Seattle Maritime Festival 2011

The Seattle Maritime Festival starts tomorrow and runs through Saturday, featuring the world’s largest tug boat race, National Fisherman’s Eleventh Annual Stories of the Sea Fisher Poetry Slam, World Invitational Survival Suit Races, Pacific Maritime Magazine Quick & Dirty Boatbuilding Competition, and the Fourteenth Annual … Continue reading

The “Swash Channel Wreck”, 400 Hundred Years Old, Rotting Away

An unidentified wreck, believed to be 400 years old, has been described as the “biggest discovery since the Mary Rose.”  For centuries, it was covered by sand but is now rotting away so fast that it may effectively disappear within five years. Battle to save … Continue reading

Barge Shipping Shutdown by Record Flooding on the Mississippi and by Record Drought on China’s Yangtze

Water transportation on two of the world’s longest river systems have been disrupted by extremes in water levels. On the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers record  flooding  has  disrupted  or halted barge traffic while on China’s Yangtze River a record drought has snarled … Continue reading

Over 500 Libyan Refugees Rescued off Italy near Lampedusa Island

In April we posted about the sinking of an overloaded fishing boat carrying Libyan refugees where over 200 drowned.   Today it was reported that another overloaded refugee boat in the roughly the same area sank with over 500 people aboard. Fortunately, the Italian … Continue reading

USS Michael Murphy Christened, Dedicated to Fallen SEAL

Navy SEAL Lt. Michael Murphy would have been 35 years old today, had he not died in combat behind enemy lines in Afghanistan in 2005.  Lt. Murphy was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor, the United States military’s highest decoration, for … Continue reading

America’s Cup Test Sessions: a Brave New World

I remember when America’s Cup racing was fairly tame –  beautiful 12M yachts gliding in light air in the waters of Rhode Island Sound.   Times have indeed changed.  The new AC45 wing-sailed catamarans recently underwent two weeks of testing in Auckland, New Zealand. … Continue reading

Nuclear Leak Forces Russian Icebreaker Taimyr Back to Port

A nuclear leak on the Russian icebreaker Taimyr forced it to attempt to return to the port of Murmansk. Nuclear leak in Russian icebreaker RUSSIA launched an urgent rescue mission overnight after one of its atomic-powered icebreakers developed a nuclear leak … Continue reading

Navy Fires Three Commanding Officers in One Week

Last week the Navy relieved the commanding officers – Commander Jay Wylie of the guided missle destroyer, USS Momsen; Commander Etta Jones of the amphibious transport dock ship, USS Ponce; and Captain Donald Hornbeck in command of Destroyer Squadron 1. … Continue reading

Captain Kidd in the News – New Exhibit at Docklands Museum and Shipwreck ‘Living Museum of the Sea’

The notorious pirate Captain William Kidd was executed three hundred and ten years ago this month, yet is far from forgotten.  A new exhibit is opening on May 20th at the Museum of London Dockyards – Pirates:  The Captain Kidd Story. … Continue reading

Coast Guard Tall Ship Eagle – “the Largest Confined Leadership Laboratory”

A well done video  providing an interesting perspective on sail training. Coast Guard Tall Ship “Eagle” [iframe: width=”480″ height=”390″ src=”http://www.youtube.com/embed/gA84Z2kFYdc?rel=0″ frameborder=”0″ allowfullscreen] … Continue reading