The Curious Engineer

All blogs / History

– a virtual port of call for all those who love the sea , hosted by na

oldsaltblog.com

a virtual port of call for all those who love the sea , hosted by nautical novelist Rick Spilman

HistorySociety / politics / economyEssays / personal

’10’15’20’25
Posts
6,841 from 13 Oct 2008 to 22 Sep 2026
Posting
weekly (53 in the last year)
Kind
personal blog
Feed
https://oldsaltblog.com/feed/

Latest

September 2026

  1. Ensign Bone Spurs Trump and Messman Dorie Miller, Boundless Narcissism & Stolen Valor
  2. Looking Back Over 25 Years — Remembering the Great New York Boatlift

June 2026

  1. Happy Juneteenth — When Emancipation Arrived by Steamship Over 160 Years Ago

May 2026

  1. Happy Cinco (or Sinko) De Mayo

April 2026

  1. Hegseth’s Pentagon Spends Over $22 M on Lobster, Crab, and Steak, As Warship Sailors Go Hungry
  2. USS Gerald R. Ford Retreats From Red Sea, Beaten By Broken Toilets, Laundry Room Fire and Exhausted Crew
  3. Trump Admin Orders “God Squad” To Waive Protection For Endangered Species

March 2026

  1. Farewell Old Friend — Saying Goodbye to A23a, Former World’s Largest and Still Oldest Iceberg
  2. Women’s History Month — Celebrating Admiral “Amazing Grace” Hopper
  3. If He Only Had a Brain — Scarecrow Trump Says Tanker Operators Lack Guts
  4. On International Women’s Day, Remembering Eleanor Creesy, Navigator of the Clipper Ship Flying Cloud
  5. Trump’s War on Iraq — Are There Lessons to Be Learned From Millennium Challenge 2002?
  6. Women’s History Month: Remembering Raye Montague, Barrier-Shattering Navy Ship Designer
  7. Ducks, Dynasties, and the Deep: The Remarkable Story of the Temasek Wreck

February 2026

  1. Black History Month — First Black Liberty Ship Captain, Hugh Mulzac, Says No To Jim Crow
  2. In Honor of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion During Black History Month — the Floating Freedom School
  3. Trump’s Navy Secretary Phelan — Billionaire Donor, No Military Experience, Porn Collector With Epstein Links, of Course
  4. Winter Cold Enough to Sail Van Nostrand Challenge Cup, America’s Cup of Ice Yachting
  5. Pilot Falls Into Ocean Off Hawaii Attempting to Board Emerald Princess
  6. Valentine’s Day Repost — Valentine Islands
  7. Celebrating Frederick Douglass on Valentine’s Day — “I Will Take to the Water”
  8. Online Poll Names Deep Sea Chiton — No Its Not Molly McMollusk-Face
  9. Harriet Tubman, Part 2 — the Arc of History Doesn’t Always Bend Toward Justice
  10. Remembering Robert Smalls – Former Slave, Pilot of the Planter, First Black Captain in the US Navy & US Congressman
  11. Celebrating Black History Month — Part 1: Harriet Tubman & the Great Combahee Ferry Raid
  12. Candela P-12 Flying Above the Waves: the Fastest Electric Passenger Ferry in the World
  13. When New York Harbor Froze
  14. Icebreaking in New York Harbor
  15. 50 Year Old USCG Polar Star Rescues Cruise Ship Scenic Eclipse II from Pack Ice in Antarctica

January 2026

  1. Virginia Oliver, Maine’s Indomitable Lobster Lady, Dies at 105
  2. Southern England Beaches Battered By Banana Carnage and Massive Chip Wreck
  3. “All Available Boats” — RDML Michael Day’s Radio Call on 9/11
  4. Trump Admits His Vanity Fleet Battleship Plan is Just an Epstein File Distraction
  5. Watching the Ball Drop in Times Square — the Nautical Origins of a New Year’s Tradition

December 2025

  1. Update: Cruise Ship Coral Adventurer Runs Aground on First Trip Death of Elderly Passenger
  2. Sting — Christmas At Sea, Live from Durham Cathedral
  3. Hundreds of Victorian Shoes Mysteriously Wash Ashore on Beach In Wales
  4. Radio Broadcasts Reporting Attack on Pearl Harbor 84 Years Ago Today
  5. Tragedy in the Mozambique Channel — Two Sailors Found Dead in Possible Pirate Attack
  6. Trump Regime Attempting to Scapegoat Admiral For Illegal Second Strike on Venezuelan Boat

November 2025

  1. Trump Ready to Pardon Honduran Drug Kingpin While Threatening a War With Venezuela
  2. Trump Threatens to Execute Veteran Lawmakers for Calling on Military to Follow the Law
  3. Thanksgiving Repost — Whaling Ships, Sarah Josepha Hale, Mary’s Lamb & a Liberty Ship
  4. Voyage of the Mayflower II, 1957
  5. The Threat of Russian Spy Ship Yantar in UK Waters
  6. Loose Wire on Container Ship Dali Caused Blackouts, Resulting in Key Bridge Tragedy
  7. Search Ends for Royal Fleet Auxiliary Sailor Missing Off Irish Coast
  8. Phoney Admiral, Festooned with Medals, Arrested at Remembrance Sunday Event in Wales
  9. The Cost of Denial as Sea Levels Rising Faster Than at Any Time in the Last 4,000 Years
  10. Ro-Ro Finnwave Catches Fire in English Channel
  11. Murder on the High Seas — Trump Continues Illegal Attacks on Alleged Drug Smugglers
  12. Passenger on Expedition Cruise Ship Dies After Being Left Behind on Remote Island

October 2025

  1. Neoliner Origin, World’s First Commercial Sailing Ro/Ro, Completes Challenging Trans-Atlantic Voyage
  2. Putin Claims Russia Successfully Tests a Drone Submarine Tsunami Superweapon
  3. Threatening Tariffs and Sanctions, Trump Administration Scuttles IMO Clean Emissions Agreement

September 2025

  1. Trump Regime Targets Filipino Cruise Ship Crews in Mass Deportations Without Due Process
  2. Draft Bill Would Give Trump License to Kill Anyone He Claims is a Narco-Terrorist
  3. Passenger Jumps Overboard from Rhapsody of the Seas to Avoid $16,000 Gambling Debt
  4. On the 24th Anniversary of 9/11, Remembering the Great New York Boatlift
  5. Was Trump’s Attack on Venezuelan Vessel, Killing 11, Illegal?

August 2025

  1. Maclean Brothers Set Record for Non-Stop and Unsupported Row Across the Pacific Ocean
  2. US Navy Sailor Convicted of Spying for China
  3. REGENT Tests Viceroy Seaglider Electric Ferry That Floats, Foils & Flies
  4. Black Moon on the Rise
  5. Fire on Navy Amphib USS New Orleans Extinguished After 12 Hours, 2 Sailors Injured
  6. Ukraine Widens Naval War — Sinks Russian Arms Ship In Caspian Sea in Drone Strike
  7. Bulk Carrier Fire and Explosion Temporarily Halts Traffic in the Port of Baltimore
  8. Crew Prevents Fire From Spreading Aboard Ultra Large Container Ship Marie Maersk
  9. Executives of $29M Hawaii Tourist Sub Scam Sentenced to Prison
  10. Chinese Ships Collide While Pursuing Philippine Patrol Craft in South China Sea
  11. Will US Regime’s Cuts in Science Funding Surrender Antarctica to the Russians and Chinese?
  12. Update: Terminally Ill Sailor, Jazz Turner, Plans to Compete in Round the World Race
  13. The Silence of the Blue Whales and the Blob
  14. Over 90 Dead In Yemen Migrant Shipwreck
  15. USCG Report: Titan Implosion and the Loss of Five Lives was Preventable Tragedy
  16. USCG Investigation of Desmasting of Schooner Grace Bailey Cites Rotten Mast & Faulty Inspection

July 2025

  1. Court Orders $1 Bn Payment in X-Press Pearl Disaster as the Nurdle Nightmare Continues
  2. Legendary Schooner Shenandoah to be Retired
  3. Crew Member Dies After Stabbing Colleague Then Jumping Overboard on World’s Largest Cruise Ship
  4. The Long Goodbye to the Historic Sailing Ship Falls of Clyde
  5. Indonesian Ferry KM Barcelona VA Catches Fire — 575 Rescued, 3 Dead, 2 Missing
  6. Tourist Boat Capsizes in Vietnam’s Ha Long Bay, 35 Dead Including at Least 8 Children
  7. Russia May Finally Scrap its Smoking Aircraft Carrier with a Weak Heart, Admiral Kuznetsov
  8. Saving Lafayette ‘s L’Hermione — “It’s Now or Never”
  9. Houthis Resume Attacks in Red Sea, Hitting Two Bulk Carriers
  10. Ferry Capsizes and Sinks in Bali Strait, at Least Four Dead & 30 Missing
  11. Terminally Ill Sailor, Jazz Turner, Becomes the First Disabled Person to Sail Solo Around UK
  12. New Orca Behaviors Discovered — Using Tools and Sharing Food With People

June 2025

  1. Father Jumps Overboard to Save Daughter After She Falls Overboard From Cruise Ship Disney Dream
  2. The Legendary or Infamous MV Astoria, ex-Stockholm, Sold for Scrap
  3. Update: Fire-Ravaged Car Carrier Morning Midas Sinks Under Tow in North Pacific
  4. Happy Juneteenth — When Emancipation Arrived by Steamship 160 Years Ago
  5. Terminally Ill Sailor, Jazz Turner, Sailing Solo Around UK
  6. Update: First Salvage Tug Arrives at Burning Car Carrier Morning Midas Adrift in the Pacific
  7. Hegseth Orders Navy to Strip Name of Gay Rights Icon Harvey Milk from Ship
  8. Car Carrier Morning Midas Abandoned Mid-Pacific as EVs and Hybrids Burn Out of Control

May 2025

  1. Update: Retired Four-Star Navy Adm. Robert P. Burke Found Guilty of Bribery
  2. Mad as a Lighthouse Keeper — Not the Solitude, but the Mercury
  3. Mexican Navy Sail Training Ship ARM Cuauhtémoc Hits Brooklyn Bridge — 2 Crew Dead, 22 Injured
  4. How Ice Cream Replaced Booze in the US Navy
  5. Tragic Launching of HMS Albion, 1898, Caught on Film
  6. Ships in Bottles — A Bit of the History and Lore
  7. Captain Henry Every – The Pirate Who Got Away
  8. Salt in their Veins — a Short Documentary About the Bajo of Southeast Sulawesi, Indonesia
  9. When the Frigate USS Stein Was Attacked by a Colossal Squid
  10. On the 80th Anniversary VE Day, Remembering the “Shetland Bus”
  11. Murder Arrest on Cruise Ship MSC Virtuosa
  12. Was the ‘Enormous Serpent’ of HMS Daedalus in 1848 a “Sei” Monster?
  13. Empress of China — Opening Trade With China in 1784
  14. The Tragic Sinking of the SS Cap Arcona, 5,000 Concentration Camp Prisoners Killed
  15. “A Collision at Sea…” the Most Famous Thing Thucydides Never Said

April 2025

  1. Super Hornet Fighter Aircraft Slides Off Carrier Harry S. Truman Into Red Sea
  2. Good Ship Fata Morgana Hovering Above the Horizon
  3. Massive Explosion at Iranian Port Kills at Least 40, Injures Over 1,000
  4. Diver Buys World War I Shipwreck of the SS Almond Branch on Facebook for £300
  5. Alessandro Tosetti Sailing ULDB 65′ Aspra in Global Solo Challenge Attacked by Orcas in Strait of Gibraltar.
  6. On Shakespeare’s Birthday — Was Shakespeare a Sailor?
  7. Recreating Bronze Roman Naval Rams from Punic War Using Ancient Techniques
  8. Five Drown, Two Missing as Powerful Waves Batter Australia’s Coast
  9. First Ever Confirmed Image of a Colossal Squid in the Deep Ocean Happens to be Really, Really Small
  10. World’s Largest Suction Sails Installed On Fruit Juice Tanker, MV Atlantic Orchard
  11. Books About Racism & the Holocaust Purged From Naval Academy Library, Works by Hitler and White Supremacists Retained
  12. Iceland Fin Whaling Season Cancelled for Second Year in a Row
  13. Not “Demonic” but “Domoic” — Sickened Sea Lions Attacking Beachgoers in California
  14. Searching For And Discovering the Titanic as a Cover for Surveying the Submarines Thresher and Scorpion
  15. Satellite Mapping of Ocean Floor Discovers 100,000 Seamounts
  16. On World Parkinson’s Day — Patrick Morrissey & Team HPP Row Across the Pacific To Beat Parkinson’s
  17. Six Die in Helicopter Crash in Hudson River Near Jersey City
  18. Triple Amputee, Craig Wood, Sailing Solo Across the Pacific
  19. Windcoop Orders World’s First Sail-Powered Container Ship
  20. Congratulations to Sophie Pierce, First Person to With Cystic Fibrosis to Row Across the Atlantic
  21. Expedition Ship Ocean Explorer Hit By 40′ Waves in Drake Passage

March 2025

  1. Update: Microalgal Bloom Causing Toxic Sea Foam on South Australian Beaches Identified
  2. Tourist Submarine Sinks in Red Sea Off Egypt — 39 Rescued, 6 Dead
  3. A Tale of Two “Code Talkers” — Marine Radioman Thomas Begay & Navy Wave Winnie Breegle
  4. Sea Foam Sickens Over 100 Surfers on South Australian Beaches
  5. Peruvian Fisherman Rescued After 94 Days Missing at Sea
  6. Royal Navy’s Cetus, First Uncrewed Submarine, Launched
  7. China Building Fleet of ‘Invasion Barges’ Suitable For Taiwan Landings
  8. Battleship USS Texas Finally Finds Home in Galveston
  9. Fire and Explosions After Container Ship Strikes Anchored Tanker Off Humber in North Sea
  10. Women’s History Month — Celebrating Admiral “Amazing Grace” Hopper
  11. The Long Goodbye — Preparing SS United States to be Sunk as an Artificial Reef
  12. A23a, World’s Largest & Oldest Iceberg, Runs Aground 50 Miles Off South Georgia Island
  13. Trump’s DOGE Fires 800 More NOAA Scientists — Endangering the Economy & Public Safety

February 2025

  1. Leaked Recordings Challenge Greek Coast Guard Account of Deadly Migrant Shipwreck
  2. In Honor of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion During Black History Month — the Floating Freedom School
  3. Pacific Northwest Waterways Association Pushes Back Against DOGE Cuts of Corps of Engineers’ Critical Employees
  4. Remembering Wesley A. Brown — First Black Graduate of the United States Naval Academy
  5. Black History Month Repost — John Henry Turpin : Pioneer, Survivor, and Overlooked Hero

Every year

2026 342025 1422024 2362023 2512022 3282021 3652020 3702019 3632018 3632017 3712016 3782015 3972014 4242013 4912012 7322011 7652010 7362009 802008 15