Voyaging
New RI tall ship to teach sailing, travel coast
Submitted by admin on Mon, 11/24/2008 - 14:10.Young sailor starts world voyage
Submitted by admin on Mon, 11/17/2008 - 14:30.
'Mardi Gras' shipwreck in Gulf uncovers treasures
Submitted by admin on Thu, 10/30/2008 - 14:06.Promoting peace with a paper boat
Submitted by admin on Thu, 10/16/2008 - 18:46.Wisconsin Man Paddles Pumpkin 150 miles Down River For Charity
Submitted by admin on Fri, 10/10/2008 - 14:37.EU approves pirate hunting mission to the Horn of Africa
Submitted by admin2 on Tue, 09/16/2008 - 13:37.www.telegraph.co.uk -- Pirates have launched at least 50 attacks this year in the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean, targeting cargo ships and chemical tankers as well as fishing boats, yachts and vessels bringing humanitarian aid to Somalia.
Ministers from the 27 European nations ordered a coordination unit to be set up protection and surveillance operations in order to combat the attacks which has caused mayhem to maritime traffic. In a statement ministers "deplored the upsurge in acts of piracy and armed robbery off the coasts of Somalia" and had given the green light to "a possible EU military naval operation".
European governments have become frustrated with the lawlessness in the Gulf of Aden, which lies off Somalia's northern coast and is an important sea route for European commerce flowing to and from the Suez Canal.
Insurance premiums for cargo ships intending to pass through the Gulf of Aden have soared tenfold over the past year.
One European shipping company said last week that it had paid a $1m (£550,000) ransom for the release of a cargo vessel and its crew, a practice that supporters of a harder line say has encouraged piracy.
Hurricane Ike Reveals Mystery Civil War Ship
Submitted by admin2 on Tue, 09/16/2008 - 13:13.www.orangebeach.ws -- September 15, 2008- Fort Morgan, AL-- The last time this mystery ship was visible was after Hurricane Ivan hit the Alabama Gulf Coast on September 16, 2004. At that time a much smaller portion of the ship was visible above the sand. Soon after Ivan revealed this historic treasure, the shifting sand covered the relic again.
Hurricane Ike's waves, this past week, pounded the beaches of the northern Gulf Coast and once again the mystery ship was revealed. This time however, much more of the ship was uncovered. This is the most visible the ship has ever been.
The roughly 150 foot long, 30 foot wide wooden ship appears to have been powered by steam. One of the artifacts within the perimeter of the ship's hull appears to be an old water pump. A long pipe runs down the center of the ship, with smaller pipes found near by.
While no one knows for sure what ship this is, historians speculate that the ship was a blockade-runner from the civil war.
Man Sets Out on Eco-Friendly Sailing Mission
Submitted by admin on Tue, 09/09/2008 - 14:47.“The boat is designed to be the 4-wheel drive of the ocean,” says Mr. Horn, who relies on sponsors like Mercedes-Benz and watch-makers Officine Panerai, for funding. “We built a vessel that can go anywhere in the world and is both 100% motorboat and 100% sailboat.”
Coast Guard Cutter Hamilton Arctic Patrol
Submitted by admin on Wed, 08/27/2008 - 13:13.www.coastguardnews.com -- The Coast Guard is extending High Endurance cutter operations from the Bering Sea into the Chukchi Sea, the Beaufort Sea, and the Arctic Ocean. This operation supports the Department of Homeland Security’s efforts to extend maritime safety and security to the Arctic region in the face of retreating polar sea ice. The Coast Guard Cutter Hamilton will be the lead cutter in the United States’ push to extend security to U.S. Arctic waters. As part of this historic operation, the Hamilton is providing daily journal entries.
Crew Journal:
Written by MK1 Keith Madle
A Push to Increase Icebreakers in the Arctic
Submitted by admin on Mon, 08/18/2008 - 13:42.The New York Times--A growing array of military leaders, Arctic experts and lawmakers say the United States is losing its ability to patrol and safeguard Arctic waters even as climate change and high energy prices have triggered a burst of shipping and oil and gas exploration in the thawing region.
The National Academy of Sciences, the Coast Guard and others have warned over the past several years that the United States’ two 30-year-old heavy icebreakers, the Polar Sea and Polar Star, and one smaller ice-breaking ship devoted mainly to science, the Healy, are grossly inadequate. Also, the Polar Star is out of service.
And this spring, the leaders of the Pentagon’s Pacific Command, Northern Command and Transportation Command strongly recommended in a letter that the Joint Chiefs of Staff endorse a push by the Coast Guard to increase the country’s ability to gain access to and control its Arctic waters.
In the meantime, a resurgent Russia has been busy expanding its fleet of large oceangoing icebreakers to around 14, launching a large conventional icebreaker in May and, last year, the world’s largest icebreaker, named 50 Years of Victory, the newest of its seven nuclear-powered, pole-hardy ships.
