Horse Sand Fort Image: Graham Horn
Between 1865-80, four forts were built in the Solent to protect Portsmouth and its harbor from sea attack and bombardment. Locally known as “Palmerston’s Follies” after the Prime Minister of the time, they were built in response to an invasion scare that was long over by the time the forts were completed.
Recently, one of the four forts, Horse Sand Fort, was sold by businessman Mike Clare for £715,000. In American real estate parlance, Horse Sand Fort might be referred to as a “fixer-upper.” The 200′ diameter round fort with two floors, referred to as “derelict” by the BBC, is in need of considerable refurbishment.
“Have you heard of a ship called the good Reuben James?” (If you do, it may be from the 
Thousands of dead crabs, lobsters, and fish washed up recently along Teesside beaches on the UK’s North East coast. Waist deep piles of seaweed and dead and dying crustaceans and fish have been reported. Variously described as the “worst case ever seen” and “
On Halloween, Sunday, October 31, at 2:30 Pacific Time (5:30 Eastern TIme), 
For years, 
In one of the stranger maritime stories of late, the 
One of the traditions of US icebreakers operating in the Arctic is “ice liberty.” When an icebreaker encounters a thick ice floe, the crew is allowed liberty to get off the vessel to walk about or play games from touch football to hockey. 
In 1960, the archaeological remains of Norse buildings were discovered at 
The 
On Thursday, 
Following an 
While under tow in the Guayas River, near Guayaquil, Ecuador, the 250′ long Brazilian sail training ship 
In early October, a crack in a pipeline off the coast of Huntington Beach, California spilled some 3,000 barrels (126,000 gallons) of crude oil into the Pacific Ocean. On Saturday, the 
For several years, the 
The wreck of the legendary cutter