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Ship Fires
WATCH: Evacuation Of High End Luxury Cruise Ship In Italy
The Sea Dream I, a luxury cruise ship operated by SeaDream Yacht Club, suddenly caught fire Thursday with 166 people aboard while the ship was off the
John Konrad
Captain John Konrad is the founder and CEO of gCaptain, one of the world’s most-read maritime news websites, and a member of the Pentagon Press Corps. He holds a USCG Master Unlimited license. John studied naval architecture at the U.S. Naval Academy before graduating from SUNY Maritime College with a degree in Marine Transportation. He is also a Y Combinator Startup School alumnus. His decade at sea included service aboard Military Sealift Command-operated ships, crude-oil supertankers running to Valdez, and dynamically positioned drillships supporting deepwater projects. In industry leadership roles, he participated in major offshore exploration and drilling campaigns, including the KG-D6 discovery with Reliance Industries and world record-setting deepwater work with Chevron. On April 20, 2010, John had finished overseeing the $750 million Deep Ocean Ascension newbuild project for BP when the Deepwater Horizon exploded. His seven years at Transocean and personal ties to members of the Horizon crew drove him to investigate the disaster, resulting in Fire on the Horizon (HarperCollins, 2011). In 2025, he co-authored Returning from Ebb Tide: Renewing the United States Commercial Maritime Enterprise for Marine Corps University Press. John has contributed to publications including Forbes, CIMSEC, Lloyd’s List, and the U.S. Coast Guard Compass, and has appeared on outlets including NPR and the BBC. He has also consulted for major newsrooms and public institutions on maritime reporting and offshore industry topics. His reporting draws on primary documents, official maritime records, and on-the-record sources cultivated over two decades in the industry. He is an Associate Fellow of the Nautical Institute and a member of the Council of American Master Mariners and the Navy League of the United States. His work has been recognized with the U.S. Navy Combined Maritime Forces Naval Support Award and SUNY Maritime’s Distinguished Alumnus of the Year award.
Saturday, September 3, 2016
Friday, September 2, 2016
Defense
UK Announces New Merchant Navy Medal
UK Chamber Of Shipping CEO, Guy Platten has welcomed the announcement today of the recipients of the Merchant Navy Medal for Meritorious Service; “I
Blog
Meet The New Guinness World Record Breaking (Lego) Ship: M/V Jubilee Seaways
Two weeks & over a million bricks built by 7,000 people in 21 countries all over DFDS culminated in an official Guinness World Record for Largest LEGO Ship
Video
WATCH: Join Top Gear’s Richard Hammond For A Look Inside The World’s Largest Floating Bomb (a.k.a. an LNG Super Supercarrier)
What happens when you give Top Gear’s former superstar pyromaniacal host Richard Hammond the latest cryogenic tools, a ridiculous
Thursday, September 1, 2016
Blog
SPOTD: What Might Be The Most Formidable Ferry Ever
HSC Manannan is a 96-metre wave-piercing high-speed catamaran car ferry built in Tasmania in 1998. She served in Australia and New Zealand for five years and
Interesting
Cocaine Cruise Ships: Provocative Photos Released Of Women Caught Smuggling $30M In Drugs
Two Canadian women are accused of helping smuggle $30 million in cocaine aboard a Princess cruise ship while documenting the luxury globe-trotting
Wednesday, August 31, 2016
Blog
WATCH Failure At Full Throttle: How Not To Rescue A Drowning Swimmer With A RIB
Even well trained professionals make big, simple, stupid mistakes. The dolphin coast of KwaZulu Natal, South Africa is an area with near perfect weather,
Tuesday, August 30, 2016
Defense
SPOTD: The World’s Largest & Heaviest Active Duty Warship
Today’s Ship Photo Of The Day (SPOTD) is the Russian nuclear Battlecruiser Pyotr Velikiy. Technically the Russian Navy designation is Kirov class
Collision
Kayakers Collide With New York Ferry
Eleven kayakers including a child were rescued and at least five were injured after a collision with a NY Waterway ferry at Pier 79
Monday, August 29, 2016
Defense
Cruise Ship Passengers FAIL To Smuggle 210lb Of Cocaine Into Sydney
Yesterday Australian Border Force (ABF) officers seized 95 kilograms (210 lb) of cocaine from three Canadian cruise ship passengers. On Sunday 28 August, ABF
Sunday, August 28, 2016
USCG
VIDEO: US Coast Guard Pivots Arctic Operations
As the cruise ship Crystal Serenity and her 1,700 passengers and crew began her maiden northerly voyage from Alaska to New York this past week, Coast
Saturday, August 27, 2016
Video
WATCH – Maiden Voyage Of The World’s Newest Drillship
We are not sure what the Transocean Conqueror plans on conquering besides a ‘worst ship name ever’ competition but the latest drillship of the
Friday, August 26, 2016
Environment
SPOTD: A Creative Spark Moored At Sea
Today’eo Ship Photo Of The Day (SPOTD) features the BlueTEC Texel tidal energy platform. Taking just six months from the drawing board to realisation,
Thursday, August 25, 2016
Environment
Sea Shepherd’s Sea Lawyers Back And Fill On Promise To Stop Harassing Whalers
gCaptain Note: On Tuesday gCaptain published an article titled “Sea Shepherd Claims It Will Stay Away From Japan Whaling Ships“… the original
Navy
SPOTD: China’s Hulking Spy Ship
Today’s Ship Photo Of The Day (SPOTD) is the Chinese Navy spy ship Yuanwang-5. The Yuanwang (which means “Long View” in Mandarin) class of
Blog
Love Dogs But Hate Seagulls? Then You Have To Meet Bailey The Seagull Security Dog
Two things most mariners have in common; they think of their pups as fellow mariners but consider seagulls to be little more than rats with wings. That may be
Blog
Watch A Group Retirees Turned Shipwreck Explorers Find The Oldest Intact Commercial Sailing Vessel
On November 6th, 1803 the merchant sloop Washington was sailing Lake Ontario enroute from Kingston to Niagara, Canada with a full cargo when it foundered
Navy
Watch: Iranian High-Speed-Attack-Boats Swarm US Destroyer
Four Iranian boats “harassed” a US Navy warship near the Persian Gulf, ignoring orders to back off, gCaptain reported yesterday. A defense official said
Wednesday, August 24, 2016
Photo
SPOTD – M/V Aranui, The Mullet Of Cruise Ships
Today’s Ship Photograph Of The Day (SPOTD) is of the M/V Araniu 5 which, like the infamous Mullet hairstyle, is all business in front and party in the
Tuesday, August 23, 2016
Photo
SPOTD: A Small Elegant Goliath Pulling Beast
Today’s Ship Photo Of The Day (SPOTD) features Nakilat SvitzerWijsmuller’s ASD 3212 Mooring Tugboat. The Damen ASD Tug 2810 is proven in the
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