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Monthly Archives: December 2010
USS Pegasus and the Littoral Combat Ships
David Hayes passed along a video of the USS Pegasus, a hydrofoil patrol boat that was billed as the “vanguard of the new navy,” thirty five years ago. While the Pegasus was not the first of many hydrofoils as was intended in 1975, the development … Continue reading
Posted in Current, History, Lore of the Sea, Ships
Tagged hydrofoil patrol boat, LCS, littoral combat ships, U.S.S Independence, USS Pegasus
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Did the Fixed CO2 System on the Carnival Splendor Fail?
The Maritime Blog and the Professional Mariner are pointing to two Marine Safety Alerts issued by the Coast Guard today which may suggest that the fixed CO2 system on the Carnival Splendor failed. The Safety Alerts do not identify the ship by … Continue reading
Posted in Current, Lore of the Sea, Ships
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Coast Guard Videos of the Year 2010 – Vote for your Favorite
The U.S. Coast Guard is posting the top 11 rescue/mission videos of 2010. Starting today they will be posting one video per day. There are three ways to vote for your favorite video. Either “like” the video on the Coast Guard Youtube … Continue reading
Lighthouse Ice Sculpture – Welcome to Winter
The photos and video clip are almost a week old but nevertheless seem like an excellent way to welcome in the winter. This ice sculpture is the Cleveland Harbor West Pierhead Lighthouse on Lake Erie. Happy Winter Solstice to everyone North of … Continue reading
Laura Dekker Arrives in St. Maarten
Fifteen-year-old Dutch sailor, Laura Dekker, arrived in St. Maarten after a 2,200 nautical-mile voyage from the Cape Verde Islands off West Africa. She sailed from Gibraltar on August 21 and spent two months in the Canary Islands waiting for the hurricane … Continue reading
First Solstice Lunar Eclipse in 456 years
Sailors in the western hemisphere will see the first lunar eclipse to fall on the solstice in the last 456 years. According to NASA, the last time the two celestial events happened at the same time was in AD 1554. Solstice Lunar … Continue reading
Richard Pendered – Helped Break “Shark” Enigma Cipher And to Sink the Scharnhorst
Perhaps foreshadowing our own information age, World War II’s “Battle of the Atlantic” between German submarine wolf-packs and Allied convoys was largely won and nearly lost by the code breakers of Bletchley Park. In 1940, Alan Turing had begun to … Continue reading
Posted in Current, History, Lore of the Sea
Tagged Battle of the Atlantic, Bletchely Park, Enigma, Richard Pendered, Scharnhorst
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Brigantine Søren Larsen Larsen Available for Sale by Syndication
The brigantine Soren Larsen was built in Denamrk in 1948 and traded extensively in Baltic, British and European ports until 1972. In the 1970s she starred in the popular BBC television drama series, The Onedin Line. She has also … Continue reading
Posted in Current, Lore of the Sea, Ships
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What is AMVER?
What is AMVER? They are the most amazing world-wide maritime search and rescue network that you probably have never heard of. AMVER stands for the Automated Mutual Assistance Vessel Rescue System. It was founded over fifty years ago, in 1958, and currently over 19,000 ships … Continue reading
HMS Temeraire, USS Olympia, and the American Racer – A Few Thoughts on Ship Preservation
Bernard Cornwell‘s introduction to his review of Sam Willis’s book, “The Fighting Temeraire,” is as dramatic as it is sadly accurate. He writes: At Penn’s Landing in Philadelphia, the battle-cruiser USS Olympia lies glorious and doomed. The oldest steel warship in … Continue reading
Posted in Current, History, Lore of the Sea, Ships
Tagged American Racer, Bernard Cornwell, HMS Temeraire, Sam Willis, The Fighting Temeraire, USS Olympia
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Second Leg of the Velux Five Oceans Race Underway
The second leg of the Velux Five Oceans singlehanded around the world race began today with the five competitors setting sail from Cape Town, South Africa bound for Wellington, NZ, a 7,000 mile voyage across the wild Southern Ocean. Brad Van Liew, … Continue reading
Statue Cruises fuel cell powered hybrid ferry for New York harbor
Earlier this week we posted about Cakewalk, a luxury yacht built at Derecktor Shipyards in Bridgeport, Conn. Here is quite different vessel now under construction at Derecktor. Statue Cruises, a subsidiary of Hornblower Cruises, has hired Derecktor to construct the world’s … Continue reading
Repairs delayed on Carnival Splendor – Idle Speculation
Carnival Cruise Line posted the following today on their website: Carnival Cruise Lines has cancelled additional departures of the Carnival Splendor including the January 16, 23, 30 and February 6 and 13, 2011 voyages to allow for additional repair time … Continue reading
Posted in Current, Lore of the Sea, Ships
Tagged Carnival Cruise Lines, Carnival Splendor, drydock
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Tragedy on Christmas Island – Asylum Seekers Die in Shipwreck
A horrific story from Australia’s Christmas Island where a boat carrying asylum-seekers believed to be from Iraq and Iran broke up in rough after striking rocks offshore. Forty two people were been rescued and twenty seven have been confirmed dead, though that … Continue reading
Posted in Current, Lore of the Sea, Ships
Tagged Asylum Seekers, Australia, Christmas Island, shipwreck
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