One of the fishermen feared dead when a Spanish fishing vessel sank off the Newfoundland coast earlier this week was the sole survivor of another maritime tragedy in Galway Bay over two decades ago. In October 2000, Ricardo Arias Garcia, a native of Marin in Spain, was plucked from the Skerd Rocks in outer Galway Bay by the Irish Coast Guard helicopter operating from Shannon.
Russian soldiers could be sent to Nicaragua, one of the seven nations separating the US from Latin America and Venezuela under laws already in place in the Central American nation. This was the persuasive prediction made by Moscow’s ambassador in Managua.
During Christmas Week, 1951, began an incredible sea story involving a WWII era cargo vessel named the Flying Enterprise and her captain, Kurt Carlsen. Captain Carlsen was a Danish-born seaman that began his sea career at the age of 14. He became master of his first ship at the age of 22 with the Danish-American company American Export-Isbrandtsen Lines which was a New York-based US-flag shipping company from 1919 to 1977, offering both cargo and passenger ship services. In 1977 it declared bankruptcy and was acquired by Farrell Lines.
On November 14, 1854, during a severe storm off the coast of Balaklava, the British frigate Prince did not have time to gain a safe haven in the bay, crashed on the rocks and sank to the sea bed. Of the 150 people on board, only six survived.
The tributes I have received during the 53-years of political struggle, Mike Kampf as my wife calls it, are invariably respectful and complimentary and are a great source of pride for me.
When on February 8, 1961, the MV King Arthur steamed out of Liverpool the sailors on-board the freighter couldn’t have known that one of their ports of call would be the scene of The British Empire’s Last Battle.
Since childhood, we know that dolphins are among the smartest creatures on the planet. There are many examples of dolphins saving the lives of distressed humans floundering in the seas and near beaches.
On November 12, 1720 Peter Tordenskjold died in a sword duel. It will not sound familiar to most people, but he was one of the great national heroes of Denmark and Norway—countries that were once united, a daring sailor who would be the equivalent of what Nelson is to the British, Ruyter to the Dutch, Jones to the Americans or Bazán to the Spanish. Remembered in several popular songs and honored with several statues, streets, books, films and even a festival, a corvette of the Danish navy and a ship of the Norwegian navy are named after him. He is also cited in the Danish royal anthem.
MICHAEL WALSH ex-seafarer, nomad and author of seafaring books is more aware than most of the awesome size and depths of the earth’s great seas. After all, the once British seaman on reaching his 26th birthday had travelled to over 60 countries, visited hundreds of ports many several times over.
On December 14, 1907, a large sailing ship wrecked off the coast of Annet, in the Isles of Scilly, killing all but two of her eighteen crew and causing the world’s first large marine oil spill. The ship involved in the accident, Thomas W. Lawson, was an incredible ship.
Michael Walsh Stories and Books 
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