The 1929 Grand Banks earthquake

Posted to Maritime Musings (by Dennis Bryant) on March 24, 2015

At about 5:02 pm on Monday, November 18, 1929, a 7.2 magnitude earthquake struck beneath the Laurentian Continental Slope about 250 miles south of the island of Newfoundland. The water there is about 7,000 feet deep. The earthquake was felt as far away as New York, Bermuda, and Montreal.

Malacca

Posted to Maritime Musings (by Dennis Bryant) on April 8, 2014

The Strait of Malacca is named after Malacca, now part of Malaysia. In about the year 1400, Parameswana, the last Raja of Singapura, was expelled from the area around present-day Singapore by local rivals. He relocated to the fishing village of Malacca…

Nikumaroro

Posted to Maritime Musings (by Dennis Bryant) on December 21, 2010

Nikumaroro (previously known as Gardner Island) is a small coral atoll in the central Pacific Ocean situated just south of the Equator and just west of the 180th meridian. It lies in the Phoenix Island Chain and is part of the Republic of Kiribati.

Back from the (almost) dead

Posted to Maritime Musings (by Dennis Bryant) on November 5, 2010

The requirement for scanning of 100% of maritime shipping containers in overseas ports prior to loading on a ship bound for the United States was enacted into federal law (with various caveats) by the Implementing Recommendations of the 9/11 Commission Act of 2007.

SOSUS-VENTS

Posted to Maritime Musings (by Dennis Bryant) on August 27, 2010

The Sound Surveillance System (SOSUS) is a US Navy program, initiated in the early 1950’s, to track Soviet or other potentially hostile submarines. It consists of a series of hydrophones strategically placed on seamounts and continental slopes…