The Spanish cleantech engineering firm bound4blue has installed four 26-meter high eSAILs® on the MV Atlantic Orchard, a 35,584-dwt juice carrier. The eSAILs® are said to be the world’s largest suction sails ever installed. The sails were installed in under … Continue reading
In February, we posted about the world’s first commercial sailing ro/ro, the Neoliner Origin. Launched by Turkish shipyard RMK Marine, the ship is expected to enter service in mid-2025. This week, it was announced that Windcoop, a French maritime cooperative based … Continue reading
Quark Expeditions bills it as “The Ultimate Drake Passage Cruise” and it appears that passengers aboard Quark’s expedition cruise ship Ocean Explorer got their money’s worth as the ship was slammed by 30-to-40-foot waves in its crossing of the notorious … Continue reading
Reuters reports that on Thursday morning, six Russians died and 39 foreign passengers were rescued when a tourist submarine sank off the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Hurghada. The Red Sea Governorate said the submarine, named Sindbad, had 50 people … Continue reading
British unmanned systems manufacturer MSubs has launched Cetus, the UK Royal Navy’s first Extra Large Underwater Autonomous Vehicle (XLUAV) technology demonstrator. At 12 m in length, 2.2 m in diameter, and weighing up to 25 tonnes with a full test … Continue reading
Many have dismissed Chinese threats to invade Taiwan as saber-rattling. Recent imagery, however, suggests that the risk of invasion is very real. The images show that the Chinese are building a fleet of “invasion barges” apparently designed to facilitate an … Continue reading
The battleship USS Texas, the oldest remaining dreadnought battleship, may finally have a permaneny home in Galveston, TX. After decades of heglect, the venerable old ship was drydocked in 2022 to undergo $60 million in repairs and refurbishment, which was … Continue reading
This morning, the 804 TEU Portuguese-flag container ship Solong struck the 49,729 DWT US-flag product tanker Stena Immaculate, at anchor in the North Sea, off the mouth of the River Humber. Multiple explosions were reported as the ships caught fire. Both … Continue reading
The iconic passenger liner SS United States arrived early Monday in Mobile, Alabama, nearly two weeks after departing under tow from South Philadelphia. She was docked at Modern American Recycling Service (MARS), where if all goes according to plan, she … Continue reading
On June 14, 2023, the Adriana, an aging fishing trawler overloaded with up to 750 people, capsized in international waters off the Greek town of Pylos. One hundred and four men were rescued, and eighty-two bodies were recovered. An additional 500 … Continue reading
At a time when programs supporting the American values of diversity, equity, and inclusion are being banned in schools across the nation, it is incumbent on the rest of us to keep alive the history that some are now seeking … Continue reading
John Henry Turpin was among the first Black Chief Petty Officers to serve in the United States Navy. He was also a survivor of two naval disasters — the catastrophic explosions of the USS Maine in 1898, and USS Bennington in 1905. … Continue reading
A repost in honor of Black History Month. On this day, February 21, 1862, 163 years ago, Nathaniel Gordon, captain of the slave ship, Erie, was executed by hanging in New York City. Under the Piracy Law of 1820, slave … Continue reading
Last week, the New York Times reported that Harriet Tubman posters, origami paper cranes and rainbows have been disappearing from the halls of the American schools at NATO headquarters in Belgium, a response to the Trump administration’s rollbacks of diversity, … Continue reading
SS United States, the largest and fastest transatlantic passenger liner ever built in America, was towed this morning from the dock in Philadelphia where it has been moored for nearly three decades, on the first leg of its … Continue reading
USS Harry S. Truman (CVN-75), flagship of the Harry S. Truman Carrier Strike Group, collided with M/V Besiktas-M, a 53,00 DWT bulk carrier, on Wednesday evening near Port Said, Egypt, in the Mediterranean Sea, the Navy said Thursday. The incident … Continue reading
Forty-two years ago today, on February 12, 1983, the collier SS Marine Electric loaded with 24,800 tons of steam coal, capsized and sank in a storm 30 miles off the coast of Virginia. Thirty-one of the 34 crew members died. While … Continue reading
Here is a story well worth retelling; an updated repost in honor of Black History Month; the remarkable story of Robert Smalls. On May 13, 1862, Robert Smalls, a 23-year-old slave, who served as the pilot of the Confederate armed transport, CSS Planter, … Continue reading
Over nearly three centuries of whaling, some 175,000 men went to sea in 2,700 ships. Of the 2,500 masters who captained these ships, at least 52 were men of color. In honor of Black History Month, here is an updated … Continue reading
Hugh Mulzak served as the first Black Liberty ship captain in World War II. When offered the command, he refused to sail with a segregated crew. An updated repost in honor of Black History Month. Born in 1886 on Union … Continue reading