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Category: The oceans

By The Generalist Posted on June 17, 2022June 16, 2022

Small island alliance

For the last thirty-one years, an alliance of nearly forty small island states have campaigned against global warming – because if it is not checked, some of them will be underwater.

Categories: 20th century history, 21st century history, Earth science, Oceania, Politics & law, The oceans
By The Generalist Posted on June 15, 2022June 14, 2022

Lava balloons

Imagine glowing, hissing, steaming balls of floating rock up to three metres across emerging from the depths of the ocean – these are lava balloons.

Categories: Earth science, The oceans
By The Generalist Posted on February 25, 2022January 25, 2023

Viking sunstone

The Vikings navigated by the position of the sun. But what did they do when it was cloudy?

Categories: Astronomy, Europe, Medieval history, Physics & chemistry, Technology, The oceans
By The Generalist Posted on February 11, 2022January 25, 2023

Closed seas

In the 16th century Portugal claimed the Indian Ocean and Spain the Pacific Ocean as their unique domain, as “closed seas.” In 1609, a Dutch jurist presented a new alternative that has since entered international law: the freedom of the seas.

Categories: Early modern history, Europe, Politics & law, The oceans
By The Generalist Posted on January 13, 2022January 25, 2023

Nuclear icebreakers

Arktika, the second nuclear-powered icebreaker made by the Soviet Union, was the first surface ship to reach the North Pole.

Categories: 20th century history, North & Central Asia, Technology, The oceans, The poles
By The Generalist Posted on December 22, 2021December 20, 2021

Unique bacteria

One variety of bacteria has only ever been isolated from the wreck of the RMS Titanic; another type of bacteria has only ever been found inside clean rooms used to assemble spacecraft.

Categories: Animals, Plants, The oceans
By The Generalist Posted on December 9, 2021December 8, 2021

Pirate democracy

In the 18th century, a new pirate crew would come together to elect a captain and quartermaster, and agree on a shared code of conduct: what we today call the pirate code.

Categories: Early modern history, North & Central America, Politics & law, The oceans
By The Generalist Posted on September 2, 2021January 25, 2023

Castaway cache

Between 1867 and 1927 the New Zealand government built, supplied, and maintained a set of supply huts on islands in the Southern Ocean so that no more castaways would starve to death while waiting for rescue.

Categories: 19th century history, Oceania, The oceans
By The Generalist Posted on August 13, 2021January 25, 2023

Twin shipwrecks

In 1864 two ships were wrecked on the same desert island. Despite sharing the island for an entire year, the crews never met and had no idea they were not alone.

Categories: 19th century history, Oceania, The oceans
By The Generalist Posted on July 23, 2021July 18, 2021

The gannet’s dive

Gannets have evolved some very strange adaptations that make them some of the best divers in the natural world.

Categories: Animals, The oceans
By The Generalist Posted on May 18, 2021January 25, 2023

Underwater circumnavigation

The USS Triton was the first submarine to circumnavigate the world completely underwater. It was spotted just once, by a Filipino fisherman.

Categories: 20th century history, Military, North & Central America, The oceans
By The Generalist Posted on April 20, 2021January 25, 2023

The Clipper route

The fastest sailing route around the world – the Clipper route – is also the most dangerous.

Categories: 19th century history, Economics & business, The oceans
By The Generalist Posted on April 7, 2021January 25, 2023

A quadrillion fish

The bristlemouth, a small ugly genus of fish found in the ocean twilight zone, is probably the most common vertebrate on the planet – estimates go as high as the quadrillions.

Categories: Animals, Places, Sciences, The oceans
By The Generalist Posted on April 1, 2021April 28, 2021

Portugal vs. Egypt in India

How about that time that the Egyptian Mamluks, with secret support from Venice, battled the Portuguese in the sea off the coast of India?

Categories: Early modern history, History, Middle East, Military, Places, Politics & law, South Asia, The oceans
By The Generalist Posted on March 16, 2021April 28, 2021

Darwin crosses a line

On 17 February 1832 – at the bidding of Neptune, god of the sea – Charles Darwin was blindfolded, his face covered in paint and pitch, and he was dunked into a water bath. He had crossed the line for the first time.

Categories: 19th century history, Earth science, History, Places, Sciences, The oceans
By The Generalist Posted on February 28, 2021April 17, 2021

The house in the depths

A significant proportion of the food in the deepest ocean falls from discarded giant larvacean houses.

Categories: Animals, Places, Sciences, The oceans

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