On March 10, off the North Sea coast near Hull, the United Kingdom, the U.S. flagged oil tanker Stena Immaculate was stuck in a T-bone collision by the Portuguese flagged container ship Solong.  The Stena Immaculate was loaded with A1 jet fuel and the two ships burst into flames. One Solong crew member went over the side and is presumed lost. The Stena crew took to their lifeboats and abandoned ship after several of the tanker’s fuel tanks exploded.  All crew were rescued safely. The ship was destroyed. The accident occurred in limited visibility as a low bank of wispy…

Once the famous playground for the rich, famous and infamous, Ari Onassis’s mega yacht the Christina O is for sale for $93 million. The yacht is best known as the safe retreat for Jackie Kennedy Onassis after JFK and RFK were assassinated, and she married Onassis. The yacht started life in 1943 as a Canadian frigate dispatched on anti-submarine duty in the North Atlantic. Following the war, the ship was mothballed. In 1954, Onassis bought the frigate for its scrap value and then spent $4 million transforming it into a luxurious private yacht. In the years after WW II, Onassis,…

Every morning across the country, weather professionals employed by the National Weather Service, the forecasting arm of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, launch weather balloons into the sky. These balloons collect real-time data on wind speed and direction, barometric pressure at a range of altitudes and more The data is fed into the NWS forecast model known as the GFS along with data from NOAA satellites and a host of other sources. The GFS combines data from four distinct models: atmosphere, ocean, land/soil and sea ice. The result is a six-times a day forecast update for the planet and…

On Wednesday, Hinckley Yachts of Portsmouth, Rhode Island announced that it had finalized the acquisition of the Bay Bridge Marina on Kent Island, Stevensville, Maryland. The deep-water marina and marine facilities lie at the epicenter of the Chesapeake Bay’s yachting region. “Bay Bridge Marina is a wonderful location that allows us to offer our customers the best possible experience on the Chesapeake,” said Gavin McClintock, CEO of Hinckley. “This is an exciting step in strengthening our service network while also providing a world-class marina destination for discerning yachtsmen.” The new marina, which is well established  and respected throughout The Chesapeake, adds…