After a difficult last few days, Matt Rutherford sailed into Chesapeake Bay this morning at 10:42 AM, completing the first ever solo circumnavigation of the Americas, a voyage of 309 days and over 25,000 miles. Matt’s plan is still to make his first landfall this Saturday the 21st … Continue reading
Category Archives: Current
Bolivia is poised to de-flag fifteen ships linked to the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL) just weeks after these ships were flagged into the Bolivian registry. The ships had previously been registered in Malta and Cyprus. Facing international sanctions over its … Continue reading
Matt Rutherford, sailing St. Brendan, a 27′ Albin Vega, is within hours of sailing into the Chesapeake Bay, finishing his solo circumnavigation of the Americas! Matt is planning to on setting foot on-shore for the first time in 25,000 miles-at-sea, at noon, Saturday, April 21 at … Continue reading
Very few of the bodies of the 1514 passengers and crews who died on the Titanic were ever recovered. Recently released photographs, which raise the question of whether or not here are human remains at the wreck site, have become central to a … Continue reading
Danish shipping magnate Arnold Maersk Mc-Kinney Moeller died today at aged 98. He was Denmark’s richest man who created the country’s largest enterprise, the shipping and oil conglomerate A.P. Moller-Maersk A/S. The conglomerate is the largest container ship and supply vessel … Continue reading
The 47th Operation Sail, OpSail 2012 gets underway tomorrow, April 17th and will continue through the 23rd, in the port of New Orleans, LA. It will feature the tall ships Dewaruci from Indonesia, the BAE Guayas from Equador and the … Continue reading
In June of 1912, Joseph Conrad wrote “Some Reflections on the Loss of the Titanic” for the English Review. While best known as a novelist, his comments reflect his years as a ship’s officer in both sail and steam. He finds little … Continue reading
Update: Sad news. As of Sunday Evening, the Coast Guard suspended the search for the four crew missing after the 38′ yacht Slow Speed Chase ran aground in Farallones Race off San Francisco on Saturday. Three or four sailors are … Continue reading
The BBC recently published an article titled “Five Titanic myths spread by films.” The first alleged myth is that the White Star Line never claimed that the Titanic was “unsinkable.” The article asserts: ” The White Star Line never made … Continue reading
The Beaver, a replica of one of ships that were the center of the Boston Tea Party in the run-up to the American Revolution, was relaunched in January after a major rebuild at the Gloucester Marine Railways. The Beaver and … Continue reading
The South China Sea is home to a myriad of competing claims for territory, fishing, oil and mineral rights by China, the Philippines, Vietnam, Brunei, Malaysia and Taiwan. There is currently a stand-off between Chinese ships and the Philippine navy … Continue reading
Two letters from the Titanic are in the news. One is a letter from Dr. John Edward Simpson, who died when the ship sank, He wrote to his mother on April 11, 1912, on notepaper headed RMS Titanic, and had it … Continue reading
Last year, we posted about how the sinking of the Titanic had morphed from a maritime tragedy into a cultural icon. For many, Hollywood movies, particularly the movie made by Jame Cameron, about the sinking of the ship may … Continue reading
For several years we have been posting about a huge swirling patch of plastic garbage caught in the currents of the Pacific Ocean. The BBC has an interactive graphic which helps to visualize just how how massive this Pacific garbage patch truly … Continue reading
After posting about far too many needless tragedies on poorly maintained third world ferry boats which sink and kill their passengers, here is something completely different, though still involving a ferry. Last week, fitting enough on April Fool’s Day, two hundred students from two British universities, … Continue reading
The Indonesian National Search and Rescue Agency received a distress call Sunday night from the captain of a wooden ship bound for Australia. The ship was taking on water and carrying 120 Afghan refugees. The Afghans were picked up and taken by tanker … Continue reading
A very well done documentary from PBS, Saving the Titanic. Watch Full Program on PBS. See more from Saving the Titanic. … Continue reading
On Friday morning, we posted about the capsize of the “tugboat” Katherine G, off Liberty Island in New York harbor. It turns out that the Katherine G is not tugboat in the conventional sense. Will Van Dorp at the tugster blog calls it … Continue reading
In early October, the container ship MV Rena ran hard aground on the Astrolabe Reef off Tauranga, New Zealand, resulting in an oil spill which the New Zealand Environment minister Nick Smith has referred to as the country’s most serious maritime environmental … Continue reading
In the mid to late 19th century, American clipper ships set the standard for the world and challenged the maritime supremacy of Great Britain. After World War II, the US merchant marine fleet was the world’s largest, representing about 43 percent of the world’s shipping trade. … Continue reading