In February 2011, we posted that the the SS United States Conservancy had purchased the S.S. United States from Norwegian Cruise Line. The sale was made possible by a $5.8 million gift by Philadelphia philanthropist H.F. “Gerry” Lenfest. Since then the Conservancy has raised $5 million of the estimated $25 million needed to to restore the exterior and part of the interior of the ships to house a museum.
The Conservancy has now kicked off a new fundraising campaign and a new interactive web site – Save the United States – Help restore America’s Flagship. Visitors to the new web site can help save the ship at $1 per square inch by “purchasing” a piece of the ship. Visitors to the site can choose the section they want to sponsor by scrolling and zooming around a virtual model on the website, can “meet” other donors throughout the ship, personalize and upload images and memories of the ship, as well as share it through social media sites. To donate and learn more, click here.
Last February, we posted about the modification to the 
Yesterday, I went on a field trip with the New York Shiplore and Model Club to Stonington and Mystic, Connecticut. (Thanks to Lee Gruzen, Norman Brouwer and Linda Zatkowski for making the arrangements.) Our first stop was 
Early airplane wings were built of canvas stretched over a wooden frame, held together with wire rigging. Modern airplane wings are built of aluminum and other metals. The comparison to sails, masts and rigging on ships may not apply directly. Nevertheless, the last America’s Cup winner, the
The City of New York is a city of islands, large and small, floating in a vast harbor and waterway. Only one of the five boroughs is on the mainland and that even borough, the Bronx, is on a peninsula, with water on three sides. The city and the metropolitan area of 20 million people only exist because of the harbor, the Hudson River estuary, and neighboring rivers and sounds. Once again the 
To say that this will be a busy weekend on the New England waterfront may be an understatement. Following the 4th of July festivities in Boston, 
The Navy’s Floating Instrument Platform, better known as FLIP, went into service fifty years ago, in 1962. The 355-foot research vessel is capable of operating horizontally as a conventional, if somewhat odd-looking, ship. When on station, however, it “flips” vertically 90 degrees and becomes the equivalent of a massive spar buoy. Because the hydrodynamic forces act primarily on the bottom of the vessel, which is far below the surface waves, the ship is highly stable in heavy seas and up to 80′ waves.
In a previous Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for 2009-2013, the U.S. Navy estimated that 150,000 marine mammals could be harmed in sonar training and testing exercises. Now in the
Happy 4th of July! Those of us in the United States celebrate the anniversary of the adoption of the 
For several years now cruise ships fans have been concerned that the 2008 debt crunch in Dubai would result in the
Extremely disturbing news coming out of Italy regarding the 
About a year ago, we posted 
Mississippi lawyer John Arthur Eaves is supposed to be good at his job and is, by reputation, a pretty smart fellow. He recently filed a law suit claiming that the Costa Concordia was 
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has taken the bold step of announcing that “
Arthur Sewall, a shipbuilder, shipowner and industrialist from Bath Maine, is quoted near the turn of the 20th century, saying, “As long as the wind blows and water flows there will be sailing ships built and business to keep them busy.” Is the great age of commercial sail now just part of history, or are we merely passing through a short-lived era of fossil fuels, which will be brought to a close by scarcity and concerns about pollution and climate change?