(Bloomberg) -- North Koreas decision to shut the border with China to avoid the coronavirus will set back its nascent economic recovery, renewing pressure on Kim Jong Un to return to nuclear negotiations with Donald Trump.

A jump in fuel prices, a dip in port activity and the suspension of train and air links show the early impact as reports emerge of the first virus case in North Korea. In recent days, Seoul-based NK News reported a 36% jump in diesel prices and diminished activity at the port of Nampho, along with new quarantine procedures.

The closed borders will cut off foreign tourism that provides the cash-starved state with hard currency and further limit the trickle of trade it has with the outside world. The economic blow -- if sustained -- might make it tougher for Kim to keep pushing back against Trumps demands.

Before the virus complicated matters, things had been looking up: Reforms, a bumper harvest and sanctions-dodging were helping North Korea claw back some of the lost growth triggered by tougher United Nations trade restrictions and a drought.

The UN Conference on Trade and Development estimated that the economy expanded by 1.8% last year, following its biggest slump in decades in 2018. That view tallied with a surge in Chinas imports that suggested an increase in economic activity and trade.

Global sanctions piled on North Korea in 2017 for its nuclear and missiles tests have slammed its trade and access to vital resources such as oil. That hasnt stopped Kim from building his nuclear arsenal and finding ways to evade the economic restrictions, such as the illegal trading of commodities via high-seas transfers between ships, the U.S. and others have said.

North Korea stepped up its illegal exports of coal last year, with most of those deliveries headed for China, according to a confidential UN report reviewed Monday by Bloomberg News. Pyongyang raked in $370 million of shipments from January through August alone, a panel monitoring the enforcement of sanctions on North Korea said in the report to the Security Council, citing evidence provided by an unidentified member state.

The Kim regime also managed to import luxury vehicles and other sanctioned items including alcohol and robotic machinery, the report showed. While these activities could be affected by the border closure, other illicit activity highlighted in the report wont, such as the countrys acquisition of virtual currencies and cyber-attacks against global banks to evade financial sanctions.

Prior to the virus lockdown, Kim had been pushing back against Trumps pressure. In a speech to ruling party leaders on Dec. 31 -- the same day reports of the new virus first emerged in China -- Kim denounced the U.S.s gangster-like acts and said he was no longer bound by a two-year freeze on tests of nuclear weapons and long-range missiles.

A resumption of major tests would undercut Trumps claim that his unprecedented decision to meet with Kim in June 2018 made the U.S. safer, just as he gears up for a tough re-election fight. Still, Kim has so far refrained from provocations that could blow up his relationship with Trump.

North Korean foreign ministry adviser Kim Kye Gwan said last month that Pyongyang would never propose trading a key nuclear facility in exchange for UN sanctions relief, according to state media. He added that it would be stupid to expect ties between Trump and Kim to help restart talks.

Even before the virus, there was a limit to how much Kim could do to shore up the economy without more access to foreign capital. One study after another has suggested that Kim would eventually face a economic crisis if he was unable to secure enough hard currency to sustain a push forward with development.

Kim wants sanctions lifted because he wants high-powered economic growth to underpin his power grip, but he has no reason to risk his survival by giving in to U.S. demands to denuclearize first, said Lee Jong-seok, a former South Korean unification minister. Kim wont budge, no matter the pressure.

(Adds details of sanctions-evading activity cited in confidential report)

--With assistance from David Wainer.

To contact the reporters on this story: Sam Kim in Seoul at skim609@bloomberg.net;Jon Herskovitz in Tokyo at jherskovitz@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Paul Jackson at pjackson53@bloomberg.net, ;Brendan Scott at bscott66@bloomberg.net, Malcolm Scott

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Virus Shuts North Koreas Best Route Around Trump Sanctions - Yahoo Finance

In the first of a two-part series, we explored the effects of warming river water on salmon. Now we take a look at the warming ocean, and what that means to the Yukon River king run.

Managers have noticed that in recent years, smaller, younger king salmon are returning to salmon streams. Since these changes are occurring statewide, and the fish spend most of their lives in the ocean, researchers think that this trend has something to do with changes in the marine environment. In the Bering Sea, that includes such factors as the loss of the cold pool of ocean water that once was thought to have helped nurture cod, and the loss of sea ice. Both are major changes in where fish species are located: their habitat.

Thats the same habitat that these Chinook salmon are in during their entire marine life, said Katherine Howard.

Howard is a state fish biologist doing high-seas salmon research. She studies juvenile salmon caught in the fall ocean trawl surveys operated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association in the Bering Sea.

And the Chinooks that are caught are primarily 2-year-old fish, says Howard. So we are really monitoring a cohort of fish.

Using genetic information from the catch, Howard was able to figure out how many of the fish were Yukon River Chinooks, otherwise known as king salmon. Her team found a direct relationship between the number of juveniles and the number of kings returning to the Yukon three years later. That means that the trawl data can be used to project into the future.

Typically, with salmon forecasts youre only looking at the next season, she said. But were looking three years out, because were looking at juveniles, and these fish are staying in the ocean for an additional three years.

In warmer oceans, biologists are seeing faster growth and theyre seeing younger fish returning earlier. Howard wondered if they would find the same trend of increasing growth in the juvenile kings in her trawl survey.

Sure enough, we see exactly the same thing, Howard said.

Howard says that the trawl data also reveals changes in the diets of the kings. The changes are so fundamental that right now there are more questions than answers.

We dont know what that is going to mean in terms of survival and productivity of these stocks until those fish return to the river, Howard explained.

What she does know is not good news for the Yukon. Based on her data, she expects some small runs ahead, especially in 2022. Howard expects runs similar to those seen in 2012 and 2013.

These werent good years, she noted. These were years when even if no fish were harvested in the river, we would still have struggled to make escapement objectives.

The only good change she sees is in the people fishing on the Yukon. Howard told a room full of scientists that the attitudes of the people along the river have changed. In the past, she said, people were trying to get more fish for themselves. Now, she observes that the conversation has turned to conserving and protecting the Yukon king run.

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Future Of Salmon In A Warming World Part 2 - KYUK

The Hinckley Institute Radio Hour This week on the program, Danny Quintana, president and founder of the Global High Seas Marine Preserve, discusses what must be done to prevent the ecological collapse of the Earths oceans caused by global overfishing and environmental degradation due to pollution and human interference.

The scope and severity of this crisis cannot be overstated. Compared to pre-industrial levels, at least 90 percent of large predator fish have been killed off, half of the oceans wildlife has been lost in the last four decades and, on average, humans kill approximately 200,000 sharks each day. If these trends are to continue, the majority of the Earths fisheries will collapse by 2048, an existential threat to biodiversity and to the billions of people who rely on fisheries as their major or primary food source.

Addressing these significant threats to life in and around our oceans, Danny Quintana lays out the goal of preventing disaster through education, the Sustainable Seafood Cities Campaign and by amending the Law of The Seas Treaty to prohibit certain fishing practices until our oceans can rebound. He also discusses the role landlocked areas like Salt Lake City can play in saving our oceans.

This forum was recorded on January 15, 2020.

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Saving the Ocean's Wildlife: Sustainable Food - KCPW

DCs Hill House Comics has been churning out exceptional horror comics for the last few months, but the imprints biggest release comes next week with the release of Plunge, a new miniseries bringing legendary artist Stuart Immonen back to monthly comics. Written by Hill House Comics curator, Joe Hill, with colors by Dave Stewart and letters by Deron Bennett, Plunge takes readers onto the high seas as it investigates the return of an oil tanker that mysteriously disappeared 40 years ago. After finishing his run on Amazing Spider-Man in 2018, Immonen took a break from ongoing comics and started working on an Instagram comic with his wife, Kathryn. His superhero work is phenomenal but its especially exciting when he gets to build a concept from the ground up, and Plunge gives him the opportunity to flex some new muscles as he dives deep into the horror genre.

This exclusive preview of next weeks Plunge #1 highlights both the spectacle and claustrophobic tension Immonen brings to Hills story, opening with a stunning shot of massive squid washed up on an island shore. Hill has proven time and again that he understands the mechanics of comics and trusts his artists to carry the storytelling weight, and these pages are full of atmosphere that draws the reader into this creepy aquatic world. The prevalence of brownish green in Stewarts coloring gives the visuals a sickly quality, and his rendering brings a lot of extra texture to Immonens linework, from the overgrown blades of grass to the rusty exterior of a ship emerging from the deep. Theres undeniable beauty in the execution of this horror story, and one of the most intriguing things about Plunge is seeing how this creative team mines terror from the majesty of the open water.

Cover by Jeremy Wilson

Variant by Gary Frank and Brad Anderson

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Hill and Immonen Plunge into aquatic horror in this exclusive preview - The A.V. Club

The Poetry Brothel: Circus of Love8:30 p.m. Thursday. Portland House of Music, 25 Temple St., Portland, $25 to $60, 21-plus. portlandhouseofmusic.comFor one of the most unique, multi-faceted experiences you could ever hope to enjoy, consider Poetry Brothel: Circus of Love. Its a kaleidoscopic cabaret of poetry, burlesque, live music, aerials, vaudeville, visual art, magic, mysticism and, if youre so inclined, private, one-on-one poetry experiences. Spells will be cast, runes, palms and tarot cards will be read, and the entire evening is shrouded in bewitching mysticism. Masks, costumes and extravagant dress are encouraged.

Titanic8 p.m. Thursday. Cinemagic Stadium Theater, 333 Clarks Pond Parkway, South Portland, $8.75. cinemagicmovies.comTitanic, released in 1997, won the Oscar for best picture and best director (James Cameron), and despite everyone knowing that the ships maiden voyage would end in tragedy, the film was a cultural phenomenon. For one night only, it again sets sail on the big screen. Get there early for trivia and prizes and then buckle up for three and a half hours of high drama on the high seas. To prepare, belt out a few lines of Celine Dions Titanic power ballad My Heart Will Go On.

Winter Carnival10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday. Gilsland Farm, 20 Gilsland Farm Road, Falmouth, $9, 2 and under free. maineaudubon.orgGreat location? Check! Loads of fun indoors and outside for you and your kids? Check! Live music? Check! Food from The Marshmallow Cart and Totally Awesome Vegan Food Truck? Check! Maine Audubons Winter Carnival at Gilsland Farm features tracking activities, a winter wildlife touch table, snow science art, face painting, snowshoeing and sledding with L.L. Beans Discovery School, a performance by Earth Jams Matt Loosigian, visits with L.L. Bear and more.

South Pacific7 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Mayo Street Arts, 10 Mayo St., Portland, $15 in advance, $20 day of show, $22 preferred seating. mayostreetarts.orgIts no small feat to put on a miniature, toy theater show, but Portland has a resident expert with actor/opera singer David Worobec and his Tophat Productions. This version of the musical South Pacific takes place on a stage thats only a few feet tall and is outfitted with detailed props and stage sets. Characters are portrayed by custom-made action figures with Worobec singing every musical number. Some enchanted evening indeed!

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Things to Do: A wild cabaret, '90s blockbuster film, winter carnival and scaled-down 'South Pacific' - Press Herald

The death of a seminarian in Nigeria has laid bare some of the fault lines beneath the surface of Nigerian society. Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah, of the Diocese of Sokoto, in Northern Nigeria, has led thousands of mourners at the burial of a seminarian, Michael Nnadi.

Paul Samasumo Vatican City

We have gathered around the remains of Michael in supplication but also as solemn witnesses to the penetrating darkness that hovers over our country, Bishop Kukah told mourners.

Bishop Kukah was speaking, in Kaduna, Tuesday at the funeral of 18-year-old Nigerian seminarian, Michael Nnadi who was kidnapped along with three other seminarians on the night of 8 January. Gunmen attacked the Good Shepherd Seminary in Kakau, Kaduna state. While three others were later released, Michael was separated from the others and murdered. A Kaduna-based doctors wife was also killed by the kidnapping gang.

The homily was a blistering and scorching indictment of President Muhammadu Buharis Government and Nigerias governing elite.

Our nation is like a ship stranded on the high seas, rudderless and with broken navigational aids. Today, our years of hypocrisy, duplicity, fabricated integrity, false piety, empty morality, fraud and Pharisaism have caught up with us. Nigeria is on the crossroads, and its future hangs precariously in a balance, Bishop Kukah said in a homily.

This President has displayed the greatest degree of insensitivity in managing our countrys rich diversity. He has subordinated the larger interests of the country to the hegemonic interests of his co-religionists and clansmen and women. The impression created now is that, to hold a key and strategic position in Nigeria today, it is more important to be a northern Muslim than a Nigerian, Bishop Kukah said.

The Bishop then continued, Nigeria needs to pause for a moment and think. No one more than the President of Nigeria, Major General Muhammadu Buhari who was voted for in 2015 on the grounds of his own promises to rout Boko Haram and place the country on an even keel. In an address at the prestigious Policy Think Tank, Chatham House, in London, just before the elections, Major General Buhari told his audience: I, as a retired General and a former Head of State have always known about our soldiers If am elected President; the world will have no reason to worry about Nigeria We will be tough on terrorism and tough on its root causes by initiating a comprehensive economic development and promoting infrastructural developmentwe will always act on time and not allow problems to irresponsibly fester. And I, Muhammadu Buhari, will always lead from the front, Bishop Kukah reminisced.

Bishop Kukah also asserted that neither Islam nor the north can identify any real benefits Despite running the most nepotistic and narcissistic government in known history, there are no answers to the millions of young children on the streets in northern Nigeria, and the north still has the worst indices of poverty, insecurity, stunting, squalor and destitution. His Eminence, the Sultan of Sokoto, and the Emir of Kano are the two most powerful traditional and moral leaders in Islam today. None of them is happy, and they have said so loud and clear, affirmed Bishop Kukah.

Bishop Kukah reminded the faithful: The persecution of Christians in northern Nigeria is as old as the modern Nigerian stateBy denying Christians lands for places of worship across most of the northern states, ignoring the systematic destruction of Churches all these years, denying Christians adequate recruitment, representation and promotions in the State civil services, denying their indigenous children scholarships, marrying Christian women or converting Christians while threatening Muslim women and prospective converts with death, they make building a harmonious community impossible. Nation-building cannot happen without adequate representation and a deliberate effort at creating for all members a sense, a feeling, of belonging, and freedom to make their contributions, he said.

Today, we are living with a Senate whose entire leadership is in the hands of Muslims. Christians have continued to support them. For how long shall we continue on this road with different ambitions? Christians must rise and defend their faith with all the moral weapons they have. We must become more robust in presenting the values of Christianity, especially our message of love and non-violence to a violent society, the prelate of Sokoto asserted.

Bishop Kukah especially called on Christians in Nigeria not to sustain nor give their support to selfish northern politicians.

We are being told that this situation has nothing to do with Religion. Really? It is what happens when politicians use religion to extend the frontiers of their ambition and power. Are we to believe that simply because Boko Haram kills Muslims too, they wear no religious garb? Are we to deny the evidence before us, of kidnappers separating Muslims from infidels or compelling Christians to convert or die? If your son steals from me, do you solve the problem by saying he also steals from you? wondered Bishop Kukah.

Yet the Bishops homily was also full of hope for Nigeria and for the mourning Christians.

There is hope, my dear friends. Are we angry? Yes, we are. Are we sad? Of course, we are. Are we tempted to vengeance? Indeed, we are. Do we feel betrayed? You bet. Do we know what to do? Definitely. Do we know when to do it? Why not? Do we know how? Absolutely. Are we in a war? Yes. But what would Christ have us do? The only way He has pointed out to us is the non-violent way. It is the road less travelled, but it is the only way, the Bishop consoled the mourners.

Bishop Kukah further wondered what message God had for the country when he chooses Nigerian teenagers such Leah Sharibu and Michael Nnadi to confront evil and became martyrs.

He concluded, We are honoured that our son has been summoned to receive the crown of martyrdom at the infancy of his journey to the priesthood. We are grateful that even before he could ascend the earthly altar, Jesus, the high priest, called Him to stand by His angels. He was a priest by desire, but he is concelebrating the fullness of the priesthood beside His Master.

Michael was buried at the cemetry of Good Shepherd Seminary in Kaduna.

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Bishop Kukah: Our hypocrisy and duplicity have caught up with us - Vatican News

(TNS) When Jeff Moneda first started working for Foster City, where trails wind along the towns scenic lagoons and the nicest homes perch along its picturesque canals, he received an email from federal emergency officials that jolted him into action.

The first thing in my inbox was a letter from FEMA that said, You need to raise your levee or were going to place the entire city in a flood zone, said Moneda, the city manager. Talk about stress.

For a city of 34,000 that was built on filled-in marshland along San Francisco Bay, the future hinges on the strength of an eight-mile-long levee that for decades has held back the rising sea. But with every tide and storm, the water keeps trying to move back and reclaim the town. Flood maps, even in more moderate scenarios, show much of the city inundated if nothing is done.

The fate of Foster City and the rest of the Bay Area was front and center last week as state lawmakers grappled with the many threats California must confront as the ocean pushes farther inland. A special committee of state lawmakers gathered for the second time in two months after years without meeting to reignite a much-needed discussion on how to better prepare communities up and down the coast from devastating loss.

Homes are flooding and critical roads and infrastructure are already mere feet from toppling into the sea, they said, but cities up and down the coast have been paralyzed by the difficult choices ahead. More than $150 billion in property could be at risk of flooding by 2100 the economic damage far more destructive than from the states worst earthquakes and wildfires.

Failure to act will result in lost opportunities to be proactive and much higher costs, according to scientists, local officials and legislative analysts who spoke before the state Assemblys Select Committee on Sea Level Rise and the California Economy.

Assemblywoman Tasha Boerner Horvath, D-Encinitas, who revived the committee last year, acknowledged just how much is at stake and said the Legislature needs to act fast and figure out what to prioritize.

We are already 10 years late to this issue, she said, and there are options that are slipping away from us as we postpone a very difficult conversation.

These remarks come at a time when more officials across the state are waking up to the social, economic and environmental catastrophe of sea level rise. The Ocean Protection Council, an advisory body tasked with guiding the states coastal policies, is now pushing California to be prepared for at least 3.5 feet of sea level rise by 2050.

Legislative analysts, in an unprecedented report, recently made the case that any action or lack of action within the next 10 years could determine the fate of the California coast.

For those in the Bay Area where millions of people rely on major roads and infrastructure at risk of chronic flooding fighting against the sea has been a costly and overwhelming challenge.

With just 2 feet of flooding around the Bay Area, as many as 90,000 people could be left homeless, one official said. Keeping the island city of Alameda above water could cost almost $1 billion, another said, but would avert $8 billion in damage. Infrastructure engineers made the case for better sea walls to protect the San Francisco and Oakland airports both built on bay fill and barely supported by aging dikes.

In Foster City, property owners ended up agreeing by a more than 80% vote to tax themselves $90 million to raise the levee many feet higher. Officials hope to start construction as early as this summer.

The barrier, mostly earthen, currently curves along the bay for miles. On Saturday, the morning of the annual king tide a period when the sun, moon and Earth are aligned closest together and create a higher-than-high tide water levels rose as high as 9 feet, according to the nearest tide gauge.

Across the bay, groups of people gathered on piers and harbors, beaches and estuaries, to witness the water creeping up bridges and pushing into wetlands and low-lying roads. These extreme tides, coastal scientists say, will eventually become the new normal.

Compounding the problem in this region is groundwater flooding as the ocean moves farther inland what some researchers call the sea beneath us.

As the ocean rises, that pressure pushes freshwater up from beneath our feet, said Kristina Hill, whose research at the University of California, Berkeley focuses on this less-talked-about sea level rise issue. Basements and underground foundations will heave, brackish water could corrode sewer pipes, toxic contaminants buried in the soil could bubble up and spread.

We could spend hundreds of billions of dollars and still have flooding on the inland side of all those levees, Hill told the sea level rise committee, showing a map of areas where the water is already leaking out of the ground. Were very concerned about human health and the health of the bay.

Solutions, experts say, depend on more cities, transportation officials and property owners working together across regions. Too many are still jostling for money and approvals to defend whats theirs rather than seeing the much bigger picture.

Rising tides and former marshes do not heed to city boundaries or property lines, they said, and the action of one jurisdiction may affect another down the coast. There needs to be more coordination, officials agreed, to restore wetlands and rethink critical infrastructure that serves more than any one community.

San Mateo County, for example, recently formed a cross-jurisdictional sea level rise resiliency district that is funded even by its inland communities. Officials say this new flood control approach allows the region to plan for all its shoreline needs in a way that cannot be done on a city-by-city basis.

Still, some last week worried that these new regional efforts could hurt their communities at the cost of protecting those with more political sway and power. Will the city of Millbrae, one official asked, be paying to protect more influential cities while absorbing much of the environmental impact?

Mark Stechbart, a resident of Pacifica, called on state lawmakers to not give up on sea walls. In his town, where bluffs are crumbling and waves often overtop roads, a push by some officials to consider relocating inland has angered many property owners.

Pacifica, he said, should be afforded the same protections as SFO and Google headquarters, which we desperately need; otherwise, very serious amounts of property value are going to go in the water.

Warner Chabot, who heads the San Francisco Estuary Institute, said more pilot projects will help make the case for sharing resources and ideas across boundaries. He has spent years encouraging the Bay Areas many different agencies to think about the shoreline beyond parcel by parcel, town by town.

With more support from the state, he urged lawmakers, Californias coastal communities can be a national model of how urban regions, at the edge of the sea, can provide bold, equitable and inclusive solutions to climate change.

2020 Los Angeles Times

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A Desperate bid to Avert Rising Seas Disaster in Californias Bay Area - Government Technology

New Delhi, Feb 12 (PTI) Targeting sustainable fisheries development, the Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved a pact signed between India and Iceland.

"The Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, was apprised of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between India and Iceland in the field of fisheries," an official statement said.

The pact was signed on 10th September, 2019.

"The MoU will strengthen the existing friendly relations between India and Iceland and will enhance consultation and cooperation on Fisheries including consultation on bilateral issues," it added.

The salient features of this MoU are creation of facilities for exchange of scientists and technical experts and their proper placement, especially in areas of estimating total allowable Catches in off shore and deep sea areas.

It also provides for training to fisheries professionals from key fisheries institutions in the various management aspects on areas of modern fisheries management and fish processing.

The MoU provides for exchange of scientific literature research findings and other information as well as exchange of experts/expertise to study the prospects of fishing.

The agreement seeks to promote processing and marketing of products from high seas fisheries for entrepreneurship development. PTI MJH MKJ

Disclaimer :- This story has not been edited by Outlook staff and is auto-generated from news agency feeds. Source: PTI

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Govt nod to India-Iceland pact in fisheries sector - Outlook India

Unpublished during McKays lifetime, Romance in Marseille is the second novel by the author to appear recently, following the 2017 publication of Amiable With Big Teeth, a book written in 1941 that remained completely unknown until the scholar Jean-Christophe Cloutier stumbled upon the typescript in an archive a decade ago. Together, the books signal a remarkable revival for a writer who, when he died in 1948, had seen all the work he published during his lifetime, including four poetry volumes, three novels, an autobiography and a major study of black life in Harlem, fall out of print.

McKay has long been celebrated as one of the most distinguished voices of the Harlem Renaissance his 1922 poetry collection Harlem Shadows is often cited as one of the books that inaugurated the movement but much of his legacy is still underappreciated. Part of the challenge is the sheer breadth of his activity, as a poet, political activist and social critic as well as a novelist.

Although he corresponded and collaborated with some Harlem intellectuals, McKay, who was born in Jamaica, spent most of the 1920s outside New York and moved in much broader circles: He met with George Bernard Shaw and worked for Sylvia Pankhurst in London; he saw Isadora Duncan dance in her studio in Nice; he haunted cafes in Tangier with Paul Bowles and Henri Cartier-Bresson. As W. E. B. Du Bois put it, more than any other black intellectual of the era, McKay invented himself as an international Negro.

From todays vantage point, McKay looks all the more like the harbinger of a global era. Amiable With Big Teeth, which is set in 1935-36 amid efforts by the Harlem intelligentsia to raise money in support of Ethiopia after it had been invaded by Mussolinis Italy, is an unsparing satire of the shenanigans of self-appointed backdoor diplomats and manipulators of public opinion a historical novel with newfound contemporary resonance. Romance in Marseille, like his sprawling 1929 classic Banjo, also set in the south of France, shows McKay presciently grappling with the destinies of those he calls the outcasts and outlaws of civilizations migrants in thriving port cities central to the flow of global commerce and with the violent upheavals and desperate striving that deposited them there.

If McKays two Marseille novels take place during the 1920s era of the high seas black stowaway, as Holcomb and Maxwell note in their introduction, the books more footloose stories of black vagabonds McKays preferred term from around the world washing up together on the shores of Europe forecast the confusion and anguish of what has, nearly a century later, erupted into a global migration crisis. McKays political critique remains biting: In their brutality, his Marseille books insist that, then as now, it is always the poor, the vagabonds, the bums of life who pay the heaviest price for banditry in high places.

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A Legless Black Man Comes Into a Windfall in This Biting Satire - The New York Times

Pirates, maybe even more than mermaids and sea serpents, are the most fascinating and misunderstood entities of maritime history and while it is known today that mermaids were seals and giant serpents were the washed up carcasses of whales, the realities of piracy on the high seas is still enveloped in myths and legends.

An Attack on a Galleon: illustration of pirates approaching a ship by Howard Pyle (1905) ( Public Domain)

Although Johnny Depp and Pirates of the Caribbean might be the archetypal impression of those swashbuckling oceanic criminals for the younger generation, the older generation may recall with nostalgia Peter Pan orTreasure Island, that populated childhood imaginations of yester year. Stepping beyond these popular depictions of pirates that do not necessarily follow historical fact, one is bound to ask: who were these ocean-bound criminals?

French ship under attack by Barbary pirates, by Aert Anthoniszoon (ca. 1615) National Maritime Museum,England. ( Public Domain ).

17th-19th century books have greatly embellished and romanticized narratives of pirates and Daniel Dafoes A General History of the Pyrates (1724) is today often referred to as a historical reference, but it was in the most part fictional. Literary giant Robert Louis Stevenson, in his classic tale of buccaneers and buried gold also heavily influenced popular perceptions of pirates and Treasure Island included such elements as treasuremaps marked with an X, schooners, tropical Caribbean islands and one-legged seamen. But these fictional rouges with their Devonshire, west country accents, only soften-up the reality of real-world pirates who were often spree killing terrorists.

Historically, pirates preferred narrow channels and shipping lanes so that their prey could be chased along predictable routes, for example: the English Channel, aroundGibraltar and theStrait of Malacca. One must not confusepirates with privateering as these captains operated under state issued licenses and their capture of foreign merchant ships was more of a war-like activity with a semblance of rules and regulations agreed upon between nations before military interaction ensued.

Capture of the pirate, Blackbeard, by Jean Leon Gerome Ferris (1718)Romanticizing the fierce and bloody battle between Blackbeard the Pirate and Lieutenant Maynard in Ocracoke Bay. ( Public Domain )

According to the Online Etymology Dictionary the word pirate is from the Latin term purateivitiameaning sailor, corsair or sea robber from the Greekword ( peirats),literally representing one who attacks ships.

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Ashley Cowie is a Scottish historian, author and documentary filmmaker presenting original perspectives on historical problems, in accessible and exciting ways. His books, articles and television shows explore lost cultures and kingdoms, ancient crafts and artifacts, symbols and architecture, myths and legends telling thought-provoking stories which together offer insights into our shared social history . http://www.ashleycowie.com.

Top Image : Captain Kidd in New York Harbor by Jean Leon Gerome Ferris (1863 1930) ( Public Domain)

By Ashley Cowie

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Pirates of the Northern Seas and Scotland's Oceanic Criminals - Ancient Origins

Iissued by the Vanuatu Meteorology and Geo-Hazards Department, Port Vila at 12:10am VUT Tuesday 11 February 2020.

At 11:00pm local time, the Tropical Cyclone UESI (Cat2) with the central pressure estimated at 976hPa was located at 17.6S 162.4E. The system is positioned at the center of square letter B, number 7 (B,7) of the Vanuatu Tropical Cyclone Tracking map. This is about 560 KM west southwest of Malekula. Winds close to the center of the system are estimated at 90KM/HR (50Knots). In the past 6 hours, tropical cyclone UESI was moving in a southwest direction at 10 KM/HR.

Damaging gale force winds of 75KM/HR with gusting up to 105KM/HR within 100 nautical miles from its center while destructive storm force winds of 90KM/HR gusting to 130KM/HR within 30 nautical miles from its center are expected tonight and tomorrow.

Forecast Positions Date and Time Position Intensity+06 hours (5am, 11 Feb) 18.1S, 162.3E 60 KTS (110 KM/HR)+12 hours (11am, 11 Feb) 18.6S, 162.3E 60 KTS (110 KM/HR)+18 hours (5pm, 11 Feb) 19.1S, 162.3E 70 KTS (130 KM/HR)+24 hours (11pm, 11 Feb) 19.6S, 162.3E 60 KTS (110 KM/HR)+36 hours (11am, 12 Feb) 20.6S, 162.3E 50 KTS (95 KM/HR)+48 hours (11pm, 12 Feb) 21.6S, 162.0E 50 KTS (95 KM/HR)+60 hours (11am, 13 Feb) 22.8S, 161.3E 40 KTS (75 KM/HR)+72 hours (11pm, 13 Feb) 24.0S, 160.3E 40 KTS (75 KM/HR)

Rainfalls will be heavy with flash flood over low lying areas and areas close to river banks, including coastal flooding expected about the islands of the northern and parts of the central provinces. The marine strong wind warning is current for all Vanuatu coastal waters, while High seas warning is current for the central waters.

Very rough to phenomenal seas and heavy to phenomenal swells expected to continue to affect the western parts of the northern and central waters tonight and tomorrow and extending to southern waters thereafter. People, including sea going vessels are strongly advised not to go out to sea until the system has moved out of the area.

The National Disaster Management Office (NDMO) advises that Blue Alert is now imposed for SHEFA and TAFEA province. For actions on these alerts, call NDMO on 22699 or 33366.

The Vanuatu Meteorology and Geo-Hazards Department is closely monitoring the system and will issue the next Advisory at 6:00am or ealier if the situation changes. People throughout Vanuatu are advised to continue to listen to Radio Vanuatu and all other Radio outlets to get an update information on this system.

This Advisory is also available on VMGD's website: wwww.vmgd.gov.vu and VMGD's facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/vmgd.gov.vu.

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Advisory Number 4 on the Tropical Cyclone UESI - Vanuatu - ReliefWeb

Met ireann has lifted its Status Orange wind warning along the Atlantic coast as Storm Ciara continues to cross the country.

Meanwhile, a Status Yellow snow and ice warning is in place for the entire country with widespread wintry showers forecast.

The west and north are expected to be worst affected and the warning remains in place until midnight Tuesday.

A Status Yellow wind warning has also been issued for counties Donegal, Galway, Leitrim, Mayo, Sligo, Clare and Kerry.

Met ireann said a combination of spring tides and high seas could also result in coastal flooding, especially at high tide.

The number of homes, farms and businesses without electricity has increased again over the last few hours, due to the weather conditions.

The ESB said there were around 8,300 customers affected across the country.

Most of the power outages have been caused by high winds, but some faults are due to lightning.

The ESB said it hopes to reconnect all the affected customers overnight, with crews working to carry out repairs as soon as possible and where conditions are safe to do so.

A number of local authorities in western counties say they will be closely monitoring high tides over the coming days.

Galway City Council says car parks in the Salthill area will be closed ahead of high tide tomorrow morning, which is due at around 6am.

Sligo County Council says members of the public should take particular care in coastal areas due to the high tides, large swells and onshore winds.

Meanwhile, Kerry County Council says a section of the R569 Clonkeen to Kilgarvan road has been closed, with diversions in place, to a partial collapse of the road during Storm Ciara.

In Clare, the N85 at Ballyea South, Inagh, is closed due to flooding, while the Cliffs of Moher will be closed to visitors all day.

The Road Safety Authority and AA Roadwatch is asking road users toexercise extreme caution while using the roads due to weather conditions.

People are also being advised to stay away from exposed beaches, cliffs, piers, promenades and harbours.

The Irish Coast Guard has said it "strongly advises" the public to stay away from exposed beaches, cliffs and piers during the ongoing stormy conditions.

It says the message is to "stay back, stay high and stay dry" during the high tides, large swells and onshore winds.

In Northern Ireland, people and livestock were rescued from flooding amid the aftermath of Storm Ciara.

Bad weather conditions resulted in a number of incidents of flooding, particularly in counties Fermanagh and Tyrone.

Firefighters helped two people trapped in a car in flood water to safety in the Lisnawery road area of Augher, Co Tyrone early on yesterday morning.

They pushed the car out of the water at around 8am, and the pair escaped without injury.

A couple of hours later, firefighters rescued 12 sheep from flood water using lines and a reach pole at an incident in the Cavan road area of Dromore, Co Tyrone.

Meanwhile, on Saturday night, a pump was used to divert water away from 15 houses at risk in Laragh's Croft in Enniskillen, Co Fermanagh.

As well as Ireland, Storm Ciara hashit the UK, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Denmark and Switzerland.

Germany's rail operator Deutsche Bahn has cancelled long-distance train services in many parts of the north west.

It said cancellationswould be extendedto the rest of the country.

Rail companies in England, Scotland and Wales have urged passengers not to travel, during what the UK's Met Office has said could be the strongest storm to hit the country for seven years.

Additional reporting Fergal O'Brien and PA

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Snow and ice warning as Storm Ciara crosses the country - RTE.ie

Thu, Feb 13, 2020 - 5:50 AM

Seoul

NORTH Korea's decision to shut the border with China to avoid the coronavirus will set back its nascent economic recovery, renewing pressure on leader Kim Jong-un to return to nuclear negotiations with US President Donald Trump.

A jump in fuel prices, a dip in port activity and the suspension of train and air links show the early impact as reports emerge of the first virus case in North Korea. In recent days, Seoul-based NK News reported a 36 per cent jump in diesel prices and diminished activity at the port of Nampo, along with new quarantine procedures.

The closed borders will cut off foreign tourism that provides the cash-starved state with hard currency and further limit the trickle of trade it has with the outside world. The economic blow, if sustained, might make it tougher for Mr Kim to keep pushing back against Mr Trump's demands.

Before the virus complicated matters, things had been looking up - reforms, a bumper harvest and sanctions-dodging were helping Pyongyang claw back some of the lost growth triggered by tougher United Nations (UN) trade restrictions and a drought.

The UN Conference on Trade and Development estimated that the economy expanded by 1.8 per cent last year, following its biggest slump in decades in 2018. That view tallied with a surge in China's imports that suggested an increase in economic activity and trade.

Global sanctions piled on North Korea in 2017 for its nuclear and missile tests have slammed its trade and access to vital resources such as oil. That hasn't stopped Mr Kim from building his nuclear arsenal and finding ways to evade the economic restrictions, such as the illegal trading of commodities via high-seas transfers between ships, the US and others have said.

North Korea stepped up its illegal exports of coal last year, with most of those deliveries headed for China, according to a confidential UN report reviewed Monday by Bloomberg News. Pyongyang raked in US$370 million worth of shipments from January through August alone, a panel monitoring the enforcement of sanctions on North Korea said in the report to the Security Council, citing evidence provided by an unidentified member-state.

The Kim regime also managed to import luxury vehicles and other sanctioned items, including alcohol and robotic machinery, the report showed. While these activities could be affected by the border closure, other illicit activity highlighted in the report won't, such as the country's acquisition of virtual currencies and cyberattacks against global banks to evade financial sanctions.

Even before the virus, there was a limit to how much Mr Kim could do to shore up the economy without more access to foreign capital. One study after another has suggested that he would eventually face an economic crisis if he was unable to secure enough hard currency to sustain development. BLOOMBERG

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Virus outbreak shuts North Korea's best route around US sanctions - The Business Times

Schools were closed, ferries cancelled and roads across the north battered by snow and sleet yesterday.

The Met Office had a weather warning out for high winds and snowfall, which changes to a warning for snow and ice today.

A high wind speed of 89mph was recorded at the top of Cairngorm Mountain, while there were gusts of 56mph at sea level on the isle of Tiree.

The Met Office recorded 10cm of snow in Aviemore, while flurries closed the A93 between Braemar and the Spittal of Glenshee.

A spokesman warned the wintry showers would continue across the north today.

Shetland Coastguard was called in to assist police and close the Churchill Barriers on the narrow causeway connecting mainland Orkney with South Ronaldsay due to high seas.

The barriers closed at 11am and re-opened just an hour later, but St Margarets Hope and Burray in Orkney were affected by flooding.

Northlink Ferries cancelled all sailings on the Pentland Firth route and todays sailings are under review.

West coast ferry operator CalMac was also forced to cancel or disrupt most of its services.

A CalMac spokesman said: The tail end of Store Ciara continues to cause problems across the west coast ferry network, with all 28 routes impacted to a greater or lesser extent.

In total we have cancelled services completely on 10 routes and people travelling should ensure they keep up to date with the status of the sailing theyre planning on taking.

Moray Council kept Tomintoul Primary School closed for the day as snow prevented the school bus for reaching it.

Highland Council was forced to close 10 of its schools and six nurseries due to bad weather and some of the buildings being without power or heating.

The authority was also out treating roads throughout the area due to snow and sleet, which made for treacherous driving conditions.

Cromarty, Dornoch, Kessock and Skye Bridges were closed for periods throughout the day to high sided vehicles.

Aberdeen City Council was last night preparing for temperatures to drop.

A spokeswoman said: Sleet and ice conditions are expected overnight and road surface temperatures are expected to drop to -0.9C on most routes with some down to -1.9C during the early hours.

Were gritting primary routes this afternoon and again early morning, and city centre pavements before 7.30am too.

Rescue teams were called out after a small blue boat broke free from her mooring on the river of Thurso.

Scrabster and Melvich Coastguard volunteers joined Thurso lifeboat to investigate just before 10pm on Monday and found the vessel had drifted ashore.

The owner later recovered the boat.

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Snow and wind hits the north as Met Office warnings continue - Press and Journal

The second run of High Seas just landed on Netflix. And after binge-watching the entire season, the fans started asking about its next run, High Seas Season 3. The viewers are so enthused with the Spanish series that they are longing to know every detail about the show. When will High Seas return for the third season? What will happen? And lots more. Lets take a look at all the updates on High Seas Season 3.

High Seas, or Alta Mar in Spanish, is set on a cruise liner, focusing on two sisters, Eva and Carolina. After the death of their father, the two get on board on a cruise to escape from their high class social life issues. The show features some of the big names of the Spanish Industry. The main cast of High Seas includes Jose Sacristan, Ivana Baquero, Jon Kortajarena, Nicolas, Alejandra Onieva, Eloy Azorin, Manuella Valles, and Chiquinquira Delgado.

Both the seasons of High Seas received quite good reviews from the audience and the critics. Being a Spanish series, High Seas came up like a regular American drama on the streaming service and gained popularity worldwide. In the names of big Spanish TV shows of Netflix, including Money Heist and Cable Girls, the show has achieved enough acclamation among the global fans.

Good News for the fans of Spanish drama. As per Elespanols Bluper section, the show has already been renewed for the third run of the series. Not only this, the fourth season of High Seas is also in development. Moreover, Bambu Productions,behind the show, also reportedly told a Spanish website that the production on the next set of episodes would commence in November. The upcoming 16 episodes will be split into eight episodes queue for each of the seasons. However, Netflix has not made any statement regarding the renewal of High Seas for Season 3, till now.

High Seas Season 3: Plot Details

The second season of High Seas concluded with the cruise arriving in Rio De Janeiro. Also, some of the secrets are left open-ended with the second season itself. Therefore, the upcoming season will likely focus on those. Also, the cruise has dropped its anchor in Rio. Consequently, it is not clear while the next season will continue on the cruise journey or will descend to the city.

Along with this, the show has also taken on quite a paranormal course in the second season too. Therefore, its going to be interesting to see where the story sails to in the third season of the High Seas.

The second season of High Seas just came in November 2019. Therefore, it looks like the audience needs to wait for the next run of Spanish drama to arrive. High Seas Season 3 will arrive most likely by the end of 2020.

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High Seas Season 3: Renewed For Third And Fourth Season ...

High Seas Netflix

High Seas, a Spanish period drama got immediately renewed after its July 2019 release date and is returning to Netflix in November 2019. Heres what we can expect and when exactly its arriving on Netflix.

Netflix has cashed in some of the best Spanish series in recent years. In particular, its been great at sourcing some of the best Spanish period dramas such as Grand Hotel and Velvet. Netflix first Original foray into the genre was with Cable Girls which will be returning this year for its fourth season.

The series consists of eight episodes and sees our cast set sail on a luxury ship but not all is as it seems as several murders occur on their voyage. The show is set in the 1940s and is exclusive to Netflix around the world.

The first season was added to Netflix on May 24th, 2019.

Official renewal status: Officially renewed (last updated: 07/13/2019)

A number of outlets in Spain have already reported a second season being in development.

Marca, which is a massive news organisation confirms that the series is returning for season 2. Saying that (roughly translated): is [High Seas] already filming its second season, as confirmed on Wednesday a spokesman for the company.

Another actress has also spoken about where the second season can go. Again, this is roughly translated. If in the first one they were opening more plots and more mysteries, in the second one it is another turn more, it is not more of the same.

On June 5th, Netflix officially announced that High Seas is returning for a new season via a Tweet on Netflixs Latin America account.

The tweet translates to saying the following:

We knew we couldnt keep things that way. High seas will have a season 2.

Originally, we predicted that season 2 of High Seas would arrive on Netflix in 2020. However, in mid-September 2019, it was announced season 2 would arrive on Netflix on November 22nd, 2019.

In a Facebook post also announcing the date of season 2 it reads (translated from Spanish): Hold on to what you can, a storm is coming with waves of great changes. The second season of #AltaMar docks on November 22.

Do you want to see High Seas return to Netflix for a second season? Let us know in the comments down below.

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'High Seas' Season 2 Coming to Netflix in November 2019 ...

A new agreement is being negotiated under the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) to provide legally binding mechanisms to protect the marine environment and to conserve and ensure the sustainable use of marine biodiversity on the high seas (international waters in areas beyond national jurisdiction) (1). One of the suggested objectives in the current draft text is to apply an approach that builds ecosystem resilience to the adverse effects of climate change when applying area-based management tools (ABMTs), including marine protected areas (MPAs). Yet even though climate change is resulting in shifts in species' ranges (2) and in the behavior of the human users of mobile, commercially valuable species (3), protection of highly mobile species and the dynamic habitats on which they depend is not currently a focus of negotiations. With the final language to be determined as early as 2020 (1), we urge negotiators to include new dynamic management tools, including mobile MPAs (mMPAs), whose boundaries shift across space and time, that could help to safeguard marine life and build ecosystem resilience by protecting dynamic habitats as well as migratory marine species in a changing ocean.

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Mobile protected areas for biodiversity on the high seas - Science Magazine

TOWNSEND With snow and ice in the forecast for this weekend and spring training still weeks away, baseball fever has yet to grip the Nashoba Valley. Fortunately, local kids can get a head start on the pros with some winter training starting this month.

Its all thanks to Jessica Fellows. The 42-year-old local resident is not only a coach of many of the teams with Townsend Ashby Youth Baseball and Softball League, but also a member of the organizations board.

Her tireless efforts have not only expanded the organization and its programs, including the aforementioned winter training sessions running from January through March, but have also inspired kids to be more outgoing through sports.

If that werent enough, Fellows also serves her community as a part-time EMT in the Townsend Fire Department.

And thats all before you get to her full-time job as a 911 dispatcher for Nashoba Valley Regional Dispatch, where shes been since 2016.

That stacked resume of community service and life-saving action is what made Fellows the Massachusetts winner of Norwegian Cruise Lines Encore Moments campaign.

For her efforts in Townsend, Fellows enjoyed a weekend in New York City for an award ceremony aboard the companys distinguished Norwegian Bliss ship. She also won a three-to-five day cruise, which she said she will likely be in October.

We are excited to honor these inspiring individuals from around the U.S. and Canada, Andy Stuart, president and chief executive officer of Norwegian Cruise Line, said in a press release. Their kindness, dedication and passion to help others is truly moving. From first responders, to those helping family members in need, to those who go out of their way to lift others up, we are happy to acknowledge these heroes through our Encore Moments campaign.

Fellows was nominated by Townsend resident Tracy Boyd, whose son played with Fellowss son and was frequently coached by Fellows.

Boyd credited Fellowss training and kindness for helping her son break from his shy nature.

When I think of Townsend and the surrounding communities, I think of Jessica as a town hero, Boyd said. She doesnt just care about the wins in games, she cares about the little wins that the kids have. Shes always helping out.

Fellows said that she first moved to Townsend from Londonderry, N.H. in 2010, a fair distance from her birthplace of Virginia. She moved to town with her husband Eric, son Pierce and daughter Morgan for the family environment.

It was a perfect middle spot to raise our kids, Fellows explained. Politics can be a little confusing at times when you see the Town Hall issues, but this is an amazing community to raise your kids.

Fellows said shes been an EMT since 1999, previously working for Trinity EMS for 13 years.

Private EMS can beat your body up, she said. I worked 24-hour shifts working in the city of Lowell and with the amount of work you do, its really hard on your body. At age 30, I felt like I was 60 or 70 years old. Even though you love working on the ambulance and its still where your heart is because you love helping others, its quite messed up with the crazy things you see.

Once she moved to Townsend, Fellows got involved getting her kids to join local tee-ball teams. She said that since it was hard for the other parents to find local volunteers to help the kids, she stepped to up to the plate. For her, the highlight of the work is simply being there for the kids.

Once you have kids and start coaching them, no matter who I coach they became one of my kids, and thats how I treat my teams, she said. I love getting anyone out on the field. Ive got kids that Ive coached that would never have played baseball or softball. They build their teamwork, the smiles and camaraderie. The things that theyre gonna build while being part of a team are so much more valuable than just, Hey maybe the kid will get a scholarship for college. Were building great kids and a great atmosphere.

Although she said her kids are aging out of the local youth teams and she continues working crazy hours as a dispatcher, Fellows said shell likely never stop coaching for the league. Her efforts have helped the league not only start the winter training sessions, usually held in the gymnasiums of the Spaulding Memorial School and the Hawthorne Brook Middle School, but also start a seniors league for kids age 12 to 16.

All of that work, and Fellows still thinks her recent recognition is worthy of someone else.

There are more people I can imagine that would be just as worthy of this award as I was, she said. Weve got a great community support system for people.

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Townsend residents community involvement earns her an all-expense paid trip on the high seas - Lowell Sun

Disney

Disneys Pirates of the Caribbean franchise is one of the highest-grossing film series of all time having made over $4.5 billion since its first movie released in 2003. Its not hard to see why its been so successful - the series features dramatic and exhilarating stories stuffed full of intrigue, backstabbing, swashbuckling, gorgeous ships and brilliantly written and performed characters - all produced to exquisite quality and fantastic musical scores.

Due to the success stories of the films, Pirates of the Caribbean have also had various video game titles for both console and PC, in these games you can play as Captain Jack Sparrow himself and sail across the seven seas. Pirate themed slot games also continue to be popular with fans of the films. Hooks Heroes and Ghost Pirates are pirate slot games that will have players thinking they are part of Captain Jack Sparrows crew sailing across those salty Caribbean waters. Online casinos assisted by game development companies regularly use the popularity of famous films in order to attract players. Some other examples of film themed slot games include; The Mummy, Batman, Rocky and even Forest Gump!

Given its enormous success, however, viewers will be left wanting more high seas adventure after finishing off the fifth and currently final instalment in the Pirates of the Caribbean saga. Here are five movies or shows to turn to when you need another fix of ship-to-ship combat, swashbuckling heroes (and villains), dramatic storms and piratical escapades.

Patrick OBrian authored a series of twenty books following the lifelong friendship and adventures of Captain Jack Aubrey (here played by Russel Crowe) and ships surgeon Dr. Stephen Maturin (Paul Bettany) during the early 19th century Napoleonic Wars. This 2003 masterpiece combines elements from a number of these books to tell a completely captivating and brilliant exciting story of a lone British frigate far from home pursuing a far superior French counterpart.

Master and Commander faithfully explores many aspects of naval life during this period, including the social dynamics of a crew of nearly 300 men living and working together for months or even years at a time, the combination of calculated order and total chaos of brutal ship combat, the challenges of extreme weather, and the competing values of militaristic interest and scientific inquiry.

The film features amazing attention to detail and brilliant production value, filmed in part aboard a genuine replica of an 18th century warship. For anyone looking to scratch that itch for high seas adventure (especially if theyre looking for something more realistic than Pirates of the Caribbean), Master and Commander will not disappoint.

Similarly to Master and Commander, The Even Chance is based on a series of books; the Hornblower series by C.S. Forester. The Even Chance, also known as The Duel in the United States, takes place in 1793 and follows the early career of Horatio Hornblower, a young Midshipman (junior officer), in the Royal Navy.

Also, like Master and Commander, The Even Chance plays out a more historically accurate take on life at sea in the late 18th century, with the focus here being on the relationships among the crew.

Where the Master and Commander film is best understood as a self-contained story, The Even Chance is very much set up to be the first in a series of what would ultimately span eight films. These are clearly British television films, rather than Hollywood blockbusters, however, which means that viewers who appreciate a slightly more slowly paced narrative will derive the greatest enjoyment from these naval tales. And for those who do, there is the great prospect of a further seven films to follow Hornblowers adventures!

The mutiny of the crew on the Royal Navy vessel HMS Bounty in 1789 is such a famous event in maritime history that several movies have been produced portraying its events, including the beloved 1935 and 1962 versions, starring Clark Gable and Marlon Brandon respectively. The true story on which these films are based saw the crew of the ship rise up against its captain William Bligh.

William Bligh is a complex historical character regarded by some as an especially cruel and tyrannical officer but by others as a misunderstood authoritarian typical of his time. Earlier films portraying these events relied heavily on a sadistic characterization of Bligh, while the 1984 version listed here attempts to explore a more nuanced perspective on both him and others involved.

The 1984 version is also particularly worth your time due to its star-studded cast including the legend of the screen Laurence Olivier as well as contemporary megastars Mel Gibson, Liam Neeson and Daniel Day-Lewis. Best of all, it features a stunning performance from Anthony Hopkins as an intriguingly dynamic William Bligh.

Departing the silver screen for the last two entries, The Terror is one of two TV shows included here. The first season of The Terror is a fascinating production offering a unique take on the theme of high seas adventure. It opens in 1846 following the real events of Sir John Franklins failed Arctic expedition.

Ever since it was first realised that the expedition had failed and its members were missing, there has been enormous popular interest in trying to work out what had gone wrong. Several rescue missions were mounted in the years following the expedition, and more recently many scientific investigations have been carried out to determine what had happened, but none of these efforts have yielded conclusive evidence.

Suffice to say that The Terror lives up to its name in providing an interpretation of what may have caused the expedition to fail. With truly standout performances from the entire cast and steadily mounting tension and horror, the first season of The Terror will seize your attention and hold on to it throughout. If you enjoy the first season, there is a second season for you to watch too!

Saving the best for last, the other TV show in this list is Black Sails - a four season epic chiefly following the adventures of Captain Flint and the famous Long John Silver starting in the year 1715. The show is a gloriously rich retelling of the Golden Age of Piracy, and also features fictionalized versions of infamous real-life pirates such as Jack Rackham, Edward Blackbeard Teach, Ned Low, Benjamin Hornigold and many others.

The development of the shows main characters produces arcs rivalling the best TV has to offer. In particular, the dynamic relationship between Flint and Silver is increasingly complex and beautiful in equal parts as the show progresses through its seasons. With a host of brilliantly written and meaningfully different characters constantly redrawing allegiances, Black Sails will engage and entertain the viewer with dozens of hours of swashbuckling, skulduggery and other piratical delights.

If youre craving more of what Pirates of the Caribbean did so well at, but dont mind the removal of the fantastical then Black Sails is the show you have been searching for!

This post was brought to you in association with PokerListings.

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5 High Seas Adventures To Watch When Youre Done With Pirates Of The Caribbean - WhatCulture

SEATTLE In the travel industry, many adventurers look forward to the first three months of the year. Cruise Season lasts from January through March, bringing offers and deals aplenty.

The wide range of destinations can seem overwhelming, but Travel Expert Liz Day from AAA Washington tells New Day Northwest about the best ways to navigate the high seas of cruise deals so you can find the vacation that's right for you.

To learn more or to book your next vacation, please call 855-361-7667 or visit AAA Washington online.

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Sponsored byAAA Washington. Segment Producer Heidi Eng. Watch New Day Northwest 11 AM weekdays on KING 5and streaming live on KING5.com.Contact New Day.

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Navigating the high seas of deals and discounts during Cruise Season - KING5.com