Last weekend in Tampa, FL was the annual Gasparilla Pirate Festival. The festival has been a yearly event for the better part of a century. It celebrates the life and times of the “Last Buccaneer,” the pirate Jose Gaspar, also known as Gasparilla, … Continue reading
Category Archives: Lore of the Sea
On Wednesday, much of the world will be able to watch a blue moon, a supermoon and a blood moon, all at once. A blue moon is a term for a second full moon in a given month. There was … Continue reading
Recently, we posted about the times when New York harbor froze solid. While that is a very unusual occurrence in New York City, a bit farther up the Hudson River, the river freezing over is a yearly event. In the summertime, before … Continue reading
A documentary about a shipyard in Faversham, Kent where over 1200 vessels were built and launched between 1916 and 1969. The narrowness of Faversham Creek was no barrier to the launching of such large ship. Vessels were simply launched sideways. The … Continue reading
We recently posted about the five-masted full-rigged cruise ship Royal Clipper, a modern sailing ship designed as an homage to the great five-masted windjammer Preussen. We are very pleased to have a guest post about the mighty windjammer by Robin Denny: With the Peking now … Continue reading
On Tuesday, a reporter in Alabama announced that he believed that he had found the burned wreckage of the schooner Clotilda, the last vessel to carry slaves to the United States. The wreckage was exposed following a winter “bomb cyclone” … Continue reading
“Vampire Squid from Hell” sounds like a low budget horror movie from the 1950s. It isn’t. It is a small cephalopod which lives in the deep oceans. There are two important things that one should know about the species with … Continue reading
Fifty years ago today, on January 23, 1968, North Korea seized the U.S. Navy intelligence ship USS Pueblo while operating in international waters. One sailor was killed and 82 were taken prisoner. The Pueblo was commanded by Lloyd “Pete” Bucher. He and his crew … Continue reading
Amazon is currently testing using drones to deliver packages. Recently in Australia, lifeguards used a drone to deliver something far more vital than a package from an online retailer. They successfully used a Little Ripper drone to drop a flotation rescue … Continue reading
Around 30 NM from Hong Kong, the Volvo Ocean racer Vestas 11th Hour collided with a Chinese fishing vessel on Friday night around 1:20 a.m. local time, which resulted in the death of a Chinese fisherman. The Vestas 11th Hour … Continue reading
The Great Lakes are rightly referred to the United State’s “fourth coast.” Here is a fascinating short video about shipbuilding in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, off Lake Michigan. Historic Door County – Shipbuilding … Continue reading
Several years ago, my wife and I went snorkeling in the Dos Ojos cenote in Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula near Tulum. A cenote is a deep, water-filled sinkhole in limestone, often connected to freshwater underwater caverns and tunnels. The limestone filtered water was crystal … Continue reading
A lump of paper wadding found in a cannon from the pirate Blackbeard‘s ship Queen Anne’s Revenge has been identified as containing scraps of paper from a book by Captain Edward Cooke written in 1712. Researchers were able to identify … Continue reading
If you are in the area next Monday night, January 22nd at 7:30 PM, be sure to stop by the South Street Seaport Museum’s Melville Gallery at 213 Water Street, in lower Manhattan. I will be presenting “From John Hancock’s … Continue reading
The Navy has announced that five officers involved in two deadly ship collisions are facing a variety of criminal charges including negligent homicide. The officers facing charges include Cmdr. Bryce Benson, former captain of the USS Fitzgerald, and Cmdr. Alfredo J. Sanchez, former captain … Continue reading
On January 6th, the Iranian tanker Sanchi carrying 130,000 tonnes of condensate collided with the Chinese bulk carrier CF Crystal. The condensate on the Sanchi caught fire, resulting in the death of all 32 of the tanker’s crew. The tanker … Continue reading
A fire broke out on the casino shuttle boat, Island Lady, around 4PM on Sunday, in the Gulf near Port Richey, Fl. The 34 passengers and 14 crew aboard were forced into the 59-degree water. At least one passenger, a … Continue reading
The article begins, “Your average container ship could never be described as luxurious, but the Kilkea is not your average container ship.” Indeed. And it never was. Several other media sources also describe the yacht as a “converted container ship.” … Continue reading
Recently, biologist Nan Hauser was snorkeling in the Cook Islands in the South Pacific, when she was approached by a humpback whale. The whale nudged her forward with its closed mouth, tucked her under its pectoral fin, and even maneuvered … Continue reading
Here is a look at a modern sailing ship, Star Clipper’s Royal Clipper, a high-tech square-rigger whose technology is not always obvious. Click here for a photo tour of the Royal Clipper recently featured in USA Today. We recently posted about … Continue reading