Patrick O’Brian is a well known name in nautical fiction. Now another Patrick O’Brien, with a different spelling of his last name and an American, rather than an Englishman pretending to be Irish, is making a name for himself as a marine artist. Here … Continue reading
Category Archives: Lore of the Sea
On June 5th and 6th, depending on where you are in the world, there will be the last transit of Venus, where the planet Venus visibly passes between the earth and the Sun, until the year 2017. The previous transit of Venus … Continue reading
The Space Shuttle Enterprise was built as a prototype. As such it never flew in space. That is not to say, however, that it hasn’t traveled. In April, we caught it on video taking a ride on a NASA 747 up … Continue reading
An estimated million spectators lined the Thames to watch what has been described as the largest river pageant in history to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the reign of Queen Elizabeth, who, at 86, is England’s oldest reigning monarch. Over 1,000 … Continue reading
Gareth Glover, the skipper of the yacht New York, was good enough to sit down yesterday and provide a glimpse of sailing in the Clipper Round the World Race. Clipper Round the World Race – Interview with Skipper Gareth Glover [iframe: width=”580″ … Continue reading
In anticipation of tomorrow’s Thames Diamond Jubilee Pageant, a map from LondonTown.com. Click on the map below for a larger version. [iframe: src=”http://www.londontown.com/London-Maps/Thames-Jubilee-Pageant/EmbedJubilee/?width=580&height=214″ width=”580″ height=”214″ frameborder=”1″ scrolling=”no”] On Sunday 3rd June 2012, over one thousand boats will muster on the River … Continue reading
When a storm destroyed Xerxes the Great’s bridge across the Hellespont in 480 BCE, he ordered that the sea be flogged with chains. Now, the North Carolina legislature is playing Xerxes. Some North Carolina legislators do not like the estimates of the … Continue reading
Seas of Peace is a remarkable sail training and leadership program that brings together Middle Eastern and American youth for a summer of sailing and conflict resolution training. This year, in their second summer of operation, they hope to bring together 18 young sailors on … Continue reading
Last October, we posted about the MV Miner, ex Canadian Miner, a Great Lakes bulk carrier whose tow rope snapped on the way to the scrap yard. The ship drifted onto Scatarie Island, off the coast of Cape Breton in Nova … Continue reading
Two Roman-era shipwrecks have been found in water slightly less than a mile deep off the western Greek islands of Corfu and Paxoi. The two third-century wrecks were discovered earlier this month during a survey of an area where a Greek-Italian gas pipeline … Continue reading
For only 105 million Norwegian krona (thats € 14 million or roughly US$17.5 million) you too can own an Arctic submarine base. Norway’s Olavsvern Naval Base just outside the city of Tromsø, has been on the market since January 2011, but for the last … Continue reading
The crews sailing in the Clipper Round the World Race represent over 40 nationalities. You can get a sense of the international makeup of the fleet by the banners and flags that they fly now that they have arrived in port. Here … Continue reading
The ten boat fleet of the Clipper Round the World Race will officially and formally arrive in New York harbor on Sunday, June 3rd to coincide with the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee. As Sir Robin Knox-Johnston sails the Suhaili, the 32ft yacht on which he became … Continue reading
On Sunday, June 3rd, the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Weekend will culminate with a seven-mile flotilla of 1,000 ships and boats making up the biggest gathering on the Thames in 350 years. One of those vessels will be the sail training … Continue reading
It is really all just one big ocean. Low levels of nuclear radiation from the tsunami-damaged Fukushima power plant have turned up in bluefin tuna off the California coast, 6,000 miles from the damaged Japanese nuclear reactors. Small amounts of cesium-137 and cesium-134 … Continue reading
Mystic Seaport has put together a wonderful short video where lovers of sea music speak of just it means to them, just in time for the Seaport’s upcoming 33rd Annual Sea Music Festival from June 7-10, 2012 in Mystic, Connecticut. The three … Continue reading
This seems like a suitable post for a Monday morning. The tide was high, the bridge was low and the ship was light. Captain Guo Lai, 48, was in command of the brand new luxury cruise liner, Pearl No 7, on … Continue reading
The old cliche that a boat is a hole in the water into which you pour money applies far too well to tall ships. They are expensive to build or restore and chronically costly to maintain and keep running. It should come … Continue reading
Scientists have observed, in two different locations off the Hawaiian islands, humpback whales giving dolphins “rides” on their heads. A dolphin will swim up over the top of the humpback whale’s head. The humpback will then gently lift its head … Continue reading
On October 5, 2011, the containership MV Rena ran aground on Astrolabe Reef off Tauranga, resulting in one of the worst maritime environmental disasters in New Zealand history. Yesterday, in a New Zealand court, the captain, Mauro Balomaga, and second officer, Leonil Relon, were … Continue reading