The Alaskan high-tech ferry MV Susitna cost $78-million to build. More than just a ferry, it is also an ice-capable amphibious assault vessel for the Navy, which was supposed to have carried commuters from the Matanuska-Susitna Borough (or Mat-Su as it is known) across upper Cook Inlet. Mat-Su’s largest … Continue reading
Category Archives: Current
We recently posted about a report by the journal Marine Policy which estimated that around 100 million sharks are being killed each year in the commercial fisheries, a rate far higher than is sustainable for most shark species. On Monday, delegates to the Convention on the … Continue reading
I am very pleased and excited to be speaking with Norman Brouwer and Captain Margaret Flanagan at the Working Harbor Committee of New York and New Jersey program “Sailing Ships at Work – Then and Now.” The presentation is on April … Continue reading
An outbreak of Red Tide, a deadly algae bloom, in the Gulf of Mexico off Florida is killing a record number of endangered Florida manatees. The Red Tide bloom has been killing at least 10 manatees a day and shows no sign of … Continue reading
The Norwegian soft drink Solo produced by Ringnes, Oskar Sylte, Aass, and Mack is extremely popular in Norway but virtually unknown in the United States. To increase visibility in other markets, the firms have had built a 24′ (8M) bottle in which they will … Continue reading
In a race from Long Beach to San Diego, one sailor died and five were rescued after the sailboat Uncontrollable Urge lost steering. The Associated Press is reporting that the crew sent a mayday call during a race but then declining help from the … Continue reading
A brand new copy of a 4,000 year old craft was paddled out on a short maiden voyage in Falmouth, Cornwall on Wednesday. Christened the Morgawr after a mythical monster of Falmouth Bay, she is a 50 foot long, six-ton … Continue reading
Calling all Sea Goddesses and would-be Sea Goddesses. Applications are now being accepted for the Maine Sea Goddess Pageant. The Pageant is open to 20 young women who are single, a high school (or equivalent GED) graduate, not more … Continue reading
You might call it the greenhouse effect, though it is not directly related to climate change. A dead sperm whale which washed ashore last year in Andalusia, in southern Spain, was found to have died from ingesting plastic sheets used in the construction of greenhouses in that region. The whale … Continue reading
A team of archaeologists think that they may have found the first Viking sunstone. Two years ago we posted about Viking sunstones, the legendary, and indeed considered by many to be mythical, devices which allowed Viking navigators to locate the position of … Continue reading
Today in Japan, the US Navy officially decommissioned the minesweeper USS Guardian. On the Tubbataha Reef, where the ship ran aground on January 17, salvage operations have again been delayed by bad weather. The salvage plan is to cut the ship into pieces and to haul … Continue reading
Retiree Edd Hale writes in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette about surrendering his status as an armchair sailor to sail the Great Lakes in the Brig Niagara, a replica of the Master Commandant Oliver Hazard Perry‘s flagship on which he won the Battle of Lake Erie, one … Continue reading
Two men and a woman brought pizza and beer aboard the 82′ sailing yacht Darlin in the Sausalito Yacht Harbor late Sunday or early Monday and proceeded to take the boat to sea, only to run aground in shallow water near Pacifica State … Continue reading
There are two wonderful newsletters for keeping up with what is going on in the world of nautical fiction – Astrodene’s Nautical Fiction Log Book, sponsored by David Haye’s Historic Naval Fiction website and Quarterdeck sponsored by McBooks Press. The March edition of … Continue reading
The brig 132′ Eye of the Wind has had a long and varied career. Built in 1911, by C Lühring of Brake, Germany, as a topsail schooner named Friedrich, she was initially put into the hides trade with South America. Later she would … Continue reading