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
Category Archives: History
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
A Facebook video by my friend Frank Hanavan showing him inserting a ship in a bottle (after the page break) got me thinking about, well, ships in bottles. When, where and why did sailors start putting ships in bottles? After … Continue reading
During the “Golden Age of Piracy,” the most successful pirates amassed huge fortunes over short periods and then died bloody deaths in combat, on the gallows, or in shipwrecks. The one notable exception was Captain Henry Every. While his career … Continue reading
On this, the 80th Anniversary of VE (Victory in Europe) Day, the Liberation Convoy 2025 of five historic Norwegian veteran vessels, alongside partners from both Norway and the United Kingdom, is commemorating Anglo-Norwegian heroism on the North Sea during the … Continue reading
An updated repost of an odd bit of history. One of the most interesting accounts of a sea serpent is that of the HMS Daedalus in 1848. When sailing in the South Atlantic, some 300 miles from the coast of … Continue reading
Given the economic damage caused by needless trade wars, it is worthwhile to recall the Empress of China, the ship that opened trade with China, the United States’ first trading partner. The new nation had won its independence from Great Britain but had … Continue reading
Eighty years ago on May 3, 1945, the German liner SS Cap Arcona, serving as a prison ship, was sunk by Royal Air Force fighter bombers in the Baltic Sea. Almost 5,000 prisoners from Nazi concentration camps who were being … Continue reading
Thucydides is often said to have first written in his epic history, The Peloponnesian War, “A collision at sea can ruin your entire day, ” While the statement is unquestionably true, Thucydides never wrote it. Fred Shapiro writing in Freakonomics attempts … Continue reading
It is amazing what one can buy online these days. Recently, Dom Robinson, 53, a diver and shipwreck aficionado from Portsmouth, Hampshire, saw an ad on Facebook Marketplace for a World War I shipwreck for sale for just £300. He … Continue reading
There is much that we do not know about William Shakespeare. The exact date of his birth was not recorded, but is most often celebrated worldwide on April 23rd. One of the biggest mysteries about William Shakespeare, however, is the … Continue reading
A team of archaeologists has just recreated a bronze Roman naval ram using ancient fabrication techniques. The ram design was critical in the establishment of Roman naval superiority in the Mediterranean. The primary weapon used on naval galleys in the … Continue reading