Last September, the Spanish government issued restrictions on operating sailboats less than 15 meters long off a section of its Galician coast after multiple cases of encounters with pods of orcas, also known as killer whales. Last week, Spain issued … Continue reading
Rick Spilman
It is amazing how many commonplace items are related to ships and the sea. Or perhaps not, given that over 70% of the globe is covered by water and 90% of all trade is moved by sea. Here is one … Continue reading
The Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum is nearing the completion of the construction of a new Maryland Dove, a reproduction of the 17th-century trading ship that accompanied the first settlers to what is now Maryland in 1634. Maryland Dove is owned … Continue reading
A repost from several years ago. Sailors have long considered Friday to be an unlucky day and Friday the 13th, particularly so. On this Friday the 13th, it seems appropriate to remember the unlikely tale of HMS Friday. Sometime in the … Continue reading
Five years ago we posted about the beginning of the construction of “A Close to Unsinkable Titanic in China’s Sichuan Province.” Construction began on November 30th, 2016 in Suining, Sichuan province, China, 745 miles from the sea. The full-sized replica … Continue reading
The Live Science blog reports that whale watchers in Japan were recently treated to a rare wildlife encounter when they saw, not one, but two white orcas swimming side by side. The pair and their pod were spotted by a … Continue reading
Last May, we posted about a threat by Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL) to pull its ships from Florida ports after the Florida legislature passed a law prohibiting businesses from asking whether employees or customers have been vaccinated against Covid-19, contradicting certain CDC … Continue reading
Last week, a wall of ice, representing an iceberg, collapsed at the Titanic Museum Attraction in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, injuring three guests. The injured were taken to a local hospital. The extent of the injuries was not revealed. From the … Continue reading
We posted back in February, about the Navy’s plans to decommission four relatively new Littoral Combat Ships (LCS). Congress granted approval to decommission two, the USS Independence and the USS Freedom. The Independence was decommissioned on July 29, 20201 and … Continue reading
Jon Morrow Lindbergh died recently at the age of 88. He was an American underwater diver who worked as a United States Navy demolition expert and as a commercial diver. He was also a pioneer in cave diving and was … Continue reading
We had a lovely stay in the old seaport village of Stonington, CT on our recent cruise. In honor of our visit, here is a repost from a few years ago about the Battle of Stonington that was fought two … Continue reading
In September, we posted about a Swedish consortium that included Wallenius Marine has designed Oceanbird, a five-masted sailing car carrier, that, if built, will be the largest sailing cargo ship that the world has ever seen. Last month, Alfa Laval and Wallenius … Continue reading
Happy Coast Guard Day! In honor of the day, a post about the former Coast Guard lighthouse tender, USCGC Lilac, a museum ship located on the Hudson River in New York City. The Lilac is America’s only surviving steam-powered lighthouse … Continue reading
On Friday, the schooner Mary E, owned by the Maine Maritime Museum in Bath, was knocked down and flooded while sailing off Doubling Point Light on the Kennebec River, just downriver from the museum. All 18 passengers and crew were … Continue reading
We recently sailed to Block Island, a picturesque windswept island, roughly a dozen miles off the coast of Rhode Island. A haven for vacationers, Block Island also features the first commercial offshore wind farm in the United States. Five 6MW … Continue reading
The Howard Steamboat Museum recently posted a video “A River, a Family, and a Shipyard: The History of the Howard Family of Steamboat Builders” that tells the story of James Howard and the Howard Family, who were the most successful … Continue reading
The US Navy christened one of its newest Virginia-class attack submarines, the USS Hyman G. Rickover (SSN 795), during a 9 a.m. EDT ceremony Saturday, July 31, 2021, at General Dynamics/Electric Boat, in Groton, Connecticut. From the Navy press release: … Continue reading
Last August we posted “Did an Arsonist Torch the USS Bonhomme Richard?” The Navy has concluded that the answer is yes, as it has charged a seaman apprentice with deliberately starting a fire last year that destroyed the amphibious assault … Continue reading
For almost a decade, Reza Baluchi has been trying to run across oceans in his hydro pod, a homemade bubble contraption with a metal frame that looks and is intended to function as a human hamster wheel. As reported by … Continue reading
Bruce Kirby died recently at the age of 92. He was a Canadian-born, self-taught yacht designer known for a range of projects from one-designs to America’s Cup yachts. He also was a three-time Olympian sailor. Kirby began his career as … Continue reading