Super-luxurious megayachts are great, but they're not exactly self-sustaining. That's what makes architect Margot Krasojevic's new yacht concept such a revolution.

The trimaran combines self-harvested energy, a mast made out of carbon fiber, hydrofoils, and an out-of-this-world futuristic design to create one of the most innovative, eco-concious, and eye-catching yachts ever.

For starters, the boat's huge mast is motorized, allowing its sail to catch as much wind as possible at the best possible angle. It wraps around to form a part of the center hull as well.

The retractable wing-like sail attached to the mast is made from Kevlar, a high-strength synthetic fiber. And it doesn't just catch the wind — it catches the sun as well.

Tiny solar cells cover the sail, allowing it to soak up the sun's rays and convert it to energy used to power the yacht.

Though the sail is quite large, it probably wouldn't collect enough of the sun's energy on its own to power the ship in the event of no wind.

To aid in the collection of the sun's rays, the ship's two hulls feature super-reflective Fresnel lenses and holographic film to reflect as many of the rays as possible to the huge sail. Additionally, if there is no wind blowing at all, the entire sail can fold upward, directly toward the sun, to soak up as much sunshine as possible.

Combining all that power from those two sources, the Krasojevic says the boat can operate almost completely self-sufficiently.

Krasojevic isn't stopping there with the boat's eco initiatives. She told the Daily Mail that she is looking into designing a way for the boat to also use kinetic energy derived from the ship's movement.

The three-hulled trimaran style of the ship can transition into a monohull mode, ideal for cruising. When in this mode, a set of hydrofoils (similar to an airplane's airfoils) can lift the boat above the water, reducing water resistance by up to 80% and allowing the boat to be much more efficient with the energy it harvests. 

Krasojevic aims to start construction on the yacht in April of this year. 

SEE ALSO: The World's Most Expensive Yachts (And The Billionaires Who Own Them)

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New yachts are coming out of shipyards all the time. But few have inspired as much lust in recent memory as the the Columbus Sport 130-ft. Hybrid.

The Columbus was constructed by Palumbo Shipyards of Italy, with the intention is to have as small an impact on the environment as possible.

On the outside, this yacht is beautiful. 

But the real innovations are within, including a very unique marine hybrid system.

[An earlier version of this story was written by Travis Okulski.]

Under the sleek exterior, the Columbus Hybrid has some clever tech.

So how is a hybrid system achieved in a ship? It cannot utilize regenerative braking like in a car.

Instead, hybrid means something a little different here. The ship can turn off its main engines and run solely on generators.

Lidia Bersani is known for her lavish luxury designs. But this one is really out to sea.

She's taken her talents for gold, filigree, and meticulous soft edges to the boating world, and has created the La Belle luxury yacht. She's calling it the world's first yacht designed for women, and there's plenty of evidence to back up her claim.

Gone are the "macho" hallmarks of yachting like pool tables and beer kegs. In their place is a spa and beauty room.

Bersani told The Daily Mail she doesn't yet have a price for the concept, but "it will be not cheap."

Read more about the La Belle at Bersani's website.

Most yachts aren't created with with a woman's wants in mind, but the La Belle isn't most yachts.

Designer Lidia Bersani told Business Insider, "that the lifestyle of a businesswoman who wants to enjoy a pampered and feminine environment is not yet catered for in the often macho designed megayachts of this world." With its gold and ivory exterior detailing, there's no mistaking that this superyacht has a more feminine touch to it.

That doesn't mean it falls short on luxury however. If built, the yacht will feature a spa room, a snow room, a jacuzzi, library, and even a theatre. "No pool table or beer kegs," says Bersani.

Cigarette Racing has been a standard-bearer in the world of powerboats for much of the past four decades, while Mercedes-AMG has held a similar position in the world of performance cars. 

So when these two powerhouses come together, something fast, powerful, and immensely expensive is bound to happen.

That's exactly what we have with the $1.2 million 50 Marauder GT S Concept. Powered by a pair of 1,550 HP V8 Mercury Racing engines, Cigarette Racing claims it is the most powerful production twin-engine performance boat on the market. With 3,100 horsepower on tap, the Cigarette Marauder can hit an estimated top speed of more than 135 mph. 

To pair with the $1.2 million 50 foot-long performance boat, there's the all-new Mercedes-AMG GT. Powered by a 503-horsepower, 4.0-liter biturbo V8, the GT is the latest offering from the Mercedes' AMG performance division. When put to the test, the AMG GT is able to do 0-60 mph in just 3.7 seconds.

"With its technological substance the Mercedes-AMG GT S meets our high demands on driving dynamics, agility and performance,"Chairman Mercedes-AMG Tobias Moers said.

"The GT S is built according to the motto 'Handcrafted by Racers.' We are glad that this spirit and our brand-typical driving performance inspired our long-time partner Cigarette Racing to create this powerboat."

The AMG-badged Cigarette Racing 50 Marauder GT S Concept made its world debut at the Miami International Boat Show in February.

The Cigarette Racing 50 Marauder GT S Concept has quite the high-tech cockpit.

The Marauder has seating for 5, a banging stereo and some really cool AMG badging.

And those engines! This is what 3,100 horsepower looks like.

SEE ALSO: The 28 hottest exotic cars from the 2015 Geneva Motor Show

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Hot off the achievment of his last yacht rendering, Glass, Lujac Desautel is back with a new, more svelte yacht design: Salt.

Salt takes the "floating box" of Glass and stretches it longways, forming a much more traditional yacht shape, as DesignBoom.com notes. Its design takes cues from three very different historical sources: the glass cabin was inspired by Phillip Johnson's Glass House, the sails were inspired by 17th century Japanese Red Seal ships, and the Water Step Well of New Delhi, India inspired the hull.

Apart from the contemporary design, the Salt also has another distinguishing feature: flexibility.

The yacht was designed to make the "connection to the sea is tangible," according to press materials. To that end, the sides of the boat fold down to become steps down to the water, its cubed glass cabin opens to become a open and airy space, and a rear hatch lowers down to the sea for a beach club-like experience.

Inside, many of the luxuries you'd expect in a yacht are accounted for, including three dining rooms and five cabins nestled in the hull.

Check out more renderings of the Salt below.

SEE ALSO: It Costs A Terrifying Amount Of Money To Operate A Luxury Yacht

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Rome (AFP) - Up to 400 illegal migrants died after their vessel capsized off the Libyan coast on Sunday, said survivors who were brought to Italy, where tension is mounting over a surge in boat arrivals from North Africa.

The Italian coastguard on Monday said they had managed to rescue 144 of the people on the sunken vessel, while nine bodies were also recovered.

The International Organization for Migration and the charity Save the Children said between 144 and 150 survivors arrived at Reggio Calabria, on Italy's southern tip, on Tuesday morning.

"There were 400 victims in this shipwreck, which occurred 24 hours after (their vessel) left the Libyan coast," Save the Children said in a statement, citing survivors.

"There were several young males, probably minors, among the victims" and also children among those rescued, the international NGO said.

IOM spokesman in Italy Flavio Di Giacomo told AFP several of the survivors had told his organisation there were between 500 and 550 people on board when the ship sank.

"We are continuing to investigate in order to understand how the shipwreck happened," Di Giacomo said.

Initial investigations indicate the boat may have capsized after passengers started moving when they saw the Italian rescue team.

The latest tragedy came as Italian authorities said around 8,500 migrants had been rescued at sea between Friday and Monday, reigniting a debate in Italy about whether the country has a duty to house all new arrivals.

Recent good weather in the Mediterranean has prompted a spike in the number of migrants attempting to reach Italy aboard boats.

An increasingly violent and chaotic situation in Libya, a key jumping off point for migrants, has also helped prompt the hike in asylum seekers trying to make it to Europe.

Row over migrant beds

Italian authorities say more than 15,000 migrants have arrived so far in 2015. There were 15,000 in April alone last year and an average of 25,000 each month between June and September.

Italy's interior ministry has ordered regional prefects to find emergency housing for 6,500 migrants -- a move condemned by the opposition, which argues the policy of rescuing immigrants encourages others to attempt the risky sea journey.

Matteo Salvini, head of the anti-immigrant Northern League, on Tuesday urged local officials not to cooperate.

"I ask the League's governors, mayors, assessors and councillors to say no, with every means, to every new arrival. The League is ready to occupy every hotel, hostel, school or barracks intended for the alleged refugees," Salvini said on Facebook.

With summer approaching -- and more than 500,000 people waiting to set out from Libya for Europe according to EU border agency Frontex -- aid groups are warning Rome is not prepared to deal with the next wave of arrivals.

Greece said Tuesday it was planning to set up reception centres on the mainland to deal with an influx of migrants arriving on its islands.

The decision at an emergency cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras came after more than 700 migrants and refugees, mainly Syrians and Africans, arrived in Greece between Friday and Tuesday.

Meanwhile, Frontex on Tuesday said human traffickers had fired shots into the air to recover a vessel that had been used to transport migrants across the Mediterranean.

The incident happened on Monday when an Icelandic coastguard vessel was rescuing 250 people from a wooden boat some 60 nautical miles off Libya.

It was the second such incident this year after the Italian coastguard was confronted by armed traffickers in February, who ordered a boat be handed over once the rescue operation was complete.

People smuggling remains a lucrative business, with refugees and migrants rescued in the Mediterranean in February saying they paid $500-$1,000 for their crossing.

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An unprecedented wave of migrants has headed for the European Union's promised shores over the past week, with 10,000 people making the trip. Hundreds – nobody knows how many – have disappeared into the warming waters of the Mediterranean, including 41 migrants reported dead Thursday after a shipwreck.

Amid these scenes of desperation, none of the 28 nations from the world's wealthiest trade bloc has pledged a single ship, a single plane, or a single cent to add to the rescue efforts. With the spring crossing season kicking off, the EU has no relevant legislation in the works, and no emergency meeting on the agenda.

Instead, the EU says it will unveil a migration agenda for discussions by the end of May and draw up a report by Christmas.

The most visible action has come from aid group Doctors Without Borders, which pledged to put medical workers on board a rescue ship beginning in May.

"We are acutely aware that we are only one boat," said Hernan del Valle, the group's head of humanitarian affairs. "It's a tragedy that Europe has turned its back on this problem."

The EU acknowledges it doesn't have a plan for the humanitarian catastrophe. There is no appetite to launch an emergency operation, like Italy did in 2013-14 when migrants started drowning in big numbers.

"We do not have a silver bullet," EU migration spokeswoman Natasha Bertaud said Thursday, citing political and financial constraints. "The European Commission alone cannot do it all."

The 28 EU nations have long argued about how to share the burden that migration places on the continent. Italy, Greece, and tiny Malta are bearing the brunt of the influx. Germany and Sweden are accepting large numbers of asylum seekers.

Other countries are doing less. Many EU nations are mired in economic crisis, facing a growing anti-foreigner electorate at home and an increasing bent to look inward instead of out to the wider world.

The EU's own institutions, so often the first target of scorn, are hamstrung unless the member nations agree that forceful action should be taken.

That leaves migrants and asylum seekers – driven chiefly by poverty and conflict – on their own.

On Tuesday, survivors of a capsizing told the aid group Save the Children that some 400 of their shipmates were missing. On Thursday, the International Organization for Migrants said 41 more were feared drowned in another shipwreck, citing four survivors rescued by a helicopter after four days adrift at sea.

The EU's top migration official, Dimitris Avramopoulos, said such events are "unfortunately the new norm and we will need to adjust our responses accordingly."

According to the UN's refugee agency, 219,000 refugees and migrants crossed the Mediterranean last year, and at least 3,500 died trying. The numbers crossing in the first two months of 2015 were already up by a third over the same span the previous year, according to the EU's Frontex border agency.

Many migrants pay thousands of euros to be shoe-horned by smugglers onto old boats and rafts on the coast of conflict-torn Libya and pointed toward Europe. If they are rescued, the EU lets them stay while their cases are assessed – by which time many have settled in Europe.

The EU has of course spent money on defending its borders – it spends 90 million euros ($96 million) a year on its Frontex border agency, whose widely criticized Operation Triton program is designed to control the EU's territorial waters, not to rescue people. Unlike Italy's Mare Nostrum program, which was closed last year because it was expensive and politically unpopular, Triton does not patrol close to the Libyan coast to pick up migrants in need.

Today, other than the Italian, Greek, and Maltese coast guards, only three aircraft and six ships from European nations are patrolling the Mediterranean.

The EU has limited its response to providing opportunities for migrants who want to come legally, including better protection for refugees, special permits for certain kinds of migrants, and steps to thwart smugglers.

EU interior ministers agreed last month that Frontex should be beefed up. Yet nobody came forward with a firm offer to contribute.

The discussions continue – but they are slow. After a report that the European Parliament says will be ready by Christmas, the policy discussions will certainly still be going this time next year.

"We managed politically and on the ground to almost eradicate piracy off the Somali coast," said Roberta Metsola, an EU lawmaker from Malta. "Can we not see what resources we have ... get to the Mediterranean and use those resources to save lives?"

SEE ALSO: Italian coastguard in rescue operation of over 1,000 migrants

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ROME (AP) — Only a few dozen people were saved Sunday after a fishing boat smuggling hundreds of migrants from Libya to Europe overturned in what could become one of the Mediterranean's deadliest mass drownings.

"How can it be that we daily are witnessing a tragedy?" asked Italian Premier Matteo Renzi, who huddled with his top ministers in an emergency strategy session in Rome.

Resisting rising political calls for military intervention, Renzi ruled out any naval blockade off Libya's coast.

He said that would only "wind up helping the smugglers" since military ships would be there to rescue any migrants, and because the chaos in Libya would make it impossible to force the passengers back to shore.

Italian authorities are "not in a position to confirm or verify" the estimate of survivor, who said 700 people were thrown into the water when their boat capsized in the darkness, Renzi said. By nightfall Sunday, rescuers had found 28 survivors and "alas, 24 dead," he said.

The premier of Malta, whose island nation participated in the search and rescue mission, put the number of survivors at 50 total.

Renzi said a total of 18 ships, including nearby commercial vessels pressed into service, were helping in the search mission. An Italian Navy helicopter carried one injured survivor to a hospital in Sicily.

The prospect of so many deaths dismayed politicians, aid agency officials and Pope Francis, all of whom are demanding more European or international action to prevent more deaths from the relentless waves of migrants.

Migrants have aimed for Europe's shores for many years, fleeing war, persecution and conflict in Africa, the Middle East and Asia. But the turmoil and warfare in Libya has made it easier for smugglers to take to the sea.

Rescuers Sunday were "checking who is alive and who is dead" among the bodies floating on the surface, said Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat. He called it the "biggest human tragedy of the last few years."

The 20-meter (66-foot) vessel may have overturned because migrants rushed to one side of the craft late Saturday night when they saw an approaching Portuguese-flagged container ship, the King Jacob, which the Italian Coast Guard had dispatched to help them.

The ship was sent to the area in Libyan waters by Italy's Coast Guard, and once the crew spotted the overloaded boat, it "immediately deployed rescue boats, gangway, nets and life rings," a spokesman for the ship's owner said in a statement.

Renzi praised the King Jacob, saying the ship "immediately went into action" on what would become its fifth recent rescue operation.

International Organization for Migration spokesman Joel Millman said in a statement that 49 survived, and "since the waters of the Mediterranean Sea are not too cold at the moment, the authorities hope to find more survivors.'

A United Nations refugee agency spokeswoman Carlotta Sami tweeted that according to one survivor, the boat had set out with 700 migrants aboard. When the boat overturned, "the people ended up in the water, with the boat on top of them," Sami told Italian state TV.

U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres said in a statement Sunday that 219,000 people crossed the Mediterranean by sea and 3,500 died last year. This year, 35,000 asylum seekers and migrants have reached Europe so far and more than 900 are known to have died in failed crossings. Last week, 400 people were presumed drowned when another boat capsized.

The smugglers are capitalizing on the migrants' desperation and taking advantage of chaos and violence in Libya, where rival militias, tribal factions and other political forces have destabilized the country since bloody end of the long dictatorship of Moammar Gadhafi in 2011.

In Italy's Parliament, the leaders of foreign affairs and defense commissions pushed for the EU and the UN to prepare a naval blockade of Libya's coast to stop the human trafficking.

Without a military blockade, "the traffickers will continue to operate and make money and the wretched will continue to die," said Pier Fernando Casini, the Senate foreign affairs commission president.

The pope lent his moral authority to the political calls for action, urging "the international community to act decisively and promptly, to prevent similar tragedies from occurring again."

Until this Sunday's tragedy, calls for a naval blockade had mainly risen in Italy from the anti-immigrant Northern League party. That top lawmakers are now joining the chorus reflects rising impatience for decisive European action.

"Europe can do more and Europe must do more," said Martin Schulz, president of the European Parliament. "It is a shame and a confession of failure how many countries run away from responsibility and how little money we provide for rescue missions."

The EU's foreign minister, Federica Mogherini, added migration as a last-minute emergency issue to an EU foreign ministers' meeting on Monday in Luxembourg.

Europe must mobilize "more ships, more overflights by aircraft," French President Francois Hollande told French TV Canal +. He said he called Renzi to discuss emergency action.

The prime minister of Spain, another Mediterranean nation, also urged Europe to take swift action.

"Today, and this is the umpteenth time, we hear of yet another human tragedy in the Mediterranean, off the Libyan coast," Mariano Rajoy told a political rally. "It's a daily drama. Three days ago it was 400 people. Four days ago they were 10. Words won't do any more."

There was no immediate way to determine how many were on board the fishing boat, nor how many might still be rescued, the Coast Guard and other authorities said. The total number of passengers was expected to be clarified as authorities interview survivors.

Given that the sea is as deep as 3 miles (5 kilometers) or more in the area, it is possible that many bodies will never be recovered, as was the case in similar tragedies off the coasts of Libya, Italy, and other Mediterranean nations in recent years.

"There are fears there could be hundreds of dead," Pope Francis told the faithful in St. Peter's Square on Sunday. He bowed his head in silent prayer, as did many of the tens of thousands below him.

When asked whether migrants rushed to one side as the Portuguese vessel pulled alongside, Italian Border Police Gen. Antonino Iraso replied: "The dynamics aren't clear. But this is not the first time that has happened."

Rescuers reported seeing wreckage in the sea.

"There are large fuel stains, pieces of wood, life jackets," added Iraso, whose force has boats deployed in the rescue effort, told Sky TG24 TV.

The numbers of migrants attempting the dangerous crossing from Libya in overcrowded or unseaworthy boats swells as the springtime weather improves, providing calmer seas and warmer water.

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Fishermen who raced to the scene of the worst migrant tragedy in the Mediterranean since the Second World War have described the horror and dismay of finding only dead bodies and bits of flotsam.

Their testimony emerged as an Italian Coast Guard ship carrying 24 bodies and 28 survivors docked in the port of Valletta in Malta, from where it was later expected to sail to Catania in Sicily.

The survivors will receive medical treatment and are expected to be interviewed by Italian prosecutors and police about exactly what happened.

Up to 900 migrants from Africa, Asia and the Middle East are feared to have drowned when the 90ft-long boat they were crammed into capsized in the early hours of Sunday about 70 nautical miles north of the coast of Libya.

Around 20 vessels, including Italian and Maltese coast guard ships and seven Italian fishing boats, were deployed to the area to try to find survivors.

But once they reached the area where the boat capsized, the vast majority of the migrants appeared to have gone down with the ship.

Many of the migrants were reported to have been locked in the hold – a measure akin to 19th century slave ships but one often taken by people smugglers in order to make it easier to keep control of their human cargo.

Just 24 bodies were found, including that of an African boy aged around 10 or 12.

His body was recovered by an Italian vessel belonging to the Guardia di Finanza border and customs police.

“We came up to him in our rubber dinghy and I was praying deep down in my heart that he would be alive, but a few moments later all hope died,” said Francesco Gallo, an officer with the force. “I gathered him up in my arms as though he was my own son.”

The Italian boats were fishing for prawns when they received the emergency call from the search and rescue services. They pulled up their nets and rushed to the scene as quick as they could.

“It was a sight that broke the hearts of even men of the sea like us,” Vincenzo Bonomo, the captain of one of the fishing boats, told La Repubblica newspaper.

“I saw children’s shoes, clothing, backpacks floating in the water. Every time we saw a shoe or a bag, any sign of life, we thought we may have found a survivor. But every time we were disappointed. It was heart-breaking.

“We didn’t find a single survivor – not one. We didn’t leave the area until the last shred of hope had gone. We wanted to at least find more bodies so that they could be given a dignified burial.”

Capt Bonomo and his crew, who are based in the Sicilian fishing port of Mazara del Vallo, spent more than 10 hours searching for survivors, along with planes, helicopters and vessels that were scrambled to the area as soon as a Portuguese-flagged merchant vessel raised the alarm.

“We were hoping to find at least a few people alive because the weather was calm and it was not cold. But we had no luck. Colleagues from another fishing boat arrived a little while before us and managed to find four bodies. But by the time we got there we saw only flotsam from the boat and a big slick of diesel,” he said.

Vito Margiotta, the skipper of another fishing boat, said: “It was a scene from hell. There were bits of flotsam everywhere. We spotted people in the water but unfortunately none of them were alive.

“It brought tears to our eyes to think of all those people who had ended up at the bottom of the sea, for whom we could do nothing. The sea is very deep here – they won’t ever be able to recover the wreck and the bodies.”

Prosecutors in Catania have opened an investigation into the tragedy, with a view to establishing the identities of the people smugglers in Libya who organised the voyage.

The boat is believed to have capsized when migrants rushed to one side of the deck after seeing that the Portuguese merchant ship, the King Jacob, was coming to their aid.

In a growing humanitarian emergency, more than 20,000 refugees, asylum seekers and migrants have reached Italy since the start of the year.

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23 years ago, McDonald’s built a store location on a huge ship in Canada.

Designed by Robert Allan Ltd. for $12 million— over $26 million today — and constructed for the 1986 World Fair Expo in Vancouver, the boat was called the Friendship 500.

Though it was not the first McDonald’s to be built on a boat (that title belongs to a store location in St. Louis, Missouri), it was a huge hit with its classy interior and workers wearing nautical uniforms. 

A nod to the Fair’s theme of technology and architecture, it ended up becoming a popular icon at the six-month event — they nicknamed it the McBarge.

But only two years later, locals were ready to see it moved from the False Creek waterfront in Vancouver and float to a different location. McDonald’s finally allowed the new owners to move it to Vancouver's less-populated Burrard Inlet in 1991.

Since then, the boat has sat neglected and allowed to slowly rust over the decades.

But it wasn’t completely abandoned. In 2009, developer and owner Howard Meakin proposed the idea of remaking the ship into a restaurant complex called Sturgeon’s on the River. The 8,500-square-foot structure would include multiple restaurants, a marina, as well as have a seaplane terminal.

Then in 2010, Adam Lewis started a Save the McBarge Facebook group. 530 people joined the group, with people still commenting on the page today about the McBarge's status.

"There's all the history behind it and it's just such a cool barge. People have tried and tried to make it into something, and finally we've got a plan that makes sense,"Lewis told the Vancouver Sun in 2010, referencing Meakin’s earlier plan.

Yet despite popular local support, it lacked council approval and the McBarge was never resuscitated. The site remains a popular spot with ruin hunters, and though it’s disused it has not been forgotten.

Keep scrolling to see what it looks like inside.

The McBarge is a ruin of its former glory from the '80s.

"White Power" graffiti can now be found inside.

The kitchen is in rough shape but the grill still looks okay.

And the grand dining hall has been stripped of its tables.

SEE ALSO: Here's How McDonald's Fries Are Made

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BRUSSELS (AP) — Late to the rescue, European leaders came through Thursday with pledges of big ships, aircraft and a tripling in funds to save lives in the Mediterranean after the deaths at sea of more than 1,300 migrants over the past three weeks, and agreed to lay the groundwork for military action against traffickers.

Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, whose country has been faced with almost daily tragedy as rescuers plucked bodies from frigid waters, called it "a giant step forward."

Within days, Britain's aptly named HMS Bulwark and the German supply ship Berlin could be steaming to the heart of the Mediterranean in the biggest sign of the European Union's belated commitment to contain the tide of rickety ships making the perilous crossing.

The pledge of resources came as victims of the worst-ever migrant disaster in the Mediterranean were buried Thursday in Malta. Two dozen wooden caskets containing the only bodies recovered from a weekend capsizing off Libya that left at least 800 migrants feared dead were laid out for a memorial service.

None of the bodies was identified: One casket had "No. 132" scrawled on it, referring to the number of the DNA sample taken from the corpse in case a relative ever comes to claim it.

For several years as death tolls have mounted, EU leaders have done little more than deplore the loss of lives and mark tragedies with moments of silence and wreaths instead of fundamental action. When Libya disintegrated politically after the overthrow of longtime leader Moammar Gadhafi and unrest spread in neighboring countries, Europe failed to take forceful action.

On Thursday, EU leaders pledged to do more, committing at least nine vessels to monitor the waters for traffickers and intervene in case of need. Other member states, from France to Latvia, also lined up more ships, planes and helicopters that could be used to rescue migrants.The member states agreed to triple funding to 9 million euros ($9.7 million) a month for the EU's border operation that patrols the Mediterranean.

They also assigned EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini to line up the diplomatic options that would allow EU militaries to strike against the boats used by traffickers. Officials said the lack of a strong Libyan government would likely make U.N. backing necessary.

"Leaders have already pledged significantly greater support, including many more vessels, aircraft and experts" than had been anticipated before the summit, EU President Donald Tusk said.

Despite the sudden deluge of goodwill, huge questions remained about whether it would be enough to defeat the smugglers and human traffickers.

"Right now, it's a question of fixing yesterday's errors," French President Francois Hollande said.

He said the EU would hold a summit in Malta with African countries by this summer to see how the continents can work together to better deal with a crisis that has grown dramatically in recent years.

In contrast to the Italian premier, the head of another Mediterranean nation on the frontline of the tragedies was far less enthusiastic.For tiny Malta, the smallest EU member state with a population of 450,000, the summit produced nothing particularly new, apart from a fresh resolve to break up the smuggling networks.

The assets being proposed "will never be enough," Malta's prime minister, Joseph Muscat said. "It is definitely not enough if the numbers that are being communicated about prospective migratory flows are anything to go by."

Over the past week alone, more than 10,000 people have been plucked from the high seas between Italy and Libya as desperate migrants fleeing war, repression and poverty threw their lot in with smugglers who charged $1,000 to $2,000 for a spot on overcrowded and unseaworthy boats to make the perilous crossing.

At least 1,300 people have died in April alone, putting 2015 on track to be the deadliest year ever.

Ending that is Europe's main challenge. Even optimists say any measures agreed at Thursday's summit would not fully stem the tide of unstable ships crossing the Mediterranean.

But Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte insisted that Europe should not take the brunt of blame. "We also ask that Africa, the source of the problem, also collectively takes up its responsibility," Rutte said. "Last time I checked Libya was in Africa, not Europe."

Over the past year, what little political structure Libya had has collapsed. There are two rival governments, neither with any real authority, and each fighting the other on the ground. Local militias hold sway around the country, some of them with hard-line Islamist ideologies, and the Islamic State group has emerged as a strong and brutal force.

The makes any military action against traffickers there even more complicated."Any kind of military action can only be based on international law," said German Chancellor Angela Merkel. "There are two possibilities: either a U.N. Security Council Resolution or a unity government in Libya. We have neither at the moment."

Europe itself was hardly a picture of unity when it came to the difficult issue of resettling migrants.

Countries like Germany, Sweden, France and Italy have dealt with a disproportionate number of asylum requests while many eastern and Baltic member states take hardly any. Five of the 28 member states are handling almost 70 percent of the migrants coming in.

British Prime Minister David Cameron, two weeks away from a national election in which immigration is a major issue, said Britain was not planning to take more in migrants that had no reason to come to the U.K. British vessels would take migrants "to the nearest safe country, mostly likely Italy," he said.

Still, despite the differences, Finland's prime minister Alexander Stubb was hopeful that this time Europe could put up a show of solidarity.

"I hope we'll get it right this time," he said.

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Obviously, shipwrecks represent a tragedy, the loss of life or property or both. But shipwrecks can also be dazzlingly beautiful, adding character and history to otherwise unbroken natural vistas. As far as discarded junk goes, you really can't beat the ruins of ships for pure atmosphere. All across the world, the rotting remains of boats that were forgotten due to accident or obsolescence still sit like glimpse into our own future downfall. Check out seven of the most beautiful shipwrecks in the world. 

1. Kiptopeke's Concrete Fleet
Cape Charles, Virginia

 The only remaining brethren to the S.S. Selma above, the nine ships that make up the Kiptopeke Breakwater, are the remainder of the 12 concrete vessels commissioned by Woodrow Wilson in 1918. The president actually commissioned 24 of the boats, but only 12 were ever made. In 1948, the nine ships were hauled to Kiptopeke Beach and scuttled to provide storm protection to what was, at the time, the Chesapeake Ferry Terminal. The ferry is no more, but the sturdy concrete ships remain. Many of them have deteriorated with age, showing the strands of rebar holding the things together. More than any of the metal ships on this list, the cement fleet in Kiptopeke Bay resemble sunken temples. 

2. Bay Of Nouadhibou Ship Graveyard
Nouadhibou, Mauritania

Shipbreaking is hard and expensive work, so in places where the laws are... malleable regarding the practice, sometimes boats are simply scuttled and illegally left for dead. Such is the case in Mauritania's Bay of Nouadhibou which stands as the world's largest ship graveyard. Once unscrupulous captains found that they could simply abandon their unwanted vessels in the bay for a small bribe, it started filling up with the rusting hulks of dead ships, and continues to collect them to this day. Despite concerns regarding the rust, paint, and chemicals that may be leaking into the waters of the bay, the deteriorating ships have come to provide habitats for a great deal of undersea life.

3. S.S. Selma
Galveston, Texas

For a short time during World War I, America decided to start making ships out of concrete to save on steel. Only a few of the vessels were ever created, and even fewer remain, but one outstanding example is the S.S. Selma off the coast of Texas' Galveston Island. The ship was abandoned in the sea after it was fatally wounded by a collision with a jetty. However this was not the end of the story for the old boat. During Prohibition, anti-booze authorities would take caches of confiscated hooch out to the wreck and destroy them where there would be no hope for recovery. I'm sure they didn't drink any of it while they were out there.  

4. Navagio Beach
Zakynthos, Greece

As though a secluded cove beach on a tiny Greek island were not magical enough, Zakynthos Island's Navagio Beach also holds the rusting wreckage of a smuggler's ship. In 1983 the ship known as the Panagiotis was carrying contraband loads of cigarettes, booze, and according to some reports, humans. The authorities caught wind of the illicit cargo and tracked down the ship while it was still at sea. The Panagiotis fled, but the weather was poor and in their haste, they ran the ship aground into what is now sometimes called, "Smuggler's Cove." Today the wreck is still there, the only mar on the otherwise pristine beach. Although surprisingly it makes it all the more attractive. 

5. Özlem Shipwreck
Batumi, Georgia

The poor, broken Özlem. Turkish for "Desire," this little blue ship looks like the only thing it desires is to not be broken in half. After running aground right where in the very spot it sits to this day, the ship was simply abandoned. It has since broken completely in half as it rusts away into the gently waters surrounding it. It seems like a peaceful way to go. 

6. S.S. Ayerfield
Homebush, Australia

While most shipwrecks are beautiful just the way they are, the S.S. Ayerfield in Australia's Homebush Bay does them one better with a small forest of mangrove trees growing in its corpse. Homebush Bay was once a thriving commercial port with large freighters regularly moving in and out. But after being contaminated by toxic waste, the port shut down and was remade as a residential area. When the trade ceased a number of ships were simply left in the bay to die. One of which was the S.S. Ayerfield, which today has been boarded by a lush mangrove thicket. Hanging down every side like it's nature's drunken party boat, the wild branches make the industrial husk look like a truly singular ruin.   

7. Wreck of the Sub Marine Explorer
San Telmo, Panama

The only submarine on the list, this rotting iron coffin stands as the remains of the first submarine capable of rising and diving without help from the surface. Built in 1866 by a German inventor, the ship was a marvel in its day, using an innovative ballast system that would sink or raise the ship at will. Unfortunately, the brave sailors that experimented with the ship during its trial run began coming down with an unexplained "fever," that we now know to have been decompression sickness, or "the bends." Even the ships creator died of the so-called fever. Eventually the ship slipped out of memory until the wreck was rediscovered in 2001.  

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Divers off the coast of Madagascar claim they’ve found sunken treasure belonging to Captain Kidd. 

A 110-pound silver bar that is believed to have belonged to the legendary pirate was shown off to local media this week, according to the BBC. One of Kidd’s ships sunk during the 17th century near where the press conference occurred.

Pictures show the bar inscribed with an “S,” an “L," what appears to be the number 95 and a few other markings.

The dive team claims the silver bar was found in the bowels of a wrecked ship called the Adventure Gallery, according to Discovery News. The boat was discovered along with more than a dozen others in a shallow bay off the coast of Saint Marie, another island off the coast of Madagascar.

"We discovered 13 ships in the bay," Marine archaeologist Barry Clifford told reporters, according to Discovery News. "We've been working on two of them over the last 10 weeks. One of them is the Fire Dragon, the other is Captain Kidd's ship, the Adventure Galley.”

Another expert, archaeologist John de Bry, told Discovery News that the ship's wreckage and silver bar are “"irrefutable proof that this is indeed the treasure of the Adventure Gallery.”

Kidd was originally hired by British authorities to hunt down pirates and capture French ships, according to the BBC. But he soon became a pirate and then made the fatal mistake of plundering a British ship at the end of the 17th century.

Clifford brought a crew to film the expedition searching the bay for bounty, according to Discovery News. His cameras captured the moment the bar was found and brought to the surface.

"Captain's Kidd's treasure is the stuff of legends. People have been looking for it for 300 years. To literally have it hit me on the head - I thought what the heck just happened to me. I really didn't expect this," he told the BBC.

"There's more down there. I know the whole bottom of the cavity where I found the silver bar is filled with metal. It's too murky down there to see what metal, but my metal detector tells me there is metal on all sides.”

The Adventure Gallery is believed to have sunk a few years before Kidd was executed in 1701 in England.

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JIANLI, China (AP) — Hopes dimmed Wednesday for rescuing more than 400 people still trapped aboard a capsized river cruise ship that overturned in stormy weather about 36 hours earlier, as hundreds of rescuers searched the Yangtze River site in what could become the deadliest Chinese maritime accident in decades.

Chinese state broadcaster CCTV reported that at least 18 bodies had been pulled from the boat, which was floating with a sliver of its hull jutting from the grey river water.

A total of fourteen people have been rescued, but the vast majority of the 456 people on board, many of them elderly tourists, were unaccounted for.

The Eastern Star was traveling upstream Monday night from the eastern city of Nanjing to the southwestern city of Chongqing when it overturned in China's Hubei Province in what state media reported as a cyclone with winds of up to 80 mph (130 kph).

State media reported that rescuers heard people yelling for help within the overturned hull, and divers rescued a 65-year-old woman and, later, two men who had been trapped. CCTV said more people had been found and were being rescued, but did not say whether they were still inside the overturned hull.

The yelling was heard Tuesday, and it is not known if any sounds were heard Wednesday. CCTV said rescuers would possibly support the ship with a giant crane while they cut into portions of the hull.

Access to the site of the site was blocked by police and paramilitary troops stationed along the Yangtze river embankment. Scores of trucks belonging to the People's Armed Police were parked along the verge and at least two ambulances were seeing leaving the area with their lights on and sirens blaring.

Huang Delong, a deck hand on a car ferry crossing the Yangtze several kilometers (miles) upstream of the site, said he was working Monday evening when the weather turned nasty.

"From about 9 p.m. it began raining extremely hard, then the cyclone hit and the wind was really terrifying," Huang said while crossing the broad river in a steady drizzle Tuesday afternoon.

Huang said he thought it was the worst disaster on that stretch of the river — the world's third-longest river — in living memory. The official Xinhua News Agency said the sinking could become the country's worst shipping accident in seven decades.

"We will do everything we can to rescue everyone trapped in there, no matter they're still alive or not, and we will treat them as our own families," Hubei military region commander Chen Shoumin said at a news conference shown live on CCTV.

The survivors included the ship's captain and chief engineer, both of whom were taken into police custody, CCTV said. Relatives who gathered in Shanghai, where many of the tourists started their journey by bus, questioned whether the captain did enough to ensure the passengers' safety and demanded answers from local officials in unruly scenes that drew a heavy police response.

Xinhua quoted the captain and the chief engineer as saying the four-level Eastern Star sank quickly. The Communist Party-run People's Daily said the ship sank within two minutes.

Tour guide Zhang Hui said in an interview with the state-run Xinhua News Agency from his hospital bed that he grabbed a life jacket with seconds to spare as the ship listed in the storm, sending bottles rolling off tables and suddenly turned all the way over.

Zhang, 43, said he drifted in the Yangtze all night despite not being able to swim, reaching shore as dawn approached.

"The raindrops hitting my face felt like hailstones," he said. "'Just hang in there a little longer,' I told myself."

Some survivors swam ashore, but others were rescued after search teams climbed on the upside-down hull.

Thirteen navy divers were on the scene and 170 more were joining them, Chen said.

The 65-year-old woman was rescued by divers who took an extra breathing apparatus up into the bowels of the ship and spent about five minutes teaching her how to use it before bringing her out to safety, Chen said.

"That old woman had a very strong will and learned very fast, and after 20 minutes she surfaced to the water and was rescued," he said.

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang traveled to the accident site about 180 kilometers (110 miles) west of the Hubei provincial capital of Wuhan.

At a late-night meeting, Li demanded an "overnight battle," urging divers to keep combing ship compartments for more miracles, Xinhua reported.

The overturned ship had drifted about 3 kilometers (almost 2 miles) downstream before coming to rest close to shore.

State media originally said there were 458 people on board, but CCTV said Wednesday it had been carrying 405 Chinese passengers, five travel agency employees and a crew of 46. The broadcaster said most of the passengers were 50 to 80 years old.

Passengers' relatives gathered in Shanghai at a travel agency that had booked many of the trips, and later went to a government office to demand more information about the accident before police broke up the gatherings.

A group of about a dozen retirees from a Shanghai bus company were on the trip, said a woman who identified herself only by her surname, Chen. Among them, she said, were her older sister and brother-in-law, both 60, and their 6-year-old granddaughter.

"This group has traveled together a lot, but only on short trips. This is the first time they traveled for a long trip," Chen said.

The Eastern Star was 251 feet (76.5 meters) long and 36 feet (11 meters) wide, and could carry a maximum of 534 people, CCTV reported. It is owned by the Chongqing Eastern Shipping Corp., which focuses on tourism routes in the popular Three Gorges river canyon region. The company could not be reached for comment.

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Three years ago, Sam Train, a naval officer stationed in Newport, Rhode Island, asked his wife, Francesca Spidalieri, if she'd be willing to live on a boat. 

"She said 'Sure,'" he recalls. "I was flabbergasted."

But it made perfect sense to Francesca, since the couple would be moving every few years.

"At least this way, we get to own something and bring our home with us," she explains. 

They ended up buying a pre-owned 40' Catalina cruiser for $150,000, with mortgage payments of about $800 a month. 

For two years, they lived on board during the summer, then moved to a rental apartment in winter.

But at the end of 2013, they found out that they'd be moving to San Diego, where the climate would be mild enough to live on the boat year round. 

"I did the math and figured out that we'd save $50,000 over three years, if we lived on board instead of renting an apartment in San Diego and leaving the boat on the East Coast," Sam says.

So they used the Navy's relocation allowance to cover the cost of having the boat shipped from Rhode Island to California. 

A year later, they still think that it was the right choice. In an average month, it costs  them around $2,200 to live on the boat.  By comparison, they would spend $2,500 to $3,000 to rent an apartment in a similar area of San Diego, and still be paying the boat's mortgage on top of that.

Their largest expense is paying to keep the boat at a marina, which costs $1,050 a month, including the $250 "live aboard" fee.  

That covers utilities such as water and electricity, and also allows them to keep their cars in the parking lot, use the pool and laundry facilities, and receive mail and packages there.

Though there are other expenses that they wouldn't have if they lived in an apartment, the costs are minimal.

For $25, a pumpout boat empties their sewage tank, which usually needs to be done once a week.

Sam maintains the boat's mechanical systems himself, but the couple hires a professional to wash and wax the boat's exterior once a month, which costs $80. Every six months, they pay a diver $50 to clean the bottom. 

Since they're living in approximately 300 square feet of space, renting a storage unit for $100 a month is a non-negotiable expense. In addition to the extra bedding and towels that they use when guests come, it also holds the majority of their clothing, serving as a giant walk-in closet. 

The couple also budgets $1,000 a year for any unexpected maintenance costs that may come up. "It's like a car, where you don’t spend anything for a while and then you spend a ton of money," Sam explains.

Sam and Francesca had their first child in August, and they admit that sharing an already-tiny space with a baby has been a learning process.

But they're better suited to it than most.

Francesca grew up in Italy, and says that the boat is much more luxurious then any of the tiny apartments that she rented there as a student.

And Sam has gotten used to living in a small space on board a ship while he's been in the Navy. 

The experience has forced them to limit the number of things that they own, and taught them that they can deal with minor inconveniences like not having their own laundry machines. 

"You can't take the American dream of a big house, big yard, and picket fence, and easily wrap it into a small space like a boat," Sam says.

"You have to give up a lot of stuff."

"The idea of making do with less is something that I hope we can take with us, wherever we go next," Francesca adds. "Even if it is a house."

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Alan Bond has died in Perth. He was 77.

In a statement his family said “his body finally gave out after heroic efforts” from medical staff at Fiona Stanley hospital, where he was in an induced coma following open heart surgery at another hospital earlier this week.

A hospital spokesperson said: “We’re not going to talk about Mr Bond’s medical care except to say that all efforts were made.”

Bond, backed Australia’s successful America’s Cup campaign in 1983 and was later jailed for four years over a billion-dollar corporate fraud operation, was one of the nation’s best-known business figures. In recent years he had been involved in mining companies and spent his time between Perth and London.

“He really did experience the highs and lows of life. But to us he was just dad,” his son John said outside the hospital statement today.

Speaking about how the family stayed in contact despite Bond and his wife Eileen divorcing in 1992, John added: “Mum and dad never broke their connection even though he could be very infuriating to her.”

“We only half joked to our friends that you had to have a five year business plan when you met him,” John said.

Eileen flew from London this week to be with him after the heart surgery complications, telling the media before she flew out that the operation “had not gone too well and we are all hoping and praying”.

In the lead up to his passing Bond split his time between Perth and London.

Bond was born in 1938 and grew up in London’s Hammersmith district. Along with his parents and older sister Geraldine, he emigrated to Australia in 1950 at the age of 12.

He began his career as a signwriter and in 1959, at the age of 21, formed what would become the Bond Corporation.

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JIANLI, China (AP) — Chinese state media say the death toll in the Eastern Star capsizing has risen to 345.

Disaster teams have found hundreds more bodies overnight and Saturday morning after pulling the overturned river cruise boat upright with cranes and gradually raising it up from the gray currents of the Yangtze River.

State broadcaster CCTV says 345 bodies have been found. That leaves nearly 100 still missing.

The boat with 456 overturned Monday night in what authorities have attributed to sudden severe winds.

Fourteen people survived, including the captain and first engineer who have been placed under police custody.

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(Reuters) - An American woman has ended her attempt to become the first female to cross the Pacific Ocean by herself in a rowboat after running into rough weather and a piece of steering equipment failed off the coast of Japan, her team said on Sunday.

Sonya Baumstein, 30, was rescued by the Japan Coast Guard a week after she began the four-to-six month odyssey to San Francisco, according to expeditionpacific.com, her support team's website.

During her first seven days on the water, Baumstein lost her drogue, a critical steering system device, and battled strong headwinds while dealing with the prospect of rough weather in the forecast, the journey's operations manager, Andrew Cull, said in a statement.

"Sonya and some team members felt that things weren't going right. While we couldn't put our finger on it, something felt wrong," he said.

Despite 16 attempted solo rows across the Pacific, no women and only two men have successfully completed the journey: Frenchmen Gerard d'Aboville in 1991 and Emmanuel Coindre in 2005, according to Ocean Rowing Society records.

Baumstein was traveling in a custom-made 23-foot (7-meter), 660-pound (300-kg) boat without a motor or sail. Baumstein's boat had an electric water maker that desalinates seawater for drinking.

The only other woman to attempt to row from Japan to San Francisco was Briton Sarah Outen. But she was blown northward and after 149 days ended her 2013 journey in the Aleutian Islands.

Baumstein has not decided when or if she will attempt the trip again, Cull said.

(Reporting by Brendan O'Brien in Milwaukee)

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It seems entrepreneurs will go to the end of the world to ensure their idea is disruptive, different, and catchy.

And with a bunch of co-working spaces opening up all around the globe, differentiating yourself is now even more important.

Enter Coboat. A co-working space that's actually a 30-metre catamaran that sleeps 20 people.

Setting sail from Thailand in November, Coboat offers weekly or monthly bookings at around $1,000 a week, which includes accommodation, catering, and a crew to sail you around.

That’s not much more than renting a two-bedroom apartment in Sydney — and you don't have to commute to work.

The catamaran will be in Southeast Asia for at least three months before heading west towards the Maldives and the Seychelles. The team hopes to be in the Caribbean by the end of next year.

“On a sailboat, you spend 24 hours a day in a collective,” co-founder Karsten Knoor said. “This is an unusual situation for regular co-working and it’s amplified by the blending with nature and water.”

As for internet connectivity, the team says they’ll be using 3G and 4G when close to shore and satellite when out in the rolling seas.

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