Admiral of the Fleet John Arbuthnot “Jacky” Fisher, 1st Baron Fisher of Kilverstone, is considered by some to be the second most important figure in British naval history, after Lord Nelson. An innovator and a strategist who played a key role … Continue reading
Category Archives: Current
After being threatened the by Republican cost-cutters, the Senate defense appropriations subcommittee recently voted to continue funding the Navy’s “Great green Fleet” alternative energy program. In 2009, Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus announced the Navy’s “Great Green Fleet” initiative with the goals … Continue reading
In 1606, the Duyfken, commanded by Willem Janszoon, became the first European vessel to sail to the continent of Australia. In 1999, in an act of “experimental archaeology,” a replica of of the Dutch ship was built in Freemantle, Australia. The … Continue reading
The 22st Annual Hong Kong Dragon Boat Festival in New York will be held this weekend in Meadow Lake at Flushing Meadows, Corona Park. Fielding 170 dragon boat teams and over 2,000 participants, it is one of the largest boating festivals … Continue reading
In 1730, the third year of the reign of King George II, two brothers, Ralph and Robert Clarke, bought shares in a 300-ton sailing vessel. Their enterprise would become Stephenson Clarke Shipping, which in recent years has specialized in the shipment of short sea … Continue reading
Billionaire and philanthropist, Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen is loaning his 126 metre superyacht Octopus to the British Royal Navy to mount an expedition to locate and raise the bell from the battle cruiser HMS Hood (51) sunk by the German battleship Bismark in the Denmark … Continue reading
Yesterday we posted about the possible discovery of a German WWII submarine sunk in the Churchill River in Labrador, Canada. Now we have learned that the German World War II submarine U-550 has been located in the Atlantic, 70 miles … Continue reading
Searchers using side scanning sonar believe that they may have located a German U-boat from World War II on the bottom in the Churchill River not far from Muskrat Falls in Labrador, Canada, more than 100 kilometres from the ocean. German submarines operated … Continue reading
Here is a wonderful short video capturing a day in the life of a deckhand on the schooner Mary Day, sailing the coast of Maine. (Looks someone should cut back on the caffeine.) See also our previous post – Happy 50th Birthday … Continue reading
Earlier this month, we posted how the North Carolina legislature is considering legislating limits to sea level projections, even though recent studies suggest that sea levels are rising faster on the US East Coast than they are in the rest of the world. That hasn’t … Continue reading
Last April we posted about Australian mining billionaire Clive Palmer’s plans to build a 21st-century replica of the Titanic. I am not sure how I feel about naming new vessels after maritime tragedies. On the other hand, the Titanic may … Continue reading
Two recent reports look at the actions and inaction of BP and its contractor Transocean before the Deepwater Horizon explosion and the consequences of the resulting spill on the environment. The explosion on the drilling rig Deepwater Horizon killed 11 and … Continue reading
The fire on the containership MSC Flaminia, abandoned in the mid-Atlantic after a fire and explosion on July 15th, is reported now to be under control. The ship is under by the Smit salvage tug Fairmount Expedition at five knots and is roughly … Continue reading
We apologize to industrial vacuum cleaners. (They may not be the national security threat we once thought.) In a previous post we repeated a statement by the Federal investigators that the fire on the nuclear submarine USS Miami, undergoing repairs in … Continue reading
A very interesting interview with Captain Denise Meagher and Dawn Santamaria of the schooner Unicorn and the Sisters under Sail Program at this weekend’s Halifax Tall Ships Festival. Interview: All-female crew on tall ship … Continue reading
This gallery contains 15 photos.
At the end of May, we posted about the “unfortunate economics of tall ships.” All ships, sailing ships included and perhaps, especially, are devilishly expensive to maintain and run, and income is tough to come by, especially in these difficult economic times. One … Continue reading
The Smit 16,320-hp ocean going tug Fairmount Expedition has reportedly been successful in controlling the spread of the fire on the MSC Flaminia, the 6,732 TEU container ship which was abandoned in middle of the North Atlantic last Sunday after suffering a … Continue reading
The 86′ schooner Larinda sank in Halifax harbor during Hurricane Juan on September 29, 2003. She was raised from the harbor bottom and following a nine year restoration has returned to Halifax for this year’s Tall Ship Festival. The design and construction of the … Continue reading
Last September we posted about the sinking of a ferry off Zanzibarwith the loss of 200 passengers. Yesterday, another ferry sank off the Zanzibar coast. Thirty eight are confirmed dead with another 100 missing. Zanzibar police spokesman Mohamed Mhina said, “Search operations continue but … Continue reading