The Manchester Ship Canal, from Liverpool to Manchester, was built in 1894 and was once large enough to serve any ocean-going ship. Now a new container barge service is operating on the canal, saving on costs and cutting carbon emissions. … Continue reading
Rick Spilman
In 1914, the opening of the Panama Canal shortened the distance by sea between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans by almost 7,000 miles, eliminating the need to round treacherous Cape Horn. One hundred years later, in 2014, a new third set of locks … Continue reading
I am glad that I am of the age to have seen ships constructed the old fashioned way. Not all that long ago, shipyards still built ships from the bottom up. The shipyard first fabricated the double bottom sub-assemblies and then … Continue reading
The most interesting question about the recently revealed cheating scandal on personnel training exams on the nuclear-powered fast attack submarine, USS Memphis, is whether the cheating was an isolated case or whether the practice is more widespread. The Navy says the … Continue reading
Having recently visited the USCG Cutter Barque Eagle, I can wholeheartedly agree with the title of Tido Holtkamp’s book, A Perfect Lady: A Pictorial History of the Coast Guard Barque Eagle, which has recently gone into its second printing. The ship is indeed a … Continue reading
On August 15th, 1653, the Dutch East India Company ship, Sperwer (Sparrow Hawk), was shipwrecked on Jeju Island off the southern coast of Korea. Thirty six of the sixty four crew survived. One of the survivors was the ship’s book keeper, Hendrick … Continue reading
In May, we posted about the death of Claude Choules at 110. Choules was the last surviving veteran of World War I. Yesterday, Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard announced that the ex-Royal Navy Largs Bay, a Bay class landing ship dock, would be commissioned as … Continue reading
We recently posted about the Chinese conversion of the Russian aircraft carrier Varyag. China is not the only country looking to surplus Russian aircraft carriers to expand their naval power. India purchased the surplus carrier, Admiral Gorshkov, from the Russians … Continue reading
This may be the tiniest sea monster, a hydrothermal worm, a deep sea creature, almost as small as bacterium found near hydrothermal vents in the ocean. Here is the “worm from hell” viewed close up with an electron-microscope. Click on the image … Continue reading
On Sept 23-24, 1846, the planet Neptune was discovered by by Johann Gottfried Galle. In celestial terms, that was 165 years ago. In terms of Neptune’s path around the Sun it was only about one year ago. (To be precise, … Continue reading
Last week, a bright orange jelly or “goo” floated up on the beaches of Kivalina, a remote Alaskan village of just over 400 residents. Now scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration have determined that the goo is … Continue reading
The Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest is an annual tongue-in-cheek contest, sponsored by the English Department of San Jose State University in San Jose, California. Entrants are invited “to compose the opening sentence to the worst of all possible novels.” Edward Bulwer-Lytton … Continue reading
The barque Elissa is one of the true ship restoration success stories. The ship was rescued from near oblivion and restored at considerable cost by a dedicated group of volunteers. She has been well maintained in Galveston and has been taken on yearly sails, … Continue reading
The Viking longboat replica, Dragens Vinge, is reported to have broken up in a gale while on a voyage from Norway to Lerwick. The crew was rescued by helicopter fifty miles 50 miles east of Shetland after they activated the Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon … Continue reading
In May, we posted about what appears to be the deck of an aircraft carrier built onto the top of a government building in China (China takes a Great Leap Forward in the Concrete Carrier Arms Race.) Some speculated that … Continue reading