Watch Given to Captain of Carpathia, Rescuer of 700 on Titanic, Sells for Record £1.56M at Auction

An interesting story from the Guardian. When the RMS Titanic struck an iceberg and sank on 15 April 1912, approximately 1,500 died. The RMS Carpathia, under the command of Captain Arthur Rostron, rescued 706 passengers and crew from the Titanic‘s lifeboats. A … Continue reading

Rescuing Rye Seeds From 146 Year Old Shipwreck in Hopes of Resurrecting Michigan Crop

In November 1878, the wooden schooner James R. Bentley set sail from Chicago bound for Buffalo loaded with a large shipment of rye. It encountered heavy seas and gale-force winds during the voyage, struck a shoal, and sank near 40 … Continue reading

New Destroyer USS John Basilone Commissioned on Hudson River in New York City

Last Saturday morning at Pier 88 on the Hudson River, the US Navy commissioned its newest destroyer, USS John Basilone. With the New York City skyline as a backdrop, the ceremony took place between the aircraft carrier USS Intrepid and the … Continue reading

Repost: On Armistice Day, Remembering the German High Seas Fleet Mutinies of 1918

In the US, today is Veteran’s Day, when we honor those who have served in the military. It coincides with Armistice Day, the anniversary of the signing of the armistice which ended World War I, on the 11th hour of … Continue reading

Art on Superyachts — $3 Million Warhol “Brillo Pad Box” Sculpture Thrown Out With the Trash

In 1964, pop-artist Andy Warhol shocked the art world by making hundreds of replicas of supermarket cartons and presenting them as art. He painted screenprints of soup cans, then sculptures of packaging for Kellogg’s cornflakes and Heinz ketchup. Among the … Continue reading

The Cost of Corruption — Legacy of the US Navy Fat Leonard Scandal

The decades-long “Fat Leonard” bribery and corruption scandal may finally have come to an end.  This week, Malaysian ship-supply contractor, Leonard Glenn Francis, 60, known as “Fat Leonard” was sentenced to 15 years in prison for bribing US Navy officials … Continue reading

A Lesson Un-Learned: Two “Influencers” Drown After Refusing to Wear Life Jackets So Not to Ruin Their Tans

A sad account that reinforces an old lesson, while also highlighting an unexpected risk of social media.  Vice reports that two Brazilian Instagram “influencers” drowned in a boating accident off the coast of São Paulo after opting not to wear … Continue reading

Eighty Three Years Ago Today: The Sinking of the USS Reuben James – October 31, 1941

The first American naval ship lost in World War II was not sunk in the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7th, 1941.  Over a month before, on October 31, 1941, the destroyer USS Reuben James, escorting a convoy bound … Continue reading

Eighty Years Ago Today — Battle off Samar, a Victory Against All Odds

The Battle of Leyte Gulf was fought eighty years ago this week between the US and Australian navies and the Imperial Japanese Navy.  It was the largest naval battle of World War II and by some standards the largest naval … Continue reading

Celebrating Trafalgar Day and the Anniversary of the Launching of “Old Ironsides”

Two hundred and nineteen years ago today, in 1805, the Royal Navy, commanded by Vice-Admiral Horatio Nelson, defeated the combined French and Spanish fleets in the Atlantic off Cape Trafalgar.  The decisive victory ended French plans to use the combined … Continue reading

Collapse of Ferry Dock on Georgia’s Sapelo Island Kills 7

At least seven people were killed yesterday when part of a ferry dock collapsed on Georgia’s Sapelo Island, where crowds had gathered for a fall celebration by the island’s tiny Gullah-Geechee community of Black slave descendants. The Georgia Department of … Continue reading

Team New Zealand First Syndicate to Win the America’s Cup Three Times in a Row

Emirates Team New Zealand clinched match point in the 37th America’s Cup on Saturday, beating INEOS Britannia 7-2 in the best-of-13 finals held just off Barcelona’s beachfront as reported by the AP. The team led by Grant Dalton won its third consecutive … Continue reading

Russian Man Rescued After 67 Days Adrift on Sea of Okhotsk

In early August, Mikhail Pichugin, 46, set off in a small inflatable boat to watch whales in the stormy Sea of Okhotsk with his 49-year-old brother and 15-year-old nephew. They went missing after departing from Cape Perovsky bound for Sakhalin … Continue reading

Happy Belated Birthday US Navy – Whenever and Wherever the Date and Place May Be

We are a few days late in wishing the US Navy a happy 249th birthday. October 13th, is celebrated as the birthday of the United States Navy. This should not be confused with Navy Day, once celebrated on October 27th.  The current … Continue reading

Endurance — New Documentary Reveals Shackleton’s Ship as Never Seen Before

A new National Geographic documentary “Endurance,” will premiere at the London Film Festival on Saturday before being released in UK cinemas from Monday and on Disney+ later in the year. The documentary includes a 3D digital scan of Sir Ernest … Continue reading

Google AI Tracks Mysterious Deep Sea “Biotwang” to Help Study Bryde’s Whale

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has partnered with Google AI to analyze an ocean of long-term passive acoustic data. Using AI and machine learning, they have analyzed in hours what would otherwise take decades to process. In 2014, … Continue reading