Dark Ocean

Writer and marine ecologist Alexander McMaster charts our familial connections with creatures of the sea both ancient and contemporary, tracking a course through our tempestuous times by way of reintegration with the broader world.

Fourth post in this Dark Ocean series celebrating our current issue, writer 'Maeve Reilly trawls her ancestral DNA to find a key to surviving climate cataclysm in the undersea territory of Doggerland.

Continuing our Dark Ocean sister series, search and rescue operative Alexander McMaster tells of harrowing missions to save people forced to attempt the crossing of the Mediterranean Sea, in this standout piece from Issue 26. With an image from the issue by Max Gruff.

For our second post in this Dark Ocean sister series, surfer and ocean advocate Easkey Britton takes us on a deep dive into the turbulent and calm waters of motherhood in the Irish Sea.

Returning to our series on the Dark Ocean, writer Carly Nairn brings us an essay around the egg: its mythos, its varied forms on land and in the dark depths, and its vulnerability in the face of human extraction. With a photogram image from Issue 26 by Anne Campbell.

Last in our series of selections from Issue 26: Dark Ocean, Roc Sandford brings us a haunting piece of fiction set on an isolated island, where our narrator keeps a diary of a damaged future that is still filled by the massive presences of weather, land and sea. With an etching of the remote island Tristan da Cunha by Ian Brooks.

Latest post from the just-published Dark Ocean: a re-imaginative charting of Cape Cod by Sarah B. Cahalan and a modern changeling story by M. Rose. With liminal artwork by Robin V. Robinson and Seb Bradshaw.

From our autumn special issue Dark Ocean, an extract from a story about an island made of rubbish in the climate-threatened Maldives. Lawrence Lenhart investigates the global garbage dump that is Thilafushi. With undersea photographs by Nick Brandt.

Our new Dark Ocean book is now launched! The latest special issue is a full colour collection of writing and art that dives into the marine world in times of collapse (and sometimes) regeneration.

On a small Scottish island, writer and photographer Hannah Close seeks out a beach only briefly exposed at the lowest tide, where the sand is made of the bones of a hard-shelled algae both threatened by human damage and the source of regeneration. With images by the author.