In December of 2011, we posted about the Zapata Water-Jet Flyboard, a sort of personal jetpack connected to a powerful jet ski. Now, just over a year later, we learn that the Flyboard World Cup competition took place in Doha, … Continue reading
Category Archives: Lore of the Sea
On Friday night, the Emma Mærsk, one of the world’s largest container ships, suffered flooding in the engine room and lost power as it was in the northern end of the Suez Canal. Tugs were dispatched and the 1,300 foot long 14,700 TEU … Continue reading
In December, Totem Ocean Transport Express (TOTE) ordered two new LNG powered container ships from NASSCO shipyard in San Diego. Late last month they also signed a contract with NASSCO to convert two existing roll-on/roll-off ships to LNG fuel. … Continue reading
In September, a 16 foot long 3,500-pound female great white shark was tagged by researchers off Cape Cod. The shark was nicknamed Mary Lee. Since then Ocearch, the group tracking the shark, have followed Mary Lee on a remarkable journey. … Continue reading
There is some very interesting beachcombing going on these days in the UK. Two weeks ago, we posted about four large, barrel-shaped pieces of lard that washed up on the beach at St.Cyrus nature reserve in Scotland. Locals opined that … Continue reading
New energy is coming to Fukushima, the region in Japan best known for a nuclear disaster following the Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami of 11 March 2011. The nuclear meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi was largest nuclear disaster since the Chernobyl … Continue reading
Every year in the village of Taiji, Japan there is a yearly hunt which results in the slaughter of over a thousand dolphins. Despite international protest including a 2009 documentary film, the Cove, which graphically displayed the mass dolphin killing, and won … Continue reading
The Navy has announced that the minesweeper, USS Guardian, which ran up on Tubbataha reef in the Philippines Sula Sea two weeks ago, will be cut up in place and hauled away. The reason given is that the approach will “involve … Continue reading
The Hawaiian surfer Garrett McNamara is said to have broken his own world record for the largest wave surfed when he caught a wave reported to be around 100ft off the coast of Nazaré, Portugal. McNamara set the previous record in 2011 also off Nazaré. … Continue reading
In its more than 60 year history, the MS Georg Büchner, ex-Charlesville, served in liner service between Belgium and the Belgian Congo and Angola, was a DDR training ship and for the last decade was a hotel and youth hostel … Continue reading
The Confederate submarine H.L. Hunley is credited as the first successful submarine, in that it was the first submarine to sink an enemy warship in combat. New findings, however, might cause some to reconsider this “success.” The Hunley may have been sunk … Continue reading
Last Saturday, in the Northern Atlantic to the south of Iceland, the extratropical storm Jolle, intensified dramatically. Meteorologists use central pressure as a proxy for measuring the strength of a given storm. The lower the barometric pressure, the more intense the storm. By this standard, Jolle, … Continue reading
François Gabart, sailing MACIF, won the Vendée Globe round-the-world single-handed race in 78 days and two hours, shattering the previous record of 84 days and three hours, set in 2009 by Michel Desjoyeaux. Ending what has been a round-the-world match-race between the … Continue reading
Tomorrow, January 27th, at 8 PM ET & PT, the Discovery Channel is airing Monster Squid: The Giant is Real featuring the first video ever recorded of a live giant squid in its natural habitat. (See our recent post Giant Squid Filmed for … Continue reading
François Gabart sailing MCIF in the Vendée Globe is less than 700 miles from the finish line, 76 days after setting out in the singled-handed around-the-world race. Armel Le Cléac´h sailing Banque Populaire is roughly one hundred miles behind Gabart. The third place contender, Jean-Pierre Dick … Continue reading
Update: Dolphin Dies in Gowanus Canal Crowds of onlookers gathered today in the bitter cold on the Union Street Bridge to see an apparently injured dolphin stuck in shallow water in New York’s Gowanus Canal. The canal is one of the … Continue reading
The continued frigid weather has compelled the folks at the Brooklyn Lyceum to cancel the first shanty sing scheduled for tomorrow night. Apparently the heating system in the 3,600-square-foot brick-lined theater with cavernous ceilings, is not up to the bitterly cold weather that we are experiencing here … Continue reading
In the Antarctic winter of 1916, Ernest Shackleton and a crew of five sailed in a decked over lifeboat from Elephant Island to South Georgia. They were on a desperate rescue mission across 800 miles of the roughest ocean in … Continue reading
Only on rare occasional does one find a boat that would be significantly improved if run hard aground. Here is one example, however. Many large yachts have hot tubs onboard. This 16′ boat, however, is simply a floating hot tub with a … Continue reading
The minesweeper USS Guardian ran aground on a reef at the Tubbataha marine park in the Sula Sea last Thursday. The ship is still there. So far there has been no reported leaks of fuel leaks though the Navy has confirmed … Continue reading