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

Cleaner fish remove parasites from larger reef fish and receive a meal in return.

From Science Daily ● Jun. 20, 2026

Ornithologist Simon Hugheston-Roberts spotted the western reef heron - more commonly found in southern Europe, Africa and parts of Asia - at Y Foryd in Caernarfon at 10:00 BST on Saturday.

From BBC ● Jun. 9, 2026

Kennedy Shoal is a well-known fishing reef in deep water.

From Barron's ● May 24, 2026

I did not even go back to the reef for my canoe, though I did take the shaft and the head of the spear, which had cost me much labor, and the sinew line.

From "Island of the Blue Dolphins" by Scott O'Dell

Hotter seas can have damaging knock-on effects on the planet, fuelling stronger storms and rainfall and bleaching coral reefs.

From Barron's ● Aug. 10, 2026

To reach those ancient reefs, the team had to cross extensive layers of rock known as turbidites.

From Science Daily ● Jun. 26, 2026

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

Then Nat sent a man to the foremast to watch for the coral reefs, and two men to the chains to sound.

From "Carry On, Mr. Bowditch" by Jean Lee Latham

Divers and many fishermen want more to be reefed; shrimpers complain that reefs prevent them from dragging nets across parts of the ocean floor.

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

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

From Economist ● Jun. 12, 2014

At this point the Regents reefed their sails, seemed unable to proceed.

From Time Magazine Archive

There was a sailboat with rusty red sails reefed around the booms of the fore and aft masts.

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

Operators typically favour reefing but it is not always economical or allowed, says David Welch of Stone Energy Corporation.

From Economist ● Jun. 12, 2014

Four years ago the Golden State passed a law allowing reefing.

From Economist ● Jun. 12, 2014

Farther down the fleet, the crew on Carlo Falcone's 67-year-old Fife-designed yawl Mariella were busy reefing and shaking in tune with the lightning-lit 40-knot squalls, until losing the top of their mizzenmast.

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