Last week, Spanish authorities seized a narco sub loaded with 3 tonnes of cocaine, valued at $110 million, off the northwestern coast of Galicia. Narco subs have been caught operating in the Pacific and in the Gulf of Mexico. The … Continue reading
Rick Spilman
When a terrorist began attacking people with knives on London Bridge recently, a man, described in news reports as a Polish chef, at nearby Fishmongers’ Hall, where the incident began, grabbed a narwhal tusk that was displayed by the side … Continue reading
Newman’s Own Foundation has awarded a $225,000 sustainability grant to the non-profit Discovering Amistad, the group which operates the replica schooner Amistad. Discovering Amistad operates the replica of the historic schooner Amistad, a 129-foot 19th century Baltimore clipper which was … Continue reading
On a brisque late November day on the west bank of the Hudson River, here is a dramatic video of a portion of Race 3 of the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race, from Punta del Este, Uruguay to Cape … Continue reading
Admiral James Holloway III has died at the age of 97. He had dementia, said his daughter Jane Holloway, and “finally got to landing on that great big carrier in the sky.” Seventy-five years ago, on October 25, 1944, Holloway … Continue reading
Happy Thanksgiving for those on this side of the pond and below the 49th parallel. (The Canadians celebrated the holiday in October.) Here is a repost of a story I think is well worth retelling. Thanksgiving is one of the … Continue reading
The Royal Ocean Racing Club (RORC), organizers of the Rolex Fastnet Race, announced that the City of Cherbourg will host the finish of the Rolex Fastnet Race for the 2021 and 2023 editions of the biennial race. The race, first … Continue reading
The livestock carrier, Queen Hind, carrying 14,600 sheep, capsized on Sunday after leaving the Black Sea port of Midia, near the south-eastern Romanian city of Constanta. The crew escaped safely. It is unclear how many of the sheep aboard were … Continue reading
The Secretary of the Navy, Richard V. Spencer, has been fired. What is revelatory is what he was fired for. As we posted last month, in January, Spencer made a promise to President Trump that the advanced weapons elevators on the … Continue reading
Lucy Hughes, a 24-year-old recent engineering graduate of the University of Sussex has won this year’s James Dyson Award for developing a biodegradable plastic from fish waste — the fish scales, skins, and guts discarded from fish processing plants. The material, MarinaTex, … Continue reading
One hundred and seven years ago today, the three-masted schooner Rouse Simmons, under the command of Captain Herman Schuenemann, sank with the loss of all hands in a winter storm in Lake Michigan. The schooner, known as the “Christmas Tree … Continue reading
On Monday, November 22, 1869, the composite clipper ship Cutty Sark, built for the Jock Willis Shipping, Line was launched from the Scott & Linton shipyard on the River Leven in Scotland. The Cutty Sark, one of the last tea … Continue reading
Eastern Shipbuilding Group, Inc., Panama City, FL launched the SSG Michael H. Ollis, the first of three new 4,500-passenger ferries for New York City’s Staten Island Ferry system. The Ollis Class ferries will be double-ended, with an overall length of … Continue reading
Last March, we posted about a Foxtrot-class Soviet-era submarine for sale in Long Beach, CA. Known as the Scorpion, the diesel-electric patrol submarine built in the Soviet Union in 1971, has been a museum ship berthed next to the hotel-ship … Continue reading
When I bought my new-to-me old boat, I bought several booklets of paper charts covering the waters from the Chesapeake to Maine. Over the last few years, I have never used them. Never, not once. Instead, I have chart plotters … Continue reading
Deep-sea mining may provide the material necessary to create our latest and greatest electronics, electric cars and battery backup systems. The mining may also damage the environment and worsen climate change. In 2018, we posted about the discovery of huge … Continue reading
Friday night I had the great pleasure to meet Orly Orlyson and to watch the US premiere of Cosmic Birth, the remarkable documentary that he co-directed, at the Explorer’s Club in Manhattan. Orly is an entrepreneur and the founder of … Continue reading
The dive boat Conception was a death trap. It was a wooden vessel with a single narrow and steep stairway from the lower berthing deck and a small emergency exit hatch. When a fire broke out on September 2, 34 … Continue reading
A year ago, we posted about the search for a berth for the Liberty ship John W. Brown. Now, the ship, the last surviving troopship from World War II, must find a new home by the end of the year … Continue reading
On November 14, 1910, one hundred and nine years ago today, pilot Eugene Burton Ely successfully took off in a biplane from the deck of the light cruiser USS Birmingham in the waters off Norfolk, Virginia, becoming the first pilot … Continue reading