As noted in our recent review, I found Susan Casey’s The Wave: In Pursuit of the Rogues, Freaks and Giants of the Ocean to be very disappointing because it spends far more time with extreme surfer dudes than it does … Continue reading
Category Archives: Lore of the Sea
In June we posted about the missionary/hospital steamer, the Chauncy Maples. Launched in 1901, she is the oldest ship in Africa. She is being restored to return to duty as a traveling clinic on the 560 kilometer long Lake … Continue reading
Aren’t all submarines supposed to be stealthy? I suppose some are stealthier than others. The South China Morning Post in Hong Kong is reporting concerns by China’s neighbors that China may have already built a stealth submarine. On the other side of … Continue reading
Today is the birthday of Rear Admiral Eugene Bennett Fluckey, known as “Lucky Fluckey,” who died in 2007 at the age of 94. In addition to having one of the truly great nicknames, he was one of the greatest submarine skippers of … Continue reading
The Penobscot Marine Museum, Maine’s oldest maritime museum, is having a busy October, full of events and exhibitions. This Friday and Saturday, October 8th and 9th, the museum offers a range of free events as part as part of Searsport’s annual Fling … Continue reading
One of the largest port complexes in the US has been shut down since Sunday morning after a barge accident almost knocked a high voltage tower into the Houston Ship Channel. Over thirty ships have been blocked by the … Continue reading
A press release by Congressman Elijah E. Cummings, Chairman of the House Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation, strikes me as either sad, funny or perhaps a bit of both. The press release is titled: Cummings Continues Investigation Into American … Continue reading
Sad news from Shipgaz: Fulton captain has passed away Legendary captain Mogens Frohn Nielsen has passed away at the age of 75. Mogens Frohn Nielsen pioneered the use of sailing ships as floating schools for youngsters with problems. He started … Continue reading
A new exhibition opened at the at the Maryland Science Center, Odyssey’s Shipwreck! Pirates & Treasure, that will run through January 30, 2011. Exploring pirates and shipwrecks at the Maryland Science Center … Continue reading
Sea monsters exist. They break ships in half and pull them below the waves. Sometimes they swallow them whole. Most who encounter them never return to tell the tale and those few who do, until very recently, were rarely believed. … Continue reading
A comment on our post, Happy National Coffee Day – Coffee, Edward Lloyd, Ships and Shipping, by Barista Uno host of the excellent Marine Cafe blog raised two interesting points. He commented: There ought to be an International Coffee Day. Coffee, after … Continue reading
An interesting article by Dan Moreland, Captain and owner of Picton Castle from Sail Training International. Picton Castle’s 5th Voyage around the World … Continue reading
I will admit to doing a double take when I saw the USCG press release announcing “Coast Guard Cutter Harriet Lane returns home after 9-week patrol.” I wondered, who would name a ship the Harriet Lane? For the record, the … Continue reading
When I had a sailboat, I hated motoring. The diesel was loud and vibrated, completely different from why I went out sailing in the first place. Tag Yachts in South Africa, in partnership with Electric Marine Propulsion and International Battery, … Continue reading
This week 1,000 Royal Navy Medical Officer Journals were made available to the public at the British National Archives in Kew. The journals are revealing, if often disturbing by modern standards. From drunken mutinies to disease outbreaks to … Continue reading
Perhaps not a case of swords into plowshares, but at least a destroyer into an artificial reef. In November, the 535 foot decommissioned Navy destroyer, USS Arthur W. Radford, will sink beneath the waters off Cape May Point to become the longest vessel ever turned … Continue reading
Happy National Coffee Day! I don’t know who decided that today was National Coffee Day, nor even why we should necessarily be celebrating it. However, as a confirmed and happily contented coffee addict, perhaps this is a good time … Continue reading
Given all the reporting on piracy off the Horn of Africa, we hear very little about another crisis – the flood of refugees fleeing the instability and chaos of Somalia’s clan wars. Last year 74,000 people crossed the Gulf of Aden in smugglers’ boats to reach Yemen, according … Continue reading
Yesterday we posted that scientists are not sure where all the plastic floating in the vast Atlantic and Pacific garbage patches is going. Sadly, the answer is probably not that a big vacuum cleaner is vacuuming the stuff up to recycle it. Nevertheless, here is a great story about Electrolux, which … Continue reading
The Mariners Museum in Newport News, VA has a new exhibition: Endangered Species – Watermen of the Chesapeake, featuring extraordinary B & W portraits of watermen who work the waters of the Chesapeake Bay. For those of us not … Continue reading