A new and fascinating video from Mystic Seaport Museum. From their website: From the history and lore inspired by whaling in the 19th century, it can be hard to imagine the whalers being idle at sea. However, whaleships were often … Continue reading
Category Archives: Current
Sad, if not surprising news. The Hawaii Department of Transportation Harbors Division (HDOT Harbors) has ordered that the 138-year-old sailing ship Falls of Clyde be removed from Honolulu harbor. Previously, in a letter dated June 15th, the Harbor Division had … Continue reading
Forty six years ago yesterday, the full-rigged iron sailing ship Wavertree, arrived in South Street Seaport after being towed from Argentina. The 1889 built windjammer had languished as a sand barge in Argentina for decades, before being purchased and partially restored … Continue reading
Two hundred and two years ago this week, in a three day battle, the militia at Stonington, CT drove off a four ship Royal Navy flotilla during the War of 1812. Here is lightly edited repost about the battle from July … Continue reading
A team of Norwegians have spent the last six summers in Cambridge Bay off the Nunavut territory of northern Canada attempting to raise Arctic explorer Roald Amundsen‘s research ship Maud from where it has been sitting in ice and mud … Continue reading
A National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) press release announced today that the voyage data recorder (VDR) from El Faro, the US flagged cargo ship that sank during Hurricane Joaquin in October 2015 with the loss of all 33 aboard, was successfully recovered … Continue reading
A video for a Sunday morning. Filmmaker Frank Oly joined the bark Europa on a voyage from Gran Canaria to Antarctica. He stayed on board for 3 months and filmed this experience. Europa is a steel-hulled barque registered in the Netherlands. Built … Continue reading
The accommodations in the Olympic Village in Rio de Janeiro, where most of the Summer Olympics athletes are staying during the games, have received mixed reviews. Australian athletes refused to move into the buildings because of significant plumbing and electrical … Continue reading
Last February we posted “Will the SS United States Sail Again? Crystal Cruises Tosses a Life Line.” Crystal Cruises had signed an option to purchase the ship and was undertaking a feasibility study to determine whether the ship could be economically … Continue reading
A blue hole in the South China Sea, called variously, Dragon Hole, Longdong and the Eye of the South China Sea, is reported to be the deepest blue hole in the world. At 987 feet (300.89 meters) deep, the Dragon Hole is … Continue reading
After decades of absence, whales are returning to the waters around New York City. Competing whale watching cruises depart New York docks in the warmer months to see humpback, fin whales and dolphins, often within site of the city skyline. … Continue reading
On July 25, 1956, the Italian Line passenger liner Andrea Doria was approaching the coast of Nantucket, Massachusetts, bound for New York City, when she collided with the eastbound MS Stockholm of the Swedish American Line and sank. Now 60 … Continue reading
Several years ago, we posted about the Oru, the origami kayak. Now, two Belgian designers, Otto Van de Steene and Thomas Weyn, have developed ONAK, an origami full-sized canoe with urban paddlers in mind. The canoe is made of a custom-made … Continue reading
Congratulations to the officers, crew and the shore staff of the SSV Oliver Hazard Perry. The 200′ long tall ship recently completed the necessary drills and inspections required by the US Coast Guard in order for the ship to qualify as a … Continue reading
The Pepsi Tall Ships Chicago 2016 festival begins tomorrow, July 27th, and runs for five days through the 31st, at Chicago’s Navy Pier on Lake Michigan. One of the participating ships was expected to be the replica Viking longship Draken Harald Hårfagre. Earlier … Continue reading
Four hundred and seventy one years after it sank in the Solent in 1545, King Henry VIII’s flag ship, Mary Rose, is now, once again, accessible to the viewing public at the Mary Rose Museum in the Portsmouth Historic Dockyard, … Continue reading
Yesterday, one hundred and thirty four year after his death, a headstone was unveiled at the grave of John Willis Griffiths, a gifted American naval architect who is often referred to as the “Father of the Clipper Ship.” Although Griffiths … Continue reading
Only slightly nautical but a lot of fun, nevertheless. Giant Octopus Kite … Continue reading
Last October, we took a five day cruise on the Amazon from Iquitos, Peru. It was a fascinating trip. Iquitos is 2,000 nautical miles up the Amazon and yet is a deep water port with a controlling draft of around … Continue reading
Last week, we posted about the upcoming scuttling of the Luck Lady, ex-Newtown Creek, later this month as an artificial reef off Pompano Beach, FL. Recently, about fifty miles to the north of Pompano, the cargo ship Ana Cecilia was sunk about 1.25 … Continue reading