Last September we posted about The Great Brigantine Race of 2011 off Newport Beach, CA, between two identical 90′ brigantines, the Irving Johnson and the Exy Johnson . Launched in 2002, they are part of the Los Angeles Maritime Institute’s “TopSail Youth Program,” a sail training … Continue reading
Category Archives: Current
The Dutch submarine Hr Ms KXVI was part of an Allied fleet attempting to stop the Japanese invasion of the Dutch East Indies, when it was sunk by a Japanese submarine on the day after Christmas, 1941. Since then the wreck of … Continue reading
Herman Melville’s Moby Dick was not a commercial success when published in 1851. Nevertheless, the story of the great white whale remains powerful and timeless, for good or ill. Last December, we posted about the straight to DVD movie, 2010: Moby Dick, a “re-imagined” telling … Continue reading
We have posted previously about the world’s fasted sailboat, the hydrofoil trimaran, Hydroptère, which in November 2009, sailed for one nautical mile at speed of 50.17 knots in Hyères, France. He also has achieved a sustained speed of 52.86 knots … Continue reading
I was surprised to read that archaeologists had recently discovered only the second Roman port in Britain. Prior to the discovery in excavations near the Roman fortress of Caerleon, just north of Newport, south Wales, the only other Roman port known to have … Continue reading
Thanks to Maritime Great Britain for reminding us that today is indeed Trafalgar Day, commemorating Nelson’s victory over the French and Spanish fleets and his tragic death at the Battle of Trafalgar on this day in 1805. They also reminded us that on this day in … Continue reading
Where did our oceans come from? Why is over 70% the earth’s surface covered by water? The answer may be in the dirty celestial snow balls we call comets. Scientists believe that the earth was originally dry and hot. Comets … Continue reading
I have kayaked with killer whales. It was many years ago and the memories are still vivid. I can only imagine how awe inspiring it must be to kayak next to a blue whale, the largest creature ever to live on the … Continue reading
This week Sable Island became the Canada’s newest national park. Almost three hundred kilometers out into the Atlantic off the coast of Nova Scotia, it is a scimitar shaped sandbar which seems to have no business being there at all. … Continue reading
Usually downrigging a schooner involves lots of coiling, carrying, hauling, the breaking down of shackles and turnbuckles, and depending on the rig, attempting to free up the top mast so that it can be lowered gently to the deck, rather than dropping it like an unguided … Continue reading
Recently the BBC published an article, Nigeria’s coast ‘threatened by shipwrecks’, focused on the 100 rusty shipwrecks which line Nigeria’s 853km (530-mile) coast. The ships are causing coastal erosion and pollution. Nigeria is not the only country on the West coast of Africa with “graveyard of … Continue reading
Last Friday, 39 schooners set off from Baltimore, Maryland sailing 127 miles down the Chesapeake to Portsmouth, Virginia in the 22nd Annual Great Chesapeake Bay Schooner Race. This year the first schooner to cross Thimble Shoal with an elapsed time … Continue reading
Those of us of a certain age, who were active in merchant shipping, remember the tanker industry in the 1980s. And none too fondly. After a period of rising charter rates and robust new construction, the market effectively collapsed … Continue reading
The future of the oldest, just barely surviving, composite clipper ship in the world, the City of Adelaide, is again in question. Shortly before it was due to be scrapped in Scotland last August, an agreement was reached to send … Continue reading
The Liberian flagged container ship, MV Rena, which ran aground on the Astrolabe Reef off Tauranga, New Zealand last week is continuing to suffer structural cracking and is continuing to spill bunker oil and losing containers overboard. Several beaches on the … Continue reading
Jeffrey Allison is a fascinating gentlemen. Now 73, from Middleton Tyas in the UK, he only started sailing when he retired from a career in engineering. Since then, he has sailed across the Atlantic six times, as well transiting the Panama Canal, … Continue reading
Lantern sharks, a type of small dogfish sharks, are well known for their bioluminescence, indeed that is how they were given their name. Researchers have recently discovered that the rare splendid lantern shark can adjust its coloration and lighting so as to … Continue reading
Bad weather is adding to an already bad situation as salvage and clean up crews struggle to staunch the flow of oil from the container ship, MV Rena, which has been grounded on Astrolabe Reef in New Zealand’s Bay of Plenty near Tauranga for … Continue reading
The Italian owned bulk carrier, MV Montecristo, was hijacked by pirates off Somalia on Monday. The ship’s crew retreated to a protective citadel “safe room” ahead of the pirates. Today RFA Fort Victoria and USS De Wert, acting as part of … Continue reading
A quick quiz. Is Kick ’em Jenny a rockbilly singer, a Dutch Celtic Symfo-Folk band or an active submarine volcano on the floor of the Caribbean Sea? The answer appears to be yes to all three. Kick ’em Jenny is a … Continue reading