Today, in the United States, is National Maritime Day. There is a presidential proclamation and everything. The day, May 22nd, was chosen because that was the date that the American steamship Savannah set sail from Savannah, Georgia in 1818 on the first … Continue reading
Category Archives: Ships
For the last 30 years, New York has welcomed ships and crews from the US Navy and Coast Guard to the harbor around the Memorial Day weekend during a celebration of Fleet Week. Unfortunately, this year’s Fleet Week has been scuttled … Continue reading
An interesting Kickstarter fundraiser to complete the documentary “Twice Forgotten: Heroes of the R12 Submarine,” about the WWII submarine USS R-12, which sank off the coast of Key West, Florida on June 12, 1943 with the loss of 40 American sailors and 2 Brazilian officers. … Continue reading
Sadly, the world is a dangerous place, both at sea and ashore. Over the weekend, Kyle Bruner, chief mate on the schooner Liberty Clipper was murdered in Nassau, Bahamas while attempting to stop a mugging. As reported by NBC Chicago: Kyle … Continue reading
Two bottles of whisky salvaged from the wreck of the cargo ship SS Politician have been sold for £12,050 after an online auction. The wreck inspired the novel “Whisky Galore” and the movie of the same name. Whisky Galore bottles … Continue reading
We hope that everyone is having a happy Mother’s Day. Here is a great little video by made by the sailors on the HMAS Toowoomba,a Royal Australian Navy frigate currently deployed in the Middle East. Mother’s Day on HMAS Toowoomba 2013 … Continue reading
We posted yesterday about the “shutter plank” being fastened to the whaleship Charles W. Morgan in Mystic Seaport in Connecticut. The Morgan, built in 1841, is America’s last surviving wooden whaleship and has been undergoing a fiver year restoration. I came a across … Continue reading
Correction: The original post listed the wrong date for the anticipated launching of the Charles W. Morgan. The correct date is July 21, 2013. Congratulations to the Mystic Seaport Museum and all those working on the whaleship Charles W. Morgan. This afternoon at around 2PM, … Continue reading
The container/ro-ro ship Jolly Nero slammed into the port control tower in Genoa, Italy on Tuesday night around 11PM, destroying the 165 ft-tall cement tower and killing at least seven. Four people were reported to be injured and at least two are still missing. … Continue reading
Despite being smaller than the USS Guardian and spending less time aground on the Tubbataha reef, the Chinese fishing vessel F/V Min Long Yu, which ran aground on the protected reef on April 8, apparently did more damage than the US Navy minesweeper. In addition … Continue reading
The North Devon Women’s Institute branch recently hosted former sea captain Colin Darch, who was to speak on the topic of piracy. A number of women in the organization thought that the captain would speak about historical buccaneering, and so … Continue reading
In a recent Working Harbor Committee presentation, “Sailing Ships at Work – Past, Present and Future,” we included the E/S Orcelle, a Wallenius Wilhelmsen concept car carrier design, as an example of an innovative design that featured wing sails, as one … Continue reading
Wonderful news! In February 2012, the 1893 built, Freedonia class fishing schooner, Lettie G. Howard was drydocked to repair rot in her keelson. The rot was found to be far more extensive than expected and since then the South Street … Continue reading
There has been lots of interest in the restoration of surviving World War II PT (Patrol Torpedo) boats. The closest thing to a PT boat in service during the Vietnam War was the PCF, Patrol Craft Fast, better known as the Swift Boat. … Continue reading
Things are getting tense again in the East China Sea, specifically between the Chinese and Japanese. The dispute is over a small group of uninhabited islands that lie between Okinawa and Taiwan and are known as Senkaku in Japanese and Diaoyu … Continue reading
Our hearty congratulations to PortSide NewYork, which today was awarded a White House Champions of Change award in recognition for the wonderful work done by the non-profit organization to assist their neighbors in Red Hook, a Brooklyn community absolutely devastated by Hurricane Sandy. The … Continue reading
Last week, high level representatives of the Philippine Coast Guard met with the representatives of the US Navy in their investigation of the grounding of the mine sweeper USS Guardian on Tubbataha Reef on January 17, 2013. At roughly the same time, a group … Continue reading
Remind me again why jobs, homes and careers are so important. After watching this video it is awfully easy to question one’s priorities. Here is the Barque Picton Castle sailing out the anchor at Palmerston Island in the Cook Islands in the South Pacific. Click here to … Continue reading
On Wednesday night, a huge explosion ripped through West, Texas; a small central Texas town, south of Dallas. The fertilizer factory caught fire and exploded, leveling homes and buildings for a five blocks area, killing from 5 – 40 people and injuring … Continue reading
In February, Wolfhound, a 48′ Nautor Swan sailing yacht, was abandoned in a storm just north of Bermuda by her Irish owner, Alan McGettigan, and a crew of three. The sailors were rescued by a passing freighter. The boat was reported to have sunk. Instead, … Continue reading