MetaFilter posts tagged with ships

Watching the ships roll in, 2.0 style

madamjujujive — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 10:27:50 -0800

MarineTraffic is a live map recording ship traffic based on AIS data. The site mainly covers European and North American coasts and includes info on vessels and ports, plus a gallery with some cool ship photos. Similar: see ShipAIS for live vessel movements from around the UK.

More like WONG STAR!

GuyZero — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 20:52:14 -0800

Not just a huge conspiracy... a TITANIC CONSPIRACY! "There are a number of good reasons to believe that the vessel which sank on the night of April 14/15 was in fact Titanic's slightly older, and very similar, sister ship Olympic."

He owns a mansion and a yacht

Joe Beese — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 21:20:41 -0800

Roman Abramovich, the Russian billionaire owner of Chelsea Football Club, has launched his 557-foot yacht, Eclipse.

We Built This City on Sunken Ships

kirkaracha — Mon, 18 May 2009 10:25:50 -0800

Ship to Shore. Much of downtown San Francisco, including everything in this photo, is built on landfill based on sunken ships that were abandoned during the Gold Rush (see the map linked at the bottom of the page). Notes on ships and wharves. 1852 map of downtown. There are markers along the original shoreline. Flickr pool. The ships weren't only used as landfill. The hull of the Arkansas was turned into the Old Ship Ale House. The hull of the Niantic was converted into a hotel. When the Niantic was dug up in 1978, excavators found bottles packed in straw that still contained champagne. The sunken ships occasionally turn up during construction projects. The downtown area is a seismic hazard zone that could liquify during an earthquake. (Much of the Marina is built on landfill based on rubble from the 1906 earthquake.)

Night run on the Houston Ship Channel

Joe in Australia — Sat, 09 May 2009 04:33:53 -0800

John Masefield would probably have enjoyed these videos.

... all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by

madamjujujive — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 20:28:32 -0800

Around Cape Horn - if you've ever wished for an authentic glimpse into the bygone era of the majestic age of sailing, this is it - a rare 1929 true adventure film about sailing a four-masted commercial barque around the Cape Horn during a huge gale. It was shot with a hand-cranked camera by Captain Irving Johnson who offers a spirited narration. 36 minutes, B&W

Where boats go to die.

allkindsoftime — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 12:04:51 -0800

This is a city of ShipBreakers.

U.S. Ex. Ex. 1838-1842

cenoxo — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 03:26:50 -0800

The United States Exploring Expedition, 1838-1842 — Authorized and funded by the U.S. government, six ships sailed with 346 men (including officers, crew, scientists, and artists) on a four-year scientific and surveying mission, logging 87,000 miles around the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian oceans. Two ships and 28 men were lost, and the Expedition's contentious commander Charles Wilkes was court-martialled for his erratic behavior, and was sued by former officers and crew members. During the Civil War in 1861, he boarded a British ship, seized two Confederate agents, and nearly provoked military retaliation by England (he was court-martialled once again in 1864 for insubordination.) Wilkes' 1845 Narrative of the United States Exploring Expedition and the Ex. Ex.'s journals were published by Congress, and some 40 tons of Expedition specimens and artifacts became the foundation of the Smithsonian Institution's collections. [Nathaniel Philbrick (video lecture) chronicles this almost-forgotten voyage in his 2003 book Sea of Glory (NYT review).]

Building mighty dreams

infini — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 05:44:19 -0800

Today is the 202nd birthday of Isambard Kingdom Brunel, one of the world's greatest engineers and a personal hero. I gaped at the Clifton Suspension Bridge in Bristol when the shock of recognition dawned on my jetlagged brain. This was the man that laid the foundation for Britain's global economic might, built the first underwater tunnel, Paddington Station and inspired engineers everywhere. His legacy lives on in his works, a university, a museum or two among others.

Rapid Offensive Unit Xenophobe will no doubt be pleased

Artw — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 23:00:35 -0800

Edinburgh author Iain M. Banks, creator of the post capitalist space faring society The Culture and it's oddly named ships, has long been the UKs top science fiction writer, but has never had more than a toehold in the US (in part through lack of availability, in part due to lack of promotion and in part due to some pretty awful covers. That could change: Matter, his latest, has been heavily promoted in the US and sports a cover nearly identical to the UK edition. This week Orbit are releasing US editions of the two earliest Culture novels, with the third following in July, which could mean a complete release of all the novels in the US in order. More Banks: Slashdot review of Matter Guardian Books author profile Interview in The Australian The odd story behind a Banks interview in The Sun Iain Banks and Ken MacCleod (audio/video) The Banksoniain fanzine National secular society: Honorary Associate: Iain Banks Iain M. Banks' "Culture" references in Bungie's Halo Why I write - Iain Banks Iain Banks on clean, green living Iain M. Banks’s Consider Phlebas and T.S. Eliot’s The Waste Land

Incredible hulks and prisons at sea

blahblahblah — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 08:24:03 -0800

A visual history of floating prisons shows that using ships at prisons did not end with the infamous prison hulks along the Thames. Today, New York (home to the Prison Ship Martyr's Monument commemorating the most deadly part of the Revolutionary War) uses the impressive Bain, anchored off the Bronx, as a prison barge, while the Australians have the sleek-looking Triton as a mobile prison ship patrolling national waters.

The Land God Made in Anger

serazin — Sat, 17 Nov 2007 15:19:00 -0800

The Skeleton Coast, so called for the whale skeletons that littered its shores when the whaling industry was at its peak, is now well known for the skeletons of shipwrecks. More. And a a bit of description here. Still, the coast is full of life. Each year hundreds of thousands of Fur Seals come ashore. (Video on this site of baby Fur Seal vs. a jackal.) (wp)

Sinking Ship Contains Hidden Gem

Orb — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 05:15:06 -0800

Having served as a troop transport in WWII, a luxury liner, and a sea cadet training vessel, the Texas Clipper will come to her final resting place tomorrow as part of an artificial reef in the Texas Gulf. During preparations for sinking, a long lost mural (1 2 3 4) by Saul Steinberg, best known for his work at The New Yorker, was rediscovered hidden behind wallpaper and paint and saved from a watery grave.

Double the CO2 from ships

lamarguerite — Sat, 20 Oct 2007 15:11:25 -0800

What do you know? Just when I thought ships were the way to go, I learned that global emissions of carbon dioxide from shipping are twice the level of aviation, one of the maritime industry's key bodies has said It came out on the BBC News this week.

"World's last tea clipper" no more.

hydatius — Sun, 20 May 2007 22:58:04 -0800

The Cutty Sark burns. Nineteenth century tea clipper, preserved as a museum-ship in Greenwich since the fifties, is currently ablaze.

Ghost Ship

chuckdarwin — Sat, 21 Apr 2007 07:18:33 -0800

A modern day Mary Celeste. A ship has been found adrift near the Great Barrier Reef... without her crew. The engine was idling, the table was set, and all the expensive kit was still on board (pirates surely would've gutted the place). The mast was ripped and the life rafts were missing. It's looking less and less likely that three sailors will be found alive. Where is Jack Ryan when you need him?

Oil Rig Disasters

OmieWise — Wed, 14 Feb 2007 08:12:26 -0800

Oil Rig Disasters--Deadliest, most expensive, blowouts, sinkings. Building a rig. Barrels of rig pictures. NOAA's archive of spill pictures. ROVs, rigs, vessels. All kind of Canadian rig (and related) pictures. More.

Semi-submersible heavy transport carriers

OmieWise — Tue, 13 Feb 2007 06:36:33 -0800

Float-on, Float-off cargo ships. They're huge. One carried the USS Cole. One class is called the Mighty Servants. There are also the Marlins, or the elegant honesty of the "Transshelf". Big ships need big dock cranes. For maximum impact, compare these monsters to the common penny. Previously, "Where do Supertankers go to die?"

Big Ass Ships for Big Ass Loads

Brandon Blatcher — Fri, 09 Feb 2007 20:43:46 -0800

They are capable of loading lifts from approximately 50 to as much as 45,000 tons.

Oh, ship!

Ogre Lawless — Sun, 28 Jan 2007 17:17:18 -0800

Where, exactly, were commercial vessels in the San Francisco Bay in the past hour? Here, for one. Behold the power of AIS! Previously

Dirty, dangerous, and detailed.

cenoxo — Thu, 07 Dec 2006 01:35:00 -0800

Pearl Harbor ship salvage began immediately after the attack and continued until 1944. It was dirty, dangerous, detailed, (and discouraging) work for U.S. Navy salvors and divers, but their impressive repairs eventually returned eighteen sunken and damaged ships to wartime service. Only one was left where she fell. [More in the book Resurrection: Salvaging the Battle Fleet at Pearl Harbor.]

Storm vs Tanker

jonson — Mon, 28 Aug 2006 15:40:25 -0800

Amazing photoseries of 70 foot storm waves crushing the surface of a large tanker in the North Pacific. More on the post-storm damage here.

Ship Tracker

mr_crash_davis — Sat, 15 Jul 2006 21:18:48 -0800

Where all my ships at?

Solent Waters

tellurian — Tue, 02 May 2006 22:21:35 -0800

Ships are so cool, except when they collide with bridges and catch on fire. [flash] You can also listen to some snappy dialogue from the USS Enterprise. [Warning: The laws in some countries may not permit you to listen these sound clips]. This, and other goodies (including hi-res downloads) from the Solent.

Freedom of the Seas

thirteenkiller — Sat, 29 Apr 2006 09:43:11 -0800

Supertankers are so cool. Click previous sentence for more information.