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.
For over four years now, Google has been driving around the world’s roads to bring you 360-degree street-level imagery. The project is called street view
In 1977 the JCE Group AB, founder of Consafe Offshore AB, built the world’s first purpose built flotel semi-submersible, named Safe Astoria. Since that
Today the US Navy asks Facebook users, “Do You Like Us?” and “Do You Want To Play A Game?” These questions might sound like chatter
2011 gCaptain Pirate Quiz to test your knowledge of the marauders that plague our seas. Scorecard: 0-50% Pirate Bait 50-60% Landlubber In
In November of last year Rick Ehlert, a passenger on Holland America’s Ryndam, did something incredibly stupid. Drunk and in a mischievous mood Mr.
For those unfamiliar with drillships, the new ones are built from super tanker hull designs with one noticeable change… they cut a large hole in the
gCaptain was recently invited to visit Google HQ to meet Jenifer Austin Foulkes, the head of Google Oceans’ team, to share our ideas of integrating
The GPS was set on anchor watch, range and bearings were calculated on the radar, and a pair of landmarks around Mobile Bay had been sighted on the gyro
Welcome to this weeks edition of “In Case You Missed It…”, a series that highlights gCaptain’s top 10 news items of the week. In this
Aboard ship one always hopes they never need to take a sleigh ride into an unfriendly sea but ship happens. When it does you’re going to be very pleased
Captain Henry Morgan may be more famous for the Rum named after him but to the marine archaeologists diving wrecks off Panama the find has less to do with
(Dow Jones) U.S. Coast Guard crews stationed near an upstate smuggling hotspot aren’t adequately prepared to chase speedy, rogue boats they regularly
On July 29th the crew of the Motor Tanker Pavit made a Mayday call off the coast of Oman and were quickly rescued by local authorities but no attempt
The Japanese Government is formally considering an option to not let it’s whaling fleet return south this year. After taking evidence on all options the
The famed Northeast passage, shipping lanes through the Arctic Ice, is now open for cargo traffic between Europe and Asia, says Russia’s environmental
A diver died while exploring the wreck of the Andrea Doria off Nantucket on Sunday. The body of Michael A. LaPrade, 27, of California was brought ashore to the
The Scuttlefish brings us a collection of Diving Helmets from the past in their post Dive, dive, dive! (A Gallery of Helmet Art). Check it
If the importance of safe operations aboard ships is not lost on you then try commercial diving. In this video a diver’s foot gets caught in a crane
This post was first featured in the fall edition of the Council Of American Master Mariner’s official publication Sidlights. You can find the article on
Too often in the shipping community good ideas, new innovative ideas, suffer from lack of support and, strangled in red tape, die an early death. But today we
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