As a teenager growing up in Brooklyn, Norman Baker dreamed of adventure. And he didn’t just dream. At the age of 13, he won a contest where the first prize was flying lessons. He became an avid pilot and at the age … Continue reading
Category Archives: Current
Nine nations; the United States, Canada, Norway, Russia, Denmark, Iceland, Japan, South Korea, China; and the European Union have agreed to ban commercial fishing in the Central Arctic Ocean for at least the next 16 years. The goal of the pact … Continue reading
We are several months late in posting about Tallinn Maritime Days from last July. The port of Tallinn, on the Gulf of Finland, is the capital and largest city of Estonia and hosted 50 sailing ships in this summer’s Tallships … Continue reading
An American diving in a tour group off Costa Rico’s Cocos Island was attacked and killed yesterday by a tiger shark. The name of the victim has not been released and the circumstances of the attack are not known. The … Continue reading
I am a big fan of strip kayaks in general and the designs of Nick Schade of Guillemot Kayaks in particular. Given that our family already owns five kayaks, it has become harder for me to argue that I really need … Continue reading
MV Doulos once held the title of the oldest operating passenger liner. Now 103 years old, the historic ship may be close to beginning a new life as a shoreside hotel in the resort town of Bintan, Indonesia. When the refurbished ship … Continue reading
A derelict wooden boat washed ashore on Monday on Miyazawa beach in the northwest of Japan’s main island Honshu. The boat’s only cargo was eight skeletons. Evidence suggests that the boat and the bones came from North Korea. This boat is … Continue reading
In 1793, Captain James Colnett of the merchant ship Rattler placed a barrel a short distance from a bay on the island of Floreana in the Galapagos archipelago. Captain Colnett was a British Naval officer, an explorer, and a maritime … Continue reading
In 1775, George Gauld, a surveyor for the British Admiralty, charted the waters off the coast of the British colony of West Florida. Recently, Loren McClenachan, historical ecologist and professor of environmental studies at Colby College, has compared Gauld’s charts of the coral … Continue reading
Now that Thanksgiving is behind us, it is time to start decorating for Christmas with lights, trees, and wreathes. At the Mystic Seaport Museum, 170 wreaths are being constructed or decorated over a period of 18 days to provide decorations … Continue reading
The news of the Argentine submarine ARA San Juan, missing since a week ago last Wednesday, has been uniformly grim. A report on Tuesday of a “heat stain” picked up by a US search place has come to naught. More … Continue reading
A US Navy plane may have located the position of the Argentine Navy submarine ARA San Juan which has been missing since last Wednesday. Sensors aboard the plane detected a ‘heat stain’ at 230 ft below the surface, roughly 185 miles … Continue reading
The Emirates Team New Zealand and Luna Rossa design teams have unveiled the AC75, a concept design for the 36th America’s Cup in 2021. The design is a 75 foot long foiling monohull. Most notably, the AC75 lacks a keel. … Continue reading
Coconut crabs are the stuff of nightmares. They live on remote coral atolls and are the largest land-living arthropod in the world. They can grow to over three feet long and weigh up to about 9 pounds. They can climb trees and use their … Continue reading
Simon Speirs, a 60 year old sailor from Bristol, UK, has died in the Clipper Round the World Race. On Saturday, Speirs, was washed overboard while handling sails on the foredeck of the Clipper CV30 Great Britain, while sailing in … Continue reading
ARA San Juan, an Argentine Navy diesel-electric submarine, was on a routine mission when it went silent on Wednesday. Communications ended while the submarine was en route,with a crew of 44, from Ushuaia naval base, near the southern tip of South America, … Continue reading
François Gabart has set a new solo 24-hour speed record of an extraordinary 851 miles sailed in 24 hours on his 98′ trimaran MACIF. Gabart set the new record sailing in the South Atlantic, averaging 35.4 knots. Gabarts’ record is only about … Continue reading
The wreck of the Chilean steamship, SS Itata, has been located in 650 feet of water off the port of Coquimbo, in Elqui Province, in northern Chile. The ship sank in a storm on August 28, 1922 with an estimated loss of … Continue reading
“The Mercy” is a soon to be released film about Donald Crowhurst‘s attempt to win the Sunday Times Golden Globe Race, the first single-handed, non-stop, around-the-world race in 1969. The film stars Colin Firth as Crowhurst and Rachel Weisz as his wife, Clare. Crowhurst was … Continue reading
The Pacific Ocean appears to under attack by a horde of sea-pickles. The bumpy, translucent, pickle-shaped organisms called pyrosomes are filling fishing nets, clogging hooks and washing up on beaches along the coast of the Pacific Northwest of the US and … Continue reading