A tidal turbine, built and tested in Scotland, has been installed in waters off Naru Island, part of Japan’s Goto Island chain. Simec Atlantis Energy said its pilot turbine had generated 10 megawatt-hours in its first 10 days of operation. … Continue reading
Rick Spilman
Last Friday, the Spanish Navy training ship Juan Sebastian De Elcano arrived in Guam on its journey to retrace the first circumnavigation of the globe 500 years ago. As reported by Stars and Stripes, the four-masted ship — named for … Continue reading
A start-up company in Maine is testing the feasibility of combatting climate change by growing kelp to capture carbon dioxide. Once the kelp is mature, it will sink to the bottom becoming part of the sediment and trapping the carbon … Continue reading
Hugh Mulzak served as the first Black Liberty ship captain in World War II. When offered the command, he refused to sail with a segregated crew. Born in 1886 on Union Island in Saint Vincent Grenadines, he went to sea … Continue reading
A large iceberg about 490 square miles and about 492 feet thick broke off the Brunt Ice Shelf in the Weddell Sea section of Antarctica yesterday. For comparison purposes, the City of New York is 303 square miles, while Manhattan … Continue reading
A new study has determined that the vast Atlantic Ocean current circulation system, including the Gulf Stream, is at its weakest in a thousand years. The slowing of the current, the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC), could increase sea levels … Continue reading
From maps to apps to chartplotters, we all rely on GPS these days, sometimes whether we realize it or not. Ethan Siegel recently wrote in Forbes: Unbeknownst to most people, however, the science underlying this technology was primarily developed by … Continue reading
The New York Times reports that a large oil spill from an unknown source has devastated sea life in the Mediterranean and spewed tons of tar across more than 100 miles of coastline from Israel to southern Lebanon in what Israeli … Continue reading
Thomas Slade, a pioneering naval architect and shipwright, died in 1771, 250 years ago today. While he is most famous for the design and construction of Admiral Horatio Nelson’s Victory, his larger contribution to the Royal Navy and even in … Continue reading
This weekend, the Italian team Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli decisively won the Prada Cup Final, eliminating INEOS Team UK by 7 races to 1. Luna Rossa is now preparing for the final America’s Cup races against Emirates Team New Zealand … Continue reading
On February 21, 1862, Nathaniel Gordon, captain of the slave ship, Erie, was executed by hanging in New York City. Under the Piracy Law of 1820, slave trading was considered to be an act of piracy punishable by death. He was … Continue reading
My wife and I recently received the second of two shots of Covid-19 vaccine at a drive-through vaccination state set up at the USS Juneau Center, on the site of the old Federal Shipbuilding & Drydock Company in Kearny, NJ. … Continue reading
As bitterly cold weather left millions without power in Texas, the extreme cold has also been a disaster for wildlife, including sea turtles. Thousands of green sea turtles in the water of Laguna Madre off Corpus Christi have become stunned … Continue reading
Recently, three sailors aboard the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt have tested positive for the coronavirus, marking the second outbreak at sea on the ship within a year. In the spring of last year, the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt … Continue reading
Today, A.P. Moller-Maersk, the largest container ship operator in the world, announced that it would launch the world’s first carbon-neutral cargo liner vessel in 2023 – seven years ahead of its initial 2030 target. They also noted that all future … Continue reading
A recently unearthed letter from Admiral Horatio Nelson to his mistress, Lady Emma Hamilton, written in 1801, reveals Nelson recommending that their six-month-old baby daughter be given the smallpox vaccine developed by Edward Jenner just three years before. It is … Continue reading
In the United States, today is “Presidents’ Day,” a national holiday on the third Monday of February, falling between Lincoln’s (February 12th) and Washington’s (February 22) birthdays. Here is an updated repost of the tale of a patent granted to … Continue reading
Happy Valentine’s Day! In honor of both the day and Black History Month, an updated repost about Frederick Douglass. But what does Valentine’s Day have to do with Frederick Douglass? As a slave, Douglass never knew the date of his … Continue reading
A recently discovered large predatory fish found in deep water off the coast of Japan is a reminder that we know more about the surface of the Moon or Mars than we do about the deep oceans. In 2016, marine … Continue reading
Today is Chinese New Year when we bid goodbye to the Year of the Rat and say hello to the Year of the Ox. While not directly related to the New Year, it also seems a good time to say … Continue reading