After the devastating 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami that killed nearly a quarter of a million people, the United States, Germany, and Malaysia donated an advanced tsunami warning system to Indonesia. When the city of Palu on the island of Sulawesi, Indonesia was … Continue reading
Category Archives: Current
Recent reports in the media have announced that the 2-meter long robot sailboat, SB Met, has become the first unmanned vessel to cross the Atlantic after completing a 1,800-mile (3,000 km) journey from Newfoundland in Canada to Ireland. The Daily Mail reports … Continue reading
Archaeologists have found a 400-year-old shipwreck off the coast of Portugal, near Cascais, close to the capital Lisbon. The shipwreck was found in early September while dredging the mouth of the Tagus river. Spices, ceramics, and cannons engraved with Portugal’s … Continue reading
A 7.5 magnitude earthquake triggered a tsunami which struck the city of Palu on the island of Sulawesi, Indonesia. At least 384 have been reported to be killed and 29 are missing. 540 are being treated in local hospitals. The wall of … Continue reading
If you are kayaking and happen to get slapped in the face by a flying octopus hurled by a seal, don’t take it personally. Its probably not about you. Kyle Mulinder was kayaking near Kaikoura, New Zealand on Saturday when … Continue reading
John Putnam, who preferred to be called Jack, died earlier this month at the age of 82. Jack was the historian at the South Street Seaport Museum in New York and so much more. Jack joined the museum in 1982 … Continue reading
About a year ago, we posted about the strange disappearance of Isabella Hellman while sailing with her husband, Lewis Bennett, on a catamaran from Cuba to Florida in 2017. Bennet has now been charged with second-degree murder in the death of his wife. … Continue reading
An Indonesian teenager working as a lamp keeper on a floating fish trap anchored off North Sulawesi was rescued off Guam after drifting for 49 days. Aldi Novel Adilang, 19, had one of the loneliest jobs in the world. He worked on … Continue reading
Injured sailor Abhilash Tomy has been rescued by a French fisheries patrol vessel. Tomy, a 39-year-old Indian naval commander, was injured when his yacht Thuriya capsized and dismasted in a severe Southern ocean storm on Day 82 of the Golden Globe Race. Osiris, a French fisheries vessel … Continue reading
The severely overloaded ferry, MV Nyerere, capsized in Lake Victoria in Tanzania on Thursday. The current death toll stands at 209 people. Two days after the capsize, divers rescued an engineer from an apparent air pocket inside the overturned ferry. … Continue reading
A month after the WWI era submarine USS Ling was vandalized and flooded, two suspects have been apprehended related to at least some of the vandalism. The complaints filed against them by the Hackensack Police may, however, raise more questions … Continue reading
MV Nyerere, a ferry traveling from Bugolora to Ukara island in Lake Victoria, Tanzania capsized on Thursday. While the ferry had a rated capacity of 100 passengers, reports indicate that as many as 400 people may have been aboard when the … Continue reading
This year the East Coast tug and barge operator, Bouchard Transportation Company, turned 100 years old. The company’s origin, however, dates back to 1916, and to Captain Frederick Bouchard’s heroism during the worst attack on New York harbor prior to … Continue reading
We are within days of the 250th anniversary of when Captain James Cook set off on an epic circumnavigation, stopping at numerous islands in the Pacific, as well as Australia and New Zealand on the bark HMS Endeavour. Now, the Rhode … Continue reading
Did you know that in the 1960s the US Army converted a World War II Liberty ship to a floating nuclear power plant? Neither did I. And as it is now heading for the scrap yard, will soon be no … Continue reading
About five years ago, a 19-year-old Dutch engineering student, Boyan Slat, made a big splash, at least on the internet, when he unveiled his design of refuse collecting booms, which he claimed would clean the oceans of plastics within five … Continue reading
Two monster storms are bearing down on vulnerable coastlines on opposite sides of the globe. In the Atlantic, Hurricane Florence, now a Category 2 storm, is sending lashing winds, powerful rains and the threat of major flooding as it approaches the … Continue reading
Two Northern Irish fishermen were fishing for pollan, a whitefish native to Ireland, in Lough Neagh. Instead, fishermen Raymond McElroy and Charlie Coyle netted the antlers and skull of a Great Elk, a species which disappeared from Ireland 10,500 to 11,000 years … Continue reading
This weekend I enjoyed watching the Great North River Tug Race. Now, a few days later, we have arrived again at the anniversary of the attacks of 9/11. As horrible as that Tuesday morning in September indeed was and as … Continue reading
More than 4,000 people have climbed Mount Everest. More than 600 people have been in outer space. Yet fewer than 100 people have sailed solo non-stop around the world. What does it take to race around the globe alone? Skill, obviously. Physical … Continue reading