Wonderful news. Forces of Somalia’s semiautonomous Puntland region are reported to have raided the MV Iceberg I on Sunday and to have rescued 22 officers and crew who had been held hostage by Somali pirates for 33 months. The Puntland forces had … Continue reading
Category Archives: Current
In Volume II of the Encyclopædia Britannica published in 1768, the entry for California reads: CALLIFORNIA, a large country of the West Indies, lying between 116° and 138° W. long. and between 23° and 46° N lat. It is uncertain whether … Continue reading
The nuclear submarine HMS Vigilant will apparently be spending the holiday season in the USA after damaging a rudder when test-firing a Trident missile in the Atlantic off the coast of Florida on October 23. The sub is reported to … Continue reading
Yesterday morning, the tanker, Stena Primorsk, ran aground in the Hudson River about ten miles south of Albany, NY after suffering a steering gear failure. No oil was reported to have been spilled. There are a whole range of interesting aspects … Continue reading
Tis’ the season when Santa shows up in the most unusual places. A small ship-load of Santas was recently observed running across the ice at the bottom of the world. Twenty crew members dressed as Santa (with at least one reindeer) from … Continue reading
We have reached a milestone here at the Old Salt Blog. We have passed a million pageviews! Specifically, according to Google Analytics, as of this morning, 541,358 unique visitors have viewed 1,052,167 pages on the blog. (The numbers are actually … Continue reading
The US news program 60 Minutes aired a feature on salvaging the Costa Concordia last night. The operation is the largest and most complex ship salvage in history. Well done and worth watching. Costa Concordia: Salvaging a shipwreck … Continue reading
There is still more steel to be welded, rigging to be run, and money to be raised, but the SSV Oliver Hazard Perry, Rhode Island’s Tall ship, looks to be on schedule to be sailing in time for the 200th … Continue reading
If you are a professional surfer, where do you go to train? Hawaii, comes to mind. The California Coast is possilbe. Australia, certainly. How about in the desert of Dubai? Sally Fitzgibbons, a 22 year old Australian professional surfer on … Continue reading
Really great news about the tanker, Mary A. Whalen. (Negotiations are not finalized so perhaps we should say “potentially great news” so as not to jinx anything.) For the last six years, the historic tanker and PortSide New York, the non-profit educational organization based on the ship, have been … Continue reading
Rotterdam, London, St. Petersburg, and Toyko all have storm surge barriers to protect low-lying areas from flooding. In the United States, Stamford, Connecticut; Providence, Rhode Island; and New Bedford, Massachusetts all have storm barriers. Should New York, which suffered significant flooding two years in a … Continue reading
The John B. Caddell, 700 gross ton water tanker, that washed up on Front Street, in Staten Island, NY during Hurricane Sandy a month and a half ago, is back in the water. In a team effort lead by the … Continue reading
We recently posted about the SS Badger, a 410-foot long coal-fired passenger and vehicle ferry operating in Lake Michigan and the last coal-fired passenger vessel operating on the Great Lakes. Her supporters call her a national treasure, while to her … Continue reading
The South Street Seaport Museum is reopening on Friday, December 14 with the launch of two new exhibitions – A Fisherman’s Dream: Folk Art by Mario Sanchez and Street Shots/NYC, a presentation of contemporary New York City street photography. They … Continue reading
At around 1 AM on Friday morning, the Cape Apricot, a cape-sized bulk carrier, chartered to K Line, smashed through a coal conveyor serving the largest of two berths at Westshore Terminals in Vancouver, Canada. An undetermined amount of coal … Continue reading
The National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration’s Arctic Report Card for 2012. Arctic Report Card … Continue reading
In 1969 in the Sunday Times Golden Globe Race, the first non-stop, single-handed, round-the-world yacht race, there was considerable concern for Robin Knox Johnson whose radio had malfunctioned off New Zealand. Four months later, he was able to make contact with a … Continue reading
In December of 1941, Betty McIntosh was a reporter for the Honolulu Star Bulletin. On December 7th, when the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii was attacked, she was sent out by her editors to report from a “women’s point of … Continue reading
The CBC’s Land & Sea is without question the favorite television program that I have never watched on television. While I cannot get Canadian broadcasting on my television, Land & Sea fortunately also puts their programming on-line. We have previously … Continue reading
Following the sinking last night of the car carrier Baltic Ace, the bodies of five sailors have been recovered. Six of the crew are missing and presumed dead in the icy waters of the North Sea. The 485-foot long Bahamain-flagged car … Continue reading