Mar 23, 2026 | Home Slider, Ship Report Podcasts
Today’s show is all about an upcoming talk at Astoria’s Columbia River Maritime Museum, featuring career mariner Jason “Boats” Linnett. He’ll be giving a talk at the museum on Friday, March 27th at 5:30 pm. The Museum is on Marine Drive on the waterfront at 17th Street.
Today we’ll talk with Julia Triezenberg, who handles adult education for the museum, and lecturer Jason “Boats” Linnett, about his maritime career and the topic of maritime expressions and superstitions, which permeate modern language and culture.
This podcast is a longer version of the show that aired on KMUN radio this morning. Enjoy learning more about these interesting people and what they do.
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Mar 18, 2026 | Home Slider, Ship Report Podcasts
Note: I’m posting this the night before (Wednesday evening even though it’s Thursday’s podcast), so that early birds can have the info about seeing the Mercy pass by on the river Thursday morning.
Well, our much anticipated ship, the US Navy hospital ship USNS Mercy, will cross the Columbia River Bar into the river early Thursday morning around 6 am, passing Astoria inbound around 7:30 am. She’s headed to the shipyard in Portland for maintenance and repairs.
Look for her at upriver locations as she travels. by using marinetraffic or vesselfinder to track her progress.
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Mar 18, 2026 | Home Slider, Ship Report Podcasts
A look at the USNS Mercy, the US Navy hospital ship that is arriving on the Columbia early Thursday morning. She’s headed for the Swan Island shipyard in Portland for maintenance and repairs.
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Mar 17, 2026 | Home Slider, Ship Report Podcasts
The US Navy hospital ship USNS Mercy is due to arrive on the Columbia later this week. She’s headed for Portland for maintenance at the Vigor Shipyard in Portland. Today we’ll talk a bit about this unusual ship, a floating hospital that can travel the oceans of the world. Her role is to support our military, and also fulfill humanitarian missions around the globe.
Mercy Columbia River ETA: Current info I have about her arrival shows her on the Columbia inbound Thursday morning about 7:30 am past Astoria. She’s already off the mouth of the Columbia River this morning. But it also looks like there may be a ship in the dry dock where she needs to go. I’ll keep tabs on her progress and post them on this page as I learn more.
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Mar 16, 2026 | Home Slider, Ship Report Podcasts
Today I’ll answer a listener question about why ships seem to have so few lights on, on the exterior of the ship, when they are traveling at night.
There are two main reasons: preserving night vision for the crew on the bridge so they can see what’s out there, as much as possible, in diminished visibility.
Also, ships have designated, legally mandated running lights in a specific configuration that allows other vessels to know what they are looking at when they see it coming.
Even with all the modern tech on board (GPS, ECDIS, radar, etc.) these simple, time-tested tools for ship navigation remain vital.
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Mar 12, 2026 | Home Slider, Ship Report Podcasts
A few basics about what happens at sea and on the river when the weather gets problematic for vessels. There can be delays – and when ships finally move again can depend on a complex mix of factors related to weather, sea state and tides.
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