On Monday, February 24th, at 7:30 PM, New York’s Shiplore and Model Club, the city’s oldest nautical interest group, will be hosting a screening of the documentary “The Mystery of the Arctic Rose,” which examines the deadliest U.S. fishing accident … Continue reading
Rick Spilman
Betelgeuse, a red giant in the constellation Orion, is normally one of the 10 brightest stars in the sky. For those navigating by sextant, it is one of the 58 navigational stars. Recently, however, it has begun to dim and … Continue reading
Robert Smalls is an unsung American hero. If all goes well, he may soon get some of the recognition that he deserves. Last year, it was announced that Charles Burnett is directing a movie about Robert Smalls for Amazon Studios. … Continue reading
Storm Dennis was the second-strongest nontropical storm on record in the North Atlantic Ocean. It brought hurricane-force winds, towering waves, and significant flooding to Britain, Wales, and Ireland. It also brought something wholly unexpected — the abandoned general cargo ship, … Continue reading
In the United States, today is “Presidents’ Day,” a national holiday on the third Monday of February, falling between Lincoln’s (February 14th) and Washington’s (February 22) birthdays. Here is an updated repost of the tale of a patent granted to … Continue reading
David Debias, was a free black youth from the north side of Beacon Hill in Boston. In 1814, at only 8 years old, he signed aboard the USS Constitution, nicknamed “Old Ironsides.” He was rated as a ship’s boy and … Continue reading
Is the quarantine of the cruise ship Diamond Princess in Japan an effective way to control the spread of the virus known as COVID-19 , or is it facilitating the spread of the virus to other passengers and crew aboard … Continue reading
On Valentine’s Day, here is a repost from a few years ago of a series of Valentine Islands, not all of which are tropical. Are they islands of love on the storm-tossed seas of life? Sadly, they are probably not, … Continue reading
Are cruise ships giant incubators for spreading viruses and other microorganisms? While the coronavirus has dominated the news recently, two cruise ships were turned away from ports after passengers and crew were stricken by the common norovirus. We have been … Continue reading
In its recent budget proposal, the Navy announced its intention to retire the first four Littoral Combat Ships (LCS) — the USS Freedom, USS Independence, USS Fort Worth, and USS Coronado — which range in age from twelve to only … Continue reading
The legend of the Flying Dutchman tells of a ship that can never make port and is doomed to sail the oceans forever. The roughly 2,200 passengers and crew of Holland America’s MS Westerdam must feel a bit like the … Continue reading
Overnight the number of passengers and crew onboard the cruise ship Diamond Princess who have tested positive for the coronavirus has nearly doubled, from 70 to 136. An additional 66 people on board the quarantined cruise ship have tested positive … Continue reading
We recently posted about two cruises ships, the Diamond Princess and the World Dream, which were both under quarantine to attempt to limit the spread of the coronavirus. Now, the passengers and crew of the World Dream, which had been … Continue reading
A repost in honor of Black History Month. William Tillman was the first black hero of the American Civil War. He was not a soldier but rather a 27-year-old cook-steward on the schooner S.J. Waring. On July 7, 1861, the … Continue reading
A team of Italian researchers has concluded that the upper portion of a skull found near Pompeii 100 years ago, may indeed belong to Pliny the Elder. In 79 AD, Roman Admiral Gaius Plinius Secundus, known as Pliny the Elder, … Continue reading
In honor of Black History Month, here is a throwback Thursday repost of a story I think is well worth telling and retelling. Born a slave, Harriet Tubman escaped and would become a leading “conductor” on the “Underground Railroad” which … Continue reading
Two more cruise ships are being quarantined for 14 days each in hopes of limiting the spread of the coronavirus. Ten people aboard the Diamond Princess tested positive for the virus. Of these nine are passengers — two Australians, three … Continue reading
Brittany Shammas of the Washington Post recently wrote that the ship originally built as MS Stockholm, just after World War II, is likely to be “nearing its final voyage.” The 72-year-old ship is one of the oldest cruise ships in … Continue reading
As has so often been the case, predictions of the impact of climate change have been proven to be inaccurate. The problem is not that they have been too alarmist, but that they haven’t been alarmist enough. For the past … Continue reading
About a year ago we posted about an active-duty US Coast Guard lieutenant accused of plotting attacks “to murder innocent civilians on a scale rarely seen in this country.” Christopher Paul Hasson, 50, a self-avowed white nationalist, was arrested after … Continue reading