Yesterday, the Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro announced that the Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser formerly named USS Chancellorsville (CG 62) will be renamed USS Robert Smalls. Earlier this month, we posted Remembering Robert Smalls – Former Slave, Pilot of the … Continue reading
Category Archives: Ships
David Debias was a free black youth from the north side of Beacon Hill in Boston. In 1814, at only 8 years old, he signed aboard the USS Constitution, nicknamed “Old Ironsides.” He was rated as a ship’s boy and … Continue reading
Eighty-one years ago today on February 24, 1941, the overloaded and unseaworthy MV Struma was sunk with the loss of almost 800 Jewish refugees. Of the estimated 790 people who died, more than 100 were children. There was only one … Continue reading
Here is a short documentary about the construction of the pinnace Virginia, Maine’s First Ship, as told through interviews with former and current volunteers. Maine’s First Ship – History, Ingenuity, Community … Continue reading
On February 17, 2010, thirteen years ago today, the SV Concordia, a school ship operated by West Island College International, was knocked down and sank off the coast of Brazil. Fortunately, all 64 passengers and crew aboard were rescued. The … Continue reading
Hugh Mulzak served as the first Black Liberty ship captain during World War II. When offered the command, he refused to sail with a segregated crew. An updated repost in honor of Black History Month. Born in 1886 on Union … Continue reading
Harland & Wolff, the Belfast-based shipyard, has recently signed a £ 1.6 billion contract to build three support ships for the Royal Navy in partnership with Spanish state-owned Navantia. The shipyard built more than 1,600 ships, including the RMS Titanic. … Continue reading
In honor of Black History Month, an updated repost about the first African-American pilot in the US Navy, Jesse L. Brown. The story goes that when young Jesse Leroy Brown worked in the cotton fields of Mississippi beside his sharecropper … Continue reading
Here is a story well worth retelling; an updated repost in honor of Black History Month; the remarkable story of Robert Smalls. On May 13, 1862, Robert Smalls, a 23-year-old slave, who served as the pilot of the Confederate armed transport, CSS Planter, … Continue reading
Over nearly three centuries of whaling, some 175,000 men went to sea in 2,700 ships. Of the 2,500 masters who captained these ships, at least 52 were men of color. In honor of Black History Month, here is an updated … Continue reading
A repost in honor of Black History Month. William Tillman was one of the first black heroes of the American Civil War. He was not a soldier but rather a 27-year-old cook-steward on the schooner S.J. Waring. On July 7, … Continue reading
Born a slave, Harriet Tubman escaped and would become a leading “conductor” on the “Underground Railroad” which helped slaves escape from bondage in the South to freedom in the North and in Canada, prior to the Civil War. Nicknamed “Moses,” she … Continue reading
Here is a strange story of a heroic rescue by the US Coast Guard, a stolen boat, and a dead fish left on the front porch of a house in Astoria, Oregon, where the cult classic adventure/comedy movie, The Goonies … Continue reading
Aircraft carriers can be tough. They cost a fortune to build, so most nations can afford only one or two. They are demanding and costly to operate. They are also extremely expensive to clean up enough to be scrapped. São … Continue reading
Congratulations to Captain Janet Days due to take command as Naval Station Norfolk’s 51st commanding officer in a change of command ceremony today. Captain Days is the first Black woman commanding officer of the world’s largest naval base. Days will … Continue reading
Last Saturday, a ragtag pirate band calling itself Ye Mystic Krewe of Gasparilla invaded the port of Tampa, FL, kicking off the Gasparilla Pirate Fest, notionally in honor of Jose Gaspar, a brigand reputed to be the “Last Buccaneer.” The festival … Continue reading
Russia’s only aircraft carrier, Admiral Kuznetsov, has been out of service for years while undergoing maintenance for chronic operational problems. In just the most recent mishap, a fire broke out on the carrier, a few days before Christmas, while undergoing … Continue reading
In June 2002 in the city of Newport, South East Wales, a mid-fifteenth-century sailing vessel was discovered during the construction of the Riverfront Theatre in the banks of the River Usk. Now, after two decades of documenting the remains of … Continue reading
The SS United States is a ship from another era. One of the last great ocean liners, very different from modern cruise ships, she was designed to carry passengers across oceans. On her maiden voyage in 1952, she set speed … Continue reading
On Saturday, January 14, the US Coast Guard rescued seven crewmembers from the tug Legacy, disabled and drifting about 30 miles off the coast of Ocean City, New Jersey. The Coast Guard reports that the tug Legacy notified watchstanders at Coast … Continue reading