Posts by The Vessel

“We are from Troy, Akhaians, blown off course by shifting gales on the Great South Sea; homeward bound, but taking routes and ways uncommon; so the will of Zeus would have it.”* So did Ulysses introduce himself and his crew to Polyphemus and the other Cyclops. Even if they never embark on a journey comparable…

Halfway between descriptively and amusingly named, the Pacific Ocean islands of Sand, Eastern and Spit are roughly equidistant from Tokyo and San Francisco and form the (aptly named) Midway coral atoll. The battle that took place here in June 1942 – one of the most decisive of World War II – became known as the…

Often called “the world’s richest” shipwreck, Spanish naval galleon San José carried up to 200 tons of gold, silver, and uncut gemstones – whose value is estimated up to $20 billion – when it sank off the coast of contemporary Colombia in 1708 during a battle with British warships. A number of parties – from…

Loose lips might sink ships, warned a World War 2 era slogan coined by the U.S. Office of War Information (OWI). Bananas on board certainly do – according to one of the numerous superstitions attributed to sailors. The tropical berry’s legendary bad reputation at sea stems from concerning reasons ranging from harboring venomous spiders, to…

Aspiration. Aim. Purpose. Process of healing. Affirmation of one’s deepest truth. Although the word intention – to stretch towards, according to its etymology – has different connotations when used in different contexts, it tends to signal action directed at a goal. When traversing coastal waters, navigators often rely on Marine VHF Radios to communicate their…

“However, on you go, and every mile covered seems another victory” * – noted renowned Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen while reflecting upon the remarkable journey during which he led his sloop Gjøa and six crewmen from Oslo to Nome, AK. Before 1906, navigation through the Canadian Arctic Archipelago had eluded many, given challenging weather conditions,…

“Where misery existed, joy manifests itself,” waxed lyrically the ancient Egyptian scribe Khety about the Nile. Given how fundamentally important the longest river in the world was to those living nearby thousands of years ago, it is unsurprising that it became the subject of poems or attracted fervent worship (as the god of abundance, regeneration,…

1904 was a really busy year for the city of Saint Louis, MO. Along with the World Fair, that summer and fall the city bested Chicago in the heated competition to host the third Olympiad in modern times (following Athens and Paris). Among the many athletic highlights, the Saint Louis Games saw the debut of…

When embarking on journeys of the sea one can choose to navigate by sight, following visible coastal landmarks. But for lengthy trans-oceanic voyages, when all that meets the eye is blue, celestial navigation becomes indispensable. Clear skies are not always above or ahead, however. How can a vessel move forward, when visibility is low? Nowadays,…

The deep ocean is a place of extreme pressure, icy temperatures, and complete darkness. As scientists continue to discover, however, it is also a place of bustling activity. The largest known (so far) deep-sea coral reef habitat lies in the Atlantic, hundreds of miles offshore Georgia and South Carolina. As their shallow-water siblings, these highly…