The Ducks have returned to the Delaware River. Not mallards, but duck boats. Last July a tug pushing a barge ran down a disabled “Duck boat” DUKW 34 at anchor in the Delaware River off Philadelphia. Two of the 35 passengers on the duck boat drowned in the collision. The mate on the tug was apparently talking to his mother on a cell phone during the collision. The duck boats have now been allowed back on the river under a new set of safety rules.
Duck boats to make return to Delaware River
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The Coast Guard released a report yesterday that was highly critical of Transocean, the owner of the Deepwater Horizon drill rig, which exploded and sank last year.
It is not champagne, but whiskey bottles which are still appearing from the sands where the sailing ship Stuart wrecked 110 years ago on Easter Sunday off the Llyn peninsula of Northern Wales.
In July of last year 
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, 
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 
