Have you heard of the SS Shieldhall?  For most of our North American readers, the answer may be no, but this is a ship worth learning about.  The Shieldhall happens to be one of the last remaining operating steamships in Northern Europe, the largest remaining sea-going steamship in the UK, and one of the last [...]

The once grand SS United States may be one step closer to being preserved on the Philadelphia waterfront following the transfer of the ship’s title from Norwegian Cruise Lines (NCL) to the SS United States Conservancy.  The purchase, enabled by a grant provided to the conservancy by the Philadelphia philanthropist H. F. “Gerry” Lenfest has [...]

The folks at Professional Mariner are reporting that they have confirmed that two Marine Safety Alerts issued today by the Coast Guard concerning CO2 System Installations refer to the CO2 system on board the cruise ship Carnival Splendor which suffered a generator/machinery space fire in November resulting in a complete loss of propulsion and ship [...]

The shrinking size of the U.S. flagged merchant fleet is drawing the attention of the attention of Congressman Elijah E. Cummings,  Chairman of the House Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation as evident at a recent hearing on the 29th of Sept.  Congressman Cummings is turning to the Maritime Administration (MARAD) to provide further details concerning [...]

In a relatively lightly published and un-noticed event, the U.S. flagged cargo ship M/V SAGAMORE was attacked and robbed on Aug. 8th by two men with AK-47s near the al-Basrah Oil Terminal, which lies about 19 miles from the Iraqi port of Umm Qasr. The SAGAMORE is operated by Sealift Inc., a privately held company [...]