The ketch Irene, built in 1907 to carry bricks and tiles, has set sail with a cargo of Devon ale for Brittany and Spanish olive oil for Brazil, on what will be, if all goes well, a five month voyage which will also carry … Continue reading
Category Archives: Ships
According to the Russian magazine Vlast, “Russia [was] … on the verge of the largest man-made disaster since Chernobyl” when a fire broke out on December 29th, 2011 on the K-84 Ekaterinburg, a Russian nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine, in a dry-dock in Murmansk. Sparks … Continue reading
Many years ago, I was in Kaohsiung, Taiwan on a container ship having major steel work done in the CSBS drydock. In those days, there was a scrap yard within sight of the drydock and for the week or so that … Continue reading
The Falklands War, or the Guerra de las Malvinas, depending on which side you choose, began on April 2, 1982. As the thirtieth anniversary of the war approaches, a war of worlds between the ex-combatants, the UK and Argentina, has escalated. Eggs and … Continue reading
Costa Lines has asked ten companies to bid on salvaging the Costa Concordia. The bids are due early next month and Costa has plans to award a contract by the end of March. Smit Salvage, Svitzer Salvage, Mammoet Salvage, Titan … Continue reading
Earlier this week, we posted that a circuit court had upheld previous rulings against Odyssey Marine Exploration, requiring the company to return to Spain $500m (£308m) worth of gold and silver coins it had recovered from the wreck of the Nuestra Señora de las … Continue reading
The Navy newest Littoral Combat Ship will be named the USS Gabrielle Giffords in honor of the former Arizona Congresswoman who survived an assassination attempt one year ago. The USS Gabrielle Giffords will be the 17th ship to be named … Continue reading
It is easy to forget how many ships and boats are indeed operated by the United States Army. Earlier this week the 80 feet long vessel, Enin Meto, with 101 people aboard, was bound from Lib to Ebeye, two island … Continue reading
At around 2AM local time Wednesday, the container ship Horizon Reliance rescued three Canadians, two men and a 9 year old boy, from the 33 foot disabled sailboat, Liahona, about 411 nautical miles east of Honolulu, Hawaii. The winds were gusting over 40 knots … Continue reading
The Battle of Cape Santa Maria was one of the most controversial naval engagements of the Napoleonic Wars. The attack on a Spanish treasure fleet on October 5, 1804 by a British squadron, without a declaration of war, was considered to be an act of piracy … Continue reading
If a single fact can explain why an armada of high tech naval ships from around the world has failed to control, much less to eradicate, gangs of Somali pirates operating from hijacked fishing trawlers and open boats, this is … Continue reading
The first documented European to land on Australia was the Dutch navigator Willem Janszoon aboard the Duyfken in March 1606. Duyfken was also one of the first Dutch ships to got directly to the East Indies to load spices. The Dutch would long … Continue reading
Pity the poor taxpayer. The headline was short and simple – U.S. Navy Buys Hawaii Superferries. For only $35 million dollars, the US Navy is buying two aluminum, high-speed, ro/ro ferries built for Hawaii Superferry for inter-island service in Hawaii. The ferries were … Continue reading
It is easy to focus of the plight of the 34 dead or missing from the Costa Concordia. Regrettably, these casualties have not been the only recent deaths on the water. The past week has been particularly brutal with ship and boat sinkings in … Continue reading
We recently posted about a press release by Sub Sea Research (SSR) claiming to have located the wreck of a British cargo ship sunk in June 1942 by the German submarine U87. Sub Sea Research claims that the ship was carrying 70 tons of platinum … Continue reading
The officers and crew of the Mitsui O.S.K. Lines container ship, MOL Summer, deserve a special commendation for their rescue of 116 people following the capsizing and sinking of the passenger ferry MV Rabaul Queen off the coast of Papua New Guinea early Thursday. Eight merchant vessels assisted in … Continue reading
If there is a moral of this story, I suppose it must be, “don’t leave your lingerie in the captain’s cabin.” Not long after the Costa Concordia ran aground and sank off the island of Giglio on January 13th, there … Continue reading
On Friday morning, a British passenger was seen falling overboard fell from the balcony of his cruise ship cabin on the Royal Caribbean cruise ship, the Allure of the Seas, while cruising off the coast of Mexico, near the island of Cozumel. The Allure of the Seas with a capacity of … Continue reading
The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute has recently released a study of arms and drug trafficking by ship. The headline is “Most ships involved in arms and drugs trafficking are based in world’s richest countries.” The larger part of the picture, however, is not … Continue reading
As of Thursday evening, 246 survivors had been pulled from the sea, following the sinking of the passenger ferry MV Rabaul Queen off the coast of Papua New Guinea early Thursday. Only one survivor was reported to be found on Friday. According … Continue reading