HMS Astute: British Nuclear Submarine Aground off Skye

Embarrassing and rather bad timing.  Billed as the “world’s most advanced nuclear submarine,” the recently christened HMS Astute ran aground this morning off the Isle of Skye. Nuclear submarine runs aground HMS Astute: world’s most advanced nuclear submarine runs aground … Continue reading

Trafalgar Day plus One – the Smallest Royal Navy Since Henry VIII

The announced British budget cuts will slash spending across the board but will hit the Royal Navy hardest of all of the military services. Anchors away: Britain’s once-proud navy falls prey to budget cuts In all the carnage, the worst damage, at least to … Continue reading

Attempts to Preserve the Prehistoric Hasholme Boat Fail So Far

The Hasholme boat, discovered in 1984 in a former inlet of the Humber estuary near Holme on Spalding Moor, dates from the late Iron Age ( 750-390 BC ). The boat was cut from a single oak tree and was originally roughly … Continue reading

Slippery Ships That Float on Air?

Two years ago, an article appeared in Scientific American, Slippery Ships That Float on Air, describing the various attempts to reduce frictional resistance on ship’s hulls by injecting air bubbles or introducing pockets of air beneath the hull.  At the time, the … Continue reading

King’s Point Summerwind Wins Chesapeake Bay Great Schooner Race

The  Summerwind, a 1929 Alden schooner, donated to the US Merchant Marine Academy at Kings Point just last year by Mr. and Mrs. J. Don Williamson,  won the Class AA division of the Great Chesapeake Bay Schooner Race on corrected time.  The other … Continue reading

Cash-strapped Schooner Virginia appears dead in the water

In 2007 the schooner Virginia won the great Chesapeake Bay Schooner race, establishing a record time which remains unbeaten.   This year, sadly, while the other schooners raced, she remained tied to a dock in  Norfolk, Virginia. Cash-strapped Schooner Virginia appears dead in the water … Continue reading

Rogue Wave, 1905, and the Squarerigger British Isles

We recently have had several posts regarding rogue waves – a review of Susan Casey’s new book The Wave and the BBC Documentary  Freak Waves.   Oceanographers generally dismissed reports of rogue waves as wild exaggerations or “sea stories,” until a rogue wave was documented … Continue reading

On the SA Agulhas, All Woman Crew Makes History

The SA Agulhas is South Africa’s ice-strengthened polar research vessel.  The ship recently completed a five day voyage with an all woman crew and on her arrival in Port Elizabeth Harbor was guided into port by a woman harbor pilot.   As part of National … Continue reading

Model Mayflower Fashioned from Actual Ship’s Timber

Today in the Bucks County Courthouse in Pennsylvania, a 20-inch-long and 22-inch-tall model of the Mayflower, the ship that carried English separatists, known as Pilgrims, to Massachusetts in 1620,  will go on public display for the first time in the United States.  The … Continue reading

Collision between Greek tanker Mindoro and Cypriot container ship Jork Ranger

This morning around 4:56 UTC the Cypriot container ship Jork Ranger collided with the Greek tanker Mindoro, carrying  jet fuel off the Scheveningen coast in the North Sea.  The collision caused a fuel spill from a five-meter wide puncture in the … Continue reading

Fairtransport and the Brigantine Tres Hombres

We posted recently about the efforts by B9 Shipping and the Greenheart Project to develop competitive modern sailing cargo ships.   In the Netherlands Fairtransport Shipbrokers is operating the Brigantine Tres Hombres in freight service between Europe, the Atlantic islands, the Caribbean … Continue reading

A New Generation of High-Tech Sailing Ships?

B9 Shipping and the Greenheart Project are both working to develop new high-tech sailing coasters.  B9 has in mind a 3,000 DWT three masted bulk carrier with automated square sails whereas the Greenheart Project envisions a much smaller fore and … Continue reading

Chemical Tanker YM Uranus under Tow after Collision with Hanjin Rizhao

Yesterday the 7,000 DWT chemical tanker YM Uranus carrying pyrogas gasoline was in a collision with the 197,000 DWT bulker Hanjin Rizhao off the coast of Brittany.  Contrary to early reports that the chemical tanker was sinking, she remained afloat, despite … Continue reading