Underway in the Engine Room on the Liberty Ship SS John W. Brown

Last Sunday, I had the opportunity to spend a little time in the engine room of the Liberty ship, SS John W. Brown. The ship, normally based in Baltimore, was visiting New York and offered a full day “Living History Cruise.” … Continue reading

SSV Oliver Hazard Perry to Sail to Northwest Passage

This summer, the SSV Oliver Hazard Perry will sail from its homeport of Newport, RI on a five-week expedition to the Canadian Arctic, becoming the first full-rigged sailing ship to sail in the Northwest Passage in more than a century. The University … Continue reading

HMS Terror from Franklin’s Doomed Expedition Found

In an interesting historical coincidence, just days after the luxury cruise ship, Crystal Serenity, completed a passage through the Canadian Arctic’s Northwest Passage,  HMS Terror has been found.  HMS Terror is the second of two ships from Sir John Franklin’s ill-fated expedition to traverse … Continue reading

Vikings in the Big City — Draken Harald Hårfagre in New York City Sept. 17-26

Draken Harald Hårfagre, the largest Viking longship built in modern times, will be visiting New York harbor from September 17 — 28.  On September 17th, the Viking longship will sail past the Statue of Liberty around 11AM and arrive at North … Continue reading

150 Years Ago Today — The Last Great Tea Race Ends in a Tie

In 1866, five clipper ships set out together from Foochow, China bound for England in what would be the last  Great Tea Race. On September 6th, one hundred and fifty years ago today, after sailing more than 15,000 nautical miles, … Continue reading

Freedom Class LCS in Service — 100% Failure Rate in Last Year

The LCS saga continues. The USS Freedom suffered another serious failure.  There are currently three Freedom Class Littoral Combat Ships (LCS) in service — USS Freedom, USS Fort Worth, and the USS Milwaukee.  In the past twelve months, all three of the … Continue reading

Norsepower & Enercon Sailing on Rotors — Future of Commercial Sail?

Last week, the Finnish marine engineering company, Norsepower Oy Ltd, was awarded €2.6M in funding to further its research and development of the Norsepower Rotor Sail Solution technology. The new models of the technology will include the world’s largest ever Flettner … Continue reading