On Wednesday, 16-year-old Swedish climate activist, Greta Thunberg, set sail from Plymouth, England on a racing yacht bound for New York. She is traveling to participate in United Nations climate talks in September, and she refuses to fly because aviation … Continue reading
Category Archives: Current
In March of 2018, we posted about a pilot project led by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Metropolitan Solutions (AMS) to develop autonomous barges, referred to as “roboats”, to carry cargo and passengers … Continue reading
The National Sailing Hall of Fame (NSHOF) announced 10 individuals in its 2019 class of inductees. It is an eclectic mix. The recipients include Sailmaker Robbie Doyle; Olympic Gold Medalist Buddy Friedrichs; sailing’s first-ever Women’s Olympic Gold Medalist Allison Jolly; … Continue reading
Great news! The Swedish East Indiaman Götheborg will sail again thanks to support from the shipping agency Greencarrier Group, which has announced that it will take the full operational and financial responsibility for the ship for the next two years. … Continue reading
Around six years ago, Vermont farmer Eric Andrus had an idea. Why not build a sailing barge to carry non-perishable produce down Lake Champlain to the Hudson and onward to markets along the river and on to New York City? … Continue reading
If you are in New York City this evening, head over to Pier 25 on the Hudson River to the historic lighthouse tender the ex-USCGC Lilac for a free concert in honor of National Lighthouse Day. The concert, from 6:00 … Continue reading
The 27th Annual Great North River Tugboat Race, sponsored by the Working Harbor Committee, will be held on the Hudson River near Pier 84 starting at 11 a.m. on September 1st. Watch from shore or get onboard the Spectator Boat … Continue reading
We missed the bicentennial of Herman Melville‘s birthday. He was born just over 200 years ago on August 1, 1819, in a boarding house on 6 Pearl Street, in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. In … Continue reading
At about 9AM on January 15, 1942, the British tanker Coimbra, bound from Bayonne, NJ for Halifax, laden with 8,038 tons of lubricating oil, sank after being struck by two torpedoes fired by the German submarine U-123 off the southern shore … Continue reading
In a blistering letter to his forces from the commander in charge of the Navy SEALs, Rear Adm. Colin Green, warns “We have a problem.” The sentence was in bold-faced print and underlined. The letter follows a series of incidents … Continue reading
Coast Guard Day in the United States is this Sunday, August 4th, commemorating the founding of the U. S. Coast Guard as the Revenue Marine on August 4, 1790, by the Secretary of the Treasury, Alexander Hamilton. On the ex-USCG … Continue reading
The good news is that last month there was a debate in the UK’s House of Lords about what to do with the wreck of the Liberty ship SS Richard Montgomery, which sank loaded with munitions in the Thames estuary … Continue reading
The W.O. Decker, the last wooden tug in New York harbor, is back at work. The 52′ tug, built in 1930 in Long Island City, is now offering harbor tours from the South Street Seaport on New York’s East River. … Continue reading
In the general category of you can’t make this stuff up, in early hours of Friday morning, a mass brawl broke out on the P&O Britannia, in which passengers used furniture and plates as weapons, according to witnesses. Six people—three … Continue reading
The USCG barque Eagle has returned to its longstanding homeport at the US Coast Guard Academy in New London, CT, which had been the ship’s homeport since 1946. The Eagle, a 295-foot barque used as a training cutter for future … Continue reading
Sandy Hook pilots have been guiding ships into New York harbor since 1694 when Colonial legislators first mandated that pilots be stationed at the barrier beach at the mouth of the great harbor. Here are two short videos of New … Continue reading
Here is a visually stunning twelve-minute animation, Age of Sail by Google Spotlight Stories. The story itself is a bit anemic, but the visuals largely make up for it. The producers describe the video as follows: Set on the open … Continue reading
A 15-year-old girl was allegedly plied with liquor aboard a Royal Caribbean ship by a group of men, before being taken to a cabin and gang-raped. She was on a seven-day cruise with her two sisters and grandparents beginning the … Continue reading
For a number of years, we have followed the Planetary Society‘s efforts to launch a solar sail which would be propelled by light radiating from the sun. Yesterday, the society’s LightSail 2 deployed a 32-square-meter solar sail, about the size … Continue reading
In early July, the Jubilee Sailing Trust (JST) faced a financial crisis where it needed to raise £1m in five days in order to stay in operation. Fortunately, the charity succeeded in raising the funds in time. Their financial challenges … Continue reading