Category Archives: High Seas

REGION -- Winds strong enough to bring down trees and tree limbs, storm surge, beach erosion, flooded shore roads and dangerously high seas for mariners are in the areas weather forecast through Friday.

The National Weather Service has issued a wind advisory for all of Essex County through 6 a.m., Friday, Oct. 11, in connection with a noreaster off southeastern Massachusetts thats expected to stay through Friday.

Still the county will likely miss the storms worst.

The service forecasts one to two inches of rainfall in the area through Friday, Oct. 11, associated with the storm and dangerous seas through Saturday, Oct. 12.

The Cape and Islands and southeastern Massachusetts are forecast to feel the most effects from the storm with four to six inches of rainfall on Nantucket, three to four inches on most of the Cape and Marthas Vineyard and two to three inches on the south shore and southeastern Massachusetts.

The eastern portion of Massachusetts may also experience scattered power outages, with the winds bringing down trees and tree limbs on power lines and breaking them.

Coastal Essex County may experience minor flooding, along with the predicted winds.

The National Weather Service calls for:

The service says the storm will also rile the ocean and predicts:

Check out our newsletter.

Original post:

Storm may bring high winds, rain and up to 25-foot seas to Essex County - Wicked Local Boxford

A yacht which sank in bad weather before a sailor diednear the Bay of Islands was reportedly returning from Fiji.

Stuart Pedersen, a chair of a sailing trust and an ACT Party candidate, died when the 47-foot yacht went down about 37 kilometres off the coast of Cape Brett on Monday afternoon.

Rescuers battledstrong winds and high seas beforethree survivors and Pedersen were winched from an Air Force Orion liferaft to a rescue helicopter.

Auckland Rescue Helicopter Trust/Supplied

When the Auckland Rescue Helicopter arrived off Cape Brett, two sailors were in the water and two were in a liferaft.

Coastguard Northern Region said the four sailors abandoned their vessel, having lost their liferaft in the swells.

READ MORE:*One dead, three rescued after yacht runs into trouble near Bay of Islands*Yacht victim was a lifelong sailor and chair of sailing trust

Coastguard Bay of Islands' vessel battled nearly halfway to the survivors, but was faced with five to six metre swells and 40 to 50 knot wind gusts.

SUNLIVE

Stuart Pedersen was killed in a boating incident off Cape Brett.

Maritime New Zealand said it would be investigating.

It was liaising with police, the Transport Accident Investigation Commission,Rescue Co-ordination Centre and the coroner.

"We are still evaluating the information that has been provided to us to date and it is too early to provide further comment at this time," a spokeswoman said.

Auckland Rescue Helicopter Trust/Supplied

Rescuers battled strong winds and high seas.

"We will be contacting the relevant parties this morning and will continue the investigation process from there."

The church of one of the survivors posted an emotional message on Facebook, asking it's members to pray after the "tragic sailing accident".

It said the yacht was returning to New Zealand from Fiji.

Freedom Church pastor Ryan Pollard toldStuff "it's just a real tragedy".

On Tuesday, Northland DHB said two people had been treated and discharged, while a female patient brought in in a critical condition was now stable.

She would be transferred from intensive care to a ward, a spokeswoman said.

Pedersen was described as "kind, hospitable, articulate and passionate", ACT Party leader David Seymour toldStuffin a statement.

"Everyone in the party who knew Stuart loved him."

In a statement toSunLive,theTauranga Yacht and Power Boat Club confirmed Pedersen was one of the organisation's"leading club members".

"Fellow club member Bruce Goodwin, Stuart's wife Pamela and Pamela's brother-in-law Steve are the survivors.

"Bruce and Steve have been released from hospital but unfortunately, Pamela is still in intensive care."

Police have been contacted for further comment.

Read the rest here:

Bay of Islands yacht rescue: Reports vessel was returning from Fiji, investigation launched - Stuff.co.nz

Ahead of next week's Sea of Thieves update to bring in some spooky new Halloween content, Rare has released some interesting stats on the newly featured pets - including how many players have picked out certain popular names for their feathered or furry new companions.

Unsurprisingly, the most popular monkey names include some clearly Disney-inspired ideas, with Jack and Rafiki taking the top two spots. Next up is Polly and Blue (presumably of Rio fame) for the parrots - but as can be seen from the infographic below, the more interesting names have been left off entirely.

In homage to the game's executive producer, 153 pets have earned the illustrious title of Joe Neate. There are plenty Antonios monkeying around on the high seas too (70 to be exact) - a name you might recall from this little stream mishap last month.

On top of the pet info, it's that time of year when all the games begin their Halloween celebrations - Bloodborne's started last week, Apex Legends' kicks off next week, and now we have a date for Sea of Thieves' Fort of the Damned update.

16th October is when the update will go live, though we don't know much about it right now. More info is expected at the beginning of next week. However, we do know Fort of the Damned is said to be a more "challenging" event, and will differ from last year's Festival of the Damned.

We also got a little more information on the potential of private servers coming to Sea of Thieves. Though it isn't being worked on right now, head of community, Joe Neate, said it is on a "mid-term roadmap". Back in July, Neate told Eurogamer it was something they were looking to provide in the future, so this is a nice bit of confirmation the developer has the feature somewhere in the pipeline.

As well as all this, the dev update goes into detail about a few of the quality of life changes coming into the game, such as a wider variety of feminine clothes and changes to how loudly your pets freak out when you're in combat.

Now is as good a time as any to get started in Sea of Thieves - after all, the army of Joe Neate monkeys and parrots isn't going to build itself.

Read this article:

153 Sea of Thieves players named their pets after the game's executive producer - Eurogamer.net

Inaccessible Island, an extinct volcano at the heart of the South Atlantic, sandwiched between South America and Africa but incredibly far from each, is perhaps one of the last places on Earth youd expect to be littered with plastic trash. But, like many remote islands, it is, and a new study sheds light on why.

After it was highlighted by distressing footage in the BBC series Blue Planet 2, the plastic crisis surged into the spotlight. Various governments pledged to ban single-use plastics and reduce waste, while many members of the public turned away from bottled water and plastic straws, cutlery, and Q-tips in favor of less environmentally damaging alternatives.

However, a new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences suggests that consumers of plastics on land are just a part of the problem. It seems huge amounts of ocean plastics originate on merchant ships.

The team behind the new study collected thousands of pieces of plastic on Inaccessible Island in 1984, 2009, and 2018 and worked out where they came from. At first, much of the plastic appeared to have traveled to the islands from South America, however, by 2018 three-quarters of the plastic was found to have come from Asia, with China being the biggest culprit.

An overwhelming majority of plastic bottles washed up on the island had arrived there since 2016, but it would take at least three years for them to be swept across the oceans from East Asia. Therefore, it seems Chinas rapidly expanding fleet of merchant ships is to blame.

Many of the bottles had been squashed in a space-saving fashion to maximize onboard storage. However, it seems crew aboard merchant vessels toss their vast collections of plastic waste overboard, instead of disposing of it once reaching port. Chucking waste overboard in this way has been banned since 1989 under the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships.

So much plastic builds up on Inaccessible Island because it sits in the South Atlantic gyre, an immense collection of swirling currents. Plastic caught up in these currents gets swept into a grim assemblage of floating waste, known as an oceanic garbage patch. When it comes to who to blame for these masses of trash, the finger is often pointed at consumers and their penchant for buying throwaway plastics. While this is certainly part of the problem, and is responsible for much of the litter found in coastal areas, its important to remember the huge role that industry plays in polluting our seas. Today, about 2,400 ships pass by Inaccessible Island each year.

Recent studies of litter in the North Pacific garbage patch and remote islands in the Pacific Ocean show that fishing gear and other shipping-related equipment account for much of the mass of plastic at sea, said lead researcher Peter Ryan, an expert on marine plastics at the University of Cape Town.

The challenge comes in understanding the origin of general litter food packaging and domestic products which could come from ships or land-based sources.

To tackle the issue, we need to identify the source of the problem, and out on the high seas that source is cargo ships and fishing vessels.

"Everyone talks about saving the oceans by stopping using plastic bags, straws and single-use packaging. That's important, but when we head out on the ocean, that's not necessarily what we find," oceanographer Laurent Lebreton told AFP.

See the original post here:

Plastic Waste On The High Seas Comes From Merchant Ships And Fishing Vessels - IFLScience

Five years ago, a mobile phone was left behind in the back of a taxi in Fiji, and its contents triggered an extraordinary murder investigation. A video recorded on the phone showed four men flailing in the sea among wreckage of an overturned wooden boat. They are being circled by fishing boats, whose crews do nothing to help and then open fire. The helpless men are picked off one by one, and the sea around them turns red.

The story of this atrocity is told in The Outlaw Ocean, in which New York Times journalist Ian Urbina explores a parallel world, spanning two thirds of the Earths surface but almost entirely hidden from public scrutiny. It is a world of bandit trawlers, pirates, enslaved crews, brutality and neglect, afflicted by all the worst cruelties of life on dry land, without the redeeming hope of justice. Although the killings were witnessed by a significant number of crew members of several boats, they were not reported, and Urbina says there was not even a requirement to do so under maritime law.

The unfortunate truth is that in much of the maritime world the law protects a ships cargo better than its crew, he writes, tracing this all-embracing callousness back to English common law, rooted in an era of tall masted sailing ships when death at sea was viewed an act of God. In theory, the laws on board a ship are those of the nation whose flag it flies and there is a patchwork of maritime laws for the high seas. But it soon becomes evident that what laws there may be are almost never enforced. Even if a terrestrial police force could be bothered to send detectives to the scene of a murder there would be no grave to exhume. Offshore as one investigator tells Urbina the dead stay gone.

Captains of outlaw ships inflict capital punishment andfishermen frequently kill each other inbrawls

The Fijian police open and close a cursory investigation after the phone is discovered in the taxi, but ultimately the mystery is unravelled by Urbina and other journalists as well as NGOs, outraged by the cold-blooded nature of the crime. The victims turn out to be young Pakistani fishermen who came too close to Taiwanese-owned tuna ships in the Indian Ocean in August 2012. The motive for the murders is never entirely clear. The tuna ship skippers declare the Pakistanis to be pirates and have their boat rammed and the crew executed in the water. But they would have seen their victims were unarmed. Urbina speculates that the Pakistanis were killed because they were considered to be competition. At the time of the book going to print, there has been no sign of justice for the murders. One of the tuna boats involved eventually sinks, quite possibly scuttled to destroy evidence, but no one is convicted. For Urbina, it is not the inhumanity of the incident that is remarkable, but the fluke of the evidence left on the phone.

Captains of outlaw ships inflict capital punishment and fishermen frequently kill each other in brawls. Impunity is the dominant theme of this book. The high seas are crisscrossed by vessels operating outside the law fishing in another countrys territorial waters, with crews trapped in debt to the owners or intermediaries. They are unable to jump ship or complain about the appalling conditions and lack of safety. When shipowners run short of money, ships are often anchored out of port and their crews marooned with no pay and no way of getting home. Most are desperate men from the poorest countries. Their identity cards have been taken from them when they board. If such conditions were discovered in factories on land, there would be immediate outrage, criminal investigations and consumer boycotts, Urbina notes. Not so at sea.

Urbina devoted five years of his life to the project, three of them at sea, hopscotching from one ocean to another, risking his life multiple times in storms, often on ropey vessels among armed and suspicious seafarers. He learned to take up as little space as possible and say almost nothing until his hosts adjusted to his presence. His rendezvous with contacts on at least one occasion was arranged for 100 miles offshore through mountainous waves, so he first had to find someone willing and able to take them there. Little wonder the stories he tells have not been told before.

He describes his journeys as an exploration of places where the worst instincts of our human species thrived and flourished. But he also witnesses unparalleled beauty and true marvel and meets bizarre sometimes heroic actors. Among the heroes in his tale are a small band of enforcement officers and volunteers trying to uphold the law against all odds, like doomed sheriffs in the old westerns, hopelessly outnumbered by gunslinging outlaws.

The opening adventure in the book involves Urbina teaming up with the vigilante environmentalists of Sea Shepherd, a radical offshoot of Greenpeace, in an epic 110-day, 11,550 nautical mile pursuit of a trawler illegally fishing for toothfish (sold in restaurants as Chilean sea bass) in the Antarctic ocean. Along the way, they survive horrific storms and an attempt by the rogue trawler to ram them. It is a rare victory. The fugitive ship is forced to abandon its vast nets and is eventually scuttled off the coast of west Africa. But after a short spell in custody in So Tom, the officers are mysteriously released. Even this triumph is partial.

Urbina also recounts the efforts of the tiny Pacific archipelago nation of Palau, which tries to protect coastal fisheries the size of France with 18 police officers in a single patrol boat. The only way the authorities are able to intercept illegal fishing vessels is with the help of an environmental activist monitoring the satellite feed in an office in Virginia, and passing on directions to the patrol a heroic endeavour. Yet the overall tone of Urbinas book is pessimistic. Palau is beautiful but is surrounded by giant, state-subsidised poacher fleets and a plastic gyre as big as Texas.

The oceans are vast, but their bounty is finite and the outlaws are increasingly well equipped, with gadgets that tell them where the fish are. The global black market in seafood is worth more than $20bn, Urbina notes; appetites are insatiable. Consider the butchering of sharks for their fins, served at weddings around east Asia it brings down whole ecosystems, as the massacre allows smaller reef-eating fish to proliferate. With the worlds seafood stocks in crisis, Urbina lifts the thick veil on a global criminal culture, at just the moment when the damage inflicted on the oceans is becoming terminal.

The Outlaw Ocean is published by Bodley Head (18.99). To order a copy go to guardianbookshop.com. Free UK p&p on all online orders over 15.

Read this article:

The Outlaw Ocean by Ian Urbina review where murder goes unpunished - The Guardian

The director of SCARY STORIES TO TELL IN THE DARK is setting sail on a most unfortunate voyage.

By Scott Wampler Oct. 01, 2019

We were big fans ofAndr vredal's Scary Stories to Tell in The Dark, just as we were big fans ofAndr vredal's The Autopsy of Jane Doe andAndr vredal's Troll Hunter. Seems a safe bet that we'll also be big fans ofAndr vredal's The Long Walk, based on the Stephen King (OK, Richard Bachman) novelof the same name, as well asAndr vredal's The Last Voyage of The Demeter, which is headed our way via the good folks at Amblin Entertainment.

That last project's a new one, just announced by The Hollywood Reporter. What's it about? I'm glad you asked:

"Demeterwas the name of the ship that transported Dracula from Transylvania to London in Bram Stoker's classic tale. In that 1897 novel, the ship washes up on the shores of England, tattered and broken, with one raving-mad survivor.Originally written in 2002 byBragi Schut(Season of the Witch), the script tells the tale of that journey, in which the crew is slaughtered one by one by a mysterious passenger."

Yes, The Last Voyage of The Demeter will findvredal monkeying around on the high seas with a boatfull of victims and one very dangerous passenger. This isn't Hollywood's first attempt to get this project off the ground (a previous iteration would've starred Noomi Rapace and Ben Kingsley, with David Slade directing), but with Amblin pulling the strings andvredal at the helm, it seems likely that this attempt - which THR says will "likely" be filmed aftervredal completes work on The Long Walk - might finally get the job done. We sure hope it does, because this is a great marriage of filmmaker and subject matter.

Nothing further to report at this time, but obviously we're very curious to see how this one shakes out, and will be keeping our ear to the ground for further updates. In the meantime: where'd y'all land on Scary Stories? Enjoy that one as much as we did, or not so much? Sound off in the comments below.

Here is the original post:

Andr vredal Will Tackle THE LAST VOYAGE OF THE DEMETER For Amblin - Birth.Movies.Death.

Professor Steven Haines

By Steven Haines 2019-10-01 20:18:10

Professor Steven Haines, Professor of Public International Law University of Greenwich and Trustee of Human Rights at Sea, presented at the NATO Maritime Operational Law Conference at the Spanish Armed Forces Higher Defence College (CESEDEN), Madrid, on September 24, 2019. The following highlights the context and scope of his speech:

While these days I am occupying a chair in Public International Law, I am very much inter-disciplinary in my approach. My first subject of choice was history, and I also have a background in the study of politics, both domestic and international. I look at the law, but I prefer to do so by placing it within its historical, social, economic, technological and political context.

This panel is devoted to historical developments. They are important because they provide us with an understanding of how we got to where we are. It is a mistake, however, to assume that history invariably provides lessons that suggest we should necessarily act in ways we acted in the past. Far too frequently, an understanding of the history can seduce us into believing that we should do things the way we always have done.

Such intuition comes with risks, however. Past success is very often the influence that leads us in the direction of future failure. I am a believer in the value of a bit of counter-intuitive thinking. It is vitally important that we understand the context, and that is ever changing, sometimes gradually but occasionally surprisingly quickly, catching us unawares. That is what I am going to focus on this morning.

I am working today on issues to do with ocean governance. My study of the historical development of ocean governance and the law that provides its framework has led me to the conclusion that we are in a process of transition from a situation which prevailed for over three centuries, into something quite different. It seems to me that this requires a fundamentally different approach if we are to arrive at an effective way of managing the future.

My starting point is a period that I refer to as the Grotian Era. That is the period from roughly the beginning of the 17th century to the middle of the 20th. If you want conveniently quotable dates, let us say from 1600 to 1950.

This was a unique period in history as far as the oceans are concerned. It was the era of maritime imperial rivalry. The maritime empires that were central to this rivalry were, essentially, European: Portugal, Spain, the Dutch, England (and subsequently Britain and its global empire), France and, latterly, Germany, with the extra-European powers of the United States and Japan bringing up the rear.

Their rivalries over 350 years resulted in a uniquely intense period of naval warfare, from the Anglo-Dutch Wars of the 17th century to the two World Wars of the 20th, including such general naval wars as the Seven Years War and the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. Naval wars throughout this period were either in progress or very much in prospect. In other words, naval war was a constant presence.

There were, of course, naval wars prior to 1600, going back to classical times, but the three and a half centuries of the Grotian Era were especially intense in terms of naval conflict predicated on the needs and demands of imperial rivalry, with a heavy emphasis on economic warfare in both the mercantilist period into the 19th century and in the free trade era from the 19th onwards.

I call this period the Grotian Era because it was dominated in philosophical terms by the notion of free seas, what Grotius termed Mare Liberum. The oceans were free for all to use for legitimate purpose, including the waging of naval conflict, regarded as a sovereign right throughout that period. As far as the law was concerned, the foundational principle was that the seas should be subject to minimum regulation consistent with free use.

I suggest that there were three legal pillars that gave meaning to Mare Liberum: the law of sea piracy; the exclusivity of flag state jurisdiction; and the laws of naval warfare. Piracy was a threat to free use and trade and needed to be eradicated if the seas were to be free for legitimate use. Only flag states could exercise jurisdiction over their own ships on the high seas. Finally, for naval warfare to be waged in a legitimate manner, some measure of normative influence was necessary to protect neutral shipping from belligerent interference while allowing the warring states to interfere with each others trade as a means of applying economic pressure in pursuit of victory.

The three bodies of law that emerged influenced the normative character of the oceans and they remain influential today. And navies, especially those of the major maritime powers, base much of their thinking on what drove them during the Grotian Era they look back on their success then, and this has significant influence on their thinking today.

So much for the Grotian Era.

In 1950, the seas were still regulated to a minimum, territorial waters extended the states jurisdiction to a mere three miles from shore and there was a minimum of regulation for the high seas beyond three miles. This was about to change, however, and in remarkable ways. The status quo was about to be overturned and the ocean environment transformed. It took a short while for the process of change to gain momentum, but once it did the results were profound.

One of the advantages of getting older is that one develops a perspective that one did not have in ones youth. I first went to sea as a young naval officer while still in my teens, almost 50 years ago. It was 1972, two years before the Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea was first convened in 1974. At that time, global maritime trade was a quarter of what it is today and my navy had four times as many ships as it has now. I have witnessed a considerable amount of change over the course of the past 40 or 50 years. I have no intention this morning of boring you with the detail but it is sobering looking back from my perspective today at the profound shifts that have occurred.

In my research I am analyzing the ocean environment through detailed examination of its various dimensions. I use eight headings as an analytic framework: political; economic; technological; social; military physical; institutional; and normative. Every single one of these has gone through and continues to experience substantial and often increasing rates of change. Each of the eight dimensions has an influence on the other seven. Let me just mention one or two pertinent facts which may help this audience to comprehend what I mean.

States have proliferated there are four times as many as there were in 1950 while maritime empires have all but disappeared. Navies have similarly proliferated and the bigger ones are, perhaps surprisingly, much smaller than they were then. Most navies today are focused on law enforcement within their own coastal zones. War-fighting may concentrate the minds of those serving in the U.S. Navy and some other second and third rank navies, but the vast majority are not in the serious naval war-fighting league.

Coastal state jurisdiction has extended by a factor of over a hundred from the former three mile territorial limits to the maximum 350 mile limits of the continental shelf. Law has proliferated, with an increasing number of conventions negotiated, including important regulatory instruments negotiated under the auspices of the International Maritime Organisation.

Despite my years at sea, including in very temporary command of one of my navys warships, I would not now be permitted to do the job I once did, because I do not have the formalized internationally recognized sea-going qualifications that are now required under STCW. And that is probably no bad thing, because I would not know how to operate given technological advances. I can probably still wield a sextant with effect but would need to be taught how to use the electronic charts and other navaids that are the norm today.

These days I am very involved with the NGO Human Rights at Sea. For those of a younger generation I perhaps ought to explain that as a young man in the 1970s and 1980s I was completely unaware and unconcerned with human rights law, which only really took off to the degree we now recognize in the years after the 1990s. Today, we most certainly should be aware of the millions of people who are at sea as I speak. I have a provisional estimate of between 30 and 40 million actually at sea now. They have human rights, but there are serious shortcomings in the arrangements for ensuring they are recognized and complied with.

This is unfortunate because far too many seafarers are living and working under dreadful conditions, people are being trafficked and others are being used as slave labor on board fishing boats operating thousands of miles from their base ports. Maritime crime is on the increase and people are victims of it at sea every day. As Brian Wilson remarked to me recently, the high seas are the largest crime scene in the world.

For three hundred years and more the fundamental foundation principle was Mare Liberum. We have heard already at this conference about the need for free seas and freedom of navigation. That is the received wisdom. I used to rely on that received wisdom myself, and I cannot blame others for continuing to do so. But, as John Maynard Keynes used to say When the facts change, I change my mind. And the facts have most certainly changed. Today I am of the view that, while Mare Liberum was probably a very sensible foundational principle over the course of relatively recent history, today it is becoming less and less appropriate given a serious need for good order at sea.

We all need to be able to use the seas for legitimate purpose. But what is legitimate and what is not is being redefined year on year. Where previously there was minimum regulation consistent with free use, today there are very necessary layers of evolving regulatory systems applying at sea. There are also plenty of people determined to breach those regulations and benefit from the proceeds of criminal activity. They threaten the security of those who wish to use the seas for legitimate purpose.

I am convinced, indeed, that rather than free seas, we need safe and secure seas on which good people can go about their lawful business. I like the notion of lawful seas and have even given it a Latin tag. My message is that we need to shift our thinking from Mare Liberum to Mare Legitimum.

The vast majority of us here for this conference are in some way focused on navies and their roles. We are either still serving in uniform, retired from having done so, or are in some other way concerned with the ways in which navies go about their business and have a concern with the law that regulates their operational activities. We need to question our devotion to the old Grotian Era bodies of law seriously to assess their continuing value.

The old Law of Sea Piracy is wholly inadequate for dealing with general criminality at sea, something that has at least been recognized by the development of such instruments as the SUA Convention though that is far from perfect. Some older definitions of piracy included the conduct of the slave trade, with my own navy having long been proud of its record in suppressing it in the 19th century. What are navies doing today to suppress the slave trade and the use of slave labor, in the fishing industry in particular? The answer to that is very little indeed, I shall go further than that and say nothing.

Is the prevention and prosecution of maritime criminality helped or hindered by the old principle of exclusive flag state jurisdiction? Just a few weeks ago, an 18 year old Italian man was accused of sexually assaulting a 17 year old British girl on board a Panamanian registered cruise ship in the Mediterranean. The alleged crime was investigated here in Spain where the ship next docked, the accused was taken before a Spanish court, which then dismissed the case for lack of jurisdiction.

The accused was unable to defend himself and arguably more important the alleged victim had her right to justice and effective remedy denied. I have no evidence that the flag state is doing anything at all to exercise jurisdiction. That being the case, there is an obvious and blatant shortcoming in the law. We should all be profoundly concerned about this and the myriad other abuses and injustices being experienced at sea on a daily basis.

My message is that we all need to consider seriously what needs to be done to render the seas well regulated, to enforce the law that does exist, and to take steps to ensure a safe and secure environment for those who rely on the oceans for their livelihoods. That is what a modern interpretation of free seas should mean. Sadly, for many with criminal intent, free seas provides an evil opportunity of an anarchic character. May I urge you all to shift thinking from the traditional notion of Mare Liberum to a new vision of Mare Legitimum.

I stress again, it is not free seas that we need, but safe and secure seas.

Source: Human Rights at Sea

The opinions expressed herein are the author's and not necessarily those of The Maritime Executive.

Read this article:

In Pursuit of Safe and Secure Seas - The Maritime Executive

(CNN) -- Back in September 1522, an 85-ton carrack barely larger than a modern leisure yacht became the first ship to successfully complete a circumnavigation of the globe.

The hazardous journey, which began with a fleet and ended with one lone vessel, saw the deaths of at least 50 crew members, including the original captain.

Juan Sebastian Elcano, who took control after the death of Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan, and his remaining 18 men arrived in Seville, southern Spain, three years after first setting off.

Thankfully, sailing the high seas has become much safer and more comfortable since then, while the allure of sailing around our blue planet remains a travel dream for many.

For those with time and money to spare, cruise operators have come up with a number of offerings to retrace the path of the great sailors of the Age of Discovery.

If you're ready to spend between three and eight months at sea, there have never been more options to complete your very own global circumnavigation.

Travelers now have the option to hop from one ocean to the next in the comfort of some of the most luxurious ships the cruise industry has to offer.

While shorter cruises can vary in terms of clientele, passengers on world cruises tend to be older travelers looking for destination-focused journeys and comfortable shopping at a higher price point.

The ships are decidedly smaller, which means they can make longer stops at destinations, allowing for a more in-depth exploration of some of the world's most picturesque locations.

Another advantage to their size is that they can call at some of the more remote and off-the-beaten-path ports where big ships just wouldn't be able to squeeze.

All of these factors mean that these cruises tend to be aimed at the upper end of the market.

"Many luxury lines have perfected the world cruise concept. You're not on board for the flashy water slides and Broadway-style shows -- you're likely more focused on what's happening in port," explains Colleen McDaniel, editor-in-chief of Cruise Critic, a TripAdvisor-owned publication specializing in the cruise industry.

"That said, a few mainstream lines offer their own world cruises, although those tend to be on their smaller ships.

"Cruises on these lines are somewhat less expensive and are a great option for passengers looking to cruise the world on a smaller budget."

One of the big draws of this type of cruise is its experiential element. This is the ultimate lifetime experience for many.

"World cruises provide an incredible adventure for true travelers at heart. And while cruising is generally a very social form of travel," she adds,"it's even more so on a world cruise, as you're spending far more time with your fellow cruisers -- both on board, and in port. You make friends for life."

In fact, Joseph Chabus, a spokesperson for high-end cruise operator Regent Seven Seas, says there are many cases of passengers meeting on board and choosing to cruise together again.

"We find that guests who frequently sail on our cruises become friends and end up booking world cruises together because they enjoy each other's company and have a shared curiosity to explore our world," says Chabus.

Technology has also helped make the prospect of a long sea voyage more attractive, since it's easier than ever for travelers to stay connected to the office or family back home from virtually anywhere during this absence.

The number of operators launching new products in this space or diversifying their existing offerings has contributed to the growing popularity of this market segment.

Here are 10 of the best around-the-world cruises departing over the next two years:

Cunard

The first continuous circumnavigation cruise was completed by a Cunard ship, the Laconia, in 1922.

Since that voyage, chartered by American Express, the British-American cruise line has sent more ships around the globe than any other cruise operator.

This tradition is maintained to this day with its annual world cruise. The 2020 outing will call at 38 destinations across four continents.

And, from 2021, two Cunard ships will offer full world voyages: the Queen Mary 2 is to sail on the traditional East to West direction, while the Queen Victoria will do so on the westbound route via the Panama Canal.

The World Voyage on Queen Mary 2

Duration: 99 nights

Dates: January 10 to April 18, 2020

Cost: Prices start at around $14,800

Ship: Queen Mary 2

Port of Departure: New York (113 nights) or London (99 nights)

Port of Arrival: New York (113 nights) or London (99 nights)

Crystal Cruises

At the upper end of the market, Crystal Cruises is another veteran of this category, having offered world cruises for more than two decades.

Next up is its 105-day 2020 World Cruise, from Miami to Rome. Although technically not a full circumnavigation, it will travel a good three-quarters around the globe.

Further editions of this luxurious cruise, 2021 and 2022 -- the latter a full circumnavigation of the world starting and ending in Miami -- are already on the market.

If these journeys sounds too long, passengers can book one segment of the route and complete the other part of the itinerary by air.

Crystal Cruises 2020 World Cruise

Duration: 105 days

Dates: Jan. 6 to Apr 21, 2020

Cost: Prices start at $194,000

Ship: Crystal Serenity

Port of Departure: Miami

Port of Arrival: Civitavecchia, Rome

Silversea

Boutique cruise operator Silversea has two different offerings in this segment -- a more traditional cruise on board the Silver Whisper, a ship designed for around 500 passengers, and an active cruise aimed at more adventurous travelers.

The latter will be operated by the Silver Cloud, a relatively small ship with a 250-passenger capacity and a strengthened hull allowing it to venture into polar waters that are off limits to most other ships.

This cruise travels from Antarctica all the way to the Arctic Circle by way of the Pacific and Indian Oceans.

The Finest World Tour

Duration: 150 days

Dates: Jan. 7 to June 6, 2021

Cost: Prices start at 51,000 ($61,700)

Ship: Silver Whisper

Port of Departure: Fort Lauderdale, Florida

Port of Arrival: New York

The Uncharted World Tour

Duration: 167 days

Dates: Jan. 30 to July 16, 2021

Cost: Prices start at 77,000 ($93,000)

Ship: Silver Cloud

Port of Departure: Ushuaia, Argentina

Port of Arrival: Tromso, Norway

Seabourn

Another boutique operator at the high end of the market, Seabourn has brought back its world cruise after a six-year hiatus.

Although this isn't a full circumnavigation, it gets very close.

Passengers depart Miami in an eastward direction and cross the Atlantic, Mediterranean, Red Sea, Indian Ocean and Pacific Ocean before disembarking in San Francisco, California.

In a way, it's a US coast-to-coast sailing, but with a bit of a detour.

2020 World Cruise

Duration: 146 nights

Dates: Jan. 4 to May 28, 2020

Cost: From $66,999 per person (rates are based on double occupancy and are subject to change)

Ship: Seabourn Sojourn

Port of Departure: Miami

Port of Arrival: San Francisco

Viking Cruises

Also at the high end of the market, Viking has brought its signature Scandinavian-chic to longdistance cruising.

This is the longest world cruise currently offered, taking a total of 245 nights, or about eight months at sea.

Viking Ultimate World Cruise

Duration: 245 nights

Dates: Aug. 31, 2019 to May 2, 2020

Cost: Prices start at 82,990 ($99,350)

Ship: Viking Sun

Port of Departure: London

Port of Arrival: London

The 2019 trip is already underway, but there are still variants of the cruise available.

For example, the 161-night Miami to London segment (setting off December 14) and the 119-night Los Angeles to London (departs January 4) portion of the itinerary are marketed separately.

If nothing less than the full experience will do, contact Viking directly if you want a spot on the next epic sailing.

Regent Cruises

Regent has been offering luxury world cruises for quite a few years.

Its next one is the 131-night 2020 cruise. It starts in Miami, then goes west across the Panama Canal and the Pacific, up the Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean, then returns to Miami.

At 117 nights, the 2021 edition is a little shorter. It follows a similar route, but stops in Barcelona instead of going all the way to Miami.

The 2022 edition will be focusing on the Pacific, with a 120-night circumnavigation, not of the whole globe, but of its largest ocean.

This choice has proven popular, though. The day it was launched, in July 2019, this four-month Pacific cruise beat the Regent's same-day sales record for this type of product by no less than 39%.

A World of Luxury

Duration: 131 nights

Dates: Jan. 6, 2020 (or January 24 if boarding in San Francisco) to May 17, 2020

Cost: Prices start at around $66,700

Ship: Seven Seas Mariner

Port of Departure: Miami

Read more:

Water Cooler Here are the best around-the-world cruises for 2020 Miquel Ros, CNN 7 - WPTV.com

Summer is over (in the northern hemisphere, at least), and Im mentally kicking myself for not going to the beach while they were still open. Thankfully, there are tons of books set on or around oceans, both literal and abstract. While not all of these books about the sea are exactly lighthearted beach reads, theyll certainly have you yearning for a calm day by the shore. If youve already devoured 50 of the best books to read this summer, here are a few more reads for you as we say goodbye to summer 2019.

Nix has spent her life traveling through time and space on her fathers ship, The Temptation.Whether its mythical lands or modern day wonders, Nix and her father can set sail to any place or time, as long as they have a map to guide them. But when her father steers their course towards Nixs deceased mother, Nixs very existence is in danger.

Kahu is part of Whangara, a Mori tribe in New Zealand descended from the legendary whale rider Kahutia Te Rangi. When the chiefKahus great-grandfatherstruggles to find a male heir, Kahu must prove herself worthy of taking on a role reserved for men. Things come to a head when hundreds of whales beach themselves, and Kahu must save them and her people as time runs out.

When the Ramsay family visits their summer home on the Isle of Skye, little James is eager to see the nearby lighthouse. However, Mr Ramsay postpones the excursion due to the weather. Tensions rise amidst the family and their guests, and as time goes on, the Ramsays must learn to live with the inevitability of change.

Ayaana lives on Pate, an island off the coast of Kenya, spending her days walking along the sea alone. Her quiet life is upended when she finds out shes the descendant of a sailor from Chinese admiral Zheng Hes fleet. Setting sail for China, Ayaana digs deeps for her roots, discovering her place on Pate and in the world at large.

The first novel in the Earthsea Cycle, the book follows a Ged, a young boy born on the island of Gont. He has immense magical talent, and before long, he attends a school for wizards to complete his studies. However, his power feeds his pride and arrogance, and he unleashes a shadow upon the world. In order to restore equilibrium, Ged must embark on a journey across the world of Earthsea.

Women Who Kept the Lightschronicles the stories of 30 female lighthouse keepers along American shores. From lighting the lamps to rescuing shipwrecked sailors, these women helped guide countless souls to safety and solid ground.

Schoolteacher Jumpei Niki misses the last bus home after a trip to a fishing village. The locals allow him to stay overnight, leading him via a rope ladder to a house at the bottom of a sand pit. But Jumpei finds himself trapped when the ladder has disappeared the next morning, stuck with a woman and forced to shovel back the never-ending sand that encroaches on the village.

Tom Sherbourne returns to Australia from the Western Front and becomes the lighthouse keeper on the island of Janus Rock. He and his wife Isabel yearn for a child, and after two miscarriages and a stillbirth, the pair adopt a baby girl they find in a boat. Years later, the couple visit the mainland with their baby Lucy, a choice that plunges their simple island life into chaos.

Sign up to receiveCheck Your Shelf, theLibrarian's One-Stop Shop For News, Book Lists, And More.

Thank you for signing up! Keep an eye on your inbox.

See the original post:

8 Books Set on the High Seas - Book Riot

While literature and cinema might romanticize pirates on the high seas, in the world of superyachts the threat of pirate attacks is all too real. And in some areas, such as along the coast of Africa, in the Gulf of Aden, and in the Indian Ocean, its now expected, shockingly enough. Even Latin America and the Caribbean experienced a 163 percent increase in recorded attacks in 2017.

But boat owners can arm themselves with a new raft of nonlethal anti-piracy tools, most designed for early detection and preventing pirates from boarding. For experienced yacht captain Michael Schueler, at the top of that list is the Long Range Acoustic Device (LRAD), a sonic weapon that delivers earsplitting, high-volume acoustics via a tight beam (so neither the LRADs operators nor others nearby are affected) over long distances. It did a good job, he says, when the 197-foot Linda Lou came under attack from pirates in multiple skiffs in 2010 while en route to the Abu Dhabi Boat Show. Schueler says the LRAD ended up being one of their most effective (and most expensive, at about $20,000) methods of deterring the pirates before help came from the Royal Navy. In the same vein, an anti-piracy laser device, such as a dazzle gun, uses a nonlethal laser beam to temporarily blind or distract pirates. Both devices are easily operated by crew and can be used day and night.

More advanced defensive weapons include the Active Denial Systema.k.a. the pain ray ($5 million)which transmits a narrow beam of electromagnetic energy to heat the skin and causes an unbearable burning sensation, and spy-worthy security smoke, which fills the yacht with a cloud of dense, white fog that reduces visibility to less than a foot.

Disable thieves with the LRADs sonic beam.Illustration by Mark Nerys

Onboard CCTV, door-locking systems and deck-mounted pressure sensors that detect movement and weight on the deck floor are more common in standard security packages, along with armed security personnel on 24/7 watch in high-risk zones. Collapsible electric fencingand underwater sonar detection systems can also keep pirates away and those on board safe.

The most important thing we did was develop a plan, and then drill, drill, drill with the crew, says Schueler. That helped us more than anything. We also deployed barbed wire on our swim platform, had flare guns to shoot flares into their boats and had line launchers to shoot in front of the approaching skiffs to ensnare the propellers and disable their vessels. While it may not be the prettiest solution, barbed wire is an effective one: It is rolled out across the beach-club deck and kept there the entire time the yacht remains in dangerous waters. Ideally, no guests are on board during such risky crossings, so no one is swimming.

Engage the electromagnetic pain ray if pirates get too close.Illustration by Mark Nerys

Other possibilities include metal weather plating putting over windows and turning off both the Automatic Identification System (AIS) and the navigation lights at night to hide the ships presence. If you do leave the AIS on (some pirates use it as well), its a good idea to broadcast an Armed Security Detail on Board status message as a deterrent.

At the first sign of threat, before any shots are fired, all crew apart from the captain gather in the citadel, says another captain, in Hampton Bays, N.Y., about protecting passengers. The citadel is chosen for its ability to be isolated and secured from the rest of the vessel and to resist any efforts made to gain entry from outside. For him, this is usually the crew mess; for Schueler, the engine room.

Confuse interlopers with a cloud of security smoke.Illustration by Mark Nerys

And if thats not enough, there are always water cannons, which deliver a powerful and impenetrable stream of water that blows away pirates trying to board the shipthink the ultimate water gun. The cannon can also quickly fill the pirates boats to slow them down while your yacht makes its getaway.

See original here:

How to Protect Your Superyacht From the Real-Life Pirates of the Caribbean - Robb Report