A weird dissonance between two cruise stories struck me recently. On one hand, Carnival Cruise Lines is “the official confetti sponsor of the Times Square New Year’s Eve 2011 celebration.” As reported by the the Maritime Executive “the sponsorship includes multiple opportunities to associate the … Continue reading
Category Archives: Ships
A lousy time of the year to run aground off Finland. Then again, there aren’t too many good times of the year to run aground. Thanks to Dick Bal for passing the news along. Dutch freighter “Stadiongracht” aground off Rauma … Continue reading
The South Street Seaport Museum in New York City is reported to be attempting to sell off the historic schooner, Lettie G. Howard. The Lettie G. Howard is a wooden Fredonia schooner built in 1893 in Essex, Massachusetts, USA. In past … Continue reading
Forty seven years ago, passengers on the cruise ship Lakonia were promised “a marvelous Christmas cruise to sunny Madeira and the Canary Islands.” The brochure read – “Have your holiday with all risk eliminated. Enjoy a holiday you will remember for … Continue reading
Of all the various holiday greeting from shipping ventures this season this has to be my favorite. A Moss Rosenberg design LNG ship transformed to a Christmas ball carrier. From the Maasmond Maritime. … Continue reading
A glimpse at the new Mary Rose museum, hosted by Alan Titchmarch. The museum is intended to open in 2012, the 500th anniversary of the delivery of the Mary Rose. Alan Titchmarsh explores the Mary Rose Museum and encourages fundraising … Continue reading
David Hayes passed along a video of the USS Pegasus, a hydrofoil patrol boat that was billed as the “vanguard of the new navy,” thirty five years ago. While the Pegasus was not the first of many hydrofoils as was intended in 1975, the development … Continue reading
The Maritime Blog and the Professional Mariner are pointing to two Marine Safety Alerts issued by the Coast Guard today which may suggest that the fixed CO2 system on the Carnival Splendor failed. The Safety Alerts do not identify the ship by … Continue reading
The brigantine Soren Larsen was built in Denamrk in 1948 and traded extensively in Baltic, British and European ports until 1972. In the 1970s she starred in the popular BBC television drama series, The Onedin Line. She has also … Continue reading
What is AMVER? They are the most amazing world-wide maritime search and rescue network that you probably have never heard of. AMVER stands for the Automated Mutual Assistance Vessel Rescue System. It was founded over fifty years ago, in 1958, and currently over 19,000 ships … Continue reading
Bernard Cornwell‘s introduction to his review of Sam Willis’s book, “The Fighting Temeraire,” is as dramatic as it is sadly accurate. He writes: At Penn’s Landing in Philadelphia, the battle-cruiser USS Olympia lies glorious and doomed. The oldest steel warship in … Continue reading
Earlier this week we posted about Cakewalk, a luxury yacht built at Derecktor Shipyards in Bridgeport, Conn. Here is quite different vessel now under construction at Derecktor. Statue Cruises, a subsidiary of Hornblower Cruises, has hired Derecktor to construct the world’s … Continue reading
Carnival Cruise Line posted the following today on their website: Carnival Cruise Lines has cancelled additional departures of the Carnival Splendor including the January 16, 23, 30 and February 6 and 13, 2011 voyages to allow for additional repair time … Continue reading
A horrific story from Australia’s Christmas Island where a boat carrying asylum-seekers believed to be from Iraq and Iran broke up in rough after striking rocks offshore. Forty two people were been rescued and twenty seven have been confirmed dead, though that … Continue reading
On December 11, 1710, the English ship Nottingham Galley came ashore on Boon Island, off Cape Neddick, Maine, stranding its 14 man crew, of whom four would subsequently die. It became one of the best known shipwrecks in New England … Continue reading
It sounds like like a joke, and indeed it has many elements of farce, but nevertheless when the TV reality-show pirates of Animal Planet’s Whale Wars, the Sea Shepherds, meet the Japanese whalers this season in the Southern Ocean, matters could … Continue reading
The almost 30 year restoration of the James Craig is a wonderful story of volunteers rescuing an old windjammer, rusting away on a Tasmanian beach. The three masted iron barque, James Craig, originally named Clan Macleod, was built by Bartram, … Continue reading
Our belated congratulations to Inger Klein Olsen, who took command of Cunard Line’s Queen Victoria at the beginning of December. She is the first woman to take command of a Cunard Line ship in the line’s 170 year history. History is Made … Continue reading
The tweet from gCaptain was “Deepwater Pathfinder runs aground” which was linked to a post on the gCaptain blog describing how the drill ship ran aground while pulling into Freeport, TX, shearing off a thruster. Perhaps I am just easily amused, but I … Continue reading
Another ship down. Speculation is that the Korean fishing vessel No.1 In Sung either struck an iceberg or was hit by a large wave off Antarctica. Twenty surviving crew members were rescued and taken aboard the fishing vessel No. 707 … Continue reading