Five years ago, Leonard Glenn Francis, aka “Fat Leonard”, was arrested by the US Navy as the center of a major procurement scandal and what has been described as the worst national-security breach of its kind to hit the Navy since the end of the Cold War. The 54-year-old, 350-pound Malaysian national, ran Glenn Defense Marine Asia (GDMA) and two decades had been bribing US Navy officials with cash, lavish gifts, entertainment and prostitutes in exchange for information on ship port calls, bidding information, and for officials looking the other way at GDMA overbilling.
So far, the Justice Department has filed criminal charges against 32 defendants who worked for the Navy or Glenn Defense Marine Asia. Twenty of the defendants have pleaded guilty in the scandal that cost the Navy at least $35 million. Another 550 people who had contact with Francis — including about 60 admirals — are under investigation.
After all this, what has become of Fat Leonard? Continue reading
Sixty-seven-year-old Igor Zaretskiy was in last place in the Golden Globe Race. His mast was seriously damaged, even after jury-rigged repairs. He had lost a hatch, exposing his cabin the elements, and his hull was so fouled that his boat, Esmerelda, was crawling along, at times at just over a knot.
Judie Johnson was swimming alone at Hahei Beach on the Coromandel Peninsula in New Zealand when she saw a huge shape appear from underwater. Initially, she thought that it was a dolphin but the black and white coloration made it clear that it was an orca. She found herself surrounded by three rather playful Orca whales — an adult, a juvenile and a calf.
A 
Last week we posted about the 
On November 8, just after 4 AM, the Norwegian navy frigate, 
The Royal Navy Offshore Patrol Vessels (OPVs), 
Sadly, it apparently wasn’t a relationship meant to last. Earlier this year, Amanda Sparrow Large, 46, from Loth, Ireland was married to a Haitian pirate named Jack. Jack and Ms. Large were married by a shaman priest in a boat off the Irish coast in international waters. 
Researchers believe that wreckage found off the coast of Filey in Yorkshire is from the American warship 
After 
On 
British sailor 
Regardless of what one may think of the political career of the late President 
The Trump administration has approved seismic testing related to oil and gas exploration off the US Atlantic coast. The testing could harm tens of thousands of dolphins, whales and other marine animals. The testing uses blasts from high-powered airguns to map the ocean floor to estimate the whereabouts of oil and gas.
As we creep toward winter and the weather gets cold and nasty, it feels like a good time to think of boats in warmer waters. One such boat is likely to be