reef

In one dramatic episode, an American ship, the Philadelphia, was grounded on a reef and captured, but in 1804, the Americans launched a successful mission to rescue her with no casualties.

From Salon ● Jul. 4, 2026

Their goal was to investigate ancient reef ecosystems that once existed beneath an ocean covering the region millions of years ago.

From Science Daily ● Jun. 26, 2026

"Then I was quite sure that my gut feeling was right and that it was a western reef heron in front of me," he said.

From BBC ● Jun. 9, 2026

The 39-year-old man died from a critical head injury after he was attacked while spearfishing at Kennedy Shoal, an offshore reef, Queensland police said.

From Barron's ● May 24, 2026

The waves rumbled onto the reef and mumbled across the sand.

From "Nim’s Island" by Wendy Orr

Oceanographers at the state-controlled Chinese Academy of Sciences said the platform was a temporary scientific research facility studying the shoal’s coral reefs.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 23, 2026

Wildfires, floods, melting ice caps, heat waves, the bleaching of ocean reefs.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 18, 2026

The environments where octopuses live, including coral reefs and the seafloor, are often highly complex and filled with obstacles.

From Science Daily ● Jun. 5, 2026

The straight-line edge on one of the newly-made beaches on Antelope Reef suggests China may be building another military-grade runway there, similar to those on Mischief, Fiery Cross and Subi reefs.

From BBC ● Jun. 3, 2026

Lourdes remembers paddling gently over the reefs with Rufino the day after their wedding night.

From "Dreaming in Cuban" by Cristina García

The firm has only reefed 12 of the 60 Gulf of Mexico platforms it has decommissioned.

From Economist ● Jun. 12, 2014

Currently, less than a tenth of America’s old oil and gas platforms are reefed.

From Economist ● Jun. 12, 2014

Not one platform off California has been reefed.

From Economist ● Jun. 12, 2014

It was a ribbon chute made of concentric rings of strong fabric 2 in. wide, and at first it was reefed by a band around it to lower the shock of opening.

From Time Magazine Archive

We have the sails tightly reefed and tied down.

From "Hole in My Life" by Jack Gantos

Part of that action is Patten’s realization that the sailor’s standard storm tactics—including reefing, heaving-to and lying a-hull—will not work in such an intense blow.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 8, 2025

Within five years oil firms will be reefing one offshore rig in four, predicts Quenton Dokken of the Gulf of Mexico Foundation, a conservation group.

From Economist ● Jun. 12, 2014

Operators are loth to estimate costs publicly, but the Tulane University Energy Institute reckons that reefing the state’s 27 platforms could save $2 billion.

From Economist ● Jun. 12, 2014

Finisterre's No. 2 Genoa blew out, but the crew replaced it and bore down while bigger yachts were reefing cautiously.

From Time Magazine Archive

Pole Star was reefing its own sails and slowing, guiding itself with the minimum acceleration so that it could come up beside them and board.

From "Ship Breaker" by Paolo Bacigalupi