A couple of weeks ago I was lucky enough to meet up with Jamie Fitzpatrick of CBC's The Broadcast. We strolled along the harbour front in St. John's and chatted about ships, maritime research, and how I get people to talk to me about their lives aboard ships.
Read MoreUPDATED: August 19th, 2017
Wondering what that navy vessel is in the harbour this weekend? Take a peek at this article I wrote in 2014 that tells you all about it. As of this edit, there are four other vessels of this same class under construction in Portugal - Sines, Setúbal, Funchal, and Aveiro - at the WestSea Shipyard. Sines was launched on May 3rd, 2017 and is set to join the navy June of next year (2018). Setúbal is on schedule to be launched in 2019. Funchal and Aveiro are scheduled to begin construction later this year. The Viana do Castelo-class ships will gradually replace the current Baptista de Andrade-class corvettes in the Portuguese fleet.
Read MoreSummertime in St. John’s is my favourite time of year for just so, so many reasons. The sun shines, the trees get their leaves, flowers bloom and for a few short months, we can forget how quickly this beautiful place will change into a frozen hellscape. The best part of summer, of course, is that new ships start to arrive in the harbour.
You’ve seen me write about this before, usually in reference to “Cruise Ship Season”. While I do appreciate the technological and architectural marvels that are the massive passenger liners, it’s the research, naval, and other more unique ships that always catch my eye. One such ship, the RRS Discovery, sailed through the Narrows last month and I was lucky enough to get on board and get a tour.
Read MoreSince moving to Newfoundland, I’ve been fortunate enough to see a handful of tall ships come through the Narrows into St. John’s; each one an ambassador from their home country with special trimmings representing where they’ve come from, and all of them majestic reminders of a bygone era. Honestly, that awestruck feeling of seeing a tall ship in the harbour never goes away. June 7th, 2016 was no exception when this ship graced our harbour with its presence. Today, I’m writing about the tall ship Simón Bolívar.
Read MoreToday the M/V Balmoral was in St. John’s, kicking off the 2016 cruise ship season! While the weather was grey and dreary (and threatened snow more than once), any passengers I saw around seemed to be thoroughly enjoying their time here. Balmoral arrived around 8:00am, and sailed back out through the Narrows shortly after 2:00pm.
Read MoreHello all! The format for "This Week in the Harbour" is going to be a bit different going forward. Rather than showcasing the ships in one long post, I'm going to do shorter posts highlighting each individual ship. This week, we're going to start with the first cruise ship of the St. John's season that arrived on May 26th. This was the MS Marina.
Read MoreHi everyone! I'm sorry for the delay in posting here over the last couple of weeks. Two weeks ago I was in Ottawa, and this past week I have been brutally sick. Today, we get back on schedule, so here we go! Back to the shores of Newfoundland, where in the 1600s North America was still new land and the French and English were fighting over who had rights to what. In one standoff in Bay Bulls Harbour, a ship was sank to prevent it from being captured by the French. Today, the wreck is a protected archaeological site. This week, we're looking at the story of the HMS Saphire.
Read MoreSo, anyone who knows me will know that up until recently (as in, within the last oh, 5 years or so) I had a really severe fear of shipwrecks. Yep, the girl who had been studying ships since she could read, was terrified to dive/swim/be physically anywhere near them.It was a bit of an impediment when it came to my preferred area of study, so I decided to do something about it. In the summer of 2010 I went and visited my first shipwreck, the SS Ethie. From there, I made efforts to actually go out on the water and not get nervous. Then a couple of summers ago, I ventured out to Conception Harbour and stood within touching distance of the SS Charcot. Since then (and especially since I started this blog) I can honestly say my phobia is pretty much a non-issue.
Read MoreContinuing with this theme of ships that are in the harbour for the winter, and following up with the icebreaker Louis S. St-Laurent from last week, I decided to do a profile on the first Coast Guard ship I ever saw. When I still lived in Ontario, I remember watching the show "Mighty Ships" on Discovery Channel. They showcased one of our heavy icebreakers that also doubled as a supply vessel, heavy tug, and all around multi-purpose vessel. That ship was the CCGS Terry Fox, and she is our ship for this segment of "This Week".
Read MoreHello all! The traffic in the harbour has started to slow as we move into the autumn, so I'm going to be changing the format a bit. Every Friday I will be showcasing one particular ship that calls St. John's home. I will report any new ships that sail in, of course, but this way I'd like to focus on ships that are more local rather than visiting. To start this off, I'm going to feature one of my favourite Canadian Coast Guard vessels, the CCGS Ann Harvey.
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