HANDIN TIDE

A Russian cargo ship called Ursa Major sank in the Mediterranean Sea after an explosion ripped through its engine room and two of its crew are still missing, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday.The vessel, built in 2009, was controlled by Oboronlogistika, a company that is part of the Russian Defence Ministry's military construction operations, which had previously said it was en route to the Russian far eastern port of Vladivostok with two giant port cranes lashed to its deck.The Foreign Ministry's crisis centre said in a statement that 14 of the ship's 16 crew members had been rescued and brought to Spain, but that two were still missing.

Abu Dhabi's Al Seer Marine, a subsidiary of International Holding Company (IHC), has taken delivery of two new Medium Range (MR) tankers, M.T. Saiph and her sister ship from K Shipbuilding Korea.Each vessel is equipped with an Exhaust Gas Cleaning System (EGCS) and engineered to accommodate alternative fuels such as Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG), ammonia, and methanol.With a deadweight of 49,757 MT each, the two modern vessels are IMO II/III oil and chemical tankers carefully engineered to carry six fully segregated grades of cargo for optimal global operations.

China has allowed representatives from Germany, Sweden, Finland and Denmark to board a Chinese bulk carrier at the centre of an investigation into Baltic Sea cable breaches, the Danish foreign minister said on Thursday.The Yi Peng 3 vessel is wanted in Sweden for questioning over a breach of two undersea fibre-optic cables in November, and has been stationary in waters nearby for a month while diplomats in Stockholm and Beijing discussed the matter.Investigators quickly zeroed in on the ship, which left the Russian port of Ust-Luga on Nov. 15, and a Reuters analysis of MarineTraffic data showed that the vessel's coordinates corresponded to the time and place of the breaches.

The Scythian philosopher Anacharsis (6th century B.C.) said: “There are three sorts of people: those who are alive, those who are dead and those who are at sea.”Many of those onboard the Nella Dan when she grounded in December 1987 never went to sea again. Such was their passion for the ship.At that time, most of the crew were single, a wild bunch with saltwater in their veins, likely to be found partying together during their time ashore and likely to be telling everyone how Nella Dan was always the first to get to Antarctica at the start of the season despite her newer, more powerful competition.The 75.

Have you ever wondered what happens on ships when they’re at sea for Christmas? Crews onboard the National Oceanography Centre’s (NOC’s) research vessels, based in Southampton, have given a glimpse into the holiday season out on the ocean waves, including Christmas carols and – if one captain has his way – watching Frozen.Both research ships that the center operates, the Royal Research Ship (RRS) James Cook and RRS Discovery, are out in the Atlantic Ocean over this Christmas period, delivering or traveling between science missions.