There was a recent story in the press about the wreckage of a German World War I submarine beached of mudflats on the banks of the River Medway in Hoo, Kent. The sub is, believed to be the UB-122, one … Continue reading
Category Archives: History
A recent article in PastHorizons – Adventures in Archaeology looks at the images of ships scratched in the stones of medieval churches of England. This sailor’s graffiti shows a wide range of vessels that would have plied the waters … Continue reading
Recently there has been disturbing news that the wreck of HMAS Perth is being stripped by scrap merchants in the sea off Java. In February 1942, the Leander class cruiser HMAS Perth was sunk by Japanese torpedoes in the Battle … Continue reading
Robert Redford was recently nominated for a Golden Globe award for his remarkable one man performance in the movie, “All is Lost.” While Redford’s acting was impressive, the movie was marred by an apparent lack of even a basic understand … Continue reading
On the morning of December 7, 1941, USS Oklahoma was moored at an outside berth in the inner harbor at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor that day, the USS Oklahoma was directly in the flight path of … Continue reading
Recently, the crew of the the Hawaii Undersea Research Laboratory‘s submersible Pisces V announced finding the hull of the Japanese mega-submarine I-400 at a depth of 2,300 feet on the sea floor off Hawaii. The huge submarine survived World War II but … Continue reading
On November 29, 1781, the British slave ship Zong was desperately short of potable water, in part due to an error in navigation and in part due to an incompetent cooper. Captain Luke Collingwood, in command of the ship, ordered … Continue reading
In a dense fog, at about 9:00 AM on May 20, 1899, the 270-foot steamer Florida was nearly cut in half by the George W. Roby. The ship is sitting upright approximately 200 feet below the surface of Lake Huron, off … Continue reading
Happy Evacuation Day! On this day in 1783, the last shot of the American revolution was fired by a gunner on a departing Royal Navy ship at jeering crowds gathered on the shore of Staten Island, at the mouth of New … Continue reading
There is something truly magical about Bristol Pilot Cutters. A video by Stephen Morris about the pilot boats of Bristol. Working Sail Working Sail – Builders of Traditional Wooden Pilot Cutters Annabel J – Classic Sailing Holidays … Continue reading
On this day in 1776, Governor Johannes de Graaff of St. Eustatius returned the salute fired by the American brig Andrew Doria, which is considered to be the first international acknowledgment of the independence of the new republic of the United … Continue reading
I recently came across a video of the Viking longship replica Saga Oseberg tacking across the wind. Before seeing the video I would have thought that the only way to tack a longship, to bring the wind from one side … Continue reading
This morning we posted about a new video game, Assassins Creed IV : Blag Flag, which takes notable liberties with history. One of the characters in the game, Edward Thatch, is based on the historical pirate, Edward Teach, better known as … Continue reading
My younger son, a senior in high school, mentioned to me a few mornings ago that the newest version of the historical action-adventure video game, Assassins Creed, which is Assassins Creed IV – Black Flag, has a feature that lets … Continue reading
October 21st is a busy day in nautical history. In addition to being the anniversary of the Battle of Trafagar of 1805, it was also the day that the the USS Constitution was launched in 1797. A three-masted US Navy heavy frigate, … Continue reading