The fleet began to appear from the harbor haze around 9 AM and headed north up the inner harbor and the Hudson River. They were a mix of full rigged ships, barques, barquentines, topsail schooners and schooners. Most were naval vessels, but … Continue reading
Category Archives: Current
A portrait of a naval ensign, in a heavy gilt frame, hung in a lonely corridor in the labyrinth that is the Pentagon. The plaque on the portrait read: ENS CHUCK HORD, USNA, CIRCA 1898, LOST AT SEA 1908 Fortunately for Ensign Hord, he … Continue reading
Many visitors think of New York as the island of Manhattan. The City of New York is in fact five boroughs, only one of which is connected to the mainland. If Brooklyn, the largest borough, had remained an independent city, as … Continue reading
The visiting tall ships have started arriving in New York’s outer harbor. Tomorrow morning at just after 8 in the morning, the “Parade of Sail” will form up at the Verazano Narrows Bridge and stand north into the inner harbor past the … Continue reading
Two Italian marines, Latorre Massimiliano and Salvatore Girone, are in an Indian jail awaiting trial for the alleged murder of two Indian fisherman. They are at the center of a legal & diplomatic fight over the use of armed guards … Continue reading
A local boater first spotted the bales floating 15 miles offshore near Point Dana, California. When law enforcement went out to investigate, they found between 160-180 bales of marijuana (depending on the news report), weighing close to four tons and worth around $4 million dollars, … Continue reading
On Wednesday, Philadelphia’s tall ship, the 112+ year old barquentine Gazela, will be among the seventeen tall ships in the “Parade of Sail” on the Hudson River. Once again, however, the Gazela will bringing more than just history and grace … Continue reading
Last Friday we posted about a presentation made by the Titan-Micoperi consortium detailing their plans to salvage the Costa Concordia from the where she sank on January 13th off the island of Giglio, Italy. The plan is to build an underwater platform onto which the ship … Continue reading
The Dragon Harald Fairhair is the largest Viking longship to be built in modern times. (See our previous post: Building the Viking Longboat Dragon Harald Fairhair) Built of oak, in the town of Haugesund in Western Norway, the ship is hundred and fourteen … Continue reading
We consider AMVER to be one of the true “unsung heroes” of the maritime world. AMVER is the “Automated Mutual Assistance Vessel Rescue” system run by the US Coast Guard. Established in 1958, it is a computer-based voluntary global ship reporting system used worldwide … Continue reading
Update: The first tug has reached the ID Integrity. As reported by vesseltracker.com: The commercial tug “PT Kotor” rendezvoused with the “ID Integrity” on May 20 at approximately 10:30am AEST. At 11:30am AMSA was advised that the tug had connected a towline … Continue reading
Representatives of Titan-Micoperi presented their plans to raise the Costa Concordia from where she sank after running aground off the island of Gilgio last January. Titan-Micoperi is the consortium of Titan Salvage, the Crowley-owned specialist marine salvage company, and Italian marine contractor Micoperi, which … Continue reading
Next Wednesday, May 23rd, OpSail 2012 and New York Fleet Week kick off with two parades of ships in the harbor and up the Hudson River. This year’s OpSail is organized to mark the bicentennial of the War of … Continue reading
It has been a busy couple of days for ship collisions and allisions. Yesterday, the USS Essex, a Wasp-class amphibious assault ship, collided with the USNS Yukon, a Navy Oiler, during underway replenishment operations about 120 miles off the coast of Southern California. In Poland, … Continue reading
Aargh. Once again, the junk food of maritime events, another “pirate” festival. This one is being sponsored by one of my favorite museums, the Maritime Museum of San Diego — home to the 1863 iron windjammer, Star of India, the world’s oldest active … Continue reading