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 Global Maritime Analysis with Joseph Keefe
(by
Joseph Keefe)
on
February 3, 2015
Long Beach, CA: Less than 12 hours after the New England Patriots’ late game heroics stunned the Seattle Seahawks in Super Bowl XLIX, U.S. Coast Guard Commandant Admiral Paul Zukunft found himself facing a standing room only audience of Passenger Vessel Association (PVA) delegates…
Posted to Maritime Musings
(by
Dennis Bryant)
on
January 6, 2015
The archipelago called the New Siberian Islands is not new, having existed for eons and containing fossils from the Late Pleistocene (over 100,000 years ago) and probably earlier. Bedrock on the islands is significantly older. The archipelago is comprised of three groups of islands.
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
October 31, 2014
The sea otter (Enhydra lutris) is a member of the weasel family that ran away to sea. It is the smallest of the marine mammals and the only one that does not rely on fat (blubber) for warmth. Rather, it has the thickest coat of fur of any mammal – up to one million strands of hair per square inch.
Posted to Maritime Musings
(by
Dennis Bryant)
on
September 24, 2013
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the people who brought you the Internet, is seeking a different method of addressing the worldwide demands of maritime domain awareness in times of crises. While the US Navy is large, its…
Posted to Maritime Musings
(by
Dennis Bryant)
on
April 8, 2014
The Strait of Malacca is named after Malacca, now part of Malaysia. In about the year 1400, Parameswana, the last Raja of Singapura, was expelled from the area around present-day Singapore by local rivals. He relocated to the fishing village of Malacca…
Posted to Maritime Musings
(by
Dennis Bryant)
on
April 1, 2014
Elephant seals are large seals represented by two species, the northern elephant seal and the southern elephant seal. Both were hunted to near extinction through the end of the nineteenth century. The smaller northern elephant seal is found in the eastern portion of the North Pacific Ocean…
Posted to Martin Rushmere
(by
Martin Rushmere)
on
December 30, 2013
There’s been a new twist to the Jones Act, sending another signal that it’s time for change. Money crunchers are making a huge profit from the artificial market in the domestic oil trade. ExxonMobil has chartered the Overseas Cascade at $110…
Posted to Martin Rushmere
(by
Martin Rushmere)
on
November 26, 2013
When a minor cog in a political machine starts asking whether jobs will be lost at a port because of the drive for greater efficiency, you know there are real problems ahead. That in essence is the situation facing Los Angeles following the…
Posted to Maritime Musings
(by
Dennis Bryant)
on
November 15, 2013
The island group, consisting of two atolls and about 27 coral islands, was stumbled upon by Captain William Keeling (1578-1620) of the East Indiaman Susanna. In 1609, he was returning to England from the East India Company’s trading post on Java.
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
July 30, 2013
The Russian Maritime Border Guard is part of the Russian Border Guard Service, which is part of the Federal Security Service of Russia. The Federal Security Service is the successor to the Soviet KGB, which collapsed with the rest of the Soviet Government in 1991.
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 Martin Rushmere
(by
Martin Rushmere)
on
April 28, 2013
Northwest and as the door on a coal terminal closes, another opens for hydraulic fracturing (fracking). Gray’s Harbor, normally associated with autos and breakbulk, is eyeing a huge bonanza in the form of crude-by-rail. The stuff will probably come from the fields…
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 IMU - the Maritime Varsity in turmoil
(by
Joseph Fonseca)
on
April 10, 2013
Four years into its existence, the Indian Maritime University set up under the Union government has turned out to be a big disappointment. Most stakeholders in maritime education and training feel let down on hearing the disturbing news about the new vice-chancellor…