It all sounds like a bad novel. Bribes, prostitutes, and Lady Gaga tickets were allegedly handed out to US Navy officers by a Malaysian businessman known as “Fat Leonard” in exchange for classified information and directing business toward the Singapore-based … Continue reading
Category Archives: Ships
On November 14th, 1863, on the Isle of Man in Great Britain, the shipyard of Gibson, McDonald & Arnold, Ramsey launched the 1,200 tonne full rigged iron ship, Euterpe, for the firm of Wakefield Nash & Co., Liverpool. The ship … Continue reading
The U.S. Navy’s new supercarrier, USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78), was floated in the drydock last month. She will be christened this Saturday, November 9th at the Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding in Newport News, Virginia. In addition to other superlatives, she … Continue reading
A short video reminder of how quickly things can change. One Australia’s AUS-35 boat was racing in the Louis Vuitton qualifying matches in the America’s Cup of March 1995, when it suddenly broke in half and sank, in less than two minutes … Continue reading
This morning we posted about a new video game, Assassins Creed IV : Blag Flag, which takes notable liberties with history. One of the characters in the game, Edward Thatch, is based on the historical pirate, Edward Teach, better known as … Continue reading
Award-winning architect Dame Zaha Hadid has designed a family of super-yachts with a skeletal superstructure for the German shipbuilders Blohm+Voss. These are the first super-yachts designed by Hadid who is known for a wide range of project including the Roca London Gallery, … Continue reading
Earlier this week we posted about the Vermont Sail Project barge Ceres calling in New York harbor. Here is a wonderful short video from documentary filmmaker Thomas Halaczinsky capturing a portion of the first voyage of the Ceres down the … Continue reading
Pirates are reported to have seized the captain and chief engineer from the US Flag offshore supply vessel, C-Retriever, which was attacked in the Gulf of Guinea off the coast of Nigeria early Wednesday. Both the captain and chief engineer are … Continue reading
The first US Navy “supercarrier,” the USS Forrestal was recently sold for scrap for the sum of one penny to the All Star Metals scrap yard in Beaumont, Texas. The Navy offered the carrier as a museum but did not … Continue reading
October 21st is a busy day in nautical history. In addition to being the anniversary of the Battle of Trafagar of 1805, it was also the day that the the USS Constitution was launched in 1797. A three-masted US Navy heavy frigate, … Continue reading
Happy Trafalgar Day – the celebration of the victory won by the Royal Navy, commanded by Vice-Admiral Horatio Nelson, over the combined French and Spanish fleets at the Battle of Trafalgar on October 21, 1805. Nelson died in his greatest victory. … Continue reading
Congratulations to all the racers in this year’s Great Chesapeake Bay Schooner Race. In last year’s race, Woodwind, Heron and Prom Queen, the top three Class A schooners (from 40′ to less than 50′) all beat the elapsed and corrected time of the … Continue reading
The composite clipper ship, City of Adelaide, which had been renamed HMS Carrick, was officially renamed the City of Adelaide once at a ceremony on the River Thames at Greenwich near London. Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, was accidentally … Continue reading
The Parade of Sail in the 2013 Great Chesapeake Bay Schooner Race starts in a few minutes from Canton, MD in Baltimore harbor. The race begins tomorrow at 1330 just south of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge near Annapolis and ends 127 nautical miles … Continue reading
Monitor HMS M33, only surviving warship from the Gallipoli campaign of World War I, has received £1.79m from the UK’s Heritage Lottery Fund to allow the ship to be restored in time for the 100th anniversary of the campaign. GALLIPOLI … Continue reading
Two years ago during Cowes Race Week, the skipper of a 33′ sailboat cut across the bow of the 120,000 dwt tanker, Hanne Knutson, traveling down channel. It did not end well. The boat was dismasted. Fortunately, no one died, … Continue reading
The schooner American Eagle is for sale. I have long been an admirer of the American Eagle from afar. She was the the last fishing schooner built in Gloucester in 1930. After a long career, the old and tired … Continue reading
In April, we posted about the Vermont Sail Freight Project, a plan to build a sailing cargo barge to carry non-perishable produce down Lake Champlain to the Hudson River and onward to markets along the river and in New York City. … Continue reading
At least 130 African refugees have died and 200 are still missing after an overloaded boat caught fire and sank off the Italian island of Lampedusa. More than 150 of the migrants have been rescued. Most of those on board were … Continue reading
Last month, the former captain of the destroyer USS Mustin, a Navy special agent and a Singapore-based defense contractor were charged in an alleged bribery scheme to swap classified ship information for luxury travel and prostitutes. Cmdr. Michael Vannak Khem … Continue reading