HMS Bounty and the Privateer Lynx will be in Portsmouth, NH for the annual Tall Ships Portsmouth Festival on Memorial Day weekend from May 29-31. It sounds like a great event. The local paper reports all the details, which is all well … Continue reading
Category Archives: Seastories
Alaric Bond is a frequent contributor to the Old Salt blog. He is also a wonderful writer. His latest novel True Colours has recently been published. I liked it – a lot. A review: Alaric Bond’s new novel, True Colours, the … Continue reading
I love when an author shines a new light on history that we all thought we already knew. Joan Druett in her new book Tupaia, Captain Cook’s Polynesian Navigator, appears to do just that. A sneak peak from Joan … Continue reading
People are often surprised to hear that Herman Melville’s masterpiece, Moby Dick, was inspired, at least in part, by the sinking of the whale ship Essex by a sperm whale. By all accounts the sinking of the Essex haunted Melville and unquestionably supplied him with … Continue reading
A few days ago, we posted about Ric Burns’ new documentary, Into the Deep: America, Whaling & the World, which will be broadcast tomorrow, May 10, at 9PM on most PBS channel in the United States. I had the opportunity to … Continue reading
The US Naval War College has published a collection of essays on Piracy and Maritime Crime: Historical and Modern Case Studies, edited by Bruce A. Elleman, Andrew Forbes, and David Rosenberg. The essays look at piracy around the world and throughout history … Continue reading
Fans of naval fiction either know or should know of Astrodene’s Historical Naval Fiction web site and forum. A wonderful resource, lots of great information on books both old and new, as well as very nice folks in the forum. … Continue reading
Max Hardberger’s Seized, a Sea Captains Adventures – Battling Scoundrels and Pirates while Recovering Stolen Ships in the World’s Most Troubled Waters is a fascinating account of one man’s remarkable career and personal journey. In addition to working professionally as … Continue reading
In 2007, Eric Jay Dolin wrote Leviathan, The History of Whaling In America, a wonderful book that follows the American whale fisheries from shore whaling, to the fleets of whale ships that sailed in every ocean, to the industry’s decline in the … Continue reading
A new book details the history of a hotel built to look like an ocean liner perched high in the mountains of Pennsylvania. Ship Hotel has sailed, but a jaunty new book honors its history and heyday The story of … Continue reading
Pirate Latitudes by Micheal Crichton, published a year after his death, is a romp. It is full of swashbuckling action and completely familiar characters. There is a bold captain, who is either a privateer or a pirate; several fair and … Continue reading
Under Sail is a remarkable account of sixteen year old Felix Riesenberg’s first voyage on a square rigger from South Street Seaport in New York, to Honolulu and back. He sailed on the A.J. Fuller, a Bath built, copper clad, … Continue reading
A review by Steven Toby, written for the Maritime History Listserv, included here with his kind permission. Sounds like a fascinating book. Skipjack: The Story of America’s Last Sailing Oystermen by Christopher White is an excellent book on the last commercial fishing craft … Continue reading
Sam Willis has written what appears to be a fascinating book – Fighting Temeraire. J.M.W. Turner’s painting, The Fighting Temeraire Tugged to her Last Berth to be Broken Up, hangs in the National Gallery in Trafalgar Square and was recently … Continue reading
My River Chronicle – Rediscovering the America on the Hudson, is a fascinating voyage in the life of a young woman, who finds herself oddly quite at home in a most unlikely new job. It is also a journey through … Continue reading