Do They Serve Canned Meat on the USCGC Harriet Lane?

I will admit to doing a double take when I saw the USCG press release announcing “Coast Guard Cutter Harriet Lane returns home after 9-week patrol.”   I wondered, who would name a ship the Harriet Lane?  For the record, the … Continue reading

1,000 Royal Navy Medical Officer Journals at the National Archives

This week 1,000 Royal Navy Medical Officer Journals were made available to the public at the British National Archives in Kew.   The journals are revealing, if often disturbing by modern standards.   From drunken mutinies to disease outbreaks to … Continue reading

Destroyer Arthur W. Radford to become reef off New Jersey coast

Perhaps not a case of swords into plowshares, but at least a destroyer into an artificial reef.  In November, the 535 foot decommissioned Navy destroyer, USS Arthur W. Radford, will sink beneath the waters off Cape May Point to become the longest vessel ever turned … Continue reading

Thirteen Refugees Drown after Rescue Attempt by USS Winston S. Churchill

Given all the reporting on piracy off the Horn of Africa, we hear very little about another crisis – the flood of refugees fleeing the instability and chaos of Somalia’s clan wars.  Last year 74,000 people crossed the Gulf of Aden in smugglers’ boats to reach Yemen, according … Continue reading

Electrolux’s ‘Vac from the Sea’ Turns Ocean Plastic into Vacuum Cleaners

Yesterday we posted that scientists are not sure where all the plastic floating in the vast Atlantic and Pacific garbage patches is going.  Sadly, the answer is probably not that a big vacuum cleaner is vacuuming the stuff up to recycle it. Nevertheless, here is a great story about Electrolux, which … Continue reading

Endangered Species – Watermen of the Chesapeake

The Mariners Museum in Newport News, VA has a new exhibition: Endangered Species – Watermen of the Chesapeake,  featuring extraordinary B & W portraits of watermen who work the waters of the Chesapeake Bay.   For those of us not … Continue reading

Ocean garbage patches are not growing, so where is all that plastic going?

We have previously posted about the plastic “garbage patches” in both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans – great current vortexes where floating plastic trash has accumulated.   As reported in Scientific American scientists studying the garbage patches have noticed that despite … Continue reading

Passengers Should Embark and Disembark by the Gangway Only

Passengers should embark and disembark by the gangway only. Three stories, two of them tragic, of unusual arrivals and departures from cruise ships last week. On the Holland America  cruise ship,  Prinsendam, passengers were shocked when  a powered hang glider made a crash landing on … Continue reading

MV Lugela Hijacked then Freed off Somalia after Crew Retreats to Engine Room

Well planned passive resistance proved to be an effective tactic for the crew of the MV Lugela this weekend.  Earlier this month we posted about the hijacking and subsequent recapture of the M/V Magellan Star from Somali pirates by US Marine commandos, after … Continue reading

Last Minute Bids on the Fairport Harbor West Breakwater Light

In September 2009, the United States General Services Administration put the Fairport Harbor West Breakwater Light, on Lake Erie, up for public auction via an online auction. The minimum bid is $10,000 with incremental bids of $5,000 required.  The bidding was … Continue reading

On World Maritime Day: Year of the Seafarer – Demands for Action to End Piracy

Every year the International Maritime Organization (IMO) observes World Maritime Day during the last week of September. The IMO headquarters is celebrating today, Thursday, September 24th, though in Buenos Aires, Argentina and Vancouver, Canada, they will be celebrating the event on … Continue reading

The Man Who Fell to Shore – What Reid Stowe Found Waiting for Him When He Returned From 1,151 Days on the Open Sea

We have posted about Reid Stowe’s remarkable non-stop voyage of over 1100 days at sea.   Now that Reid has been home for several months, Adam Sternbergh writing in the New Yorker magazine has written a portrait of Reid’s voyage … Continue reading