On Christmas Day in 1776, George Washington led what was left of his army across the Delaware River in the middle of a blizzard to attack a Hessian outpost in Trenton, NJ. In one bold stroke, he turned almost certain … Continue reading
Category Archives: History
In western Norway, an ocean going Viking longship is taking shape. Named the Dragon Harald Fairhair, (or in Norwegian Draken Harald Hårfagre) she is the largest Viking longship to have been built in modern times and is due to be … Continue reading
German maritime archaeologists believe that they have to have found a urinal used by Kaiser Wilhelm II in the wreck of the light-cruiser, Udine, lying on the bottom of the Baltic Sea. The Udine was sunk by the British in … Continue reading
We seem to need to put a face to our enemies. On the cover of Time Magazine of December 22, 1941, the face of the enemy was Admiral Yamamoto, labeled as “Japan’s Aggressor.” The image of the admiral is a … Continue reading
It was inevitable. The Pearl Harbor Survivors Association will observe the 70th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor on this day in 1941. It will be the Association’s last observance. The group has too few remaining members to carry on and will disband on … Continue reading
Today the Christmas Ship is Chicago’s largest all volunteer charitable support program for inner city youth and their families at Christmas time. At the turn of the twentieth century, the “Christmas Tree Ship” was a family business. In the mid 1880s, August and … Continue reading
On Facebook this morning, Maritime Great Britain linked to a post on THE DEAR SURPRISE blog, discussing a post by Marion Elizabeth Diamond on the Historians are Past Caring blog, which raised the question, “Was this the real Stephen Maturin?” Ms. Diamond answers … Continue reading
Twenty five years ago today, the ore-bulk-oil carrier MV Kowloon Bridge sank off the coast of West Cork with a cargo of 165,000 tons of iron ore and 2,000 tons of bunker oil, becoming the world’s largest shipwreck by tonnage. The Kowloon … Continue reading
The World War II era US Coast Guard Cutter Mohawk is scheduled to be scuttled in 2012, 16 miles off the coast of Sanibel Island, FL in the Gulf of Mexico to serve as an artificial reef. Veteran’s Memorial Reef planned off … Continue reading
When the RMS Titanic sank on April 15, 1912, a number of those who died were celebrities of their day, including the American millionaires John Jacob Astor IV and Benjamin Guggenheim. Canadian railroad president Charles Melville Hays and Isidor Straus, American owner of … Continue reading
The Thames sailing barge was a remarkably efficient cargo carrier that lasted well into the 20th century before being replaced by diesel trucks. We have followed the rebuilding and the relaunching of the Thames sailing barge Cambria, which was the last British … Continue reading
A fitting tribute to the 29 men who went down with the Great Lakes ore boat, the SS Edmund Fitgerald, which sank 36 years ago today in Lake Superior. I am having a hard time believing that she sank that many years ago. The … Continue reading
The two events are unrelated, but they are both highly welcome. The South Street Seaport Museum is on its way toward reopening, while a new museum celebrating over 200 years of shipbuilding and maritime history at the Brooklyn Navy Yard is openings its doors on … Continue reading
The New York Times recently featured an article, Catching a Wave, and Measuring It, about a project to send a “fleet of robots that move out in the ocean to measure everything from weather to oil slicks, sharply reducing many … Continue reading
The first American Naval ship lost in World War II was not sunk in the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7th, 1941. Over a month before, on October 31, 1941, the destroyer USS Reuben James, escorting a convoy bound for Britain, was sunk … Continue reading
The Dutch submarine Hr Ms KXVI was part of an Allied fleet attempting to stop the Japanese invasion of the Dutch East Indies, when it was sunk by a Japanese submarine on the day after Christmas, 1941. Since then the wreck of … Continue reading
I was surprised to read that archaeologists had recently discovered only the second Roman port in Britain. Prior to the discovery in excavations near the Roman fortress of Caerleon, just north of Newport, south Wales, the only other Roman port known to have … Continue reading
Thanks to Maritime Great Britain for reminding us that today is indeed Trafalgar Day, commemorating Nelson’s victory over the French and Spanish fleets and his tragic death at the Battle of Trafalgar on this day in 1805. They also reminded us that on this day in … Continue reading
Archaeologists from the University of Manchester have excavated the first known Viking ship burial on mainland Britain, believed to be roughly a 1,0000 years old. The boat burial site was found near Ockle on the Ardnamurchan peninsula, Scotland. Archaeologist Dr Hannah Cobb said the “artefacts and preservation make … Continue reading
This week Sable Island became the Canada’s newest national park. Almost three hundred kilometers out into the Atlantic off the coast of Nova Scotia, it is a scimitar shaped sandbar which seems to have no business being there at all. … Continue reading