The story of the Dutch East Indiaman Batavia is as grim and tragic as it is fascinating. The Batavia was wrecked on her maiden voyage in 1629 when she ran aground on Beacon Island off Western Australia. Of the original 341 passengers and … Continue reading
Category Archives: Ships
After being lost for 103 years, the wreck of Australia’s first submarine, HMAS AE1, has finally been located in almost 1,000 feet of water east of Rabaul, not far from Duke of York Islands in Papua New Guinea. The submarine, built in the Vickers … Continue reading
Up to 80% of illicit drugs enter the US by maritime routes. (We recently posted about the ongoing battle against cocaine being imported into the US by narco submarines.) Here is another example, although it does not involve submersibles. It … Continue reading
Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, the heir to the Saudi throne, has notionally been leading a sweeping crackdown on corruption and self-enrichment. This has not stopped him from making some rather impressive purchases himself. Two years ago, the prince purchased, through intermediaries, Chateau Louis … Continue reading
On November 13, a U.S. Coast Guard cutter intercepted a self-propelled submersible loaded with over 3,800 pounds of cocaine in international waters off the coast of Panama. All three suspects will face charges in the U.S. The crew of three was … Continue reading
The third leg of the Volvo Ocean Race from Cape Town to Melbourne has subjected the fleet to the fury of the Southern Ocean. With steady winds of 50 knots with gusts to over 60, the seven boats have been surfing … Continue reading
On November 25, 1881, the steamer Jane Miller sank in the Georgian Bay off Lake Huron with the loss of 28 passengers and crew. This summer, American shipwreck hunters Jared Daniels, Jerry Eliason and Ken Merryman, located the wreck in Colpoys … Continue reading
Russian billionaire oligarch Oleg Burlakov recently spent around $200 million to purchase the Black Pearl, a new sailing yacht built by Oceanco Yachts. The yacht has three free-standing DynaRig masts and is strongly reminiscent of the three-masted Dynarig Maltese Falcon, launched in 1990. The … Continue reading
Red Hook WaterStories delves into the rich and varied past and present of the waterfront of the Red Hook section of Brooklyn. If you haven’t discovered the site, a project of PortSide New York, be sure to check it out. Here … Continue reading
We are several months late in posting about Tallinn Maritime Days from last July. The port of Tallinn, on the Gulf of Finland, is the capital and largest city of Estonia and hosted 50 sailing ships in this summer’s Tallships … Continue reading
MV Doulos once held the title of the oldest operating passenger liner. Now 103 years old, the historic ship may be close to beginning a new life as a shoreside hotel in the resort town of Bintan, Indonesia. When the refurbished ship … Continue reading
A derelict wooden boat washed ashore on Monday on Miyazawa beach in the northwest of Japan’s main island Honshu. The boat’s only cargo was eight skeletons. Evidence suggests that the boat and the bones came from North Korea. This boat is … Continue reading
In 1793, Captain James Colnett of the merchant ship Rattler placed a barrel a short distance from a bay on the island of Floreana in the Galapagos archipelago. Captain Colnett was a British Naval officer, an explorer, and a maritime … Continue reading
The news of the Argentine submarine ARA San Juan, missing since a week ago last Wednesday, has been uniformly grim. A report on Tuesday of a “heat stain” picked up by a US search place has come to naught. More … Continue reading
Happy Thanksgiving for those on this side of the pond and below the 49th parallel. (The Canadians celebrated the holiday in October.) Here is repost of a story I think is well worth retelling. In the United States, Thanksgiving only … Continue reading
A US Navy plane may have located the position of the Argentine Navy submarine ARA San Juan which has been missing since last Wednesday. Sensors aboard the plane detected a ‘heat stain’ at 230 ft below the surface, roughly 185 miles … Continue reading
The Emirates Team New Zealand and Luna Rossa design teams have unveiled the AC75, a concept design for the 36th America’s Cup in 2021. The design is a 75 foot long foiling monohull. Most notably, the AC75 lacks a keel. … Continue reading
Simon Speirs, a 60 year old sailor from Bristol, UK, has died in the Clipper Round the World Race. On Saturday, Speirs, was washed overboard while handling sails on the foredeck of the Clipper CV30 Great Britain, while sailing in … Continue reading
ARA San Juan, an Argentine Navy diesel-electric submarine, was on a routine mission when it went silent on Wednesday. Communications ended while the submarine was en route,with a crew of 44, from Ushuaia naval base, near the southern tip of South America, … Continue reading
François Gabart has set a new solo 24-hour speed record of an extraordinary 851 miles sailed in 24 hours on his 98′ trimaran MACIF. Gabart set the new record sailing in the South Atlantic, averaging 35.4 knots. Gabarts’ record is only about … Continue reading