Why am I a slave? I will run away. I will not stand it. Get caught or get clear, I’ll try it. I may as well die with ague as with fever. I have only one life to lose. I may as well be killed running as die standing. Only think of it: one hundred miles north, and I am free! Try it ? Yes ! God helping me, I will. It cannot be that I shall live and die a slave. I will take to the water…
Continue readingRobert Smalls is an American hero, well worth celebrating every day of the year, not only during Black History Month. An updated repost in honor of the remarkable story of Robert Smalls. On May 13, 1862, Robert Smalls, a 23-year-old … Continue reading
Updated: Several blog readers pointed out that in focusing on the history of Harriet Tubman and her leadership in the Great Combahee Ferry Raid, I failed to mention the bridge over the Combahee River named in her honor. (Thanks, Doug … Continue reading
As we posted recently, the Coast Guard has been busy breaking ice in New York Harbor. The current forecasts suggest that the frigid weather is likely to continue for several more weeks, so the ice breaking is also expected to … Continue reading
Last week, Rear Admiral Michael Day retired after more than 40 years of service in the US Coast Guard. Over his career, he served in a range of responsible positions, in locations ranging from the Arctic to Taiwan and throughout … Continue reading
Tonight, roughly a million revelers will watch in person in New York’s Times Square, and over a billion viewers are expected to watch on television or online, as the New Year’s Eve ball drop rings in 2026 with a dazzling … Continue reading
An interrupted broadcast of a football game, a newsbreak during a performance by the New York Philharmonic, a weather report followed by an announcement from President Roosevelt that Japan had bombed Pearl Harbor. Reports of attacks on the Philippines. Here … Continue reading
Happy Thanksgiving to those on this side of the pond and below the 49th parallel. (The Canadians celebrated the holiday in October.) What do whaling ships, a child’s nursery rhyme, a female magazine editor, and Abraham Lincoln have to do … Continue reading
Happy Thanksgiving! On Thanksgiving eve, here is a short video of the voyage of the Mayflower II across the Atlantic in 1957, under the command of Captain Alan Villiers. The reproduction was built in Devon, England, during 1955–1956, in a collaboration between Englishman Warwick … Continue reading
An updated repost. There is a line from a Paul Simon song, “These are the days of miracle and wonder.” One might not think to apply that lyric to the events of 9/11, 24 years ago today. Yet for at … Continue reading
Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court has ordered the owners and operators of the container ship X-Press Pearl to pay $1bn USD in compensation for the devastating environmental and economic damage caused when the ship caught fire and sank off Colombo in 2021. … Continue reading
It has been a long time coming, but it appears that the historic sailing ship Falls of Clyde will finally be removed from Honolulu Harbor to be sunk about 12 miles south of the harbor. The ship has been threatened … Continue reading
The 77-year-old cruise ship MV Astoria has been sold for scrap. The Belgian recycling firm Galloo was the only bidder, acquiring the ship for €200,000. In her over seven decades of service, she sailed for multiple owners, under many names, … Continue reading
Happy Juneteenth! Juneteenth is the oldest nationally celebrated commemoration of the ending of slavery in the United States. Juneteenth is also the newest Federal holiday, signed into law in 2020. The holiday commemorates the arrival of emancipation in Galveston, Texas, … Continue reading
On June 21, 1898, HMS Albion sat on the launching ways at the Thames Ironworks and Shipbuilding Company at Blackwall. The launching that would soon end in tragedy was also one of the first disasters to be captured on film. … Continue reading