Featured Books
Monthly Archives: March 2010
Update: HMS Superb – Royal Navy Court Martial
Last January we posted about the the HMS Superb, a British nuclear submarine, which in 2008 crashed into a massive stone pinnacle under the Red Sea. (See Submarines Navigating Badly.) Now the commander and two other officers have been … Continue reading
Posted in Lore of the Sea
Leave a comment
Update: Katie Spotz Completes her Row Across the Atlantic
Last December we posted about Katie Spotz’s attempt to row across the Atlantic alone. Yesterday she arrived in Georgetown, Guyana, in South America, after 70 days 5 hours 22 minutes in the Atlantic. Spotz, 22, is now the youngest person … Continue reading
Posted in Lore of the Sea
Leave a comment
Dog skeleton from Mary Rose displayed in Portsmouth
One salty dog, indeed. Thanks to David Hayes for passing the article along. Dog skeleton from Mary Rose displayed in Portsmouth A dog which sailed aboard the Mary Rose ship 465 years ago is to take up residence in the … Continue reading
Posted in Lore of the Sea
Leave a comment
Happy Pi Day (3.14) and a Toast to Hakudo Maru
Some call today Pi day, as the first three digits of the date (3.14) are the first three digits of the constant pi used to calculate the circumference and area of a circle. Which makes it a good day to raise a toast … Continue reading
Posted in Lore of the Sea
Leave a comment
At 95 years old, Newport News-built MV Doulos again avoids scrapyard
The 58 year old, SS United States, built at Newport News, may be at risk of being scrapped but it now appears that the MV Doulos, the world’s oldest ocean-going passenger vessel, may not be making a trip to the … Continue reading
Posted in Current, Lore of the Sea, Ships
Leave a comment
The Maritime Art of Patrick O’Brien – No, not that Patrick O’Brian
The U.S. Naval Academy Museum will be hosting a large exhibition of paintings by Patrick O’Brien through April 30th. No, not that Patrick O’Brian, Patrick O’Brien the Baltimore based maritime artist. The Annapolis Marine Art Gallery will be hosting … Continue reading
Posted in Galleries, Lore of the Sea
Leave a comment
Bad News and Slightly Less Bad News about Somali Piracy
The monsoons have ended which means that it is pirate season again off the coast of Somalia and in the Gulf of Aden. The bad news is that it is now estimated that piracy off Somalia is costing the international … Continue reading
Posted in Current
Leave a comment
Updates: Comfort Sails Home, Jewel of Muscat Sails on, and Bounty Reanactors get Ready to Sail
A few updates on previous posts: The USNS Comfort, the Navy hospital ship deployed to Haiti after the earthquake is on her way home: Navy hospital ship to begin journey home from Haiti The Jewel of Muscat, the replica of … Continue reading
Posted in Current, Lore of the Sea, Ships
Leave a comment
Gribbles? A Biofuel Breakthrough?
Gribbles? A wood eating marine pest may lead to a breakthrough in biofuels? What’s next? Teredo worms as a cure for cancer? An intriguing article from the Times. Thanks to Alaric Bond for the reference. ‘Gribble’ marine pest may be key … Continue reading
Posted in Lore of the Sea
Leave a comment
Still Fighting over the Battleship Graf Spee
There is an interesting ongoing conflict over the salvaging of the German pocket battleship Admiral Graf Spee which was scuttled in the River Plate in 1939. A Uruguayan businessman has been salving parts of the Graf Spee for the last ten … Continue reading
USS Dewey and the Olympia
Dewey on the Olympia at Manila Bay I am not sure if it is irony or merely a confirmation that Faulkner was right – the past isn’t dead. It isn’t even past. Not long after the Independence Seaport Museum in Philadelphia … Continue reading
Posted in History, Lore of the Sea, Ships
Leave a comment
BBC videocast on the City of Adelaide
We had previously posted about a BBC videocast of a documentary segment about attempts to save the composite clipper City of Adelaide. The videocast was available to UK residents only. Thanks to David Hayes for pointing out that the … Continue reading
Posted in Current, Lore of the Sea, Ships
Leave a comment
Tsunami warning came too late for Robinson Crusoe Island
In early February we observed the anniversary of the rescue of Alexander Selkirk from the tiny island Mas a Tierra, in the Juan Fernandez archipelago off the coast of Chile. Selkirk would be the model for Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe and Mas a Tierra … Continue reading
Posted in Current
Leave a comment
Centuries-old Baltic shipwrecks found
Centuries-old Baltic shipwrecks found A dozen centuries-old shipwrecks — some of them unusually well-preserved — have been discovered in the Baltic Sea by a gas company building an underwater pipeline between Russia and Germany, Swedish experts said Tuesday. The oldest … Continue reading
Posted in Current, History, Ships
Leave a comment
France captures 35 ‘pirates’ in three days off the Somali coast
France captures 35 ‘pirates’ in three days off the Somali coast The French Navy has captured 35 suspected pirates in three days of operations off the coast of Somalia — the biggest haul in the two years since EU naval … Continue reading
Posted in Current, Ships
Leave a comment
