What is AMVER?

What is AMVER?  They are the most amazing world-wide maritime search and rescue network that you probably have never heard of.  AMVER stands for the Automated Mutual Assistance Vessel Rescue System. It was founded over fifty years ago, in 1958, and currently over 19,000 ships … Continue reading

HMS Temeraire, USS Olympia, and the American Racer – A Few Thoughts on Ship Preservation

Bernard Cornwell‘s introduction to his review of  Sam Willis’s book, “The Fighting Temeraire,”  is as dramatic as it is sadly accurate. He writes:  At Penn’s Landing in Philadelphia, the battle-cruiser USS Olympia lies glorious and doomed. The oldest steel warship in … Continue reading

Statue Cruises fuel cell powered hybrid ferry for New York harbor

Earlier this week we posted about Cakewalk, a luxury yacht built at Derecktor Shipyards in Bridgeport, Conn.   Here is quite different vessel now under construction at Derecktor.    Statue Cruises, a subsidiary of Hornblower Cruises, has hired Derecktor to construct the world’s … Continue reading

Tragedy on Christmas Island – Asylum Seekers Die in Shipwreck

A horrific story from Australia’s Christmas Island where a boat carrying asylum-seekers believed to be from Iraq and Iran broke up in rough after striking rocks offshore.  Forty two people were been rescued and twenty seven have been confirmed dead, though that … Continue reading

Armed Japanese Coast Guard to Face off against Sea Shepherd “Godzilla”

It sounds like like a joke, and indeed it has many elements of farce, but nevertheless when the TV reality-show pirates of Animal Planet’s Whale Wars, the Sea Shepherds, meet the Japanese whalers this season in the Southern Ocean, matters could … Continue reading

James Craig Sails Again

The almost 30 year restoration of the James Craig is a wonderful story of volunteers rescuing an old windjammer, rusting away on a Tasmanian beach.  The three masted iron barque, James Craig, originally named Clan Macleod, was built by Bartram, … Continue reading

Five dead, 17 missing after Korean fishing vessel, No.1 In Sung, sinks in Southern Ocean

Another ship down.  Speculation is that the Korean fishing vessel No.1 In Sung either struck an iceberg or was hit by a large wave off Antarctica.   Twenty surviving crew  members  were  rescued and taken aboard the fishing vessel No. 707 … Continue reading

Violent weather in the Eastern Mediterranean – bulk carrier Adriatic sinks and Brilliance of the Seas battered

Heavy rains, strong winds and high seas hit the eastern Mediterranean over the weekend with winds of 100 kilometres per hour and waves reaching heights of 10 metres,  sinking the Moldavian bulk carrier, Adriatic, off the coast of Israel and  battering the RCCL cruise ship, Brilliance of … Continue reading

Cakewalk – Largest Yacht Built in US Since J.P. Morgan’s Corsair IV

While we may prefer prefer vessels with more sticks, cloth and string, we are overdue in acknowledging the construction of  Cakewalk, a new  $82 million 85 meter yacht, which was delivered from Derecktor Shipyards in Bridgeport, CT yard in August. Cakewalk … Continue reading