I love the headline in the article in Sail-World – Britain set to introduce sailing ships to counter emissions. The first paragraph reads: It’s official. The days of sail may be just about to recommence. The UK’s Committee on Climate Change has come out with … Continue reading
Category Archives: Current
Happy Veterans Day. Sadly the “war to end all wars” that ended on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month of 1918 did not not live up to its billing. Nevertheless, we celebrate the sacrifices made … Continue reading
A fitting tribute to the 29 men who went down with the Great Lakes ore boat, the SS Edmund Fitgerald, which sank 36 years ago today in Lake Superior. I am having a hard time believing that she sank that many years ago. The … Continue reading
The image on the right is a new poster for the London 2012 Olympics featuring a section of the River Thames. The image on the left is a photo of the roughly the same section of the river. Notice a difference? (Click … Continue reading
The American movie, Top Gun, starring Tom Cruise, won 8 Academy Awards and earned over $300 million at the box office. The movie was inaccurate in several ways, not the least of which was the addition of a sexy female … Continue reading
The two events are unrelated, but they are both highly welcome. The South Street Seaport Museum is on its way toward reopening, while a new museum celebrating over 200 years of shipbuilding and maritime history at the Brooklyn Navy Yard is openings its doors on … Continue reading
Here is a wonderful video shot on Halloween a quarter-mile offshore from Seabright Beach in Santa Cruz, CA. A bikini clad surfer paddles over to a group of kayakers who are out watching the large number of humpbacks who are … Continue reading
Last month we posted about Kick’em Jenny, an active underwater volcano off Grenada in the Caribbean, which was last active in 2001. Now the eruption of an active underwater volcano off El Hierro Island, in the Canary Islands off the … Continue reading
The six boats competing in the Volvo Ocean Race departed from Alicante, Spain yesterday and were immediately battered by rough seas and high winds while still in the Mediterranean. The Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing‘s Azzam lost her mast only six hours and 85 nautical … Continue reading
The New York Times recently featured an article, Catching a Wave, and Measuring It, about a project to send a “fleet of robots that move out in the ocean to measure everything from weather to oil slicks, sharply reducing many … Continue reading
Two workers in Vietnam and one in Brazil have died recently in explosions of refrigerated containers. Faulty coolant is believed to have caused the explosions. The containers were among an estimated 8,000 reefer boxes serviced in 2011 in Vietnam. The explosions have caused worldwide concern and … Continue reading
In late September, the Alexander von Humboldt II was christened in Bremerhaven. She is the first German tall ship newbuilding since 1958. She recently made her first shakedown day cruise. Thanks to Phil Leon for passing along the story. Alexander … Continue reading
The Porthkerry Leisure Park, a caravan park in the Vale of Glamorgan in Wales, (what would be called a trailer park in the United States), must have had lovely ocean views even before 40 feet of cliff fell into the ocean near the mouth … Continue reading
The first American Naval ship lost in World War II was not sunk in the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7th, 1941. Over a month before, on October 31, 1941, the destroyer USS Reuben James, escorting a convoy bound for Britain, was sunk … Continue reading
British Prime Minister David Cameron recently announced that armed guards would be allowed to be carried on British merchant ships transiting off the coast of Somalia. Shipping firms will now be able to apply for a license to carry guards armed with automatic weapons, … Continue reading
Attempts to pump out the residual fuel of from the MV Rena, stranded on Astrolabe Reef off New Zealand continue with mixed results. New focus for Rena salvagers Today, a second container ship, the Schelder Trader, lost power and drifted onto … Continue reading
Today is the 125th anniversary of the dedication of the Statue of Liberty. The colossal neoclassical sculpture on Liberty Island in New York harbor was designed by Frédéric Bartholdi and dedicated on October 28, 1886 as a gift to America from … Continue reading
The Gannon & Benjamin Marine Railway, located on the island of Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, must be a pretty amazing place. In July of 2010, we reviewed Schooner – Building a Wooden Boat on Martha’s Vineyard, which was about building a schooner … Continue reading
The City of Adelaide, built in 1864, is the oldest composite clipper ship in the world and is currently sitting on a slipway in Scotland waiting to be brought home to its namesake city. The plan is for a steel cradle to … Continue reading
Who needs a haunted house if you can have a haunted ship? Around this time of year, historic and modern ships suddenly become haunted and ghostly. (To be fair, some are reported to be haunted all year round.) Here is … Continue reading