Ship scrapping is a slow and methodical process. A ship is typically run up on the scrapping ways, which can be a concrete platform or a sloping sandy beach. As burners cut away the upper sections of the ship, it … Continue reading
Category Archives: Ships
One of the great things about writing historical fiction is discovering odd sets of facts, often buried in the archives, that capture both the desperation and the madness of a given time. Often, as the cliche goes, you just can’t … Continue reading
Sail-assist propulsion on commercial ships is developing rapidly, featuring a range of technologies including rotor sails, rigid wing sails, ventilated turbo sails, and even conventional fabric sails. One thing that all these rigs have in common, however, is that when … Continue reading
A year ago we posted about the innovative ideas and products developed by the Dutch firm, eConowind. They have developed a Ventfoil, a fixed airfoil-shaped spar with an internal fan that uses boundary layer suction to generate thrust. Ventfoils can … Continue reading
Today, the first doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine have begun to be distributed in the United States. It seems like a good time to look back at the voyage of the orphan boys in the vaccine ship that sailed … Continue reading
This is a wonderful half-hour documentary hosted by Tom Cunliffe about Jolie Brise. Jolie Brise is a gaff-rigged pilot cutter/racing yacht built and launched by the Albert Paumelle Yard in Le Havre in 1913 to a design by Alexandre Pâris. … Continue reading
Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd. (MOL) has reached a coal transport deal with Tohoku Electric Power Co., Inc., which will use a new 99,000 DWT collier equipped with a retractable wing sail propulsion system, known as the Wind Challenger. Construction of … Continue reading
The US Navy has selected Captain Amy Bauernschmidt as the first woman to command a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier. Capt. Bauernschmidt was selected for the position by the fiscal year 2022 aviation major command screen board. It has not been announced … Continue reading
The one-year-old, 14,000 TEU capacity container ship, ONE Apus, has set a dubious new record. It encountered severe weather about 1,600 nautical miles northwest of Hawaii while sailing from Yantian in China to Long Beach, California. In the violent storm, … Continue reading
The US Navy has decided to scrap the amphibious assault ship Bonhomme Richard, which burned for more than four days this summer in San Diego. The cost and time required to rebuild the gutted ship would be simply too great to … Continue reading
High drama on the high seas. Kevin Escoffier was in third place in the Vendee Globe Race, sailing in the “Roaring Forties” about 840 miles south of Cape Town, when his boat PRB broke in half. He sent a brief … Continue reading
Yesterday, we posted about a head to head race between trimarans Sodebo and Maxi Edmond de Rothschild/Gitana 17 attempting to win the Jules Verne Trophy. While the race for the trophy is against the clock, the two boats that sailed within hours … Continue reading
Early Wednesday, two 100′ long foiling maxi-trimarans, Sodebo and Maxi Edmond de Rothschild/Gitana 17 set out to race around the globe to attempt to win the Jules Verne Trophy. Sailing within hours of each other, Sodebo crossed the starting line, which … Continue reading
After being delayed by hurricanes, the pandemic, and a broken link in the cutting chain, the heavy-lift catamaran VB-10,000, nicknamed the “Golden Arches” is now making good progress on the first cut to slice the stricken car carrier, Golden Ray … Continue reading
This seems appropriate for an overcast Sunday in late November – a lovely drone video from a few years ago of the restored steel-hulled three-masted bark Glenlee on the River Clyde. Built name in 1896, the Glenlee sailed for 23 … Continue reading
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security estimates that 32 percent of all maritime cocaine smuggled between Latin America and the United States arrives in narco-submarines. Narco-subs come in many shapes and sizes. Most are not submarines at all, but rather … Continue reading
We have been remiss in not posting about “Coffee with the Captain,” the wonderful Facebook video blog hosted by the highly respected schooner skipper Captain Jan Miles of the Pride of Baltimore II. The series began last April and is … Continue reading
Would you volunteer to go on a cruise ship again? Apparently, tens of thousands are eager to do so. One of the first trial cruises in the Caribbean did not go well. The Center for Disease Control (CDCC) lifted its … Continue reading
On October 29, 1815, 205 years ago yesterday, the Demologos, the first steam-powered warship, was launched from Adam and Noah Brown‘s shipyard on New York’s East River. It was a steam-powered floating battery designed by steamboat pioneer Robert Fulton to … Continue reading
You might call it yodeling for Covid. Following a folk-music themed cruise on MS Swiss Crystal, 60 of 92 passengers have tested positive for Covid-19. The cruise was from Passau to Frankfurt between October 10 and 17, on the Danube … Continue reading