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We just recorded episode 28 of Messing About In Ships, our weekly podcast about ships, and during the taping Peter Mello reminded me to follow up on our friend Todd Lappin’s latest internet endeavor as corespondent for BoingBoing TV. Here are the details;

BBtv guest correspondent and blog pal Todd Lappin of Telstar Logistics takes us inside a steam-powered World War II “Liberty Ship,” the SS Jeremiah O’Brien.

We marvel (!) at the cool old retro-technology that kept this behemoth boat running to and from the beaches of Normandy, and we meet the volunteer caretakers — obsessive nerds just like us, only with white hair! — who keep her ship-shape today. Did you know that shipyards in the San Francisco Bay Area once churned out Liberty Ships like this in 4 days or less, during the heat of the war? Watch and learn, li’l skippers.

If you are interested in having your ship featured on Telstar Logistics, Flickr and possibly BoingBoing please contact your company’s media relations department. Todd is looking to board a working commercial ship (500ft LOA+) for a period of of 4-14 days to experience the life of a Merchant Mariner. If you can arrange such a voyage let us know, gCaptain will help make the trip happen.

The most elegant ship built in decades has caught the inspiration of artists, photographers and ship spotters worldwide. She is elegant, record breaking and capable. She’s also a YouTube Star! Here are two video that have reached over 25,000 viewers and for good reason. Take a look:

The liner Queen Mary 2 slips under the Golden Gate Bridge (BTW this video won our iPhone contest).

The Queen Mary 2 departing New York Harbour.

Like most celebrities she is also photogenic. The best series of photographs are by San Francisco Photo Blogger Todd Lapin and his team over at Telstar Logistics. Here is a slideshow of his photographs Telstar Logistics Photos. [Continue Reading →]

Our apologies to anyone looking for paranormal activity… you (probably) won’t find any here because by ghost ship we mean vessels no longer in service. In the U.S. most ghost ships are owned by the government. Know collectively as the Ghost Fleet, the official name for this collection of decommissioned ships is the Reserve Fleet. What is the purpose of keeping these ships around? Presumably by “mothballing” them the Navy has the chance to reactivate the vessels in the event of another world war. More commonly they are used as spare part depots, coral reefs, museum ships, or are eventually scrapped. Some, however, have uncertain futures as in the case of the SS Independence.

Telstar Logistics tells us;

During the last year or so a prominent new landmark has appeared on the San Francisco waterfront — and no, this time we’re not talking about that wretched skyscraper at One Rincon Hill. This point of interest is located a little farther south, in a Pier 70 berth at the historic Union Iron Works shipyard (now operated by BAE Systems). It’s a 1950s-vintage cruise ship, actually, and it’s unlikely that anyone passing through the city’s Dogpatch neighborhood in recent months would have missed the sight of the vessel’s distinctive smokestacks, which are painted in festive tropical colors.

The ship is the former SS Independence, and she’s now in retirement. Jonathan Haeber (aka Tunnelbug on Flickr) recently managed to get aboard the Independence, and he brought back an entire gallery’s worth of images for the rest of us to oogle.

Jonathan has the photos on his Flickr page but they can best be seen on THIS PHOTO SLIDESHOW (preview below).

For more details on this ship visit Telstar Logistic’s post titled, “Exploring the Ghost Ship SS Independence“.

Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.

Telstar Logistics brings us the scoop on the construction of the new Bay Bridge in San Francisco. They write:

We live in a time of many wonders and miracles, and one of them is taking shape in San Francisco Bay. The new eastern span of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge will replace the cantilevered span built in 1936. The old span was vulnerable to earthquakes — as the Bay Area discovered in 1989 — so the new structure is designed to be a bit less fragile.

Estimated to cost billions of dollars and six more years of construction this project will huge in scope and a topic likely to be discussed often in the maritime community. Read his full story HERE and be sure to click on the photo links.

If you prefer the other bay bridge visit his story: Backstage atop the Golden Gate Bridge