Jim Luce recently wrote an article in the Huffington Post titled, Khubilai Khan’s Lost Fleet Found in Japan. The title makes it sound like a new discovery. Not so much. The site of the “lost fleet” was discovered in the 1970s, while the wreckage of the lost fleet was located in 2000. Maritime archaeologist Jim Delgado wrote about the discovery in his book, Khubilai Khan’s Lost Fleet: In Search of a Legendary Armada, in 2008. The paperback edition was published last summer. It is a fascinating story.
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Thanks to Irwin Bryan and Alaric Bond for the passing article along.
Douglas Faulkner, who died recently, had a varied and highly accomplished career as a naval and marine architect. He was involved in the design and testing of the first British nuclear submarine, 
There appears to be both good and bad news exactly one year after the explosion and fire that sank the drilling rig 
The MV Asphalt Venture was hijacked by Somali pirates on September 28, 2010. After negotiating and being paid a multi-million dollar ransom, the pirates released the ship and part of the crew yesterday, but continued to hold seven Indian seafarers hostage, reportedly in retaliation for the arrest of Somali pirates by the Indian Navy in recent weeks. ‘It is a major shift in the pirate-hostage equation which will need to be considered and addressed by the international community,’ said general secretary Abdulgani Y. Serang of the National Union of Seafarers of India (NUSI).
Great news. The Sloop Providence, replica of the American Revolutionary sloop of the same name is sailing again after being laid up for 3 1/2 years. She was purchased last year from the City of Providence by boat builder and captain Thorpe Leeson. The current Sloop Providence dates back to 1976 and has been used in two of the ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ movies. Over the weekends she was sailed from Providence to Newport, Rhode Island and was open for tours on Sunday at Bowen’s Wharf. The new owners plan to employ the sloop on charters and educational missions.
Oopps. In what is being described as a “school-boy error” the British Ministry of Defence posted a report on-line which revealed secret information about the UK’s nuclear powered submarines. The sensitive material was “redacted” by turning the background black, so that the text was not readable. The text was not removed, however, so that anyone who cut and pasted the text to another document could read, copy or distribute the “secret” information. The MOD was unaware of the breach until it was pointed out by a journalist.
New York and Philadelphia are major ports and centers of art and culture. By all rights both should be home for major and successful seaport museums. Sadly that is not the case. 
Sixty years ago today, the Royal Navy submarine 
I can imagine a couple of bird watchers who become excited when they sight puffins on Pembrokeshire’s Ramsey Island. There haven’t been puffins on the island since the 1890s when they were killed off by rats. The rats are gone now, but the only puffins on the island are plastic decoys, installed on the cliffs in hopes of luring real puffins back to their former home. Apparently the use of plastic decoys has been successful on other islands, so the folks on Ramsey are hoping that their plastic puffins will do as well.