Happy World Oceans Day! The World Wildlife Federation has released a study to coincide with World Oceans Day, documenting dangerous “hotspots” around the globe for accidents involving ships. Sadly many of these “hotspots” also coincide with some of the most ecologically … Continue reading
Category Archives: Ships
For those near New York harbor next Monday, I will be giving a presentation on “The Future of Commercial Sail” at the monthly New York City Shiplore meeting on Monday, June 10th at 7:30 PM at 79 Walker Street, 5th … Continue reading
Recently, we celebrated the saving of the wonderful Coney Island Mermaid Parade. Now a story about “mermaids” that is a bit disturbing. There were two news stories that at first glance had little in common, other than a distant nautical … Continue reading
Here is a wonderful story of Justin Beckerman, an 18-year-old high school student in New Jersey, who is in the final testing phase of designing and manufacturing a fully-operational one-man submarine. Thanks to Irwin Bryan for passing the story along. … Continue reading
The carrack Mary Rose was King Henry VIII’s flagship. After thirty three years of service, it sank in the Solent on July 19, 1545. Out of 500 sailors, 35 survived. The wreck was located in 1971 and the ship was … Continue reading
At around 2:50 AM Monday night a fire broke out on the Royal Caribbean cruise ship, Grandeur of the Seas, which had been bound for Coco Cay, Bahamas. The ship was rerouted to Freeport, Bahamas where the 2,224 passengers and 796 … Continue reading
Next to a 7-11 convenience store on 8th Avenue, about a half block from the beach, in the New Jersey shore community of Belmar, there is a tall sewer standpipe, a vertical vent designed to carry the noxious smells from … Continue reading
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
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