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Monthly Archives: January 2011
Death on the Volendam in Lyttelton Harbour – crew member killed in lifeboat accident
Update: While originally reported that two crew members were knocked overboard during “a lifeboat training exercise,” it is now being reported that the sailors were performing lifeboat maintenance. The commenter (below) reports that both men were wearing safety harnesses which … Continue reading
Posted in Current, Lore of the Sea, Ships
Tagged Holland American cruise ship, Lyttelton Harbour, New Zealand, Volendam
7 Comments
MS Veendam off Cape Horn
Here is reminder of what the Southern Ocean can be like even in the Summer months. About a month ago the MS Veendam made a cruise from the Falklands to Patagonia and ran into a storm. Waves of over 30 … Continue reading
The Tale of the Mermaid Pods – Carnival Awarded $24 million in lawsuit with Rolls Royce
This week Carnival Cruise Lines was awarded $24 million in a lawsuit with Rolls Royce related to the repeated failure of the ”Mermaid Pods” on Carnival’s Cunard Line ship, Queen Mary 2. Last year about this time Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines reached a $65 million settlement … Continue reading
Posted in Lore of the Sea
2 Comments
Death at Sea – A question of jurisdiction
A Ukrainian sailor, on a Dutch ship in international waters steaming toward Houston, Texas, got into a fight with a fellow crew member New Year’s Eve and the next morning was found dead in his cabin. An autopsy is being performed to determine the … Continue reading
USS Kittiwake Sleeps with the Fishes
The USS Kittiwake, a 1945-vintage submarine rescue ship, was scuttled this week off Grand Cayman’s Seven Mile Beach in the Caribbean to become a destination for reef fish and sport divers. The ship settled onto the bottom on an even keel … Continue reading
Posted in Current, Lore of the Sea, Ships
Tagged Grand Cayman, scuttle, Seven Mile Beach, USS Kittiwake
1 Comment
Cruise Industry Changes – Boston Sets Record, Philly Pulling Out, and Cruises Returning to Cuba
The cruise industry continues to change. While Boston reported a record number of cruise passengers traveling through its cruise terminal in 2010, the city of Philadelphia is planning on turning its cruise terminal into an an Urban Outfitters retail store, having only two cruise ships scheduled to call … Continue reading
Posted in Current, Lore of the Sea, Ships
Tagged Boston, cruise ships, cruise terminal, Cuba, Philadelphia
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Videos that didn’t get the Captain fired
Despite the implication that nobody in the Navy brass has a sense of humor, there are lots of of fun videos floating around the ‘net made on US Navy ships that suggest otherwise. My personal favorites all tend to be lip-sincing … Continue reading
Moby Dick Marathon at the New Bedford Whaling Museum
There is no bad time to read Melville. For the past 15 years in early January, the New Bedford Whaling Museum has a held a Moby Dick Marathon, an event which includes a non-stop reading of the great American novel. … Continue reading
Posted in Lore of the Sea
3 Comments
Cockleshell Heroes – The Final Witness, a new book by Quentin Rees
On the night of December 7,1942 ten British commandos set off in five wood and canvas canoes from a British submarine in the Bay of Biscay off the coast of occupied France. Their intent was to paddle 75 miles up the Gironde estuary and attack … Continue reading
Posted in History, Newbooks, Seastories
Tagged Bordeaux, British commandos, Cockleshell Heroes, Gironde estuary, Quentin Rees, Second World War
4 Comments
Sea Shepherds Hurt Efforts to Reduce Whaling – WikiLeaks
Rather than pressuring the Japanese to stop whaling, the vigilante violence of the Sea Shepherds made it more difficult for Japanese diplomats to compromise in negotiations to reduce whaling according to documents released by WikiLeaks. WikiLeaks releases documents about anti-whaling group Sea Shepherd
Posted in Current, Lore of the Sea, Ships
Tagged Japanese whaling, Sea Shepherds, WikiLeaks
5 Comments
The Mighty Moth with a Wing Sail – Wow !
This video, which was tweeted about by Sailing Magazine, stunned me. I had never seen an International Moth class boat and had frankly never imagined a hydrofoil boat of this size zipping about like some sort of otherworldly water creature. … Continue reading
Posted in Current, Lore of the Sea
Tagged hydrofoil boat, International Moth, Wing Sail
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Captain Owen Honors relieved of duty on USS Enterprise
The “Support Captain Owen Honors – USS Enterprise” Facebook page has over 11,000 supporters. Admiral John C. Harvey is not one of them. This afternoon, Admiral Harvey relieved Captain Honors of his command. Enterprise captain out; former Ike skipper … Continue reading
Posted in Current, Lore of the Sea, Ships
Tagged Admiral John C. Harvey, Captain Owen Honors, USS Enterprise
3 Comments
The face that launched a stolen skiff – the siren behind the odyssey
As Shakespeare noted, “the course of true love never did run smooth.” That was literally the case when, in early October, Tokelaun teenager Filo Filo, with two of his friends, set off to visit a young lady on the neighboring Fakaofo atoll, some sixty miles … Continue reading
Posted in Current, Lore of the Sea
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Ancient Seafarers & Crete, What Again?
An interesting if odd news item today: Cretan Tools Point To 130,000-Year-Old Sea Travel Archaeologists on the island of Crete have discovered what may be evidence of one of the world’s first sea voyages by human ancestors, the Greek Culture … Continue reading
