We have been posting a lot about piracy and kidnapping recently. Today is a reminder about how little things change over the centuries. Somewhere around the year 400 AD, a lad of 16, named Maewyn Succat, was kidnapped by pirates from his home in Britain … Continue reading
Category Archives: Current
It is being reported that Tom Hanks will play Captain Richard Phillips in a new movie about the attempted hijacking of the Maersk Alabama by Somali pirates in 2009. The movie, based on Phillip’s book , A Captain’s Duty: … Continue reading
Last week we posted about a Laysan albatross, nicknamed Wisdom, who, at at least 60, is the oldest known wild bird and who also recently became a mother again, delivering a healthy chick. The BBC has now reported that while the tsunami killed … Continue reading
An excellent report by ABC which, among other things, highlights the humanitarian support being provided by the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan. [iframe: src=”http://widget.newsinc.com/single.htm?WID=2&VID=23365344&freewheel=69016&sitesection=ndnsubss” height=”320″ width=”425″ scrolling=”no” frameborder=”0″ marginwidth=”0″ marginheight=”0″]
The German submarine U-106 was believed to have hit a British mine when it sank on October 7, 1917 off the coast of the Netherlands. WWI submarine found off Dutch coast … Continue reading
On April 1st, last year, fittingly enough, April Fool’s Day, a group of Somali pirates in open boats decided to attack the 445-foot guided-missile frigate, USS Nicholas. The outcome was predictable. Five pirates were captured and their boats were sunk. At the … Continue reading
I am a huge fan of triremes and am looking forward to seeing the trireme Olympias when she visits New York harbor during Op-Sail in 2012. In the mean time, however, the Mariners’ Museum in Hampton Roads, VA is hosting a … Continue reading
The Ark Royal, the flagship of the Royal Navy has been decommissioned. It will be another decade before a new aircraft carrier takes her place. Ark Royal: decommissioning marks end of a long and celebrated history The early retirement of the … Continue reading
Researchers believe that they may have found the location of the lost city of Atlantis in a coastal Spanish marsh. Plato described the legendary island-city in about 360 B.C. as having “in a single day and night … disappeared into the depths … Continue reading
Last Friday, the Indian Navy picked up as distress call from the container ship MV Vancouver Bridge, which was under attack by pirates in the Indian Ocean, about 600 nautical miles off the Indian coast. When spotted by an Indian patrol … Continue reading
We have previously posted about the destruction of the town of Minamisanriku by the tsunami, where 9,500 people are reported to be missing. Other news reports now suggest that similar or greater numbers may be missing in the towns of Kesennuma and Rikuzentakata. Washed … Continue reading
The US 7th fleet has moved away from the Fukushima nuclear power plants after helicopters from the carrier Ronald Reagan were exposed to an airborne radioactive plume. Seventeen Navy personnel are being treated for what is described as “low levels of contamination.” … Continue reading
The battle against piracy in the Indian Ocean and Arabian Sea may be changing. This week Japan announced that it would try four suspected pirates being held by the US Navy after they were captured attempting to hijack the Japanese owned tanker MV … Continue reading
A few sources: Japan earthquake and tsunami: How to help How to help the victims of the Japan earthquake Japan Earthquake and Tsunami: How to Help … Continue reading
Happy 100th birthday to Con Thode, New Zealand’s first and only submarine commander in World War Two and long-time sailing master for the Spirit of Adventure Trust. … Continue reading