$40 Million Dollar Trove from SS Central America Displayed (& Tommy Thompson Is Still In Jail)

Last weekend, gold ingots and coins valued at $40 million salvaged from the wreck of the SS Central America went on display for the first time at the 2018 Long Beach Coin, Currency, Stamp & Sports Collectible Expo. (The gold … Continue reading

Remembering Robert Smalls – Slave, Captain of the Planter, First Black Captain in the US Navy & Congressman

Here is a story well worth retelling. An updated repost from 2012. 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, led eight fellow slaves … Continue reading

Remembering Captain William A. Martin — Black Whaling Ship Captain From Martha’s Vineyard

As Black History Month winds to a close it seems worthwhile to recall Captain William A. Martin, the best remembered black whaling ship captain from Martha’s Vineyard. He is often referred to as the only black whaling captain from the island. … Continue reading

‘Round the World Rum on the Picton Castle

When the barque Picton Castle embarks on its seventh circumnavigation this April, it will have a special cargo of four barrels of rum from Lunenburg’s Ironworks Distillery stored in the hold. If all goes well when the ship returns to Lunenburg in … Continue reading

The Bones of Black Sam Bellamy — Captain of the Whydah?

The Whydah Pirate Museum announced this week, that last year human bones were found near the wreck of the pirate ship Whydah  on Cape Cod, Massachusetts.  The bones were located in an area close to where a pistol, which possibly belonged to … Continue reading