Recently the containership MOL Empire passed an abandoned sailboat in the mid-Atlantic around 1,500 nautical miles away from Jersey. The captain emailed photos of the boat to the Cross Jobourg Coastguard in France which was able to identify it as the Service Civique. The … Continue reading
Category Archives: Ships
As the wholly unnecessary and reckless partial government shutdown rolls on, 41,000 active duty US Coast Guard personnel are still doing their jobs, without getting paid. Roughly 8,500 civilian support staff are furloughed, also without paychecks. Across the country, concerned citizens are trying … Continue reading
For Throwback Thursday, an updated repost of an event from ten years ago — the other “Miracle on the Hudson.” Ten years ago this week, US Airways Flight 1549 made an emergency water landing in the Hudson River. If the plane’s … Continue reading
In November 2015, the German Navy training ship, Gorch Fock, went into a shipyard for hull repairs. The cost of repairs and refurbishment to the three-masted barque, built in 1958, was budgeted at 9.6 million euros. Repairs were expected to take 17 weeks. Now, over … Continue reading
The Dungeness crab season opened late in the Northwest, starting last Friday, January 4th. The weather was terrible, with high winds and waves. Conditions were especially challenging on river bars, where the river’s current opposing the ocean waves can raise monstrous breakers. … Continue reading
I am very excited by a new series, “Disasters at Sea” that will be premiering on the Smithsonian Channel this Sunday, January 13th. The series is produced by Exploration Production Inc. in association with Smithsonian Networks and Discovery Channel (Canada). The … Continue reading
The effort to save the Falls of Clyde has suffered at least a temporary setback. Last November, we posted about an announcement by the Save the Falls of Clyde — International, a group endeavoring to move the Falls of Clyde, the last surviving iron-hulled, … Continue reading
On Thursday, a fire broke out in one cargo container on the Yantian Express, a 7,510 TEU container ship, about 1,500 kilometers southeast of Halifax. The fire spread to adjacent containers. The firefighting tug, Smit Nicobar, arrived Friday evening but weather conditions limited what the tug’s crew could … Continue reading
MSC Zoe is one of the largest container ships in the world with a capacity of over 19,000 twenty foot containers. Nevertheless, when Storm Zeetje pounded northern Germany with gale force winds late on Tuesday night, 277 containers were washed … Continue reading
On New Year’s Eve 1918, over 200 men crowded the dock at the port of Kyle of Lochalsh waiting to the board the HMY Iolaire, a 190′ long iron-hulled yacht requisitioned by the Admiralty. Most of the men were Royal Navy Reservists. … Continue reading
Around 1,800 nautical miles northwest of Oahu, the car carrier Sincerity Ace is adrift and on fire. Sixteen of her Philippine crew have been rescued, while four are feared dead and one remains missing. The fire broke on on Monday on the Panamanian … Continue reading
Here is a wonderful sea story which appears to be more or less true. RMS Warrimoo was an Australian/New Zealand passenger ship, launched in 1892. The ship is best remembered for crossing the intersection of the international dateline and the equator at precisely the turn of … Continue reading
Sometimes the events of the day seem downright surreal. Yesterday, I read about the US Coast Guard cutter Campbell which returned to the Portsmouth Naval Base from a three month Pacific patrol in which it seized more than 11,000 pounds … Continue reading
Recently, teams of Navy specialists have successfully removed 230,000 gallons of fuel, or close to 800 tons, still aboard the Prinz Eugen when it sank at Kwajalein, 72 years ago. The bottom of the lagoon at the Kwajalein Atoll is … Continue reading
A report from a few years ago. A story well worth retelling. Today the Christmas Ship is Chicago’s largest all-volunteer charitable support program for inner-city youth and their families at Christmas time. At the turn of the twentieth century, the “Christmas Tree … Continue reading
Call it a miracle, serendipity, or just good luck, but two stranded Costa Rican fishermen were rescued by the Royal Caribbean cruise ship Empress of the Seas after the ship was rerouted because of a storm. If the ship had continued on … Continue reading
OceanGate, a privately owned manned submersible and survey company, recently tested its newest submersible, Titan, at depths of 13,000 feet underwater in the Abacos. Next year, the company plans to use the sub to perform 3D laser surveys of RMS Titanic. For $105,129 … Continue reading
The Royal Navy Offshore Patrol Vessels (OPVs), HMS Tyne, HMS Mersey, and HMS Severn had been scheduled to be decommissioned. Now, however, the three River Class patrol vessels, which support the Fishery Protection Squadron, have been given extended lives, potentially … Continue reading
Researchers believe that wreckage found off the coast of Filey in Yorkshire is from the American warship USS Bonhomme Richard. The ship, under the command of John Paul Jones, fought a four-hour battle with HMS Serapis off nearby Flamborough Head in … Continue reading
Sultana Education Foundation‘s Downrigging Weekend Tall Ship and Wooden Boat Festival has evolved into one of the largest annual Tall Ship gatherings on the East Coast. Here is some lovely drone footage by Shore Studios from the 18th Sultana Downrigging … Continue reading