Grasping at any excuse to stop thinking about the pandemic, for Throw-back Thursday, here is an updated repost from several years ago about an almost magical ghost ship.
What should a ghost ship be made of? Why not water, wind, and light? That is precisely what the designers at the Romanian art collective Visual Skin used to create the Ghost Ship, a glowing ship of light projected onto flowing water and billowing breezes. It floated gently on the water of canal in Amsterdam, with the spectral sails billowing in the wind. The ghost ship was part of the Amsterdam Light Festival of 2014. Since then the Ghost Ship has also appeared at Spotlight Bucharest and Berlin Leuchtet.
The Ghost Ship was conceived in Amsterdam, as a tribute to all 17th Century Dutch sail ships. It represented the very spirit of the Amsterdam, of the Batavia and of the Flying Dutchman.
Sadly, this is not an April Fools joke. The 
When particularly interesting ships arrive in New York harbor, I like to go down the waterfront, as time permits, to see them in. This morning was chilly and overcast and in the spirit of social distancing, I watched the arrival of the Navy hospital ship USNS Comfort by 
The Navy hospital ship 
We recently 
The U.S. Navy aircraft carrier 
Despite the pandemic caused by the coronavirus, known as Covid-19, ships keep moving across the oceans. Oil tankers, bulk carriers, and container ships carry critical resources and manufactured goods to industry and consumers across the globe. Now, however, dozens of nations, including the 27 nations of the European Union, have temporarily closed their external borders to most foreign nationals.
The US Navy’s newest aircraft carrier, 
If you are among the hundreds of millions locked down during the current coronavirus outbreak and would like to get out, even virtually, you might want to take a virtual tour of the 
Social and the mainstream press have been running stories showing swans and dolphins returning to the canals of Venice in the wake of the shutdowns to limit the coronavirus. The possible silver lining to the overwhelming tragedy in Italy appears, however, to be largely fiction.
In the United States recently, there has been a lot of attention given to those who 
The plan was for the 
More that one hundred Australian doctors and dentists on a medical conference cruise have found themselves stranded onboard the cruise ship 
The story goes that somewhere around the year 400 AD, a lad of 16, named Maewyn Succat, was kidnapped by pirates from his home in what is now Wales and was taken as a slave to Ireland. He was enslaved for six years, during which time he converted to Christianity. He finally escaped and returned to his family. He became a priest and studied at a seminary in France. When he was almost 60, he returned to Ireland. By then Pope Celestine I had given him the name “Patercius” or “Patritius.” We know him better these days as Patrick. He did alright in Ireland. He founded over three hundred churches and apparently had a way with snakes. Today is his feast day or as we call it, St. Patrick’s Day. 
While there is an understandable concern for the passengers on cruise ships struck by the coronavirus, the crews are often overlooked. What challenges do they face and what happens to them when the last passengers leave the ships?
The press release from the