It is always sad to read of deaths by drowning. Such tragedies are common but most heart-rending is the many that die not through drowning but through lack of knowledge. Those more aware of how to respond in a difficult situation would survive.
On the morning of 2 October 1942, the Royal Navy destroyer HMS Curacao rendezvoused north of Ireland with the ocean liner RMS Queen Mary, which was carrying approximately 10,000 American troops of the 29th Infantry Division.
Ah, such a breed of men as they,
Once sailed upon the sea,
And I was one with all of them,
Each man was found in me.
We sailed and dared, we often bared,
Our souls on oceans vast,
When gazing past horizons,
We shipped before the mast.
Luxury cars worth over $400 million were destroyed in cargo ship fire. The Felicity Ace was carrying more than 4,000 Volkswagen Group vehicles destroying over $400-million-worth of luxury and commercial vehicles, according to a risk modelling firm.
BREAKING NEWS: Eleven passengers were missing and two missing after a blaze engulfed a ferry sailing from Greece to Italy early on Friday. Firefighters were still battling to rescue people trapped on the ship, authorities said.
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.
With his ten hours at the helm of the MV Britannic completed the tenderfoot seaman acquired his Steering Ticket. In the meantime, Michael also added his Lifeboat Ticket to his haul. Still a deck boy he was now judged qualified to follow any course given to him by any ship’s commanding deck officer.
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.
During the late 1950s, I attended a 12-week training course in seamanship at the Sea Training Camp situated in Sharpness, Gloucester. Having earned the first of my seafarer’s tickets, I then became one of the thousands of British seamen serving in the British Merchant Navy.
The watery death of over 30 migrants in the English Channel on Wednesday has generated an extensive and heated debate about the root causes of this tragedy. The blame for the mass deaths is placed on everything ranging from immigration legislation to people smugglers.
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Europe Renaissance 
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