The Most Recent Ship Report Podcast:

The USS Plainview, a relic of lower Columbia history, beached in the shallows of Hungry Harbor

Today we take a look at the USS Plainview, a once-innovative, prototype hydrofoil ship design that was decommissioned by the Navy in the 1960s. She ended up sidelined by her civilian owner after plans to make her into a seafood processing vessel didn't pan out. She remains, partially dismantled, on the shores of the Columbia on the Washington side of the river, a few miles east of the Megler Bridge, beached on private property. Today we'll take a look at her once exciting history, and why she...

Archive Podcasts:

Man overboard incident highlights maritime job risks, especially in fall and winter

Sep 29, 2023

This week, a crewmember on a ship approaching Boston harbor fell overboard. He was rescued and died at the hospital.

This incident highlights the risky nature of maritime work, especially in fall and winter months. A similar incident happened here on the Columbia a number of years ago. We’ll talk about why rescues like this can fail despite everyone’s best efforts. And how maritime work is hazardous year round.

Repositioning cruises visit Astoria as fall arrives

Sep 28, 2023

With cruise ships in town the past two days, you might be wondering what cruise ships are doing coming to Astoria in the fall, especially with the weather being a bit of a issue the past few days. Aren’t cruises a summer thing? Turns out they can also be an off season thing. That’s thanks to the concept of the “repositioning cruise.”

For folks who like a slower paced, perhaps longer cruise, that’s cheaper than one you might take in the summer – and if you like the idea of spending more time at sea than in port – this could be the cruise for you.

Photo: The Majestic Princess is visiting Astoria today on a repositioning cruise. Photo credit: Joanne Rideout

Weather drama continues, and we’ll talk about forecasting

Sep 26, 2023

“If you don’t like the weather, wait a minute” – that’s an old saying. But some folks get mad when they don’t like the weather, and blame the forecasters. We’ll talk about why weather prediction, especially on the coast here, is part art and part science. And sometimes the weather itself couldn’t give a hoot about our ideas about what should happen.

The autumnal equinox happens Saturday

Sep 22, 2023

Today we’ll talk about what the autumnal equinox really is and why it affects everything so much on our planet. Kind of a refresher of what we learned in school, but we probably haven’t thought about it much lately. So we’ll talk about equinoxes, seasons, and – what’s an equator, and where is it exactly?

 

The dangers of being far out to sea in a vessel when something goes wrong

Sep 20, 2023

Today we’ll talk about an emergency at sea in the Ocean Globe Race, the round the world race that started just 10 days ago in the UK. A crew member on one of the sailboats suffered an injury that was so severe he needed to be rescued. The incident shows the limits of rescue at sea, and also the dangerous environment mariners take on when they go far offshore.

Image Caption: The crew of French OGR entrant Triana (66) FR assisted Stéphane Raguenes into the liferaft before being winched onboard the helicopter and flown to Madeira for medical attention. Credit: OGR 2023 / Margault Demasles

The research vessel Atlantis, visiting the Port of Astoria, has a long and impressive history

Sep 18, 2023

Today we’ll feature an esteemed visitor at the Port of Astoria docks: the famous research vessel Atlantis, which has on board the also famous submersible Alvin. We’ll talk about what this high tech ship does and why she’s in our neighborhood.

Image of the Atlantis courtesy Wikimedia Commons. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.

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