There is a lot going on in the cruise world these days. There is all the talk about returning the SS United States to service, although probably without a steam plant or much of the original ship coming along for the ride. Then there is the allegedly ongoing project to build a replica of the RMS Titanic, which will be exactly like the original except for more beam, no steam, and no shear, as well as more lifeboats, and, at least, one fewer iceberg. Here, however, is a plan for a ship that would top them all — a ten stack luxury superliner out of Germany.
At this point, it is tempting to start riffing on the German shipowner, Drumpf Line and their “yuge” ship (although the stacks, like ten fingers, do look on the short and stubby side.) The photo above is, in fact, an April Fools photo from Germany in 1938, reprinted by Life magazine. The copy below the photo reads:
“Its launching was announced for April 1. The photographer christened the ship President Roosevelt, declared that among its many superlative features was an auto track on which car-crazy Americans could race just to keep their hands in.”
When I arrived in New York back in the mid-70s, a vast fleet of tugs swarmed across the harbor like so many water beetles. Most kept busy assisting ships in docking. Now there are fewer but larger ships, many with bow thrusters, so fewer tugs are needed to get them to their berths.
In early May, 
British archeologists have located the wrecks of two
The Bermuda Triangle nonsense continues, as does the media’s fondness for dramatic headlines, whether or not there are any facts to support them. The most recent silliness is about late ice age methane explosions. The UK’s Daily Mail headline reads: “
Peter Stanford, an icon of maritime historical preservation in the United States, died yesterday at the age of 89. In 1967, Peter and his wife Norma founded the 
On March 25th, 1921, the US Navy ocean-going tug, 
In describing the internet, people often talk of “the cloud.” We connect through over an ethernet, where ether is an archaic term from the Latin aethēr meaning “the upper pure, bright air.” But as they say in Brooklyn, fuhgeddaboutit! Most of the internet is beneath the sea carried by submarine communications cables. 
The 
The wreck of the Esmeralda, a ship from Portuguese explorer 
Last November,