Black Moon on the Rise

Posted on by August 22, 2025

On Saturday, August 23, a black moon will rise in the night sky. Of course, you won’t be able to see it, but weather permitting, the stargazing should be phenomenal all the same.

A black moon is defined as the third new moon in a season of four new moons or as the second new moon in the same calendar month. Normally, each season has three new moons, but the lunar cycle doesn’t line up perfectly with our calendar. Every so often, an “extra” new moon sneaks in, and that occurred on May 19, 2023.

A new moon refers to the phase when the moon’s Earth-facing side is fully in shadow. A new moon is, in essence, the opposite of a full moon when the moon’s Earth-facing side is fully illuminated by sunlight. A blue moon is the full moon equivalent of a black moon, when there are two full moons within the same calendar month.

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Fire on Navy Amphib USS New Orleans Extinguished After 12 Hours, 2 Sailors Injured

Posted on by August 22, 2025

A fire broke out Wednesday afternoon, August 20, aboard the San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock ship USS New Orleans (LPD 18). The ship was anchored near White Beach Naval Facility, Okinawa, Japan. The fire was declared extinguished at 4 a.m., August 21. Two Sailors were taken to New Orleans’ medical for minor injuries. The cause of the fire is currently under investigation.

According to a statement from the 7th fleet, firefighting efforts by the New Orleans sailors were also supported by the crew of the amphibious transport dock ship USS San Diego (LPD 22), which is moored at White Beach Naval Facility. Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force, Japan Coast Guard, and US Navy commands from across Commander, Fleet Activities Okinawa also provided critical support to the firefighting efforts.

New Orleans’ crew will remain aboard the ship. Additional services and berthing are available aboard San Diego and Commander, Fleet Activities Okinawa, if needed.

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Ukraine Widens Naval War — Sinks Russian Arms Ship In Caspian Sea in Drone Strike

Posted on by August 20, 2025

For a country without a significant navy, Ukraine’s naval and aerial drones have done considerable damage to Russia’s Black Sea fleet, destroying or disabling roughly a third of its ships.

Now, for the first time, the Ukrainians have reached well beyond the Black Sea to launch a drone strike on a Russian cargo vessel in the Caspian Sea. The attack took place in the Caspian Sea port of Olya, targeting the 400-foot-long, 4,900-gross-ton Port Olya-4, which was reported to be transporting Iranian-made drone components and ammunition.

The attack was carried out by Ukraine’s Special Operations Forces in coordination with other branches of the armed forces on August 14, according to a statement from Ukraine’s General Staff.

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Bulk Carrier Fire and Explosion Temporarily Halts Traffic in the Port of Baltimore

Posted on by August 19, 2025

On Monday night, an explosion and fire erupted aboard the W-Sapphire, a 751-foot-long, 82,000 DWT bulk carrier, in the Patapsco River, outbound from Baltimore harbor.

The Liberian-registered bulker had just loaded coal at CSX’s Curtis Bay terminal and was beginning its voyage to Mauritius when the explosion occurred around 6:30 p.m. local time. The ship had 23 crew members and two pilots on board. No injuries were reported. 

The explosion took place in the Patapsco River, less than half a mile from the remains of the Key Bridge, which partially collapsed on March 26, 2024, after being struck by the container ship Dali. That tragedy killed six construction workers and left Baltimore Harbor closed for months. Demolition of the collapsed bridge is still ongoing, and a replacement is not expected before 2028.

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Crew Prevents Fire From Spreading Aboard Ultra Large Container Ship Marie Maersk

Posted on by August 18, 2025

On the morning of Wednesday, August 13, a serious fire broke out on board AP Moller-Maersk’s ultra-large container ship Marie Maersk while sailing off the coast of Liberia. It was reported that the crew initially observed smoke from containers on deck while the vessel was en route from Rotterdam, the Netherlands, to Tanjung Pelepas, Malaysia.

According to Maersk, the crew immediately initiated emergency procedures and began fighting the fire on board. The company confirmed that all crew members are safe and that the vessel remains in stable condition.

Over the weekend, firefighting efforts by the crew prevented the blaze from spreading further. To support their efforts, two tugs reached the ship later on Wednesday to provide firefighting assistance. In recent days, an additional tugboat and one offshore supply vessel, both equipped with firefighting gear, reached the ship.

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Executives of $29M Hawaii Tourist Sub Scam Sentenced to Prison

Posted on by August 12, 2025

Semisub One was billed as “one of the world’s most luxurious high-tech watercraft.” It was promised to be the first of a fleet of sleek, semi-submersible vessels with air-conditioned cabins and panoramic underwater views. 

 Semisub’s CEO, Curtiss Jackson, and its President, Jamey Denise Jackson, told investors for years that the prototype vessel was “weeks” or “months” away from beginning operations. For more than a decade, the married couple name-dropped major cruise line contracts, cited Coast Guard approvals, and claimed that sea trials were already underway. The brochures looked polished. The website was confident. Together, the couple raised $29 million dollars from investors.

The problem, according to federal prosecutors, was that none of it was true. There were no shipyards, no subs under construction, no contracts in motion.

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Chinese Ships Collide While Pursuing Philippine Patrol Craft in South China Sea

Posted on by August 11, 2025

For more than a decade, the waters around the Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea have been claimed by the Philippines, China, and Taiwan. In recent years, China has been particularly aggressive in asserting its claim. 

Today, two Chinese ships, the China Coast Guard cutter 3104 and the Chinese Type 052D guided-missile destroyer Guilin, attempted to block the passage of the Philippine Coast Guard cutter, BRP Suluan.  The Chinese seriously botched the maneuver.

The BRP Suluan and two other Philippine vessels were distributing aid to fishermen in the shoal when the two Chinese ships attempted to blockade the Suluan while firing water cannon. TWZ reports what transpired:

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Will US Regime’s Cuts in Science Funding Surrender Antarctica to the Russians and Chinese?

Posted on by August 10, 2025

Under one of the most successful treaties in the world, Antarctica has been a refuge for peace and science. Military activity has been prohibited, and the environment has been protected. The Antarctic Treaty, in force since 1961, promotes international collaboration and lays aside the territorial claims of seven countries, which have all agreed not to act on their claimed ownership.

There are real concerns that all this may change as the current US regime slashes funding to key science programs on the frozen continent. The National Science Foundation — the primary agency that funds and oversees activities in both Antarctica and the Arctic — is proposing massive research cuts to polar science in 2026. Around 70 percent of the money currently in that pot for both poles could vanish.

There are also cuts being finalised for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which leads US Antarctic fisheries science, and the lease on the US icebreaker Nathaniel B. Palmer is also set to be terminated.

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Update: Terminally Ill Sailor, Jazz Turner, Plans to Compete in Round the World Race

Posted on by August 8, 2025

We recently posted about Jazz Turner, a terminally ill sailor, who became the first disabled person to circumnavigate the British Isles non-stop and unassisted. Now, the 27-year-old engineer, a full-time wheelchair user, has a new goal.  She has set her sights on becoming the first disabled female sailor to complete a solo global race. She hopes to sail in the Royal Western Yacht Club’s around-the-world WorldStar challenge.

The 27-year-old told BBC Radio Sussex that she had started planning the challenge three hours after completing the 2,070 mile (3,331km) trip around the British Isles. Turner said the challenge will require sourcing the right boat and sponsorship. “I’ve always been drawn to challenges that push me to my edge. I face many a ‘no’ in my life, but I do my best to turn them into ‘yes’,” she said. “The right partnership could turn this vision into reality.”

Turner lives with Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, a debilitating genetic condition that affects connective tissue. Her doctors have told her that her condition is now terminal, due to complications.

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The Silence of the Blue Whales and the Blob

Posted on by August 7, 2025

A recent study by the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) observed that blue whale vocalizations off the coast of Northern California decreased by 40% over a six-year period. 

Blue whales are the largest animals to ever live on Earth. They surpass even the largest dinosaurs in size, reaching lengths of up to 100 feet and weights of 200 tons. Researchers were concerned about what the observed decrease in the blue whale song meant to the health of the whale population. 

Researchers observed that the dramatic drop in whale song coincided with an oceanic heat wave in the Northern Pacific. The heat wave began in 2013, when a stubborn, dense pool of hot water — later dubbed The Blob — moved from the Bering Sea and the Gulf of Alaska down the eastern North American coast.

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Over 90 Dead In Yemen Migrant Shipwreck

Posted on by August 6, 2025

On Tuesday, Yemeni officials said that at least 96 people died when a migrant boat sank in the Gulf of Aden off Yemen’s coast. Officials said that 32 people were rescued and dozens were still missing in what a senior official from the International Organization for Migration (IOM) described as “one of the deadliest” shipwrecks off Yemen this year. The UN migration agency said 157 people were onboard the boat when it capsized.

The boat carrying mostly Ethiopian migrants sank on Sunday. The IOM’s Yemen head, Abdusattor Esoev, said the boat had been on a dangerous route often used by people-smugglers and was heading to Abyan governorate in southern Yemen, a frequent destination for boats smuggling African people hoping to reach the wealthy Gulf states.

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USCG Report: Titan Implosion and the Loss of Five Lives was Preventable Tragedy

Posted on by August 5, 2025

After a two-year investigation, the US Coast Guard Marine Board of Investigation (MBI) has released a 335-page report on the loss of the Titan, a submersible designed, built, and operated by the American underwater-tourism company OceanGate. The submersible imploded during a June 2023 dive to the Titanic, killing five people. The report concluded that the loss of the commercial submersible was a preventable tragedy.

The board determined the primary contributing factors were OceanGate’s inadequate design, certification, maintenance, and inspection process for the Titan. Other factors cited in the report include a toxic workplace culture at OceanGate, an inadequate domestic and international regulatory framework for submersible operations and vessels of novel design, and an ineffective whistleblower process under the Seaman’s Protection Act.

Much of the blame goes to the Chief Executive Stockton Rush, the US Coast Guard said. He was on board and also died in the disaster. The report found he “exhibited negligence that contributed to the deaths of four individuals”.

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USCG Investigation of Desmasting of Schooner Grace Bailey Cites Rotten Mast & Faulty Inspection

Posted on by August 4, 2025

On Monday, October 9, 2023, the schooner Grace Bailey was returning to Rockland, ME, from a four-day Fall Foliage cruise, when an upper section of the main mast broke and fell to the deck, killing one passenger and injuring five others. Last Thursday, the US Coast Guard’s Office of Investigations and Casualty Analysis published a report of the investigation into the dismasting of the 1882-built schooner. 

The report concluded that the mast failed due to severe internal rot, which significantly weakened the structural integrity of the mast, making it prone to failure under stress. Based on the observed mast conditions and assumed fungal growth rates, it was clear that rot had existed for several years.

Also, inadequate protection, treatment, and inspections allowed undetected
rot to spread throughout the Grace Bailey mainmast, ultimately leading
to failure.

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Court Orders $1 Bn Payment in X-Press Pearl Disaster as the Nurdle Nightmare Continues

Posted on by July 29, 2025

Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court has ordered the owners and operators of the container ship  X-Press Pearl to pay $1bn USD in compensation for the devastating environmental and economic damage caused when the ship caught fire and sank off Colombo in 2021.

The sinking has been described as the worst marine ecological disaster in Sri Lankan history. X-Press Pearl was loaded with 1,486 containers, containing a range of chemicals, including 25 tons of nitric acid, as well as 1,600 tonnes of low-density polyethylene pellets, commonly referred to as nurdles. 

Nurdles are the raw materials that are melted to make plastic products. An estimated 70 to 75 billion plastic nurdles spilled along Sri Lanka’s western coastline in the sinking, covering the shoreline in a toxic blizzard of white plastic pellets, creating the largest plastic spill ever recorded. 

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Legendary Schooner Shenandoah to be Retired

Posted on by July 27, 2025

Sad news reported by the Vineyard Gazette. After 63 years sailing the waters around Martha’s Vineyard, the legendary schooner Shenandoah will sail her last season next summer.

Martha’s Vineyard Ocean Academy, the educational nonprofit that currently owns and operates Shenandoah, announced that the final voyage will take place at the end of the 2026 summer season.

The Gazette reports that the decision to retire the boat began after the spring haul-out and a U.S. Coast Guard inspection that showed continued repairs and upkeep would no longer be feasible, according to Ian Ridgeway and Casey Blum, the sailing captains who co-founded Martha’s Vineyard Ocean Academy.

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