The Beaver, a replica of one of ships that were the center of the Boston Tea Party in the run-up to the American Revolution, was relaunched in January after a major rebuild at the Gloucester Marine Railways. The Beaver and … Continue reading
Category Archives: Ships
A menu of the last meal served to first-class passengers on board the Titanic has sold at auction for £76,000. The menu was dated April 14, 1912 and featured several courses, such as eggs Argenteuil, consomme fermier and chicken a la … Continue reading
The South China Sea is home to a myriad of competing claims for territory, fishing, oil and mineral rights by China, the Philippines, Vietnam, Brunei, Malaysia and Taiwan. There is currently a stand-off between Chinese ships and the Philippine navy … Continue reading
Two letters from the Titanic are in the news. One is a letter from Dr. John Edward Simpson, who died when the ship sank, He wrote to his mother on April 11, 1912, on notepaper headed RMS Titanic, and had it … Continue reading
Last year, we posted about how the sinking of the Titanic had morphed from a maritime tragedy into a cultural icon. For many, Hollywood movies, particularly the movie made by Jame Cameron, about the sinking of the ship may … Continue reading
One hundred years ago today, the RMS Titanic sailed from Southampton. She then called at Cherbourg in France and Queenstown (now Cobh) in Ireland to take on more passengers. She then sailed on her maiden voyage proper across the Atlantic towards … Continue reading
After posting about far too many needless tragedies on poorly maintained third world ferry boats which sink and kill their passengers, here is something completely different, though still involving a ferry. Last week, fitting enough on April Fool’s Day, two hundred students from two British universities, … Continue reading
In the last days of the age of sail, British sailing ships, limejuicers, as they were known, had reputation as “hungry ships,” of offering poor quality provisions and not much of those. Whether that reputation was or was not wholly justified at the end … Continue reading
The Indonesian National Search and Rescue Agency received a distress call Sunday night from the captain of a wooden ship bound for Australia. The ship was taking on water and carrying 120 Afghan refugees. The Afghans were picked up and taken by tanker … Continue reading
Arthur John Priest was a stoker, or fireman, on the RMS Titanic. His job was to shovel coal into the ship’s boilers. He survived the Titanic’s sinking of 1912. He also was aboard the RMS Olympic, the sistership to the Titanic, when she collided with HMS … Continue reading
A very well done documentary from PBS, Saving the Titanic. Watch Full Program on PBS. See more from Saving the Titanic. … Continue reading
In early October, the container ship MV Rena ran hard aground on the Astrolabe Reef off Tauranga, New Zealand, resulting in an oil spill which the New Zealand Environment minister Nick Smith has referred to as the country’s most serious maritime environmental … Continue reading
We posted recently about the discovery of the 164′ Japanese fishing vessel, Ryou-Un Maru, which had been carried out to sea from the port of Hachinohe, a year ago by the Japanese earthquake and tsunami. The ship was found drifting 120 miles off Haida Gwaii, British … Continue reading
Robert Ballard, the oceanographer who lead the expedition which discovered the wreck of the Titanic in 1985, was interviewed by Stephen Colbert on the Colbert Report last night. He discusses how the search for the Titanic was a cover for … Continue reading
The truly Titanic obsessed do not have to wait for the centennial of the tragic sinking of the so-called “unsinkable” passenger liner. They now can follow the Titanic via either a Twitter feed or an iPad app which mark down the events of leading up to … Continue reading