BC apparently has posted an interesting videocast on the composite clipper City of Adelaide. I write apparently because it is available only in Britain and being on the other side of the pond I can only take the word of … Continue reading
Category Archives: Current
The historic riverboat, Becky Thatcher, a 220-foot, 74-year-old stern-wheeler sank in the Ohio River off Neville Island near Pittburgh, apparently due to the weight of a record snowfall which also collapsed the top two decks. Historic riverboat sinks in Ohio River … Continue reading
A very disturbing article in this months Scientific American suggesting that criminal groups have been scuttling ships containing chemical and pharmaceutical waste, effectively using the Mediterranean as a toxic dump site. Thanks to Steve Phelps for pointing it out. Poisoned Shipments: Are Strange, Illicit Sinkings Making … Continue reading
There are twelve tall ships scheduled to participate in Green Bay, Wisconsin’s Tall Ship festival this August, though at this point, only six names have been announced. These are the HMS Bounty, the schooners Roseway, Amistad, the Pride of Baltimore II, the Unicorn … Continue reading
Captain William Curry of the SV Concordia is reporting that the school ship was struck by a microburst, also referred to a white squall, which knocked down the 188′ three masted schooner, rolling the ship 90 degrees. She sank in … Continue reading
An intriguing if slightly disturbing article and photo from the LA Times: Fear the blobfish As scary as the jumping Asian carp may be, there’s something even scarier – the blobfish. As you can see from the accompanying photograph, the … Continue reading
The Cutty Sark will be restored and ready for new visitors in time for the 2012 Olympics. The ship was nearly destroyed by fire in 2007. The other, albeit just barely, surviving composite clipper ship, the City of Adelaide, which has … Continue reading
The West Island College “Class Afloat” school ship Concordia, en route between Recife, Brazil and Montevideo, Uruguay, is reported to have sunk last night off the coast of Brazil. All 64 passengers and crew were reported safe after being rescued by the Brazilian Navy and Air Force. … Continue reading
Nuclear power as a propulsion system for merchant ships was the future that never arrived. The Otto Hahn was the second of only four nuclear powered commercial cargo ships ever built. The first was the NS Savannah, which operated between 1962 … Continue reading
Old Navy ship set to depart Va. ‘Ghost Fleet’ The federal Maritime Administration is scheduled to tow another ship from Virginia’s so-called “Ghost Fleet.” A former Navy submarine rescue ship called Kittiwake is set to become the 85th ship to … Continue reading
Containership operations has always been like riding a roller coaster, with many highs and lows and unexpected twists and turns. One sign of this is the fluctuating speeds of container ships over the years, going from slow to fast to … Continue reading
Does politics make for strange shipmates? NATO allies worry about France’s decision to sell big warships to Russia CHAMPAGNE and other French products may soon face declining sales in Tallinn, Tbilisi and places in between. The possible sale by France … Continue reading
The Sea Shepherd farce continues. The ex-captain of the Ady Gil cut through anti-boarding nets to board a Japanese whaler and was immediately arrested. In related news, Sea Shepherd crew onboard the Steve Irwin, a vessel named for the television … Continue reading
Here is an intriguing article suggesting that we humans have been taking to the sea for far longer than had been previously recorded. Recently stone tools have been found on the island of Crete which date back at least 130,000 … Continue reading
An interesting perspective from the The Diplomat Magazine on Chinese naval expansion. Thanks to Alaric Bond for passing it along. Why China’s Naval Rise Could Help the World … Continue reading
Bronze Age shipwreck found off Devon coast One of the world’s oldest shipwrecks has been discovered off the coast of Devon after lying on the seabed for almost 3,000 years. The trading vessel was carrying an extremely valuable cargo of … Continue reading
BMW Oracle easily beat Alinghi in their second race, winning the America’s Cup. The US boat won, literally, by a mile. BMW Oracle claim America’s Cup triumph BMW Oracle won the America’s Cup as victory in Sunday’s second race off … Continue reading
As truly awe inspiring as the huge and high tech America’s Cup boats are, we shouldn’t forget that iceboats are the real speed demons on the water (even if it is frozen.) Will at the Tugster blog has some great photos … Continue reading
Over thirty years ago when I was in college studying naval architecture, a classmate of mine got a summer job working as a naval architect for Sun Shipyard helping to design some part of the new deep sea mining ship, … Continue reading
Last October, we wrote about how researchers are using eighteenth century Royal Navy ship logs to study climate change. (See Logbooks may yield climate bounty.) Now, through the wonder of the internet, many of these log books are on-line. The … Continue reading