33rd Annual Victoria Classic Boat Festival

The inner harbor of beautiful Victoria, Canada on Vancouver Island will be  filled with between 75 to 100 classic boats beginning today and running through the Sunday at the 33rd Annual Victoria Classic Boat Festival. Harbour plays host to classic boat fest … Continue reading

Mariner Energy Oil Platform Explodes in the Gulf of Mexico

An oil platform operated by Mariner Energy exploded today near Vermilion Bay in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Louisiana. One worker was reported injured. No one was killed and no significant oil spill resulted.   Mariner Energy has been involved at least 13 … Continue reading

Hurricane Earl vs Labor Day Weekend – Will the Schooners Sail?

Two major maritime festivals on the US East coast, scheduled for the Labor Day weekend, appear to be generally in the path of Hurricane Earl.    The organizers of the  Twenty-Sixth Annual Gloucester Schooner Festival and schooner race and the Camden Windjammer Festival, both … Continue reading

“To Seek a Northwest Passage” – Clipper Adventurer Hits Uncharted Rock

Stan Roger‘s classic song begins, “Ah, for just one time I would take the Northwest Passage; to find the hand of Franklin reaching for the Beaufort Sea.”   Stan died in 1983, but his son, Nathan Rogers, also a singer, recently set … Continue reading

Brig Niagara Brings Unwelcome Stowaways to Isle Royale National Park

Another article about stowaways, though of a completely different sort – zebra mussels on the Brig Niagara.  Earlier this month, the Niagara, a historically accurate reconstruction of Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry’s victorious 1813 flagship,  visited Isle Royale, an island National Park in northwestern Lake … Continue reading

Clipper Ship City of Adelaide to be Sent to Australia

Great news!  The oldest just barely surviving composite clipper ship in the world, the City of Adelaide appears  likely to be moved to Australia to its namesake city, Adelaide.  The ship, which is currently at the Scottish Maritime Museum in Irvine, Scotland, has … Continue reading

Atlantic Container Line to Take Delivery of Prison Containers

One of the ways that stowaways can get aboard liner ships these days is to hide in cargo containers.  Atlantic Container Lines will be using containers for a related if rather different purpose.  The shipping line will soon take delivery … Continue reading

The ‘impossible’ voyage of a Tamil ghost ship

Despite all odds, earlier this month, 492 Tamil refugees arrived in Vancouver in an old and barely seaworthy ship, then named the Sun Sea.  The Tamil Ghost ship, as she has been dubbed,  had been intermittently tracked by the maritime authorities of various nations as she … Continue reading

“Sisters Under Sail” – Schooner Unicorn at Tall Ships Chicago

Earlier this week we posted about Tall Ships Chicago 2010.   Among the roughly 20 tall ships participating is the 118-foot topsail schooner Unicorn whose crew includes six Chicago-area girls from the “Sisters Under Sail” program. “Adventure of a Lifetime” is About … Continue reading

Camden’s Windjammer Festival Starts Friday

Camden, Maine’s Windjammer Festival starts  Friday, September 3rd, and runs through Sunday.   Camden’s harbor always seemed to me to be a windjammer festival on virtually any summer day so this gathering  of the Maine Windjammer fleet and the dockside Maritime Heritage Fair should be quite an … Continue reading

Captain John Moore – Submarine Commander and Editor of Jane’s Fighting Ships

Captain John Moore, submarine captain, developer of covert landings techniques of the Special Boat Service and editor of Janes Fighting Ships, died last month at age 88. Captain John Moore Jane’s Fighting Ships, an annual publication which became the leading authority on … Continue reading

HMS Cassandra, HMS Myrtle and HMS Gentian, Sunk in the Russia Revolution, Located

Ninety years on, locations of Royal Navy warships sunk in Russian Revolution are found The wrecks of three British warships sunk more than 90 years ago – seeking to prevent the Bolshevik Revolution from spreading West – have been located … Continue reading

Online Tour of NS Savanah – World’s first nuclear powered merchant ship

In 1819, the SS Savannah was first steamship in the world to cross the Atlantic Ocean.   Despite this accomplishment, the Savannah was a commercial failure and was converted back to sail shortly after returning from Europe.   It is somehow fitting that … Continue reading