty that … Continue reading
In early February, the Endurance22 expedition set off from Cape Town, South Africa for Antarctica’s Weddell Sea aboard the icebreaking research ship, SA Agulhas II. Their objective is to locate, survey, and film the wreck of Endurance, Ernest Shackleton’s ship that … Continue reading