Happy Evacuation Day! 240 years ago today, on November 25, 1783, the last shot of the American Revolution was fired by a gunner on a departing Royal Navy ship at jeering crowds gathered on the shore of Staten Island, at the mouth of New York Harbor. The shot went wide, missing its target.
Sir Guy Carleton had ordered his troops to sail at noon on November 25th. George Washington and an honor guard from the Continental Army marched in shortly thereafter. Before Washington could arrive, officially ending the seven-year occupation of New York, the British flag, which had been nailed to a greased flag pole at the Battery, needed to be taken down. John Van Arsdale, a survivor of a British prison ship, climbed the greasy pole, ripped down the Union Jack, and nailed up the Stars and Stripes. For years, greased pole climbing contests were popular in celebrations of Evacuation Day in New York.
Happy Thanksgiving to those on this side of the pond and below the 49th parallel. (The Canadians celebrated the holiday in October.)
Yemen’s Houthi rebels seized the vehicle carrier
A popular, full-day excursion to 
Intriguing news from 
The world’s newest island has risen from the Pacific Ocean off the Japanese island of Iwo Jima after an underwater volcanic eruption that began toward the end of October. In just 10 days, volcanic ash and rocks built up on the shallow seabed, forming an island that emerged from below the water’s surface. The eruption has now subsided.
A disturbing account of the 
A wonderful story from 
In August, we posted 
Of the various wind assist technologies available for commercial shipping, which is the most cost-efficient? It is likely, too soon to tell. AIrbus is reported to be trying two different approaches — retrofitting one existing ship with suction sails and building three new ships with Flettner rotors.