The cruise ship Viking Sky is now underway bound for the port of Molde, Norway, accompanied by a tug and support vessels. Prior to getting underway, 479 passengers were evacuated by helicopters, leaving 436 passengers and 458 crew members onboard. … Continue reading
Category Archives: Lore of the Sea
According to Norwegian authorities, roughly 1,300 people are being evacuated from the cruise ship Viking Sky. The ship suffered engine problems and sent out a distress call and was drifting toward shore in high winds and rough seas off the … Continue reading
Horseshoe crabs are an ancient variety of arthropods, which are not actually crabs. Having remained largely unchanged in about 450 million years, the horseshoe crab is considered by many to be a living fossil. One of the reasons that horseshoe … Continue reading
Last month we posted about the successful voyage of the Sea Hunter, a 132′ long autonomous drone trimaran from San Diego to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, and back. Now USNI News is reporting that the Navy is moving quickly to field … Continue reading
On Maryland’s Eastern Shore and in a handful of other ports around the country, there is a sailors’ tradition of burning your socks on the vernal equinox, the first day of Spring. If you have been wearing the same woolen … Continue reading
If a science fiction writer wanted to create a really bizarre alien space creature, using an octopus as a model would not be a bad place to start. After all, an octopus has three hearts, nine brains, and blue blood. … Continue reading
Six years ago, we posted about the sunken lost city of Thonis-Heracleion in Abu Qir Bay near the Canopic Mouth of the Nile. The city sank into the Mediterranean around 1,2000 years ago and was only rediscovered in 1999. The … Continue reading
While most icebergs are whiteish-blue, they can be a range of colors, including emerald green. Indeed, in Samuel Coleridge’s Rime of the Ancient Mariner, the mariner describes how “ice, mast-high, came floating by, as green as emerald.” Why are some … Continue reading
The disappearance of the Capesize bulk carrier MV Derbyshire in Typhoon Orchid shocked the shipping industry. How a new, large and well-built ship with a trained crew could have simply vanished became a mystery that would take more than 20 years … Continue reading
USS Fort McHenry, a US Navy Whidbey Island-class dock landing ship, with over 700 sailors and Marines aboard, has spent the last two months at sea without a port-call. The reason? There has been an outbreak of parotitis, a virus … Continue reading
During Women’s History Month it is a worthwhile remembering Eleanor Creesy, the navigator of the clipper ship Flying Cloud, who with her husband, Captain Josiah Creesy, set world sailing records for the fastest passage between New York and San Francisco. … Continue reading
In February 1869, one hundred and fifty years ago, construction of the composite clipper ship Cutty Sark began on the banks of the River Clyde for the Jock Willis Shipping Line. The clipper ship sailed on its first voyage a … Continue reading
Another container fire has claimed another ship. On Sunday, a fire broke out in a weather-deck container on the roll on/roll off container ship MV Grande America while in the Bay of Biscay, 150 miles off the French coast. The … Continue reading
It is remarkable how little we really know about orcas, also known as killer whales. In January, a team of NOAA scientists located and began to study a likely new species of orca about 60 miles off the coast of … Continue reading
We recently posted about a planned statue honoring Kate Walker, the lighthouse keeper of the Robbins Reef Light in New York harbor for close to 35 years. Kate took over as keeper when her husband died of pneumonia in 1886. … Continue reading
Recently, an official with the Trump administration testified repeatedly at a hearing of the House Natural Resources subcommittee that the firing of commercial air guns under water every 10 seconds over a period of months in search of oil and … Continue reading
New York City has announced a new statue of the late Robbins Reef Lighthouse keeper Katherine Walker which will be installed at the Staten Island Ferry landing. Though standing only 4’10” tall and weighing around 100 pounds, Katherine Walker served … Continue reading
The bottom of the Mariana Trench, in the western Pacific Ocean, is the deepest point in any ocean of the world. At its deepest, the bottom is over 36,000 feet below the surface. In comparison, Mount Everest is 29,000 above … Continue reading
Congratulations to Lt. Ronaqua Russell, the first African-American female aviator in the Coast Guard to receive the Air Medal. From the Coast Guard press release: The Air Medal is awarded to an individual who distinguishes themselves by heroic or meritorious … Continue reading
The Norwegian Escape was struck by extreme wind gusts of around 100 knots, eight hours after the ship sailed from New York on a seven-night cruise to the Bahamas. The ship heeled to the port side in the high winds. … Continue reading