Posted to Maritime Musings
(by
Dennis Bryant)
on
February 13, 2015
The sea lily (Bourgueticrinida) is an order of marine animals referred to as crinoids. They are typically found in deep ocean waters (to a depth of about 18,000 feet). In their adult form, they are attached to the sea floor by means of a stalk.
Posted to Maritime Musings
(by
Dennis Bryant)
on
June 21, 2013
The Barents Sea is named for the Dutch navigator, cartographer, and explorer Willem Barents, who mapped the area during expeditions in the late 1500’s. Historically, the Russians referred to it as the Sea of Murmans. It is located north of eastern Norway and western Russia.
Posted to Maritime Musings
(by
Dennis Bryant)
on
December 2, 2014
The bark HMS Endeavour was built in 1764 as the collier Earl of Pembroke. A type known locally as a Whitby Cat, it had a broad, flat bow, a square stern, a long box-like body with a deep hold, and a flat bottom. Originally ship-rigged, it was…
Posted to Maritime Musings
(by
Dennis Bryant)
on
September 3, 2013
During the American Revolutionary War, British forces captured thousands of “rebels”. Those in uniform were accorded treatment somewhat akin to prisoner of war status. Those not in uniform, particularly the maritime privateers, were subjected to harsher conditions.
Posted to Maritime Musings
(by
Dennis Bryant)
on
April 26, 2013
On 26 April 1956, the ship Ideal X departed Port Newark, New Jersey on a voyage to Houston, Texas. The ship had been launched in 1945 as the T-2 tanker SS Potrero Hills. The ship had made many voyages in the intervening eleven years, but this was different.
Posted to Maritime Musings
(by
Dennis Bryant)
on
March 19, 2013
The US Coast Guard motor lifeboat 36500 is the only one of the many hundreds that were built between the 1930s and the 1950s to be placed on the National Register of Historic Places. On 18 February 1952, during a severe winter storm off Cape Cod…
Posted to Maritime Musings
(by
Dennis Bryant)
on
January 4, 2011
The whoosh you experienced at about 1900 UTC on Monday, January 3, 2011 was the sun passing by on its closest approach to the Earth – a mere 91,402,505 miles away. This recurs every year, often at night when it can’t be observed. The date and…