28 Feb

NOAA installing sensors on bridges to measure air gap

Professional Mariner StaffUncategorized
The National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration has installed sensors to measure clearances under two bridges spanning the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal. A ship passes under the bridge over the C&D Canal at Chesapeake City, Md.    Image Credit: Courtesy National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration The two air-gap sensors were deployed March 1 on the Chesapeake City Bridge in Maryland and…
Read More
28 Feb

Delta Queen

Professional Mariner StaffUncategorized
Much loved for more than half a century on the Mississippi, Delta Queen was named not for the Mississippi delta, but for the Sacramento River delta above San Francisco Bay. The ornate eagle name plate on the pilothouse, facing page, reflects the care with which the boat has been restored to its original elegance.    Image Credit: Alan Haig-Brown America…
Read More
28 Feb

Five tourists killed when high winds overturn pontoon water taxi in Baltimore Inner Harbor

Professional Mariner StaffCasualty News
Five tourists died March 6 when a fast-moving cold front packing 50-mile-an-hour winds capsized a water taxi that was ferrying them around Baltimore's historic Inner Harbor. The overturned water taxi sits at a dock after the accident. The boat was flipped by winds exceeding 50 miles per hour.    Image Credit: John Sancken Photos Lady D, a 36-foot two-ton pontoon…
Read More
28 Feb

Police boat returns to duty

Professional Mariner StaffUncategorized
The storied history of Launch No. 5 floats in a circle of life, death and rebirth, the players so intertwined in family and work that there would seem to be one degree of separation, not six. Launch No. 5 approaches the Bear Mountain Bridge over the Hudson River north of Ossining, N.Y.    Image Credit: Brian Gauvin Designed by the…
Read More
28 Feb

Newest simulators expand horizons

Professional Mariner StaffUncategorized
Forget about video games. That's the first thing instructors at maritime academies and training schools tell students about the latest generation of shiphandling simulators. Lee Brown, a systems engineer at the Calhoon MEBA Engineering School, examines charts as the school's new simulator projects images of New York Harbor.    Image Credit: Courtesy Calhoon MEBA Engineering School/Michael Roe At the Calhoon…
Read More
28 Feb

New Alaska high-speed ferry strikes mooring dolphin when departing Skagway

Professional Mariner StaffCasualty News
The Alaska Marine Highway System ferry Fairweather rubbed against the mooring lines of a nearby cruise ship and struck a mooring dolphin while departing Skagway, Alaska, on Sept. 21. Fairweather was delivered to the Alaska Marine Highway System in March 2004. Since going into service, the ferry has been operating on just three engines. The fourth has been inoperative because…
Read More