Costa Concordia

Many people know this already, but on Friday, January 13th, 2012, the Costa Concordia went out of service. Around 22:00 local time, the M/S Costa Concordia ran aground near Isola del Giglio. This is the second accident that the Concordia had, the first one being it hit a dock in 2008. The ship was ordered for Costa Cruise Lines in 2004. The Concordia was launched in 2005, which makes it seven years in service, which isn't very long. There were six reported deaths, As of Saturday, there were three found and still 69 missing

-Alex Pancamo

Looking Back: Deepwater Horizon Oil Rig Spill

It's hard to believe that it's been a year since the oil rig exploded. And to think there is still oil in the Gulf of Mexico. Then in July, it will be a year since it stopped, and in September, it will be a year since it was capped. It's amazing that it has been so long.

I know this is a short post, and I'm sorry for not posting a lot at all. But anyway, thanks for reading!

Interesting Ship News!

If you've been on here recently, and checked in with the "Interesting Links" Section, then you already know about the RMS Titanic Memorial Cruise.

And this is what I am talking about today. This cruise will take place in April of 2012, Which is 100 years from the sad loss of the "Unsinkable" ship. This cruise will, like I just said, take place in April of 2012, on the M/S Balmoral. This luxury mini-cruise will be around five nights. For more information on the M/S Balmoral, go to http://www.titanicmemorialcruise.co.uk/our-ship.php, http://www.fredolsencruises.com/Our-Ships/Balmoral/Welcome-aboard-Balmoral,-the-largest-of-our-fleet, or Google information about M/S Balmoral or Fred.Olsen cruises. This 5-day mini-cruise will have two options;

Option 1

Southampton – Cobh – Titanic Site – Halifax – New York – Fly to London

Option 2

Southampton – Cobh – Titanic Site – Halifax – New York – Martha’s Vineyard – St Pierre & Miquelon – Southampton

It's probably more expensive, but I'd choose Option 2. It would bring me to more and interesting points of interest. But either way, you're going to the Titanic Wreck Site. I'd want to go there the most, although you're not getting to see anything.

Thanks for reading and being patient with my lack of posting. I hope everybody looks into the website. I don't have the price of the cruise in our currency (USD) but I'll give you the price in pounds. The British price of the cruise is £499

Thanks for reading!

Sorry for no stories!

Hi

I'm very very sorry for not posting any articles in a while. I hope you understand that I've been very busy lately. Once again thanks for understanding.

The TSS Normandie

In January of 1931, another great ship was created. The TSS Normandie was a ship made for French Line. It was one of their largest ships. And it won the award for Largest Passenger ship, Blue Riband Atlantic Eastbound, and Blue Riband Atlantic Westbound for the years 1935 and 1936.

The Normandie was sold from French Line to the US Navy in December of 1941, and renamed USS LaFayette(AP-53). For the US Navy, she only served for four years. In 1945, while she was headed for New York, she suddenly caught fire.

What was sad about this fire was that it happened right when the LaFayette was next to New York Harbor. When the fire was put out enough, she was dragged into the harbor. She then capsized unexpectedly.

After the disaster, she sat in the harbor a few days. After that, she was sold to Lipsett, INC. for scrapping. She was completely gone by 1947.

Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill

Many of you in the United States know this, but those of you in other parts of the world may not.

In the Gulf of Mexico, close to Louisiana, is the Oil Rig Deepwater Horizon. The Deepwater Horizon had a very large explosion on April 21st, 2010. This explosion caused a very large and as yet, ongoing oil spill, too.

There have been attempts so far to fix it, but none of them have been successful. There was one suggestion that was to send down a special kind of robot. This was because no human was going to want to dive nearly a mile down, not that that is even possible. This one sadly failed. A contraption being called a 'top hat' was placed on top of the leak as a possible band-aid, yet not considered a long term fix, but with ice formation hindering its success, the top hat is not longer an option. Another plan was to drop a bunch of junk, including golf balls and tires, down to clog the leak. That didn't go through either.

Because of the oil spreading and killing wild life, there are also workers going and putting up barriers for keeping the oil off of the Louisiana shore. Extenuating effects of this leak impact all the the fisherman making their livelihood in the once fertile Gulf of Mexico, as well as the tourism industry. Whatever health effects that lay ahead for the workers involved in the clean-up effort may be detrimental for them, too. So far, at least for those living on the coast, fumes in the air are merely a nuisance.

Most sources say that the oil has passed these barriers, and will probably get as far as the Virginia coast as the current carries it. It is approaching Florida, and there are recent reports of globs of the stuff coming ashore in the Florida Keys, and even as far north as Miami. So, if you live on the east coast of the United States, then get to the beach when you can! The oil is getting closer and closer day by day.

What we don't want is for the oil to get to the west coast, or even down to the Caribbean. For roughly the past month now, BP and other companies are trying to come up with a way to fix the spill.

The Story of the RMS Empress of Ireland

The great ship Empress of Ireland was one of Canadian Pacific Line's most-recognized ships. She was a sister ship to the Empress of Britain. She began service in July of 1906.

For her entire career, she went back and forth from Canada to Liverpool. She served eight successful years for Canadian Pacific Line. But in just 15 minutes, she was lost in a dense fog.

May 29, 1914: Empress of Ireland was traveling through St. Lawrence River, on her way to Quebec, When she encountered a very dense fog. The SS Storstad was heading in the opposite direction. Captain Henry Kendall, Captain of the Empress of Ireland, saw the lights from the Storstad, but he said it had to be at least eight miles away. But not a minute later, neither of the ships could see a thing. Within five minutes, the Storstad rammed the Empress of Ireland. The Storstad was damaged, but not as bad as the Empress. The impact was so hard, the water tight doors on the Empress wouldn't close.

It was bad enough that the water tight doors wouldn't close, but the power was out. Captain Kendall tried to run the ship aground, but he wasn't able to do that, because there wasn't power. In only 15 minutes, the ship was completely under water.

Only four of the many lifeboats were launched. Over 1,000 people were lost in the wreck.

Many people have gone diving to the wreck, which was possible without a submarine. Where the Empress of Ireland was in St. Lawrence River was only 130 feet deep.

"Lost Liners- Empress of Ireland." PBS.org. PBS, Web. 15 May 2010. <http://www.pbs.org/lostliners/book.html>.