In early May, a five story high inflatable rubber duck was set adrift in Hong Kong harbor. The duck was sponsored by the Harbour City shopping mall. Created by the Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman, it was named “Spreading Joy Around the … Continue reading
Category Archives: Current
Typically, modern offshore wind turbines come in only one size and shape – really big, rising up from the ocean floor. The University of Maine, with support from the Department of Energy, has just launched a new test design, the first … Continue reading
Recently, we celebrated the saving of the wonderful Coney Island Mermaid Parade. Now a story about “mermaids” that is a bit disturbing. There were two news stories that at first glance had little in common, other than a distant nautical … Continue reading
Here is a wonderful story of Justin Beckerman, an 18-year-old high school student in New Jersey, who is in the final testing phase of designing and manufacturing a fully-operational one-man submarine. Thanks to Irwin Bryan for passing the story along. … Continue reading
The Mermaid Parade is Saved! Last week, we posted about a Kickstarter Fundraiser to save the Coney Island Mermaid Parade. The parade, which has been held yearly since 1983, was nearly shut down by Superstorm Storm, which did over $400,000 … Continue reading
The carrack Mary Rose was King Henry VIII’s flagship. After thirty three years of service, it sank in the Solent on July 19, 1545. Out of 500 sailors, 35 survived. The wreck was located in 1971 and the ship was … Continue reading
At around 2:50 AM Monday night a fire broke out on the Royal Caribbean cruise ship, Grandeur of the Seas, which had been bound for Coco Cay, Bahamas. The ship was rerouted to Freeport, Bahamas where the 2,224 passengers and 796 … Continue reading
Next to a 7-11 convenience store on 8th Avenue, about a half block from the beach, in the New Jersey shore community of Belmar, there is a tall sewer standpipe, a vertical vent designed to carry the noxious smells from … Continue reading
It is a conical shaped structure built of boulders, roughly 230 feet in diameter, 30 feet high and weighing an estimated 60,000-tons, 40 feet underwater in the Sea of Galilee. And archaeologists have no idea what it is. Based on the … Continue reading
One unexpected victim of Superstorm Sandy was New York’s Coney Island Mermaid Parade, or more specifically, the historical museum, performance space and gift shop that helped to financially support the free parade. The parade is “an American celebration of ancient mythology and honky-tonk rituals … Continue reading
What is the plural of Atlantis? Atlanti? Atlantises? Recently two different underwater areas have been in the news, both of which are referred to as “Britain’s Atlantis.” One is called Doggerland, a huge undersea region swallowed by the sea … Continue reading
A gray whale has been sighted in Walvis Bay, Namibia. This is amazing news, as gray whales were hunted to extinction in the North Atlantic by the 18th century and have never been sighted before south of the equator. Gray whales … Continue reading
The Howell Automobile Torpedo of 1889 was the first self-propelled torpedo in United States Navy service. Only fifty were built and until recently, only one was known to have survived. Then in late April, Navy dolphins located a lost Howell … Continue reading
For the last 30 years, New York has welcomed ships and crews from the US Navy and Coast Guard to the harbor around the Memorial Day weekend during a celebration of Fleet Week. Unfortunately, this year’s Fleet Week has been scuttled … Continue reading
The opening line of this seven minute video suggests that “men build [wooden] boats because they can’t have babies.” I am not sure that I buy into that idea. Then again, most boats and ships that I have built or worked on … Continue reading