I have always been a John Paul Jones sceptic. Was he a great naval leader or merely a prima dona? Was he so difficult a personality that he was never an effective leader? He was at the very least a … Continue reading
Category Archives: History
On Sept. 20, 1519, Portuguese navigator and explorer Ferdinand Magellan and his crew set out from Spain on five ships on a voyage to find a western passage to the Spice Islands in Indonesia. (Magellan was killed en route, but … Continue reading
Following up on our previous posts – Dutch Barges invade New York and The Dutch Barge Fleet has Arrived in New York. From the AP: Dutch flotilla makes its way north on Hudson River A flotilla of historic Dutch sailing ships is … Continue reading
SS Columbia, built in 1902, is the oldest surviving passenger steam vessel in the United States. The SS Columbia Project is dedicated to restoring and operating the classic passenger steamer. They are holding their first official fundraising event tommorrow featuring … Continue reading
Australian adventurer Don McIntyre and teenage circumnavigator Mike Perham to re-enact Capt William Bligh’s epic mutiny on the Bounty open boat voyage Australian adventurer and solo round the world sailor, Don McIntyre announced today that Mike Perham, the world’s youngest … Continue reading
“Super yachts” rarely impress me. Russian billionaire, Roman Abramovich’s megayacht, “Eclipse,” may be the largest private yacht now sailing but it is, to my eye at least, a bit boring. It may be over 550 feet long and cost a … Continue reading
If you can’t get sailors to church, bring the church to the sailors. That was the strategy used in 1844 by the Protestant Church Missionary Society for Seamen, which was renamed the Seamen’s Church Institute. As they celebrate their 175th … Continue reading
Today there are 1.6 million or so residents on the island of Manhattan. How things have changed. Four hundred years ago on September 12th, 1609, when Henry Hudson first stepped onto the island, there were roughly 600 Lenape Indians living … Continue reading
Last February, we posted about Dick Dowling and the battle of Sabine Pass. This weekend , September 12th and 13th, during “Dick Dowling Days” there will be re-enactments of the Civil War battle on the Sabine Pass State Historic Battleground … Continue reading
Eight years ago today, on a beautiful Tuesday morning in September, hundreds of thousands of commuters were trapped in lower Manhattan. Manhattan is an island and all bridges, tunnels and subways had been shut down following the attacks on the World Trade Center. Shortly after … Continue reading
We recently posted about how Cathryn R. Newton, dean emerita from Syracuse University’s College of Arts and Sciences, has developed a searchable database that details 2,038 shipwrecks dating from 1526. Thanks to Dick Kooyman for pointing out Australia’s National Shipwrecks database, … Continue reading
Charles Darwin’s great-great- granddaughter, Sarah Darwin, is sailing on the Stad Amsterdam with a group of historians and naturalists, as well as a film crew for Dutch VPRO Television and Hollywood actor John Malkovich. They will be retracing the voyage of … Continue reading
In the aftermath of the fire in 1934 on the passenger liner Morro Castle, in which 135 passengers and crew died, there was considerable blame to be shared. The ship’s safety equipment was poorly maintained, the crew poorly trained and the … Continue reading
Seventy five years ago today, the passenger liner Morro Castle was steaming off the Jersey shore, bound for New York from Havana, when she caught fire. Of the 549 passengers and crew aboard, 135 died either in the fire or by drowning. An … Continue reading
Thanks to Dave Shirlaw on MARHST-L for pointing out a fascinating vessel for sale on E-Bay. The vessel is a steel tug, ST 893, built by JK Welding of Brooklyn, NY in 1945. The tug is said to have served in … Continue reading
Thanks to Alaric Bond for passing on this intriguing video of a group of German reenactors on the Willow Wren. The note with the video reads, (imperfectly translated by Google,) “Maritimes reenactment in 1807 of the Danish South Sea aboard the … Continue reading
Having sailed last week on the Hudson River sloop, Clearwater, a voyage by another Hudson River sloop came to mind. In 1785 the Hudson River sloop Experiment was only the second ship from the young American republic to sail to China. … Continue reading
An intriguing news story. (Thanks to LizMc on the Horatians forum.) According to the BBC, Ann Carghill was “was the Britney Spears of her day.” I think they slight poor Ms Cargill. A Scandalous Star “When the packet ship, The Nancy, … Continue reading
Happy 250th Anniversary of the birth of Horatio Nelson. Nelson bust unveiled on birthday “A bust of naval hero Lord Nelson is being unveiled in Portsmouth to mark the 250th anniversary of his birth. The life-size bronze model was commissioned … Continue reading
In working on my book Evening Gray, Morning Red, I found myself using metaphors referencing barometers. “The glass was falling”, suggesting a storm, or a “rising glass” suggesting clear and dry weather, seemed perfectly apt language for a nautical novel. The problem … Continue reading