A short video of the Iowa-class battleship USS New Jersey on the blocks in drydock at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard. As noted by the New York Times, no other U.S. battleship served in more military campaigns. Christened on the first … Continue reading
Category Archives: History
An updated repost. Melville’s masterpiece, Moby-Dick, was inspired, at least in part, by the sinking of the whaleship Essex by a sperm whale in 1820. The fate of the Essex unquestionably supplied Melville with ending to his novel. Nevertheless, the core … Continue reading
Remember King Harald “Blåtand” Gormsson? No? The king of Denmark and later Norway in the late 10th century. The name still doesn’t ring a bell? His rune mark is embedded in your phone and possibly your earbuds and speakers. His … Continue reading
One of the great things about writing historical fiction is discovering odd sets of facts, often buried in the archives, that capture both the desperation and the madness of a given time. Often, as the cliche goes, you just can’t … Continue reading
Here is another old favorite, a companion repost to yesterday’s repost of “The Unsinkable Hugh Williams – Truth Behind the Legend?” We recently posted in response to a video, “The Strangest Coincidence Ever Recorded?.” It recounted how three men named Hugh … Continue reading
I am traveling this week, so it seems like a good time to repost an old blog favorite, the remarkable story of the unsinkable Hugh Williams. There is a video bouncing around the web these days called “The Strangest Coincidence … Continue reading
We recently posted about the five-masted full-rigged cruise ship Royal Clipper, a modern sailing ship designed as an homage to the great five-masted windjammer Preussen. Here is a repost of a guest post by Robin Denny about the mighty windjammer: With the Peking now … Continue reading
My wife and I are currently sailing as passengers on the cruise ship Royal Clipper, the second of only two five-masted full-rigged steel ships ever built. The first such ship was the mighty windjammer, Preussen, of 1902. The Royal Clipper, launched … Continue reading
For the next fortnight, I will be a passenger on a sailing ship crossing the briny blue of the Atlantic. This seems like a good time to make an updated repost on the color blue. Homer referred to the famously … Continue reading
On April Fool’s Day, a repost about not an April Fool’s Day prank but a hoax and a swindle. In October of 1897, at the height of the Alaskan Gold Rush, two men, Prescott Ford Jernegan, a Baptist minister, and … Continue reading
As Women’s History Month comes to a close, it seems a good time to remember Mary Ann Brown Patten, the first woman to command an American merchant ship. An updated repost. The year was 1856. The ship was the clipper … Continue reading
Remember the old tongue twister, “She sells seashells by the seashore?” (Try saying that three times fast.) The tongue twisting seashell seller was inspired by a real woman named Mary Anning, an English fossil collector, dealer, and paleontologist, who did indeed … Continue reading
At the beginning of the month, we posted a drone video of the battleship USS Texas being refloated following repairs and refurbishment on the drydock at the Gulf Copper Shipyard in Galveston. Here is another drone video of a historic … Continue reading
We recently posted about Kate Walker, the lighthouse keeper of the Robbins Reef Light in New York harbor for close to 35 years. Kate took over as keeper when her husband died of pneumonia in 1886. Oddly enough, in the … Continue reading
Last week, the National Park Service announced that its archeologists have identified the remains of HMS Tyger, an 18th-century British warship, within the boundaries of Dry Tortugas National Park, off the south coast of Florida. Built in 1647, the fourth-rate, … Continue reading