The beginning is always the most exciting. The tease of the upcoming seasons as ospreys return to local skies in past weeks or the slight ripples of bait in back bay waters has stoked the anticipation for this year’s season. Expectations are high on the…
Long Island Boating World
THE ANDREA DORIAThe Italia Line’s SS Andrea Doria has intersected my life a few times and greatly sparked my interest in the sea. I was nine years old when it sunk on July 25, 1956, only 50 miles off Nantucket and 100 plus from New…
When the topic of the Panama Canal comes up, the last name mentioned is probably Balboa. Yet in 1513, Vasco Nunez de Balboa crossed the isthmus of Panama and discovered it to be only a narrow strip of land between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.…
The California gold rush began in 1848 and people from all over the United States rushed to California in search of gold. Some traveled the difficult overland route, but many made the voyage on ships around Cape Horn to the West Coast. After dropping off…
Armed with four torpedoes and two twin Browning machine guns, the small, fast and highly maneuverable PT boats (patrol, torpedo boats) were an important part of the U.S. Navy’s weapons systems during World War ll. Equipped with a trio of Packard engines, their maximum speed,…
If you’re like me you probably planned a few projects over the winter, for the boat and maybe the house. I had planned a few and after the fall season of raking leaves for days on end I was able to start on them.First up…
This month’s article is a hybrid centering on magnetic boat compasses and it includes a short story at the end relating to the subject by my associate writer, Mark C. (Sea) Nuccio titled “Three Compasses” which you may or may not enjoy. The subject of…
The Hendricks Head Lighthouse Station had been commissioned in 1829 on Southport Island near Boothbay Harbor in Maine. The area overlooks the mouth of the Sheepscot River and the Atlantic Ocean near the Cuckolds Light, and views the Sequin Island Lighthouse. This location helped bring…
Sometimes, the simplest thing can take on monumental proportions – if you get it wrong. And setting a proper anchor, and retrieving (or “weighing it” so you can “make way”), can make all the difference in the world when the wind starts to stiffen and…
Captain Murray stepped onto the bridge and scanned the horizon. The gale-whipped waves crested as his charge, the S.S. Alaska of the Guion Line, neared the waters off Fire Island, Long Island. In the distance, he finally spotted the torch of a pilot boat approaching.…