Free Republic

Mexican sailors were seen dangling from a navy training vessel's main mast moments after the ship smashed into the Brooklyn Bridge. The sailors had been standing atop the Cuauhtémoc's 150-foot masts in the lead up to the ship striking the iconic structure on Saturday as part of a traditional greeting. The massive Navy vessel, reportedly carrying nearly 300 passengers, hit the iconic New York City bridge, triggering a colossal rescue response and leaving two dead and dozens more severely injured. In multiple eyewitness videos, the towering masts are seen snapping and partially collapsing as they crash into the bridge's deck....

The Eagle was built by the Nazis and fought for Hitler in World War Two - so how did a tall ship that once flew the swastika end up as a training vessel for new US Coast Guard cadets? Driving home along the coast of Connecticut one winter's evening, Tido Holtkamp saw a ghost. There she was - moored in the harbour, her three towering masts, draped with those familiar sails he had rigged back in the German Navy in World War Two. Her body had been repainted in the red, white and blue of the US, but her curves...