This morning while sailing on the schooner Pioneer in Upper New York Harbor, we were all surprised when the captain shouted “whale”. There, close aboard to starboard, the back and dorsal fin of a whale rose and then disappeared beneath the surface of the harbor. The … Continue reading
Category Archives: Lore of the Sea
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There will be a preliminary hearing into the sinking of the ferry, Princess Ashika, next Thursday in Nuku’alofa by the Royal Commission set up by the Government to investigate the tragedy. A letter from Port Authority Port Authority general manager, … Continue reading
Perhaps it is the thought that counts. Swiss lawmakers have decided against joining EU anti-piracy efforts because it would violate the country’s long-held tradition of neutrality. The land-locked country lacks a blue water navy so could not send a ship or … Continue reading
The Lake Champlain Maritime Museum is hosting an Archeology Weekend tomorrow and Sunday. it will include presentations on Lake Champlain shipwrecks and feature some of their latest explorations including early steamboats, gunboats, sailing vessels and canal boats. There will be special demonstrations in … Continue reading
We previously posted about the Royal Navy installing Windows on submarines. We were relieved to learn that the reference was to an a computer operating system and not panes of glass. Then again, it appears that the late Ivar Haglund, owner … Continue reading
Depending on how you look at it, there is either good or bad news about the Mary Rose. The Mary Rose is the only only 16th century warship on display anywhere in the world. She was one of the first … Continue reading
An update to our previous post – Spotted Dick Off the Menu. As reported by the BBC: Council chiefs have reversed a decision to rename the pudding Spotted Dick after receiving “abusive letters” and accusations of political correctness. Canteen staff … Continue reading
In honor of John Paul Jones’ victory in the Battle of Flamborough Head where he captured HMS Serapis on this day 230 years ago, we offer two works from the archives. (For those who have not yet discovered it, the Internet … Continue reading
I have always been a John Paul Jones sceptic. Was he a great naval leader or merely a prima dona? Was he so difficult a personality that he was never an effective leader? He was at the very least a … Continue reading
Last Friday the HMS Victory fired a 64 gun rolling broadside to to help launch the National Museum of the Royal Navy. (While the broadside was impressively load and smoky, the amount of gunpowder used for the symbolic broadside was reported to … Continue reading
Intriguing news about Charles W. Morgan, the last American sailing whale ship. From Boston.com Mystic Seaport officials are now considering whether to make the ship seaworthy again so that it can tour New England’s coastline in the summer of 2012, … Continue reading
Last month we posted about The Great Gloucester Sea Serpent of 1817. Eric, a blog reader, commented, no doubt tongue in cheek, “So that is what the bloop was.” His comment got me thinking about the ironies of observations, technology and … Continue reading
Last week, StatoilHydro inaugurated Hywind in the North Sea off South-west Norway. Hywind is the first full scale floating wind turbine and is a research pilot program to develop a new generation of offshore wind mills. StatoilHydro inaugurates floating wind … Continue reading
In June we posted about ships using SkySails to reduce fuel costs by an estimated 10 to 35%. (See Go Fly a Kite? A Look at SkySails) One possibly unforeseen hazard of the SkySails became clear last week when an aircraft and a … Continue reading
On Sept. 20, 1519, Portuguese navigator and explorer Ferdinand Magellan and his crew set out from Spain on five ships on a voyage to find a western passage to the Spice Islands in Indonesia. (Magellan was killed en route, but … Continue reading
While New York may have a great yearly tug boat race, I recently discovered that Halifax harbor has a real Theodore Tugboat. In the 1990s, “Theodore Tugboat”, was a Canadian kid’s TV show about a harbor tug in the “Big Harbor”. In the … Continue reading
Well it is that time of year again. In honor of International Talk Like a Pirate Day …. Somali-English dictionary Spare me the lame” arrgghs” and “shiver me timbers”. If you want to talk like a budhcad badeed (Somali for pirate) … Continue reading
Following up on our previous posts – Dutch Barges invade New York and The Dutch Barge Fleet has Arrived in New York. From the AP: Dutch flotilla makes its way north on Hudson River A flotilla of historic Dutch sailing ships is … Continue reading
The October 2009 National Geographic magazine has a fascinating story of a 16th century shipwreck on a beach in southern Namibia. In 1533 a Portuguese trading ship carrying a fortune in gold and ivory, bound for the famed spice ports of India, was swept ashore and wrecked … Continue reading