The minesweeper USS Guardian ran aground early this morning on a reef in the Philippines’ Tubbataha National Marine Park. The park is a World Heritage Site in the Sulu Sea, 640 kilometers (400 miles) southeast of Manila. USS Guardian is an Avenger-class minesweeper which had just ended a port call at Subic Bay and was bound for Puerto Princesa when it struck the reef. Thus far there have been no reports of fuel oil leaks. The Navy said in a statement that the crew of the USS Guardian was working to find out the best method of safely extracting the ship. The 224′ long ship has a wooden hull, sheathed in fiberglass, and was built at Peterson Shipbuilders. The Guardian is based in Sasebo, Japan.
US navy ship runs aground on Tubbataha Reef
It is not clear whether coral has been damaged by the grounding. The Philippine government assess a fine of roughly $300 dollars per square meter of coral damaged. In 2005, the environmental group Greenpeace paid a fine of around $7,000 after their flagship Rainbow Warrior also grounded on Tubbataha reef. Thanks to Ulrich Rudofsky for contributing to this post.
When I first visited New York’s South Street Seaport in the early 70s, it was a fairly lonely place. There was no shopping mall on Pier 17 and the high-end chain-stores like Guess, Abecrombe and Fitch and Brookstone had not yet been attracted to the historic buildings along Fulton, Water and Front Streets. Many of the old warehouses and boarding houses were still shuttered.
The Norwegian shipyard Fjellstrand and Siemens are developing the world’s first electrically powered car ferry. Starting in 2015, the 80-meter ferry will will operate across the Sognefjord between the towns of Lavik and Oppedal. The ferry will have the capacity to carry 120 cars and 360 passengers. Remarkably the batteries which power the ferry will be able to recharge in only 10 minutes.
If the reporting is accurate, this doesn’t seem like the argument that Carnival should be making.
On the island of Giglio in Italy’s Tyrrhenian Sea, relatives of the 32 passengers and crew who died when the 
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The New York Times, this morning, features in their “
They are the subject of myth and legend, the giant squid who battle massive sperms whales and leave battle scars on the whales’ flesh. Now for the first time in history, a living giant squid has been recorded in its own habitat, nearly a third of a mile below the surface. Dead giant squids have been found washed up on shore or caught in nets but this is the first time that one has been seen live on video. Thanks to 