The title of an article in CNN was intriguing — Why so many people in China are becoming mermaids. The article featured a recent event described as the “largest underwater mermaid show” that set a Guinness World Record at the … Continue reading
Rick Spilman
Denmark is planning on building three offshore wind farms with 200 turbines with a 3 GW capacity 100 kilometers off the coast in the North Sea. Later phases of the project include an additional seven wind farms with 470 turbines. … Continue reading
First Officer Mohammed Aisha had been stranded on the “cursed” MV Aman, for almost four years onboard, stuck off the Egyptian coast. He has finally been freed and has flown home to Syria. The BBC reports that it began in … Continue reading
We recently posted about the schooner Ernestina-Morrissey, ex Ernestina, ex Effie M. Morrissey, beginning a new chapter as a sail training vessel for the Massachusetts Maritime Academy. Here is a repost of a documentary, narrated by the polar explorer, Captain … Continue reading
We recently posted about two “heritage desks” built for the Vice President of the United States and the Secretary of the Navy from timbers and fittings from the USS Constitution and several other historic ships. The CBC recently had an … Continue reading
We recently posted “No, 15 Large Ships Do Not Pollute More Than All the Cars in the World.” It was based on a claim made by Dr. James Corbett in 2009, that only addressed sulfur pollution. Enthusiastic journalists picked up … Continue reading
Do you know what you are getting when you buy fish in a store or order it prepared in a restaurant? It isn’t always easy. An analysis of 44 recent studies of more than 9,000 seafood samples from restaurants, fishmongers, … Continue reading
In 2009, Dr. James Corbett, a professor of marine policy at the University of Delaware, came up with what he describes as a thought experiment. He compared the sulfur dioxide produced by the largest container ship burning the dirtiest bunker … Continue reading
The Indonesia Navy announced that it has located debris from the missing submarine KRI Nanggala 402, indicating that the submarine sank with the loss of 53 crew. API reports that military chief Hadi Tjahjanto said the presence of an oil … Continue reading
The Indonesian submarine KRI Nanggala 402, with a crew of 53, disappeared on Wednesday during exercises off the coast of Bali, sparking a frantic search to locate the stricken vessel. Australia, India, Malaysia, Singapore, and the United States have sent … Continue reading
I realize that I am in a rut. Every Earth Day, I say the same thing. Over 70% of the surface of this planet is covered by water, so referring to the planet as “earth” is just wrong. But be … Continue reading
The schooner Ernestina-Morrissey, ex Ernestina, ex Effie M. Morrissey, will soon begin a new chapter in her long and storied career as a sail training vessel for the Massachusetts Maritime Academy. The schooner was built in 1894 at the James … Continue reading
Vice Adm. Linda L. Fagan was nominated as the next Vice Commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard, the Department of Homeland Security announced on Monday. The nomination by President Biden, pending approval by the U.S. Senate, would make Fagan the … Continue reading
For several years now we have followed the progress of the autonomous sailing drones developed by the aptly name firm, Saildrone, in oceanographic service in the Pacific and Bering Seas. In January, we posted about Saildrone’s new 72’ long Surveyor, … Continue reading
Antarctica’s iceberg A68 has broken up into a myriad of small pieces so that the US National Ice Center says are no longer worth tracking. Once the world’s biggest iceberg in existence, A68 became an unexpected social media star in … Continue reading
The American Bureau of Shipping completed its survey and concluded that the ultra-large container ship Ever Given, which had blocked the Suez Canal for almost a week at the end of March, was fit for onward passage. Unfortunately, the ship … Continue reading
In June 2020, an intense fire broke out in the bow of the French nuclear attack submarine Perle, while the ship was in drydock in Toulon in southern France. The submarine’s 48-megawatt nuclear reactor that had been removed when it … Continue reading
One 109 years ago today, the RMS Titanic slipped below the icy waters of the North Atlantic after striking an iceberg. Close to 1,500 passengers and crew were lost, making the sinking the deadliest peacetime sinking of a passenger liner … Continue reading
The lift boat SEACOR Power capsized in the Gulf of Mexico in high winds. The 129′ vessel, used in oil and gas exploration, capsized eight miles from Port Fourchon, Louisiana, on Tuesday afternoon. Eighteen were reported to be aboard the … Continue reading
The Ever Given no longer blocks traffic in the Suez Canal but, in a very real sense, the ship is still stuck in the canal. The ultra-large container ship ran aground for about a week in late March, blocking ships transiting … Continue reading