The Trump administration has approved seismic testing related to oil and gas exploration off the US Atlantic coast. The testing could harm tens of thousands of dolphins, whales and other marine animals. The testing uses blasts from high-powered airguns to map the … Continue reading
Category Archives: Current
As we creep toward winter and the weather gets cold and nasty, it feels like a good time to think of boats in warmer waters. One such boat is likely to be Jimmy Buffett’s new Drifter, a Surfari design by Ted … Continue reading
Yesterday, the House of Representatives, in a provision of a U.S. Coast Guard reauthorization bill, voted to grant a waiver exempting the riverboat Delta Queen from certain fire safety regulations. The bill, which now only requires the president’s signature to take … Continue reading
Recently retired Rear Adm. Mark C. Montgomery, ex-U.S. Pacific Command Director of Operations, had been nominated by the current administration to be an assistant administrator with the U.S. Agency for International Development. His confirmation appeared to be assured after Senate Foreign Relations Committee … Continue reading
On Sunday, two Ukrainian naval gunboats and a tug departed from the Black Sea port of Odessa, bound to Mariupol in the Sea of Azov. As they approached the Kerch Strait, connecting the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov, they were intercepted by Russian … Continue reading
This is a bizarre story which we have been following for, literally, years. It looked for an instant like it might be resolved and then things fells apart once again. Tommy Thompson — engineer, treasure hunter, alleged swindler, and the current … Continue reading
The U.S. Navy’s new supercarrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford has had more than its share of problems. The ship has a reported 23 new or modified technologies, a number of which have been problematic, to be kind. They are still working the bugs out … Continue reading
Andrew Fitzgerald, the last of the four-man crew of the Coast Guard Motor Lifeboat CG-36500, which rescued the crew of the SS Pendleton, has died at the age of 87. On February 18, 1952, the 36′ motor lifeboat set out from Station Chatham, Massachusetts, … Continue reading
Happy Thanksgiving! Today has been celebrated as a day of Thanksgiving in the United States on the third Thursday of November since 1863. The holiday is notionally based on a harvest feast in 1621 between Native Americans and Puritans who had arrived on the … Continue reading
Fourteen years ago, Hurricane Ivan destroyed an oil-production platform owned by Taylor Energy in the Gulf of Mexico. The wells associated with the platform have been leaking ever since and may soon become the largest recorded offshore spill. Federal officials … Continue reading
Of the more than 2,700 Liberty ships built during World War II, only two are still operational in the United States. One, the John W. Brown, now docked in Baltimore, may become homeless when its five-year agreement for free berthing at Rukert … Continue reading
As we posted yesterday, over last weekend, the Maritime Museum of San Diego celebrated the 155th birthday of the Star of India by taking her for a sail. Here is nicely done, roughly ten-minute, video by Barrett Canfield of Sunday’s sail on the grand old ship. The museum’s other … Continue reading
This weekend, the Maritime Museum of San Diego is celebrating the 155th birthday of the Star of India by taking her for a sail. The museums other ships Californian, San Salvador, and America are sailing along with with the Star of India. It has been five years … Continue reading
One year after the submarine ARA San Juan disappeared on a routine mission, with 44 aboard, the wreckage of the missing submarine has been located in 2,600 feet of water in the Atlantic. The submarine was located by Ocean Infinity, a US … Continue reading
For several years, autumn and winter winds have carried a ghost fleet of derelict boats to the coast of northern Japan. Many of the boats were empty, although some carried corpses. This year has set a new record — 89 … Continue reading
Last November, we posted about a concept design for an America’s Cup racer, a 75′ foiling monohull, without a keel. The concept AC75 was presented as a 3D animation. About a year later, the New York Yacht Club’s half sized … Continue reading
Overnight, the Norwegian frigate Helge Ingstad slipped beneath the waters of Hjeltefjord near Bergen, Norway. Last Thursday, the frigate was intentionally grounded to prevent it from sinking after it collided with the tanker Sola TS. Despite efforts to stabilize the … Continue reading
This is an odd story, set in the icy Siberian waters near Murmansk, Russia. Apparently, Russia’s largest floating drydock sank from underneath Russia’s only aircraft carrier, the Admiral Kuznetsov, doing some damage to the carrier above the waterline as the dock … Continue reading
On July 19th, 2018, a duck boat capsized and sank in high winds during a storm on Table Rock Lake, near Branson, MO. Seventeen passengers and crew lost their lives. Now, a federal grand jury has charged the captain of the duck … Continue reading
How is it possible that the Norwegian frigate Helge Ingstad collided with the Aframax tanker Sola TS in a fjord near a major oil terminal? The frigate is much smaller, significantly faster and far more maneuverable than the 113,00 DWT … Continue reading