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Blogs

What Do They Do With an Old Coast Guard Boat?

The Canadian Coast Guard (CCG) has had many ships since it began – the old and the new. CCG is constantly replacing old ships with a newer version as is mentioned below: Newest Canadian Coast Guard ship named for fallen soldier Jun 09, 2014  but what does the CCG do with the old ships? Many are […]

Dreams of Being a Lighthouse Keeper

For years past, adults and children of all ages had dreams of growing up to be an adventurous lighthouse keeper. That dream is slowly dimming as the world automates its lighthouses. The following article from The Guardian  brings to our attention the dimming of the dream in the UK The lure of the lighthouse for […]

Mise Tales Forty-One

For an update on what a Mise Tale is then please see Mise Tales One. As mentioned earlier on the front page of my website, any photos or cartoons, or short bits of information, when it is removed from the front page, will also be included again later in the next Misc Tales. That way you can keep track of […]

Book – The Nauticapedia List of British Columbia’s Floating Heritage (Volume 1)

The Nauticapedia List of British Columbia’s Floating Heritage (Volume 1) – A new book by John M. MacFarlane 2014 This is a must have for all BC boat lovers. Click the photo for the webpage.

LEGO Does It Again!

As most of you know I love lighthouses and I have a special attraction for LEGO lighthouses (link1) (link2). Well, as you can see by the photo at the left, this is not a lighthouse, but it is a marine vessel which could very well sail past a lighthouse, and it is the largest ship in […]

Lighthouses Visible in the Costa Concordia Disaster

 The Costa Concordia rests on its side on the morning of January 14, 2012 (click for larger photo) Yes, it is a photo of the Costa Concordia aground on the rocks but did anyone notice the lighthouse in the photo under which the lifeboats are all clustered? It is one of two lights guarding the […]

Ship Movements – It Keeps Getting Better!

On August 08, 2013 I wrote Canadian Firm Tracks Earth’s Ships From Space which also refers to another 2012 article What Ship Is That? Now we have an even better program, free, and online, called Marine Traffic. The screen shot above of Marine Traffic for 05:30 UTC (Z) for November 30, 2013 shows the freighter Axios (bottom left) off […]

Reprint – A Sailor’s Journal

The Canadian Coast Guard (CCG) carries lighthouse keepers and their supplies (groceries, mail, household goods, etc) usually by ship or helicopter. This story describes the inner workings of the Canadian Coast Guard light icebreaker Sir Wilfrid Laurier as told by my friend Abe Van Oeveren. I have been on several ships and they are indeed […]

Bravo! Coastal Rainforest in British Columbia Now Protected!

  This photo above from Pacific Wild shows only a part of what is being protected The title for this article comes from a news release by the Treehugger website on July 27, 2006. Their article from 2006 said: “The government of British Columbia has agreed to protect more than 5 million acres of the […]

Hijack!

The hijack of a ship on the British Columbia (BC) coast is a rare possibility, but with all the controversy over oil spills and destruction of coastal rain forests, the possibility is still there for terrorists or others to hijack a ship on the BC coast and hold the government for ransom. In the rest […]