Photo: Stephen Mallon
Redbird Reef lies sixteen miles out in the Atlantic Ocean from the Indian River inlet, near the ominously named Slaughter Beach, Delaware. One of three explanations for the town’s name is that the first postmaster was William Slaughter. Likewise, while many reefs are named after ships that ran up on them, that is not the case with Redbird, which is an artificial reef in around 80 feet of water. The reef is named after the 714 New York City Redbird subway cars that, starting in 2001, were dumped on the generally barren sandy bottom. The cars became home to sponges, blue mussels, sea grasses, as well as flounder, tautog, and black sea bass. The cars were built of steel and painted red, earning their nickname, Redbird. Before dumping, the cars were cleaned of oil and grease and the doors and windows are removed.
New York harbor has lost part of its living history with the passing of Sal Polisi, longtime volunteer and master carver at the South Street Seaport Museum. For three decades, Polisi carved everything from figureheads to wooden signs, using the time honored methods of a master craftsman. All his work was done by hand, without power tools or computers. Beyond his remarkable skills, he also a friendly face at the museum and was well loved by all who knew him. He will be sorely missed.
It doesn’t feel very much like summer right now, but at least we are on the far side of the winter solstice, so each day brings spring a bit closer. And this spring, the Oliver Hazard Perry, the first ocean-going full-rigged ship to be built in America in over a century will begin sailing. The OHPRI organization has announced summer camp programs on the new sailing school ship. From their 
We have 
The new generation of VLCC has arrived. The acronym usually refers to tankers, specifically, Very Large Crude Carriers, but in this case I am referring to Very Large Container Carriers. Perhaps they should be designated VLCS, for Very Large Container Ships. Mærsk now has 13 of their 
Frank Jade was a passenger on the Royal Caribbean cruise ship Oasis of the Seas until Thursday morning when 
One week ago the car carrier