The Sea Orbiter concept design looks like something straight out of science fiction. Floating half above and half below the surface of the water, it appears to be more like a scimitar-shaped inter-galactic spaceship than any sort of oceanographic research vessel. Fifty eight meters … Continue reading
Category Archives: Lore of the Sea
The 185-foot Honduran-flagged coastal freighter Jireh ran aground Thursday morning on Mona Island, a rocky outcropping in the Mona Passage about midway between Mayagüez, Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic. The island is uninhabited and maintained as a nature preserve, while the reefs around the island are … Continue reading
If you are anywhere near New York City next week, the Fourth Annual North River Historic Ship Festival looks like lots of fun. Hosted by the North River Historic Ship Society, the festival commences Thursday night, June 28th, with an opening party … Continue reading
Thanks to Anne Maclachlan and the Naval History & Heritage Command for pointing out on Facebook, a forgotten bit of history – the ill-fated Greely Expedition, which was rescued at Cape Sable on Ellesmere Island on June 22, 1884. In 1881, First Lieutenant … Continue reading
Wooden boat building is part science, part engineering and part pure artistry. On Tuesday, the National Endowment for the Arts honored Harold Burnham of Essex, MA as a 2012 recipient of a National Heritage Fellowship. Harold Burnham is an eleventh generation boatbuilder, … Continue reading
Earlier in the month, we posted about a a 66 feet long, 165 tonne, starfish and barnacle encrusted, steel and concrete floating dock that washed up on Agate beach, south-west of Portland, Oregon. We were surprised to hear that the dock, torn free … Continue reading
With a sad familiarity, another overloaded boat, filled with desperate asylum seekers trying to reach Australia’s Christmas Island, has capsized in Indonesian waters. Up to 200 people are believed to have been aboard the vessel when it capsized. Indonesia’s search and rescue authority … Continue reading
Last week we posted about a distress call to the Coast Guard reporting a yacht explosion off the New Jersey shore, which was an apparent hoax. The search and rescue operation which resulted is estimated to have cost over $300,000. Now the Coast … Continue reading
In December of 2010, we posted about a new vessel under construction at Derecktor Shipyards for Hornblower New York. It was to be a hybrid excursion boat powered by diesel engines, as well as by solar and wind power and by hydrogen fuel … Continue reading
The MV Alaed, a 9,00 DWT geared cargo ship, was reported to be carrying refurbished Russian attack helicopters, as well as missiles and other unspecified munitions, on a voyage from Russia to Syria. Today, about 50 miles (80.4km) off Scotland’s north coast, the ship turned around … Continue reading
This is a busy time for underwater explorers in the waters off Sweden. Yesterday, we posted about an unidentified object on the Baltic Sea floor which the media has been referring to as the Millennium Falcon. Recently, divers off the south coast of Sweden … Continue reading
Last June, while doing sonar sweeps of the bottom of the Baltic Sea, the Swedish treasure hunters, Ocean X Team, saw something that they did not understand. It appeared to be a 197 feet diameter disk-shaped object at the depth of approximately 275 feet. … Continue reading
On April 27, 1915, at the height of the the World War I Gallipoli campaign, Lt-Cdr Edward Courtney Boyle piloted the submarine HMS E14 beneath the minefields, guns and search lights of the the Narrows, the heavily defended entrance to the Dardanelles, the … Continue reading
Earlier this week we posted about the “Boatel at Marina 59″ at New York’s Far Rockaway, which sounds like a nice blend of art-project, camping and a floating party. At the extreme other end of the spectrum is designer Michele Puzzolante’s Solar Floating Resort, which … Continue reading
Bowsprite was kind enough to pass along this forgotten moment in history, which fits in well with recent posts. Like the case of the Liberty ship SS Richard Montgomery, it involves a ship loaded with high explosives and like the apparent “Blind Date” hoax, … Continue reading
Last August, we posted about the surprise arrival of the tanker MT Pavit on Juhu Beach near Mumbai, India. The tanker had previously been reported to have sunk after engine room flooding. This was the second ship that had arrived on Juhu … Continue reading
In the early morning hours of April 28th, the yacht Aegean disappeared and sank in the Newport to Ensenada Race. Wreckage of the sailboat and the bodies of the fours sailors who had been aboard were subsequently found nearby. After initial speculation that there … Continue reading
Since 1985, Max Young has sailed his Perry 50, Reflections, around the world. He survived storm, calm, tsunami and pirates off Indonesia. His voyage came to an end early Wednesday morning off Baja in the Pacific, 40 miles west of La Playa, Mexico, when a … Continue reading
In a marina in the Far Rockaway neighborhood, in the New York City borough of Queens, a summer habitation has grown up from a group of abandoned docks and boats. Part artists’ colony and part junk yard, the Boatel at Marina 59 is described as : … Continue reading
If you are anywhere near the the village of Croton-on-Hudson, NY (about 30 miles north of New York City), Clearwater’s Great Hudson River Revival 2012 promises to be a great weekend of music, storytelling and sailing. Over forty years ago, the folk singer, Pete … Continue reading