27 Missing & Feared Dead After Typhoon Chaba Breaks Vessel in Half Off Hong Kong

Three crew members were rescued after Typhoon Chaba broke an unidentified engineering vessel in half. Twenty-seven crew remain missing and are feared dead. Search and rescue operations continued for others about 300 km (200 miles) southwest of the city, the … Continue reading

“Fat Leonard” Corruption Trial — Jury Convicts Four Former Navy Officers

We recently posted about how the “Fat Leonard” Navy corruption scandal is being dramatized in a new television series, based on an award-winning podcast. In the real world, the decade-long investigation and years-long trials are wrapping up.  The San Diego … Continue reading

Update: Palmer’s Titanic II & China’s Romandisea Cancelled?

For a decade, we have followed the various announcements by Australian billionaire Clive Palmer regarding his Titanic II project. In 2012, Palmer announced the construction of a modern “replica”  of the doomed passenger liner RMS Titanic which sank after striking … Continue reading

Norwegian Sun Alaskan Cruise Cut Short After Hitting Small Iceberg

Norwegian Cruise Line reports that the cruise ship Norwegian Sun hit a small iceberg on Saturday while underway in foggy conditions near Hubbard Glacier in Alaska. The company characterized the berg as a growler, a type of very small iceberg that … Continue reading

Swedish East Indiaman Götheborg Asia Expedition: The Pioneer Leg

Last October, we posted about the Swedish East Indiaman Götheborg Asia Expedition, a voyage intended to promote and open new trade opportunities for Swedish and Asian companies. The expedition has now begun. Here is a short video of the first … Continue reading

Hyundai Ultra-Large LNG Carrier Makes First Semi-Autonomous Crossing of the Pacific Ocean

Earlier this month, the 180,000 cubic meter ultra-large LNG carrier Prism Courage completed a voyage from the Gulf of Mexico to South Korea using a semi-autonomous navigation system developed by HD Hyundai subsidiary Avikus. Delivered to South Korea’s SK Shipping … Continue reading

USS Samuel B Roberts: World’s Deepest Shipwreck Located

The BBC reports that explorers have found the deepest shipwreck ever identified, a US navy destroyer escort sunk during WWII. The USS Samuel B Roberts went down during the Battle Off Samar in the Philippine Sea in October 1944. It … Continue reading

“Fat Leonard,” a Major Navy Corruption Scandal, Then an Award Winning Podcast, and Soon a TV Series

The “Fat Leonard” corruption scandal has been described as “perhaps the worst national-security breach of its kind to hit the Navy since the end of the Cold War.” More than two dozen Naval officers have pleaded guilty to taking bribes … Continue reading

World’s Largest Fresh Water Fish, 660 Pounds, Caught and Released in Cambodia’s Mekong River

On June 13th, Moul Thun, a 42-year-old fisherman from Kaoh Preah, a remote island in the Mekong River, in northern Cambodia, hooked an exceptionally large giant freshwater stingray. At 4 meters in diameter and weighing 660 pounds (about 300 kilograms) … Continue reading

Hong Kong’s Iconic Jumbo Floating Restaurant Sinks Under Tow in South China Sea

Jumbo Floating Restaurant, an iconic Hong Kong landmark, has capsized and sunk in the South China Sea, while under tow to an undisclosed location. NPR reports that the restaurant encountered “adverse conditions” on Saturday as it was passing the Xisha … Continue reading

Happy Juneteenth — When Emancipation Arrived by Steamship

Happy Juneteenth, the oldest nationally celebrated commemoration of the ending of slavery in the United States. Juneteenth National Independence Day is also the newest Federal holiday. The legislation, passed by both the House and Senate, was signed into law by … Continue reading

Santo Cristo de Burgos — Legendary “Beeswax” Shipwreck Found On Oregon Coast

In 2010, we posted about the mystery of the “beeswax ship,” the wreck of a Spanish galleon that left shards of Chinese pottery and blocks of beeswax in the sand of an Oregon beach. Now, National Geographic reports that timbers … Continue reading

China Launches “Mother Ship” — First Semi-Autonomous Drone Carrier

China has launched a semi-autonomous unmanned research vessel designed to serve as a “mother ship” for more than 50 unmanned aircraft, surface vessels, and submersible drones. The 290-foot Zhu Hai Yun is intended to deploy unmanned devices en masse for … Continue reading

Arctic “Whisky War” Ends as Canada and Denmark Divide Hans Island

Canada and Denmark have ended the good-natured “whisky war” over Hans Island, a tiny, barren and uninhabited island in the Nares Strait roughly equidistant between Greenland and Canada’s Ellesmere Island. The dispute originated in 1971 when Canada and Denmark discovered … Continue reading

Schooner Eleonora E Sunk by Out of Control Search and Rescue Vessel

Sad news. On Friday, the 49.5-meter schooner Eleonora E was struck by a 60′ long search and rescue vessel in Port Tárraco, Tarragona, Spain and subsequently sank. The search and rescue vessel Punta Mayor was maneuvering in the harbor and … Continue reading

Farewell “Battle Cat” : Carrier Kitty Hawk Arrives at Scrap Yard

The carrier USS Kitty Hawk has arrived at a scrapping yard in Brownsville, Texas after an epic 16,000-mile journey from Washington state. The carrier, too large to fit through the Panama Canal at over 280 feet wide, was towed around … Continue reading

Antarctica: Southern Ocean floor mapped in greatest ever detail

The BBC is reporting that scientists have made the most precise map yet of the mountains, canyons and plains that make up the floor of Antarctica’s encircling Southern Ocean. Covering 48 million sq km (18.5 million sq miles), this chart … Continue reading

Wreck of HMS Gloucester, Lost in 1682, Identified Off Norfolk, UK Coast

The wreck of HMS Gloucester, a 50-gun, third-rate, Royal Navy warship, which sank in 1682 while carrying the future king James Stuart, has been identified off the coast of Norfolk. According to Prof Claire Jowitt, a specialist in maritime history … Continue reading