I almost prefer visiting Mystic Seaport in the wintertime. The summertime crowds are gone, wood or coal stoves heat the chandlery and the rope walk and the ships are as lovely as ever against a winter sky. Mystic Seaport is especially lovely around Christmas. … Continue reading
Category Archives: Lore of the Sea
A wonderful collection of more than 9,000 books and periodicals on ships and the sea has gone on display in a new library in Bristol. SS Great Britain’s ‘significant’ new maritime library The David MacGregor Library, named after a life-long supporter … Continue reading
I am not much of a computer gamer, but this looks like fun. Astragon\TML Studios has a new diving simulator that lets you pilot a submersible and ROV around and through the wreck of the Titanic. The graphics may not be quite … Continue reading
Earlier in the month we posted about New York harbor’s “graveyard of ships”. Yesterday the Daily Telegraph featured an interesting article about Sydney’s ship cemetery – an abandoned wrecking yard in Homebush Bay where several wooden barges and at least five ships … Continue reading
Bad news and good news. The Tacoma Tall Ships Organization is no more and the hoped for Tacoma Tall Ships Festival in 2011 will not be happening, a victim of the recession. On the other side of the globe, … Continue reading
Brad Van Liew has won the first leg of the Velux 5 Oceans Singlehanded Round the World Race arriving in South Africa in only 28 days after his departure from La Rochelle, France. Van Liew wins 1st leg of race – … Continue reading
Donald McNarry Donald McNarry, who has died aged 89, was considered by model ship enthusiasts to be the master of “extreme” miniature shipbuilding. He took up model making as a hobby when he was a boy and built model ships … Continue reading
After waiting out the hurricane season in the Canary Islands 15-year-old Dutch sailor Laura Dekker has resumed her attempt to sail around the world alone on her 38′ ketch Guppy. Ms. Dekker had been at the center of a … Continue reading
After more than a year long ordeal, British sailors Paul and Rachel Chandler were released today by Somali pirates. The retired couple was seized by the pirates on October 22, 2009. Paul and Rachel Chandler released by Somali pirates … Continue reading
How could an fire in one of two engine rooms do sufficient damage to the electrical distribution system on the Carnival Splendor to completely disable the ship? The answer isn’t obvious. The Carnival Splendor is diesel electric powered, which is to say, instead of … Continue reading
Robert Lewis Balfour Stevenson was born today 160 years ago in Edinburgh, Scotland. His father grandfather and great-uncles were light house engineers and designers, but Robert was too sickly as a child to follow in the family profession. Instead, he became a writer, … Continue reading
It started as a tweet ( a post on Twitter) from Carnival Cruise Lines: “You can view Sr Cruise Director, John Heald’s new blog post about his experience onboard Carnival Splendor here.” OK, that sounded interesting, I suppose. … Continue reading
On Thursday morning, Nasco Diamond loaded with 55,000 tonnes of nickel ore from Indonesia to China was reported missing and believed to have sunk off the southern coast of Japan. Five of the twenty five crew have been accounted for, with at least … Continue reading
The Canadian War Museum is marking the 100th anniversary of Canada’s navy with a fascinating new online exhibit – Canada’s Naval History. Canadian War Museum launches online naval history exhibition “Canada’s Naval History explores the wide range of this country’s … Continue reading
On this anniversary of the armistice on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day or the eleventh month that ended the “war to end all wars,” it seems worthwhile to remember the often overlooked role of merchant mariners in national defense. Though it … Continue reading
Update: One blogger has plotted the trajectories and determined that the contrail was that of US Airways flight 808. At least no one is claiming that it was a weather balloon. The Daily Show has its own spin. On … Continue reading
Perhaps the best news for the stranded passengers on the disabled cruise ship, Carnival Splendor, is that the flush toilets aboard are back in service and that the ship is proceeding slowly under tow to the mainland. Still lacking refrigeration on … Continue reading
Thirty five years ago today the ore carrier Edmund Fitzgerald, loaded with more 26,000 tons of taconite pellets, sank in a November gale in Lake Superior. All 29 of her officers and crew were lost. The sinking was the greatest … Continue reading
Klondike shipwreck brought to life with 3D scans A Gold Rush-era shipwreck at the bottom of a Yukon lake is coming to life with the help of cutting-edge digital 3D scan images. The images were produced in June by researchers … Continue reading
Update: Tugs have been dispatched from Long Beach to tow the stricken cruise ship to Ensenada, Mexico to disembark passengers. An early morning fire on Monday in the engine room on the Carnival Splendor has left the ship dead in the water in … Continue reading