Bulk Carrier ID Integrity Adrift Off Australia’s Great Barrier Reef – Passes Over Shark Reef

Update: The first tug has reached the ID Integrity. As reported by vesseltracker.com: The commercial tug “PT Kotor” rendezvoused with the “ID Integrity” on May 20 at approximately 10:30am AEST. At 11:30am AMSA was advised that the tug had connected a towline … Continue reading

The Little Ships of England – 1943

The intheboatshed.net blog recently featured a wonderful short video, The Little Ships of England, produced in 1943, highlighting wooden boat building in England during  World War II. The Little Ships of England [iframe: src=”http://player.vimeo.com/video/38928688?title=0&byline=0&portrait=0&color=ffffff” width=”500″ height=”375″ frameborder=”0″ webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen] … Continue reading

Titan-Micoperi Presents Plan to Raise Costa Concordia

Representatives of Titan-Micoperi presented their plans to raise the Costa Concordia from where she sank after running aground off the island of Gilgio last January.  Titan-Micoperi is the consortium of Titan Salvage, the Crowley-owned specialist marine salvage company, and Italian marine contractor Micoperi, which … Continue reading

Collisions at Sea and Allisions in Port – Navy Ships Collide in the Pacifc & Stena Ferry Wrecks a Container Terminal

It has been a busy couple of days for ship collisions and allisions.  Yesterday, the USS Essex, a Wasp-class amphibious assault ship, collided with the USNS Yukon, a Navy Oiler, during underway replenishment operations about 120 miles off the coast of Southern California. In Poland, … Continue reading

Pirates Days on the Embarcadero in San Diego

Aargh. Once again, the junk food of maritime events, another “pirate” festival.  This one is being sponsored by one of my favorite museums, the Maritime Museum of San Diego — home to the 1863 iron windjammer, Star of India, the world’s oldest active … Continue reading

New Directions in the War on Piracy – EU Airstrike in Somalia and a Private Navy in the Gulf of Aden

In March, the European Union Naval Force was authorized to attack Somali pirates in coastal waters and ashore. On Tuesday, EU naval forces and attack helicopters launched their first onshore raid on a suspected pirate supply center in Handulle village, about 18 kilometers (11 … Continue reading

Republican Convention Security to Train on the SS American Victory in Tampa

The museum ship SS American Victory will host the FBI, Transportation Security Administration and a half-dozen other law enforcement agencies in bomb detection and disposal training exercises later this month in preparation for the Republican National Convention to be held in … Continue reading

Remembering Robert Smalls – Slave, Captain of the Planter, First Black Captain in the US Navy & Congressman

One hundred and fifty years ago today, Robert Smalls, a 23 year old mulatto slave, who served as the pilot of the Confederate armed transport, CSS Planter,  led eight fellow slaves in an audacious flight to freedom.  They seized the CSS Planter, steamed … Continue reading

Holey Hull Plates! Newly Delivered USCGC Stratton Docking for Repairs

The USCGC Stratton is the Coast Guard’s newest cutter.  Built at  Ingalls Shipbuilding of Pascagoula, Miss., she was acquired by the Coast Guard on September 2, 2011 and officially commissioned on  March 31, 2012.  Roughly a month after the 418′ foot … Continue reading

Stepping the Masts on the Boston Tea Party Ship Beaver

We recently posted on “Pouring the Ballast on the Boston Tea Party Ship Beaver.” A follow up video on stepping the masts: Stepping the Masts in Boston [iframe: width=”560″ height=”315″ src=”http://www.youtube.com/embed/Tokg1YDEVYg” frameborder=”0″ allowfullscreen] Thanks to Tom Russell of the  Traditional … Continue reading

Archaeologists Claim Odyssey Marine “Plundering” HMS Victory

The attorneys for Odyssey Marine Exploration have been keeping busy. In February we posted about the end of a multi-year legal battle between Spain and Odyssey Marine Exploration over $500m in gold and silver coins and other artifacts from the wreck of the Nuestra Señora de las Mercedes. … Continue reading

The Panama Canal, the Savannah River and the Confederate Ironclad CSS Georgia

In 1865, the CSS Georgia, a Confederate ironclad battery was burned and sunk in the Savannah River to avoid capture and to obstruct passage on the river.  (The ship was scuttled not far from where the British sank the frigate HMS … Continue reading

Solar-Powered MS Turanor PlanetSolar Completes Circumnavigation in 584 Days

The 98-foot-long solar powered catamaran MS Turanor PlanetSolar returned to Monoco yesterday, completing a 37,286 mile circumnavigation of the globe in 584 days. It is the first circumnavigation under solar power.   Along the way, the Turanor PlanetSolar made stops on six continents to promote solar energy. While … Continue reading

70th Anniversary of the Battle of the Coral Sea

Seventy yeas ago, the Japanese and navies of the United States and Australia fought the Battle of the Coral Sea in the waters southwest of the Solomon Islands and eastward from New Guinea in a series of naval battles from May … Continue reading

The Sea Shadow & Hughes Mining Barge – “Invisible Ship” and Spy Barge Sold at Auction

Update: The final auction price for the Sea Shadow and the HMB1 was an impressive $3.2 million. The Sea Shadow is an experimental 164′ long catamaran “stealth ship” built by Lockheed in the mid 1980s for the United States Navy.  For … Continue reading

Double-Decker Ferry Sinks in Brahmaputra River in North-East India – 200 Dead or Missing

A double-decker ferry carrying an estimated 350 people capsized, broke apart and sank in the Brahmaputra River in heavy weather.  The ferry was traveling between Dhubri to Fakirganjan in Assam state and was reported to be overloaded with passengers and cargo, and carried … Continue reading