The FSO Safer is now considerably safer. A United Nations operation to transfer more than one million barrels of oil from the decaying floating oil storage vessel into another ship off the coast of Yemen has been completed. Removal of … Continue reading
Category Archives: Current
Lāhainā, a town on the island of Maui in Hawaii, was the capital of the Hawaiian Kingdom in the early nineteenth century, Lāhainā was also a historic whaling port during the whaling boom of the mid-1800s. In recent years, Lāhainā … Continue reading
CNN reports that Tampa Mayor Jane Castor made a big catch while fishing the Florida Keys with family late last month, spotting and hauling in a package containing 70 pounds of cocaine with an estimated street value of approximately $1.1 million, … Continue reading
A recent study published in the journal Nature describes an extinct whale, Perucetus colossus, discovered in the desert in southern Peru, that rivals the blue whale in weight, if not necessarily in length. The Perucetus colossus was a basilosaurid whale … Continue reading
The Loch Ness Centre, in partnership with Loch Ness Exploration, is seeking to recruit a small army of volunteers to join in what is described as the biggest search for the Loch Ness monster in 50 years. The Quest weekend … Continue reading
The US Navy dispatched four destroyers and a reconnaissance airplane after 11 Chinese and Russian military vessels carried out a joint naval patrol near Alaska’s Aleutian islands last week. The combined naval patrol, which the Wall Street Journal first reported, appeared … Continue reading
Every year, in “Iceberg Alley“, a stretch of water curving along the eastern coast of Newfoundland and Labrador, hundreds of icebergs drift by. Recently, one such iceberg was caught on video and posted on X (ex-Twitter) where it quickly went … Continue reading
Sailors have always watched the sky. This August, the sky is putting on quite a show. In case you missed it, last night was a supermoon. A supermoon occurs when the Moon is at the closest point to the Earth, … Continue reading
Donald Lawson and his Dark Seas Project was nothing if not ambitious. Lawson, 41, was preparing to set out to break at least 35 sailing records on his ORMA 60 trimaran, Defiant. Lawson is a professional sailor from Baltimore who … Continue reading
Have cruise ships worn out their welcome? Increasingly, port cities around the world are banning or regulating cruise ship dockings and operations in their coastal waters. Amsterdam has become only the most recent to do so. The BBC reports that … Continue reading
Last Friday, July 21, divers dove 110m (361ft) beneath the waters off the Shetland Islands, about eight miles south-east of Lerwick, and positively identified the wreck of the SM UC-55, a German Type UC II minelaying submarine that was sunk … Continue reading
News reports are that salvors fighting the fire on the car carrier Fremantle Highway have been temporarily stopped in their attempt to cool the exterior of the stricken ship with water. There are serious concerns that water from the firefighting could … Continue reading
Near midnight on Tuesday, the car carrier Fremantle Highway, loaded with nearly 3,000 cars, caught fire and has been burning out of control off the Dutch island of Ameland. The Dutch coast guard said one crew member had died and … Continue reading
CNBC reports that Maya Merhige, a 15-year-old from Berkeley, California, successfully swam around the entire island of Manhattan in eight hours and 43 minutes on July 15th, becoming only the third person her age to complete the “20 Bridges Swim,” … Continue reading
Back in 2021, we posted about a pledge made by Maersk that it would launch the world’s first carbon-neutral cargo liner vessel in 2023 – seven years ahead of its initial 2030 target. This week, Maersk fulfilled that pledge, when … Continue reading
We have posted about orcas attacking and even sinking sailboats off the Iberian peninsula. Recently, we posted about a surfboard-stealing otter. Now, officials say that four swimmers were injured in dolphin attacks on a beach in central Japan. The BBC … Continue reading
An Australian sailor and his dog were recently rescued by a Mexican tuna trawler after surviving for almost three months at sea. Before setting sail in April from the Mexican city of La Paz on his catamaran, Aloha Toa, bound … Continue reading
The BBC reports that an entire pod of 55 pilot whales died after a mass stranding on a beach in the Outer Hebrides. Only 15 were alive after they washed onto Traigh Mhor beach at North Tolsta on the Isle … Continue reading
When the Ambassador Cruise Line cruise ship Ambition arrived recently in the port of Tórshavn, the capital of the Faroe Islands, its passengers admired the rugged coastline and the breathtaking views of the surrounding mountains. For many, however, the sense … Continue reading
Bloomberg reports that delays at naval shipyards mean that nearly 40% of US attack submarines are out of commission for repairs, about double the rate the Navy would like, according to new data released by the service. As of this … Continue reading