Recently, the BBC published an article titled WW1: The indestructible warship. The article refers to the Graf Goetzen. Calling her the “indestructible warship” seems to be a bit of an exaggeration. As warships go, she was not very impressive and … Continue reading
Category Archives: Ships
Thanks to Richard Pekelney for passing along the link to a wonderful panoramic and audio tour of the USS Pampanito, a World War II Balao class Fleet submarine museum and memorial that is open for visitors daily at San Francisco’s Fisherman’s Wharf. … Continue reading
In September, the wreck of one of the two ships in Franklin’s lost expedition of 1845 was located near the the Victoria Strait in Canada. As both ships in the expedition were similar sized bomb vessels, modified for exploration, it was initially unclear whether … Continue reading
I have mixed feeling about modern supermaxi monohulls. They are complicated, expensive sailing wedges — pointy in the bow and broad and flat on the stern. But they are really fast, and watching Jim Clark‘s new 100’ carbon fiber speed-demon … Continue reading
An estimated quarter of a million people lined the docks and the shore at St. Malo in Brittany to watch the start of the Route du Rhum Race, the 4,500 mile trans-Atlantic singlehanded race to Guadeloupe, which is sailed every … Continue reading
I am fond of one photo I took of the Kalmar Nyckel at the Sultana Downrigging Weekend in Charlestown, MD last weekend. It shows two sailors, who appear to be starting to downrig the sprit topsail yard. They are standing … Continue reading
Photos from the Sultana Downrigging Weekend in Chestertown, MD. A touch rainy, cold and windy but still a great time. Along with the schooner Sultana were the pinnance Kalmar Nyckel, and the schooners Lady Maryland, Pride of Baltimore II and A.J. Meerwald. A … Continue reading
Just over 100 years ago, the World War I hospital ship, SS Rohilla, ran aground in a gale less than a mile off the North Yorkshire coast, near Whitby, with the loss of 85 crew and passengers. SS Rohilla had left Scotland on 30 October … Continue reading
In honor of Halloween, here is a troubling account of a modern-day haunted ship. The LNG Taurus was one of a series of ten Moss-Rosenberg type 125,000 cubic meter Liquefied Natural Gas ships (LNG) ships built by General Dynamics in Quincy … Continue reading
Downrigging is one of those necessary chores on a sailing vessel at the end of a season before the winter sets in. The good folks at the Sultana Education Foundation have turned the necessary and often bittersweet chore of downrigging the … Continue reading
Captain Ron Strathman has cruised the Sea of Cortez for the last 6 years in his 1977 wooden schooner Gold Eagle. Last month, Hurricane Odile slammed into Mexico’s Baja peninsula with reported winds reaching 100 knots. At least five died in the storm … Continue reading
Next season, the SS Badger may no longer be the “the filthiest ship on the Great Lakes.” With the end of the current sailing season, SS Badger will no longer dump coal ash into Lake Michigan. For years, there has been … Continue reading
If you are in the neighborhood, this is a most worthwhile event. There is also exiting news. At the fundraiser, the Lilac Preservation Project will announce the launching of a campaign to restore steam to the Lilac, a 1933 lighthouse tender that once carried … Continue reading
Last Friday, there were reports of unexplained underwater movements near the Stockholm archipelago. There were also reports of an encrypted distress call of the sort used by the Russian Navy, leading to speculation that a Russian submarine was stranded underwater. Russian … Continue reading
Updates on two stories from the weekend: Carnival Magic Back in Galveston — (See our previous post.) After being refused entry into both Belize and Mexico, the Carnival Magic is back in its home port of Galveston. One passenger aboard the ship was … Continue reading
There are reports of a “small fire” aboard the 19th-century composite clipper ship, Cutty Sark, in Greenwich, UK. Firefighters managed to contain the blaze which is said to have damaged a small part of deck three and associated timbers. The Cutty … Continue reading
Last Friday, at Newcastle, the world’s largest coal handling facility, it was a contest of canoes against the colliers. Calling themselves Pacific Climate Warriors, a group of protesters from a dozen Pacific island nations took to traditional outrigger canoes, kayaks … Continue reading
Late Thursday night, the 9,405 DWT Russian general cargo ship Simushir lost power while in a gale off Haida Gwaii, also known as the Queen Charlotte Islands, on the coast of British Columbia, Canada. By Friday morning, the ship was drifting in … Continue reading
PortSide NewYork is hosting a Fundraiser — Resiliency is our Hook, on October 28, 2014. There will be smoky BBQ and sizzling Dixieland Jazz by the Red Hook Ramblers. Good food, good music and good times for a good cause. PortSide … Continue reading
Ebola hysteria continues to spiral out of control. A nurse, who may have handled lab specimens from an Ebola patient at Texas Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas, is now being quarantined in her stateroom on the cruise ship, Carnival Magic. The … Continue reading