The Falls of Clyde, built in 1878, is the only surviving iron-hulled four-masted full rigged ship and the only surviving sail-driven oil tanker in the world. After years of neglect by the Bishop Museum, the ship has been taken over by Friends of the Falls of Clyde, a wonderfully dedicated group of volunteers, who are working hard maintaining the ship and struggling to raise the money needed to restore her. Fortunately, the ship is good structural condition and an excellent candidate for restoration.
The Friends of the Falls of Clyde have been nominated to receive a grant from Hampton Hotels “Save-A-Landmark” program. The project which receives the most votes gets the funding. The voting will continue through the end of November. Please vote now for the Falls of Clyde. Click here to vote . It costs nothing and could do a world of good. The Falls of Clyde is truly a ship worth saving.
This is a great story. Thanks to Irwin Bryan for passing it along. Congratulations to Bonnie Schubert and her 87-year old mother Jo, two highly successful salvage divers.
Fifty five years ago today, on October 29th 1955, the battleship 
The factory fishing ship Athena caught fire early today in the Atlantic, 230 miles south-west of the Isles of Scilly. Eighty one non-essential personnel were evacuated to liferafts and subsequently rescued as the remaining 30 aboard fought the fire, which is now reported to be under control but not extinguished. The Athena was built in 1992, but was rebuilt in China this year due to damage from a previous fire.
All that remains to mark the site of the final sea battle of the First Punic War between Rome and Carthage, around 241 BC, are the great bronze rams left behind after the rest of the sunken ships have rotten away in the warm waters of the Mediterranean Sea. The sea battle and the First Punic War, in general, were victories for Rome, marking its ascent, and Carthage’s decline as regional powers. Three rams have now been found near the island of Levanzo, west of Sicily.
