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Once upon a time, there was a veteran fisherman who had no luck out at sea for many, many, many days. Santiago then hooked a massive marlin, which – after a lengthy struggle – he managed to catch and lash to his boat. When sharks started to eat the fish, “you should have brought many…

“At last, on Wednesday [November 22], at noon, having the wind astern, we succeeded in doubling the Cape, and then ran along the coast.”  The Cape is the southwesternmost point of the African continent. The year is 1497. Whether authored personally by Vasco da Gama, or (perhaps more likely) anonymously by one of his fellow…

Without motive power. At the mercy of currents. The word adrift generally comes to mind when thinking about directionless displacement, or deviation – either from a (vessel’s) charted course, or from a (person’s) planned path. Hardship tends to accompany such aimless floating: while the mind focuses on the perceived infinite duration of time, it races…

“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,…