Saturday, April 18, 2026

Flashback in maritime history: Exxon Valdez oil spill 24 Mar 1989



From Maritime Cyprus

On 24 March 1989, the single-hull tanker EXXON VALDEZ was departing the Port of Valdez, Alaska with a full load of North Slope crude oil (approximately 1.26 million barrels) destined for Long Beach when it grounded on Bligh Reef in Prince William Sound.
 


EXXON VALDEZ grounded on Bligh Reef in Prince William Sound, Alaska, on 24th March 1989, releasing ~37,000 tonnes of Alaska North Slope crude oil.
Despite the utilisation of significant numbers of personnel, vessels, boom, skimmers and other resources, the oil spread widely to affect a variety of shores to varying degrees over an estimated 1800Km in Prince William Sound and along Alaska’s south coast as far west as Kodiak Island.
The response was the most expensive ever for a ship-source oil spill, with over 10,000 workers employed at the height of the clean-up operations, many of them in shoreline clean-up, often in remote areas.


 
The resulting oil spill, while not the largest in US history, was clearly the most important and most expensive ship-source spill.
It engendered much litigation.


In 1989, a tanker ran aground off the coast of Alaska, causing one of the worst oil spills in United States history.
Nearly 25 years later, the lessons of the Exxon Valdez continue to resonate.
 
Storyline:

One of the worst oil spills in U.S. territory begins when the supertanker Exxon Valdez, owned and operated by the Exxon Corporation, runs aground on a reef in Prince William Sound in southern Alaska.
An estimated 1.26 million barrels (37,000 tonnes) of oil eventually spilled into the water.
Attempts to contain the massive spill were unsuccessful, and wind and currents spread the oil more than 100 miles from its source, eventually polluting more than 700 miles of coastline.
Hundreds of thousands of birds and animals were adversely affected by the environmental disaster.

 
It was later revealed that Joseph Hazelwood, the captain of the Valdez, was drinking at the time of the accident and allowed an uncertified officer to steer the massive vessel.
In March 1990, Hazelwood was convicted of misdemeanor negligence, fined $50,000, and ordered to perform 1,000 hours of community service.
In July 1992, an Alaska court overturned Hazelwood’s conviction, citing a federal statute that grants freedom from prosecution to those who report an oil spill.

Exxon spent ~US$2.1 billion in clean-up costs and pleaded guilty to violations of the Clean Water Act, the Refuse Act, and the Migratory Bird Treaty Act.

 
  
 
Exxon itself was condemned by the National Transportation Safety Board and in early 1991 agreed under pressure from environmental groups to pay a fine of $100 million and provide $1 billion over a 10-year period for the cost of the cleanup.
However, later in the year, both Alaska and Exxon rejected the agreement, and in October 1991 the oil giant settled the matter by paying $25 million, less than 4 percent of the cleanup aid promised by Exxon earlier that year.

A civil action by the United States and the State of Alaska for environmental damage ended with payments of ~US$900 million toward restoring natural resources.
A further US$303 million was paid in voluntary settlements to commercial fishermen for lost income due to fish stock damages, to Alaska Natives for lost harvest foods, to seafood processors and employees and to other organisations for lost income, as well as to private landowners for damage to their land as a result of the oil.
With additional fines and damages ~US$4 billion was paid as a consequence of the spill.
A part of this amount was recovered from various insurance companies, including from the vessel’s P&I Club under TOVALOP and from cargo owners through CRISTAL.

The Exxon Valdez oil spill occurred in Prince William Sound, Alaska, on March 24, 1989, when Exxon Valdez, an oil tanker bound for Long Beach, California, struck Prince William Sound's Bligh Reef at 12:04 a.m.[1] local time and spilled 260,000 to 750,000 barrels (41,000 to 119,000 m3) of crude oil[2][3] over the next few days. 
It is considered to be one of the most devastating human-caused environmental disasters.[4] 
The Valdez spill was the largest ever in US waters until the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill, in terms of volume released.[5] 
However, Prince William Sound's remote location, accessible only by helicopter, plane, or boat, made government and industry response efforts difficult and severely taxed existing plans for response. 
The region is a habitat for salmon, sea otters, seals and seabirds. 
The oil, originally extracted at the Prudhoe Bay oil field, eventually covered 1,300 miles (2,100 km) of coastline,[6] and 11,000 square miles (28,000 km2) of ocean.[7] 
 Exxon's CEO, Lawrence Rawl, shaped the company's response.[8] 
According to official reports, the ship was carrying approximately 55 million US gallons (210,000 m3) of oil, of which about 10.1 to 11 million US gallons (240,000 to 260,000 bbl; 38,000 to 42,000 m3) were spilled into the Prince William Sound.[9][10] 
 A figure of 11 million US gallons (260,000 bbl; 42,000 m3) was a commonly accepted estimate of the spill's volume and has been used by the State of Alaska's Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Trustee Council,[6] the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and environmental groups such as Greenpeace and the Sierra Club.
[5][11][12] Some groups, such as Defenders of Wildlife, dispute the official estimates, maintaining that the volume of the spill, which was calculated by subtracting the volume of material removed from the vessel's tanks after the spill from the volume of the original cargo, has been underreported.[13] 
Alternative calculations, based on the assumption that the official reports underestimated how much seawater had been forced into the damaged tanks, placed the total at 25 to 32 million US gallons (600,000 to 760,000 bbl; 95,000 to 121,000 m3).[2] 
From: Big Oil: In the Wake of the Exxon Valdez - Natural World - BBC
 
Following the grounding, Alaska Governor Jay Hammond authorised the creation of the Alaska Oil Spill Commission in 1989 to examine the causes of the spill and issue recommendations on potential policy changes.
Fifty of these recommendations formed the basis for the Oil Pollution Act bill introduced into the legislative process in March 1989 by congressman Walter B. Jones, Sr.
The bill was signed by President Bush on 18th August 1990, officially enacting the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (OPA 90), which mandated double hulls for new tankers, response plans, and a number of other remedial measures.
OPA 90 also significantly changed the liability and compensation scheme for oil spills in US waters.
The amount of oil entering waters of the United States from ships drastically decreased following implementation of OPA 90.











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Friday, April 17, 2026

U.S. continues to close mapping gaps on ocean, coastal, and Great Lakes waters



From NOAA

In 2025, the ocean and coastal mapping community added 70,700 square nautical miles (snm) of new bathymetric data coverage to national repositories.
With an ultimate goal of fully mapped U.S.
waters by 2040, these additions brought the total down to 44% unmapped.

Progress was made on a number of fronts, but most notably in areas where regional efforts are underway to boost collaborative data acquisition activities and data sharing, in accordance with the National Ocean Mapping, Exploration and Characterization, or NOMEC, Strategy goals.

With almost 44,000 snm of new seafloor mapped, more than half of the total new bathymetry coverage gains are in the U.S. Pacific Remote Island territories and Hawaiian waters.
These bathymetric coverage gains were in predominantly deep water greater than 200 meters and conducted during expeditions funded by NOAA Ocean Exploration via the Ocean Exploration Cooperative Institute, including focused mapping expeditions aboard Ocean Exploration Trust’s Exploration Vessel Nautilus in 2022, 2023, and 2024 around the Hawaiian Islands, Johnston Atoll, Howland and Baker Islands, Kingman Reef, Palmyra Atoll, Jarvis Island, and American Samoa.

Adding approximately 13,000 snm of mapping data, the Alaska region, home of the Seascape Alaska campaign, saw the second largest gains in new bathymetric data coverage.
Major contributions to closing gaps in this region include NOAA Coast Survey hydrographic surveys conducted during the 2023-2025 field seasons, including multiyear projects in Kotzebue Sound and Southeast Alaska as well as an ongoing U.S. Geological Survey/NOAA co-funded mapping project south of Kodiak Island.

The Great Lakes, home of the Lakebed 2030 campaign, moved from 85% to 83% unmapped after adding approximately 1,000 snm of mapping data.
Much of that progress is attributable to NOAA multibeam sonar hydrographic surveys in Lake Michigan and eastern Lake Ontario as well as Sturgeon Bay, conducted in 2024 and 2021, respectively.
The Atlantic and Gulf region jumped from 31% to 28% unmapped during this reporting period.
Much of that progress is attributable to bathymetric LIDAR collected in Maine and Florida as well as NOAA multibeam sonar hydrographic surveys conducted during the 2023-2025 field seasons.
Conducted in 2024, the Gulf of Maine Dual Drix project represents part of this progress, focusing on testing multiple uncrewed vehicles operated from shore to improve the efficiency of mapping operations.
 
 
A map showing areas of unmapped seafloor of the United States in January 2026.
(NOAA)
 
 
A bar graph showing the percentage of unmapped seafloor at 100-meter resolution in 2025, within six regions of the United States, including the total unmapped U.S.
percentage.
(NOAA)
  • Areas of U.S. waters that remained unmapped as of January 2026: U.S. total1 – 1,726,000 snm out of 3,878,700, or 44%
  • Atlantic and Gulf – 155,900 snm out of 547,200, or 28%
  • Great Lakes – 37,400 snm out of 45,000, or 83%
  • Caribbean – 17,500 snm out of 61,500, or 28%
  • Alaska2 – 781,000 snm out of 1,283,500, or 61%
  • Pacific (California, Oregon, Washington) – 37,900 snm out of 249,300, or 15%
  • Pacific Remote Islands and the State of Hawaii – 696,100 snm out of 1,692,200, or 41%
  1. Areas include the full extent of the U.S. Continental Shelf, as declared in 88 FR 88470.
  2. The unmapped portion of the U.S. Arctic waters in the Alaska region is 533,200 snm.
Multibeam and lidar surveys are the two primary sources of bathymetry needed to fill these gaps.
In support of the Integrated Ocean and Coastal Mapping goal to “map once, use many times,” all of the data collected in this effort are publicly available to benefit all users.
For the latest status on these efforts and how you can contribute, visit https://iocm.noaa.gov/seabed-2030-status.html.

About the annual progress report

The federal Interagency Working Group on Ocean and Coastal Mapping recently released the seventh annual report on progress made in mapping U.S. ocean, coastal, and Great Lakes waters.
To safeguard our national security and economic prosperity, ocean mapping, exploration, and characterization is foundational to maritime commerce, domestic energy and seafood production, tourism and recreation, and understanding of our natural resources, among other interests.
The 2020 National Strategy for Mapping, Exploring, and Characterizing the United States Exclusive Economic Zone (NOMEC Strategy) makes comprehensive ocean mapping a priority for the coming decade.
The Unmapped U.S. Waters report tracks progress toward these important goals.

Pulling from an analysis of publicly available bathymetry, the report presents the percentage of unmapped U.S.
waters by region and shows our progress towards resolving these basic seafloor and lakefloor mapping gaps with each passing year.
Following from the 2025 report, this 2026 report includes the U.S. continental shelf beyond the 200 nautical mile exclusive economic zone, which the U.S. proclaimed in December 2023 (88 FR 88470).
This proclamation expanded the total area of interest for mapping progress tracking from 3,590,600 square nautical miles to 3,878,700 square nautical miles.
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Thursday, April 16, 2026

The broken system that keeps shipping crews stranded in the strait of Hormuz


A commercial ship anchored off the coast of the United Arab Emirates, in the Strait of Hormuz.
PHOTOGRAPH: GETTY IMAGES

From Wired by Ruchi Kumar

Vessels are increasingly being abandoned during the war on Iran, revealing a hidden failure in the global systems that keep goods—and people—moving.

WHEN CONFLICT DISRUPTS global shipping routes like the Strait of Hormuz, vessels don’t always leave.
Sometimes, they can’t.
Across key maritime corridors in the Gulf region, ships have become stranded—some due to escalating hostilities, others because of a less visible failure: a global shipping system where ownership, regulation, and responsibility often do not align.

For the people working on board, that failure can mean being unable to leave.

A seafarer from Kerala, India, PK Vijay had taken out a loan for what he believed would be stable work at sea.
His promised monthly salary was meant to support his family back home.
“I was told I would be working on a ship,” Vijay says.
“But when I got here, I was assigned to a scrap vessel.” He was told he would be transferred to another vessel.

Months passed.
The transfer he was promised never came.
According to Vijay, both the agent who facilitated his employment and the ship’s owner eventually stopped responding to his calls.
More than a year later, he says he has not been paid.

“I have finished my contract, but have not been paid a single rupee. It has been 14 months. And they won’t even let us leave,” he says.

The two-member crew of the Mahakal has not heard from the owner in over a year, nor have they been paid for their labor.
Without an official “sign-off” letter from the ship owner, Vijay says he cannot legally disembark or return home.

Caught in the System

Since the start of the conflict in the region, many civilian ships have found themselves in the crossfire.
This has been compounded by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz by Iran, essentially trapping ships in their positions and leaving them vulnerable to attack.

For crews on board, immobility carries risk.
“Thankfully, there have been no attacks or incidents close to us,” Vijay says.
“But we are living in fear.”


Since the start of joint US and Israeli attacks on Iran, around 1,900 commercial vessels have been stranded in the vicinity of the Strait of Hormuz, particularly in the Arabian Gulf. 
INFOGRAPHIC: GETTY IMAGES

According to the International Maritime Organization, at least 18 incidents involving attacks on ships were reported in the region up to March 24, with fatalities and injuries recorded.

For an estimated 20,000 seafarers and port workers operating across the region, the risks have increased.
For those already stranded on vessels, options are limited.
 
Around 15 to 20 ships head through the Strait of Hormuz in 36 hours as Iran’s new shipping corridor facilitates safe navigation for mostly Chinese, Pakistani, Russian, and Iranian vessels.
 
Built Across Borders

Modern shipping often spans multiple jurisdictions: A vessel can be owned in one country, registered in another, managed by a third party, and physically located elsewhere.

Under normal conditions, that complexity keeps global trade moving.
In times of crisis, it can leave workers in limbo—particularly on vessels that are poorly regulated or effectively abandoned.

In practice, cases like Vijay’s fall into a legal gray zone.
Ships can be owned, registered, and operated across different countries, leaving no single authority clearly responsible when something goes wrong.
Even when contracts end, seafarers often depend on ship owners to sign off their release.

If that cooperation disappears, so does any clear path home.
Labor organizations such as the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) say intervention is possible but often depends on coordination across jurisdictions and cooperation from ship owners.

“When the war broke out, we put a Warlike Operations Area Committee in place to address the protection of seafarers in the region,” says John Canias, maritime operations coordinator at the ITF.

The organization has identified certain maritime routes in the region, including the Arabian Gulf, the Strait of Hormuz, and some parts of the Gulf of Oman as high-risk areas, encouraging ship owners to allow seafarers to terminate contracts if they choose not to operate in those zones, says Canias.

But such measures rely on cooperation from ship owners—something that becomes difficult in cases involving abandoned vessels.

The Rise of Abandoned Ships

Vijay’s vessel, Mahakal, has a documented history of labor issue allegations.
Maritime advocacy groups say that it is owned by a private individual and is not officially registered with the International Maritime Organization.
This is not an isolated case.

According to the ITF, 2025 saw the highest number of ship abandonments on record, with 409 vessels reported abandoned and more than 6,200 seafarers affected globally.
Over 150 of those cases occurred across the wider Middle East region.
Indian nationals made up the largest group of abandoned seafarers, followed by Filipinos and Syrians.

Since the escalation of conflict in the region, ITF officials say they have received dozens of distress calls daily from seafarers, particularly those on vessels where owners have ceased communication.

In some cases, ITF documented that the machinery of the ships was destroyed, leaving them without fuel and power.
“Just recently, we got a video from a seafarer that shows a missile exploding perhaps 10m away from the ship,” Canias shares.

“We’ve seen cases where ships were damaged, where crews had to abandon vessels after attacks and others where ships lost power entirely,” Canias says.
“It is very dangerous for them.”

Trapped Between Systems and Conflict

For seafarers on abandoned vessels, the risks are not only physical.
Isolation, uncertainty, and lack of mobility can take a significant psychological toll.

Vijay says he tries to reassure his family during phone calls, even as his situation remains unchanged.
“My family is worried about me, but I try to show them I am happy,” he says.
“But I am in a very depressing situation.”

He says he hopes to return home and rebuild his life.
“I used to be a very happy person,” he says.
“I know I can be a happy person again if I can go back to my family.”

Global shipping continues to function, even under strain, rerouting cargo, adjusting to risk, and maintaining the flow of goods across regions.
But for workers on vessels that fall outside those systems of accountability, movement is not guaranteed.

For seafarers like Vijay, the infrastructure that brought them there continues to operate, but without any clear way out.
 
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Wednesday, April 15, 2026

How geography powers Iran’s grip on the Strait of Hormuz, despite U.S. blockade


A small map showing the Strait and the surrounding countries.
The area’s terrain continues to give Iran control over who crosses — and at what risk — amid a tenuous ceasefire.

From WP by Júlia Ledur and Dylan Moriarty

Shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz remains constrained a week after the United States and Iran said they would facilitate vessel passage under a two-week ceasefire agreement.
Instead, tensions have escalated.
After Iran said ships must coordinate with its forces — and, in some cases, pay a toll — President Donald Trump called the demands “extortion” and announced Sunday that the United States would block ships entering or exiting Iranian ports, adding pressure to an already fragile truce.

But even as Washington seeks to squeeze Iran economically, Tehran retains a powerful advantage: geography.
Over six weeks of conflict, Iran has halted virtually all traffic in the strait by laying mines, according to its military forces, and exploiting the vulnerability created by its terrain.
Even under a U.S. blockade, these factors allow Iran to continue exerting influence over who crosses — and at what risk.

That risk, more than any formal closure, is what is keeping ships away.
According to data from Kpler, only nine vessels have crossed the strait daily on average since the ceasefire, compared with the prewar traffic of more than 130 ships.
“De facto, the ceasefire has done absolutely nothing to change the situation [in the strait].
None whatsoever,” said Lars Jensen of Vespucci Maritime, a container shipping consultancy based in Copenhagen.

Here’s what makes the Strait of Hormuz so critical, and how its geography continues to define the standoff.

Before the war, the Strait of Hormuz facilitated about 20 percent of global oil flows, roughly 20 million barrels of oil per day, and 20 percent of the global liquefied natural gas trade.
It is the only maritime exit from the Persian Gulf, making it a critical choke point.

Key oil refineries dot the coastline of the strait and the Persian Gulf.

Before the truce, President Donald Trump had threatened to strike Iran’s energy infrastructure and suggested seizing control of Kharg Island, which processes 90 percent of Iran’s oil exports.

The geography of the strait itself makes this energy pipeline vulnerable and easy to disrupt.

Even during peacetime, only a few ships could transit at a time, leading others to queue or anchor nearby, creating clusters of vulnerable targets.

Shallow waters in the strait force ships to be funneled through two narrow lanes (about two miles wide each).
This leaves vessels extremely vulnerable to missile and small-boat attacks.

Crews crossing the narrow strait also have to worry about sea mines, which can detonate upon contact or upon sensing movement.
“Mines are a psychological issue as much as they are a real issue,” said Frank Galgano, an associate professor of geography and the environment at Villanova University, adding that it would take several weeks to clear mines from the navigation lanes.


 
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said Thursday that vessels transiting the strait must divert around Larak Island, off the country’s coast, with the primary navigation lanes posing a risk because of sea mines.
The detour also allows Iran’s military to screen ships and collect tolls for passage.


 
A rugged coastline offers hiding spots for small attack ships.

The elevated terrain along Iran’s coast provides clear vantage points for surveillance and for launching anti-ship cruise missiles.

The small islands also can be used to launch missiles at ships passing by.

Bandar Abbas, a city at the mouth of the strait, allows Iran to deploy boats and missiles and to monitor or disrupt traffic within minutes.


An image of the Strait of Hormuz showing the depths of the sea, 
showing that the Omani side of the strait is deeper than the Iranian side.
 
 
“All in all, Hormuz’s geography amplifies Iran’s anti-access and area-denial leverage at low cost,” said Basil Germond, a professor of international security at Lancaster University.

These tactics, combined with the fact that the ships crossing the strait are usually massive and travel slowly, make the passage extremely dangerous.
Defense experts say the vessels have close to no ability to detect a threat.
“The Iranians are literally right on top.
So you’ve got an instant almost to react,” Galgano said.

Iran’s ability to threaten ships with low-cost drones and mines has proved a frustration for Trump, who acknowledged last month that such attacks would persist “no matter how badly defeated they are.”

Although no vessel attacks have been recorded since the ceasefire announcement, risk has become the defining force driving the standstill in traffic.
Experts say that even when all blockades are lifted, it will take time for traffic to return to prewar levels.
“This is very simple: Shipping companies will continue to avoid the strait as long as Tehran maintains its capability to credibly threaten commercial shipping in the strait and the Gulf,” Germond said.

After the U.S.announced its blockade, Iran said it would strike back if its ports were threatened, heightening tensions for shipping companies already hesitant to cross.
At the same time, Tehran’s toll system has introduced a new legal risk: Vessels that pay the Revolutionary Guard for safe passage could be seen as violating U.S. or European Union sanctions on Iran, further deterring operators.

With confusion surrounding the status of the strait, shipping operators remain in a wait-and-see mode.
According to Windward, more than 800 vessels were still trapped in the Gulf as of Tuesday.

A spokesperson for the shipping giant Hapag-Lloyd told The Washington Post in an email Tuesday that its vessels were still refraining from transiting the strait and would continue to do so until there were safety and security guarantees and clarification on potential fees for crossing.
“We believe that for the time being ships will continue to be stuck in the Persian Gulf,” Nils Haupt said.

For traffic to return to normal, analysts say, the shipping sector will need to be confident that the ceasefire will hold and that Iran will not attack in-transit vessels.
“If you move your ship and you’re halfway through the Hormuz channel and the ceasefire breaks down, well, your seafarers are then in a shooting gallery,” Jensen said.
“So you want to see a relatively solid ceasefire before you even trust going in there.”

But that confidence depends on a delicate balance.
It is in Iran’s interest to keep restricting passage in the strait, “one of their last remaining leverages in the war,” Germond said in an email.
“So long as Tehran is serious about the ceasefire, they must implement (or be seen as implementing) its Hormuz clause and, thus, allow more and more ships to transit.
If they still restrict traffic to keep some leverage, this actually risks collapsing the ceasefire altogether.
So, for them, this is a thin boundary to navigate.”

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Tuesday, April 14, 2026

Robin Lee Graham sailed around the world with his cat


From History Defined by Carl Seaver

On March 5, 1949, Robin Lee Graham was born in California.
Though his childhood resembled most others, he took the world by surprise when, at age 16, he began a multi-year journey to circumnavigate the world in a 24-foot boat.
His age was not the only element of note; Robin also committed to sailing alone, save for the company of two cats.

Who was Robin Lee Graham?

Robin Lee Graham, by all accounts, was no conformist.
Struggling with the rigidity of school life and the expectations of what would come after, Graham sought freedom to forge his own path, even from an early age.
When his father purchased a sailboat for him in 1965, Graham saw his opportunity.

Why Circumnavigate, and How?

According to his own words, Graham simply sought freedom when he made the decision to depart.
He wanted to find himself and see what the world had to offer.
So, upon claiming the Dove, a 24-foot sailboat, he set out for his first stop: Hawaii.

This first westward leg of his journey was far from the longest he would face and served merely as a shakedown to test the performance of the boat, but he brought company: two cats named Joliette and Suzette.
They proved invaluable as he experienced the isolation of the sea for the first time.

Over the course of Graham’s journey around the world, he recruited many more cats as companions, and while the total number is not known, at least six named animals joined him on the trip at varying points.
Various accounts report other numbers, but never less than six.

His 24-foot ship, the Dove, faced minimal challenges on this first cruise given its short duration, and conditions remained largely favorable (or at least tolerable) until his approach on the Indian Ocean.
Then, the situation began to worsen quickly.

Challenges Along the Way

The reaches around Indonesia and Australia heading into the Indian Ocean are notorious for their rougher weather, and Graham was not excepted from such developments.
Graham turned southward for supplies rather than thread between North Australia and Indonesia. 
 

 
After suffering his first dismasting en route to Pago Pago in American Samoa, where the cat Suzette would choose to stay behind, the sailor was forced to jury rig the ship and proceed through storms until he could find a port to repair.

Using only the materials at his disposal, he crafted sufficient sail area and patched the ship enough to make progress toward Apia, the most viable nearby port.
During this time, Graham was also thrown overboard, barely climbing back onto his ship before it left him in the waves.
 

 
However, another, even more life-changing event took Graham by surprise during these months.
While briefly docked at Fiji, he met Patti Ratterree.
Like Graham, Ratterree had left home to explore the world in freedom and “live by her wits.”
The two took a liking to each other, spending a significant amount of time together, but Graham remained committed to his task and departed after five weeks despite his intense affection for Patti.
Unfortunately, Joliette the cat did not come with him.
Whether he sailed the next leg cat-less is not known.
 

 
Months later, having skirted past Indonesia and into the open Indian Ocean toward Madagascar, a brief and unexpected storm once again toppled the Dove’s mast.
For more than 2,000 nautical miles, Graham persisted with a hand-crafted emergency rig until he reached Mauritius for repairs.

When the Dove was once again ship-shape, Graham proceeded on course to conquer the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa.
He stopped briefly at Durban, and to his delight, Patti reunited with him during his visits to the South African ports.

They married, and Graham proceeded on his journey, though with Ratterree’s full support.
She followed his course, flying when necessary, as he progressed.
 


The voyage across the Atlantic passed as largely uneventful, and when Graham made port in Paramaribo on the northeastern coast of South America, the Dove had seen enough.
Her journey through intense conditions and multiple dismastings led Graham to sell her for the Return of Dove, a 33-foot sloop.
However, after Graham departed, the original Dove remained to sail the British Virgin Islands, finally succumbing to Hurricane Hugo in 1989.

Onward as the captain of Return of Dove, and now accompanied by Patti, Graham passed through the Panama Canal, homeward bound once again to California.
Joining him as he reached his final dock were the cats Kili, Pooh, and Piglet, welcomed aboard along the way.

Though reports vary on just how many cats came and went during the middle stages of his trip, Graham notes that he was rarely lacking in furry companions.
 

 
What Graham Is Doing Now
 
It did not take long for people to ask Graham’s opinion of his voyage.
He stated with certainty that he would never do such a thing again after discovering the intensity and sometimes near-insanity of isolation for such long stretches.
 
Choosing instead to live a calm life, Robin and his wife moved to a mountain home near Kalispell, Montana.
Two months after the voyage ended, the two welcomed their daughter, Quimby.
 

 
Graham’s quick learning under pressure during his voyage taught him essential skills, such as woodworking, that served him later.
He took up employment as a builder with a knack for making furniture, and after settling into this new life and line of work, the couple went on to have a son named Ben.

Graham later wrote numerous books about his experience.
Today, Robin and Patti continue to live a happy life together on the shore of a lake in the mountains.
As for the Return of Dove, she was restored in 2001, and though she was sold again three years later, it is believed that she has still found her home in Hawaii, the very port from which Graham’s circumnavigation began in earnest.


 
 






 
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