An interesting Kickstarter fundraiser to complete the documentary “Twice Forgotten: Heroes of the R12 Submarine,” about the WWII submarine USS R-12, which sank off the coast of Key West, Florida on June 12, 1943 with the loss of 40 American sailors and 2 Brazilian officers. … Continue reading
Category Archives: History
Two bottles of whisky salvaged from the wreck of the cargo ship SS Politician have been sold for £12,050 after an online auction. The wreck inspired the novel “Whisky Galore” and the movie of the same name. Whisky Galore bottles … Continue reading
We posted yesterday about the “shutter plank” being fastened to the whaleship Charles W. Morgan in Mystic Seaport in Connecticut. The Morgan, built in 1841, is America’s last surviving wooden whaleship and has been undergoing a fiver year restoration. I came a across … Continue reading
Last week, the news broke that evidence of cannibalism had been found at the Jamestown colony in Virginia. Cut and sawing marks have been found on the skull and leg bones of a young woman, suggesting that her flesh was stripped and … Continue reading
On March 22, 1987, the tugboat Break of Dawn, towing the barge Mobro 4000, loaded with 3,168 tons of trash, set sail from Islip, New York, bound for Morehead City, North Carolina. The plan was to convert the trash to methane … Continue reading
In 2001, a joint French-English expedition was searching the bottom of Egypt’s Aboukir Bay for the wrecks of French warships sunk in the “Battle of the Nile” in 1798. Instead they re-discovered a lost city. Known as Thonis to the Egyptians and Heracleion to … Continue reading
There has been lots of interest in the restoration of surviving World War II PT (Patrol Torpedo) boats. The closest thing to a PT boat in service during the Vietnam War was the PCF, Patrol Craft Fast, better known as the Swift Boat. … Continue reading
On Wednesday night, a huge explosion ripped through West, Texas; a small central Texas town, south of Dallas. The fertilizer factory caught fire and exploded, leveling homes and buildings for a five blocks area, killing from 5 – 40 people and injuring … Continue reading
Exactly what happened to the ill-fated Franklin expedition remains a mystery. in 1845, Captain Sir John Franklin, with a crew 129, attempted to traverse the last unnavigated section of the Northwest Passage and never returned. Some of the bodies expedition crew have been found but the wrecks … Continue reading
On this the fiftieth anniversary of the sinking of the USS Thresher, we are reposting an article from three years regarding the link between the discovery of the wreck of the Titanic and the US Navy’s secret search for the lost submarines, USS Thresher and the USS Scorpion. … Continue reading
Fifty years ago today, the nuclear submarine USS Thresher (SSN-593) sank during deep diving tests in the Atlantic off Massachusetts with a loss of 129 officers, crewmen, and military and civilian technicians. The sinking of the submarine is considered to be a watershed event in the … Continue reading
Here is a video of the scuttling of HMS Implacable in 1949. She was originally the French Navy’s Téméraire-class ship of the line Duguay-Trouin, launched in 1800. The Duguay-Trouin fought in and survived the Battle of Trafalgar, only to be captured by the British in … Continue reading
A brand new copy of a 4,000 year old craft was paddled out on a short maiden voyage in Falmouth, Cornwall on Wednesday. Christened the Morgawr after a mythical monster of Falmouth Bay, she is a 50 foot long, six-ton … Continue reading
A team of archaeologists think that they may have found the first Viking sunstone. Two years ago we posted about Viking sunstones, the legendary, and indeed considered by many to be mythical, devices which allowed Viking navigators to locate the position of … Continue reading
Retiree Edd Hale writes in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette about surrendering his status as an armchair sailor to sail the Great Lakes in the Brig Niagara, a replica of the Master Commandant Oliver Hazard Perry‘s flagship on which he won the Battle of Lake Erie, one … Continue reading
In the construction of replica sailing ships, the 18th century is reasonably well represented. The 17th also has not been left out. Replicas of Columbus’ ships have ensured that 15th century replicas still sail. Recently two replica ships from the 16th … Continue reading
Today is Samuel Plimsoll‘s birthday. Born on February 10, 1824, Plimsoll, a British politician and social reformer fought for reasonable loading of cargo ships, which lead the adoption of the first modern loadline, which became known as the Plimsoll mark or Line. In … Continue reading
A fascinating video about the legacy of shipbuilders of Essex, Massachussets being carried on by the Essex Historical Society and Shipbuilding Museum. Thanks to Peter Lane for pointing it out. See also our previous posts, The Shipbuilders of Essex and Launching the Schooner … Continue reading
In late January we posted about the “Shackleton Epic Expedition,” led by Australian Tim Jarvis, shoving off from Elephant Island in the lifeboat Alexandra Shackleton, in an attempt to reenact the incredible 1916 voyage of Ernest Shackleton and his six man … Continue reading
The Confederate submarine H.L. Hunley is credited as the first successful submarine, in that it was the first submarine to sink an enemy warship in combat. New findings, however, might cause some to reconsider this “success.” The Hunley may have been sunk … Continue reading