In August of 1772, a powerful hurricane devastated much of the Leeward Islands in the Caribbean. On the island of St. Croix, the town of Christiansted was virtually leveled. An impoverished 17-year-old clerk, who worked for a local merchant, wrote a letter to his long distant father describing the storm. That letter would influence the history of a nation not yet born. The young clerk’s name, of course, was Alexander Hamilton
In addition to vividly describing the horrors of the hurricane, the letter also suggested that the storm was a “divine rebuke to human vanity and pomposity.” The letter passed through the hands of Hugh Knox, a minister, and journalist, who published the letter in the Royal Danish-American Gazette. The newspaper’s readers were so impressed by the eloquence and skill of the 17-year-old letter writer that they raised money to send him to be educated in New York.
Alexander Hamilton would go on to fight in the American revolution, to be the first Secretary of the Treasury, principal author of Federalist Papers, and founder of the nation’s financial system, as well as the US Coast Guard. He is also the unlikely inspiration for a major Broadway musical.
The Dungeness crab season opened late in the Northwest, starting last Friday, January 4th. The weather was terrible, with high winds and waves. Conditions were especially challenging on river bars, where the river’s current opposing the ocean waves can raise monstrous breakers. 
I am very excited by a new series, “
The effort to save the Falls of Clyde has suffered at least a temporary setback. Last 
On New Year’s Eve 1918, over 200 men crowded the dock at the port of Kyle of Lochalsh waiting to the board the 
In 2010, 16-year-old 
Around 1,800 nautical miles northwest of Oahu, the car carrier Sincerity Ace is adrift and on fire. Sixteen of her Philippine crew have been rescued, while four are feared dead and one remains missing. The fire broke on on Monday on the Panamanian flag car carrier operated by Mitsui OSK Lines, traveling from Japan bound for Hawaii. The cause of the fire is still unknown. 
Here is a wonderful sea story which appears to be more or less true. 
Sometimes the events of the day seem downright surreal. Yesterday, I read about the US Coast Guard cutter Campbell which 
Recently, teams of 
On Wednesday, 71-year-old French adventurer Jean-Jacques Savin set off to cross the Atlantic in an unlikely craft — a barrel. He departed from El Hierro, one of the Canary Islands, west of Morocco, in a barrel-shaped capsule with the intention of drifting, carried by the winds and currents, across the Atlantic Ocean. He hopes to arrive in the Caribbean in about three months. The barrel in which he is drifting is 10 feet long and 6 feet 8 inches wide, built of epoxy and plywood and ballasted with concrete.
Approximately 42,000 active-duty military members of the Coast Guard remain on duty during the partial government shutdown that began Saturday, but they will work without pay until further notice, according to a statement from a Coast Guard spokeswoman.
Call it a miracle, serendipity, or just good luck, but two stranded Costa Rican fishermen were rescued by the Royal Caribbean cruise ship 
We recently visited 