Today, on the 225th anniversary of George Washington signing of the legislation establishing the Revenue-Marine, the predecessor to the United States Coast Guard, President George Washington and his Secretary of the Treasury, Alexander Hamilton, returned to Federal Hall in New … Continue reading
Category Archives: Current
On July 30, 1715 the Spanish Terra Firme and New Spain fleets, bound from Havana to Spain, were hit by a hurricane off the coast of Florida. Eleven ships were blown up on to the reefs and sank. Only one ship … Continue reading
A wing flap from Malaysia Air Flight 370, which disappeared in 2014, has washed up on the island of Reunion in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Africa, roughly 2,300 miles away from where most believe that the plane crashed, on … Continue reading
In early July, the year old Polina Star III – an extended 90ft version of the Oyster 825 — suffered some sort of hull failure and sank off the East Coast of Spain. The Oyster press release describes it as a … Continue reading
As we posted today, Donna Lange has just set off on her second solo circumnavigation on her Southern Cross 28, Inspired Insanity. A photo of the Donna and the boat points out one problem with painting a boat name on … Continue reading
Today, Donna Lange set off today from Bristol, RI on her Southern Cross 28, Inspired Insanity, attempting to sail single-handed nonstop around the world. This will be her second circumnavigation, although the first non-stop. She made two post calls on … Continue reading
Sea sapphires are amazing creatures. These tiny crustaceans flash in brilliant shades of blue, green, red and gold, and then seem to disappear completely, as if by magic. RR Helm wrote in Deep Sea News, “When I first saw a … Continue reading
On Friday, two 14 year old boys went missing in the Atlantic off Jupiter, FL. Their 19′ boat was found capsized on Sunday night. The Coast Guard, and now the Navy, is continuing the search for the teens, Austin Stephanos … Continue reading
Slave labor on fishing boats, particularity in Asia, has been a serious problem for many years. In 2011, we posted about reports that the crews of of chartered fishing vessels operating in New Zealand waters were being systematically abused and … Continue reading
Around the world, pollution is a serious threat to whales. Ironically, on the Faroe Islands, pollution may help to curtail whaling, where protests have failed. The residents of the Faroe Islands in the North Atlantic have been hunting pilot whales for almost … Continue reading
Back in 2011, we posted a short quiz: Is Kick’em Jenny a Dutch rockabilly singer, a Dutch Celtic Symfo-Folk band or an active submarine volcano on the floor of the Caribbean Sea? The answer is yes to all three. I am not sure … Continue reading
First published in gCaptain. Recently, the New York Times published Stowaways and Crimes Aboard Aboard a Scofflaw Ship, the first of a four part series, by Ian Urbina. At the core of the article, Urbina tells the story of two South … Continue reading
Shark attacks are rare. Shark attacks on live television are virtually unprecedented, which is why the video of an encounter between Australian champion surfer, Mick Fanning, and a large shark in the waters off South Africa caught on live TV spread so rapidly … Continue reading
Last weekend, Oliver Hazard Perry, America’s newest and largest civilian sailing school ship sailed into Portland harbor in Maine on her maiden voyage, to participate in the Tall Ships Portland 2015 festival, which wrapped up yesterday. Based in Newport, RI, the … Continue reading
The New York Times is featuring a new four part series, Outlaw Ocean, by Ian Urbina, which presents a vivid and disturbing look at crime at sea. Definitely worth reading. The first installment, Stowaways and Crimes Aboard Aboard a Scofflaw Ship, looks … Continue reading
What’s in a name? Google has renamed a shoal located between the Macclesfield Bank and Luzon island in the South China Sea on their maps as Scarborough Shoal. They had previously identified the hazard to navigation by its Chinese name, … Continue reading
The sketch comedy team of Key and Peele have come up with what may be the very first feminist pirate song, examining issues of respect, equality and consent, as sung by a bunch of scurvy sea dogs. (It is just … Continue reading
Seaworld continues to be bitten by the “Blackfish effect.” In October of 2013, CNN aired “Blackfish,” a scathing documentary which looked at the almost 40 year history of orcas in captivity, leading up to the killing of SeaWorld trainer Dawn … Continue reading
In 2012, Shell’s attempt to drill in the Chukchi Sea in the Alaska’s Arctic proved to be an expensive and dangerous farce, featuring groundings, equipment failures, explosions and citations for safety violations. Returning two years later with an flotilla of 29 ships, Shell’s … Continue reading
We posted last April that the hospital ship USNS Comfort has deployed on Continuing Promise 2015, a five month mission to eleven nations in Central and South America and the Caribbean. Not all has gone well. On July 9, as reported by the Navy Times, … Continue reading