On May 25th, in addition to other items in their collection, the Seaman’s Church Institute is auctioning off a letter written by Joseph Conrad in 1923 to the “owners and ship’s company of the Tusitala, ” in which he sends … Continue reading
Category Archives: Lore of the Sea
Roughly a year ago I went skin diving with dolphins in Honduras. We were told that the dolphins liked to play catch with eel grass. I dove to the bottom, pulled up a handful of eel grass and held … Continue reading
Last week we posted about the upcoming first William Main Doerflinger Memorial Shanty Session to be held at the Noble Maritime Collection at Snug Harbor. The shanty sing was well attended and the space was beautiful as well as historic. The … Continue reading
Mickey Mouse now apparently owns SEAL Team 6, or at least the name. Disney has filed three trademark applications to to claim the rights to the phrase “SEAL Team 6.” SEAL Team 6 is believed to be the Navy commando squad that … Continue reading
Great news for supporters of New York’s South Street Seaport Museum which has been in a state of near collapse since February. The Save our Seaport grassroots organization reports the following: The NYS Attorney General has told the Seaport Museum New York … Continue reading
The SBX-1 , the Sea Based X-Band Radar 1, looks like something out of science fiction. It recently arrived at Vigor Shipyard on Seattle’s Harbor Island for three months of maintenance and upgrading. The SBX-1 is a huge white dome … Continue reading
Time recently posted an article “Why Fukushima Is Good for Whales (in Iceland).” The article, in fact, had almost nothing to do with the damaged nuclear power plants at Fukushima (at least as applied to whales) and quite a lot … Continue reading
How can you tell when you have too many aircraft carriers? Possibly, when you start using this expensive hardware for sporting venues. On Nov. 11, 2011, the Veteran’s Day Carrier Classic basketball game between North Carolina and Michigan State will … Continue reading
On March 24, 1989 the third mate on the Exxon Valdez lost track of the ship’s position and ran the ship into Bligh Reef in Prince William Sound, Alaska, resulting in a spill of roughly 40,000 tons of crude oil, the largest offshore spill in … Continue reading
The perhaps poorly named MV Double Prosperity, loaded with 65,000 tons of coal, grounded on Bakud Reef on Sunday in Sarangani Bay in the Philippines. Stranded ship threatens Philippine reef … Continue reading
Today through Sunday, there will be a 100th birthday party in Travemünde, Germany, for one of the last of the true windjammers, the four masted barque Passat. One of the F. Laeisz Flying P-Liners, she was in launched 1911 at the Blohm & … Continue reading
This Sunday, May 15, from 2 to 5 PM, the first monthly William Main Doerflinger Memorial Sea Shanty Session will be held at the Noble Maritime Collection at the Snug Harbor Cultural Center at 1000 Richmond Terrace, building D, in … Continue reading
The Charleston Harbor Fest which begins tomorrow and runs through Sunday features a mix of old and new on the water. The four competing ECO 60 sailboats in the Velux 5 Oceans Around the World Race will be on display as will the three traditional vessels, the … Continue reading
The Seattle Maritime Festival starts tomorrow and runs through Saturday, featuring the world’s largest tug boat race, National Fisherman’s Eleventh Annual Stories of the Sea Fisher Poetry Slam, World Invitational Survival Suit Races, Pacific Maritime Magazine Quick & Dirty Boatbuilding Competition, and the Fourteenth Annual … Continue reading
An unidentified wreck, believed to be 400 years old, has been described as the “biggest discovery since the Mary Rose.” For centuries, it was covered by sand but is now rotting away so fast that it may effectively disappear within five years. Battle to save … Continue reading
For those in the US, the National Geographic Channel is featuring a a program “Ghost Ships of the Great Lakes” this evening at 10PM. Looks interesting. Ghost Ships of the Great Lakes … Continue reading
Water transportation on two of the world’s longest river systems have been disrupted by extremes in water levels. On the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers record flooding has disrupted or halted barge traffic while on China’s Yangtze River a record drought has snarled … Continue reading
In April we posted about the sinking of an overloaded fishing boat carrying Libyan refugees where over 200 drowned. Today it was reported that another overloaded refugee boat in the roughly the same area sank with over 500 people aboard. Fortunately, the Italian … Continue reading
HMS Astute, the Royal Navy’s most advanced nuclear submarine, was delivered 43 months behind schedule and £900 million over budget. Then during trials in October, it ran aground off the Isle of Skye. It was also in a collision … Continue reading
On May 9, 1941, seventy years ago today, the German submarines U110 and U201 were attacking a British convoy in the Atlantic south of Iceland. U110 was forced to surface after being depth changed and was abandoned by her crew who … Continue reading