In early October, the MV Rena, a container ship owned by the Greek shipping company Costamare Inc, ran hard aground on the Astrolabe Reef in in the Bay of Plenty off New Zealand’s North Island. When she struck the reef, the Rena was loaded with approximately 2,100 containers and around 1,700 tonnes of heavy fuel. With the bow of the ship on the reef and the stern floating, structural cracking in the hull began to appear within two weeks of the grounding. The ship has now finally broken completely in half. There is now concern that the stern of the ship could sink, potentially causing a new oil spill. Also between 200 and 300 containers are believed to have fallen into the sea when the ship broke up, creating additional hazards to navigation. Thanks to Alaric Bond for passing the news along and the Phil Leon for pointing out the video.
2012-01-08 – 3NEWS – RENA BREAKS IN HALF IN SEVERE STORMS
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In early December, on her maiden voyage, the VLOC (Very Large Ore Carrier) 
Update: 
Waves behave nicer now and the wind is blowing from behind so Guppy still keeps rolling back and forth. Yet the wind is pulling at 15 knots which is unusual around here in the doldrums. Guppy is getting to be an oven now so I sleep during the day and stay up at night… and it is nice, what with the moonlit sea and the many many thousand stars up above.. It is real cool just to look at. Good winds keep Guppy happy and we are making good progress too with 3000 nautical miles already done which is more than halfway through this crossing. Let’s hope the second half will be just as good… Laura
A very interesting, if ambitious, new project. While we often focus on the Georgian Navy, the Royal Navy during the Restoration is fascinating it own right. The 
Given that we live on an ocean planet, it is remarkable how little know of the creatures of the sea. Recently, for example, scientists discovered the first hybrid sharks to be found in Australian waters. Also, teams of American and British researchers have just discovered new species of life in deep sea hydrothermal vents.
The headline in the Liverpool Daily Post reads, “
It would have been almost funny, if billions of dollars were not at stake. As we posted last June, the
Last week we posted about 
For roughly the last fifty years, the US Coast Guard regulations for the loading and stability of passenger vessels has assumed an average weight of 160 pounds per person. Conceding to the reality of a more corpulent population, the regulations were updated last month, increasing the 
On the first leg of the 
In 2009, the non profit foundation that owns the 
Joe Follansbee at the