Featured Books

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Fighting Temeraire by Sam Willis

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Live Yankees: The Sewalls and Their Ships by W. H. Bunting

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His Majesty's Ship by Alaric Bond

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Galveston's the Elissa: The Tall Ship of Texas by Kurt Voss

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My River Chronicles - Rediscovering the America on the Hudson by Jessica DuLong

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The Frigate Surprise: The Complete Story of the Ship Made Famous in the Novels of Patrick O'Brian by by Geoff Hunt and Brian Lavery

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James Nelson's
George Washington's Secret Navy

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Defying Empire:Trading with the Enemy in Colonial New York by Thomas Truxes

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Deadly Shoals, a Wiki Coffin Mystery by Joan Druett

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Star Crossed
by Linda Collison

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The Privateer's Revenge: A Kydd Sea Adventure (Kydd Sea Adventures)

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Peter Wicked: A Matty Graves Novel (The Matty Graves Novels)

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The Jackass Frigate by
Alaric Bond

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Steady As She Goes
by John Molloy

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Voyages, the Age of Sail: Documents in American Maritime History, Volume I, 1492-1865

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Expedition Whydah: The Story of the World's First Excavation of a Pirate Treasure Ship and the Man Who Found Her

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Jewish Pirates of the Caribbean: How a Generation of Swashbuckling Jews Carved Out an Empire in the New World in Their Quest for Treasure, Religious Freedom--and Revenge

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The Illustrated Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time

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Recent Comments

• Rick on USS Dewey and the Olympia
• Andy on USS Dewey and the Olympia
• Former Woman Marine on The Rise and Fall of a Female Captain Bligh?
• Sabrina on The Cove, documentary about Japanese dolphin slaughter, wins Academy Award
• USS Dewey and the Olympia : Old Salt Blog – a virtual port of call for all those who love the sea on Update: SS Olympia – Stuck in Philadelphia by Sandbars and Scandal
• BBC videocast on the City of Adelaide : Old Salt Blog – a virtual port of call for all those who love the sea on The City of Adelaide – the Oldest & Just Barely Surviving Clipper Ship
• Tsunami warning came too late for Robinson Crusoe Island : Old Salt Blog – a virtual port of call for all those who love the sea on Three Hundred and One Years Ago, Woodes Rogers Rescues Alexander Selkirk
• Rick on Full Fathom Five Thy Father Lies…
• Brenda on Full Fathom Five Thy Father Lies…
• Rick on New ferry to start Tonga service in November
• Senior Chief, U.S. Navy (Active) on The Rise and Fall of a Female Captain Bligh?
• Buck on 3D Laser Scanning the Hold of the Charles W. Morgan
• CAPT. D. Peter Boucher. Dip LA., MN (Ret.) on New ferry to start Tonga service in November
• Rick on The Cove, documentary about Japanese dolphin slaughter, wins Academy Award
• John Molloy on The Cove, documentary about Japanese dolphin slaughter, wins Academy Award

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Reflections on Parodies, Spoofs and Downright Weirdness

Looking at the two stories that we posted about today, both were odd, at best, and both bordered on the hard to believe.  The first, about a ship’s figurehead covered by a burkha-like covering in order to enter a Libyan port, was simply weird.  To my knowledge, the story was true. 

The second post – a story about a luxury “Pirate Cruise”  – was a spoof, yet has been mistaken for the truth by at least four of the “mainstream media” outlets. 

The events of the world today are indeed strange enough that it is not always easy to tell fact from fiction, the satire from the merely odd.    Then again,  some of the best and truest stories are sea-stories.  The challenge is to keep in mind where the facts end and the fiction begins.

Comments

Video of the Moment

HMS Surprise and Star of India

Also featuring the Californian
and the Lynx

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