An unlikely nautical relic of World War II, the BRP Sierra Madre, sits hard aground on Second Thomas Shoal, an atoll in the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea. Manned by a handful of Philippine marines, the rusting hulk … Continue reading
Tag Archives: Philippines
On July 1, 1942, the submarine USS Sturgeon was on its fifth war patrol in the South China Sea off the northwest coast of the Philippines’ Luzon Island, when it sighted a Japanese troop transport, SS Montevideo Maru. The submarine … Continue reading
Last Friday, the Spanish Navy training ship Juan Sebastian De Elcano arrived in Guam on its journey to retrace the first circumnavigation of the globe 500 years ago. As reported by Stars and Stripes, the four-masted ship — named for … Continue reading
More than 20 cruise ships are departing Manila Bay to escape the wrath of Category 3 Typhoon Vongfong making landfall in the Philippines. Many of the cruise ships had been in the process of repatriating Filipino crew members, a process … Continue reading
The legend of the Flying Dutchman tells of a ship that can never make port and is doomed to sail the oceans forever. The roughly 2,200 passengers and crew of Holland America’s MS Westerdam must feel a bit like the … Continue reading
Two monster storms are bearing down on vulnerable coastlines on opposite sides of the globe. In the Atlantic, Hurricane Florence, now a Category 2 storm, is sending lashing winds, powerful rains and the threat of major flooding as it approaches the … Continue reading
The Bajau people of Indonesia, the Philippines, and Malaysia have lived for centuries at sea as hunter-gatherer nomads. They can spend up to five hours a day underwater, diving for fish, octopus and other seafood. The Bajau do not use any … Continue reading
Researchers have dated stone tools and bones from a butchered rhinoceros and other ancient fauna found in the Philippines’ northern island of Luzon, that date back over 700,000 years, or several hundred thousand years before modern man evolved. So far no human bones have … Continue reading
For those concerned by China’s aggressive expansion into the South China Sea, there is some very good news and some not so good news. The very good news is that an international tribunal in The Hague has overwhelmingly rejected Chinese claims … Continue reading
Day before yesterday, we posted about the body of Manfred Fritz Bajorat, 59, a German sailor, who had been found adrift on his yacht off the Philippines. The body was a dusty grey in color and the sailor was widely … Continue reading
Two fisherman came across a macabre scene on a dismasted derelict sailboat, drifting 40 miles off the coast of Barobo in Surigao del Sur in the Philippines. A figure, the color of dry plaster, was slumped over the chart table … Continue reading
In the aftermath of Super Typhoon Haiyan, the Philippines is beginning to attempt to cope with what has been described as the worst natural disaster in its history. The typhoon hit the archipelago with winds approaching 200 mph and drove … Continue reading
On Friday morning, local time, Super Typhoon Haiyan came shore in the central Philippines. With an estimated maximum sustained winds of 195 mph and gusts to 235 mph, Haiyan is one of the most powerful storms ever recorded anywhere in the … Continue reading
Despite being smaller than the USS Guardian and spending less time aground on the Tubbataha reef, the Chinese fishing vessel F/V Min Long Yu, which ran aground on the protected reef on April 8, apparently did more damage than the US Navy minesweeper. In addition … Continue reading
You can’t make this stuff up. Only a week after the last wreckage of the minesweeper USS Guardian was removed from the reef in the Philippines’ Tubbataha National Marine Park, a UNESCO-designated World Heritage Site, where it ran hard aground on January … Continue reading
Today in Japan, the US Navy officially decommissioned the minesweeper USS Guardian. On the Tubbataha Reef, where the ship ran aground on January 17, salvage operations have again been delayed by bad weather. The salvage plan is to cut the ship into pieces and to haul … Continue reading
The minesweeper USS Guardian ran aground early this morning on a reef in the Philippines’ Tubbataha National Marine Park. The park is a World Heritage Site in the Sulu Sea, 640 kilometers (400 miles) southeast of Manila. USS Guardian is an … Continue reading
Last month we posted about a stand-off between Chinese fishing vessels and Philippine Coast Guard ships at Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea. Both nations claim sovereignty over the area. Even the island name is in contention. The Philipines refers to Scarborough Shoal as Panatag … Continue reading
When US Coast Guard inspectors came aboard the bulk carrier M/V Aquarosa in Baltimore in February of 2011, a junior engineer slipped them a note, which read, “I have sometheng to till you but secret.” The engineer, Salvatore Lopez, from the Philippines, had collected evidence of the illegal … Continue reading
The perhaps poorly named MV Double Prosperity, loaded with 65,000 tons of coal, grounded on Bakud Reef on Sunday in Sarangani Bay in the Philippines. Stranded ship threatens Philippine reef … Continue reading