Matthew Fontaine Maury in US Navy uniform
Recently, four statues of Confederates were removed from city property in Richmond, Virginia. Three of the individuals represented by the statues were well know — Jefferson Davis, the president of the Confederacy, and the Confederate generals, Stonewall Jackson and J.E.B. Stuart. The fourth statue, of Confederate naval officer, Matthew Fontaine Maury is less well known.
In the 1850s, as an oceanographer and a US naval officer, Maury developed a series of wind and tide charts, using data from thousands of ship’s logs, that significantly improved passage times for many sailing ships. He was something of a hero to many ship owners, captains, and sailors.
With the advent of the Civil War, Maury joined the Confederate Navy and went to England to help arrange the acquisition of ships for the Confederacy. He also developed mines to sink US Navy ships. In the 1860s, many considered him to be a traitor. Who was Matthew Fontaine Maury? Was he a hero, a traitor, or perhaps both?
On April 24, Angela Madsen set off from Marina del Rey, California bound for Hawaii in the 20′ ocean rowing boat, Row of Life. A three-time Paralympian and a Marine veteran, her goal was to be the first paraplegic and at 60, the oldest woman to row the Pacific Ocean alone.
In September 2019, the car carrier 
On Friday, June 26, 2020, 
Two groups of fishermen had recent close encounters with humpback whales off the Jersey Shore.
In May, 
On June 23, the keel was laid for the 
We recently 
At the end of May, we 
For decades, schooners referred to as “windjammers” have sailed up and down the Maine coast carrying vacationers from May to October. This year, however, the pandemic has delayed the season and there are concerns that it may not start at all. 
While this may not appear to be the best time to start a new cruise venture, if all goes well, in the Spring of 2021, 
The 958-foot long, US flag container ship, Maersk Idaho is anchored off the coast of Virginia after several crew members tested positive for COVID-19. Maersk is working on a plan to evacuate the ship, bring the crew to a quarantine facility, clean the ship and then bring a new crew on board, said Patrick McCaffery, Maersk Line’s general counsel, as reported by the 
Every year, the Alaskan fishing industry attracts tens of thousands of migrant workers. In remote Bristol Bay, Alaska, between 10,000 and 15,000 fishermen come to work on the salmon boats plying the Bering Sea, while another 6,000 workers or so arrive to process the salmon brought ashore. Salmon fishing brings in $700 million each year to this remote, sparsely populated area. But, as reported by the 
A huge cloud of desert dust has blown off the Sahara and is bound across the Atlantic Ocean heading toward the United States. While dust plumes are not uncommon, this plume is exceptionally large and dense with the highest concentration of dust particles observed in