The Antikythera Treasure Ship and the Titanic

The quote by Brendan Foley of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution was pure marketing genius.  He said that the Antikythera wreck is “the Titanic of the ancient world.”  The Titanic is, after all, the rock star of ship wrecks. No doubt what Foley … Continue reading

The Boat Factory – A Complicated Love Story about a Shipyard: A Review

My wife and I recently saw “The Boat Factory” a two actor play, starring Dan Gordon and Michael Condron, which celebrates the sprawling Harland & Wolff shipyard in Belfast, Northern Ireland.  That’s right, a play about a shipyard. But not just any … Continue reading

Repost: Searching for the USS Thresher and USS Scorpion with the Titanic as Cover

On this the fiftieth anniversary of the sinking of the USS Thresher, we are reposting an article from three years regarding the link between the discovery of the wreck of the Titanic and the US Navy’s secret search for the lost submarines, USS Thresher and the USS Scorpion. … Continue reading

Joseph Conrad on the Titanic – On Experts, Icebergs, Lifeboats and Biscuit Tins

In June of 1912, Joseph Conrad wrote “Some Reflections on the Loss of the Titanic” for the English Review.  While best known as a novelist, his comments reflect his years as a ship’s officer in both sail and steam.   He finds little … Continue reading

Myths of the Titanic – Did White Star Line Claim the Ship was Unsinkable?

The BBC recently published an article titled “Five Titanic myths spread by films.”  The first alleged myth is that the White Star Line never claimed that the Titanic was “unsinkable.”   The article asserts: ” The White Star Line never made … Continue reading

Reliving the Titanic’s Last Days in Real Time on Twitter or iPad App

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

Titanic and the “Supermoon” – Did the Moon Sink the Titanic? The Answer is No.

The headline writers have been having fun.  The Daily Beast headline reads – Moon to Blame for Titanic Sinking?  Reuters asks and answers its own question – “What sank the Titanic? Scientists point to the moon.”  The Times of India gets alliterative … Continue reading

Odd Notes on the Costa Concordia – Singers, Violinists and Theme Music from the Titanic

According to survivors’ reports, the band on the deck of the Titanic continued to play after the last boat departed as the ship sank beneath waters of the icy North Atlantic.  Coincidentally, a singer aboard the Costa Concordia, Amelia Leon says that she … Continue reading

Titantic eaten by bacteria while shipwrecked fleets in Baltic well preserved

Two interesting stories of shipwrecks in the press recently – the wreck of the Titanic is being consumed by newly identified steel-munching bacteria, while scientists are discovering large numbers of well preserved shipwrecks in the dark and cold Baltic where there are 1,500 confirmed wrecks … Continue reading

Did a Steering Error Sink the Titanic?

In Good as Gold, a new book by Louise Patten, the granddaughter of the most senior surviving officer on the Titanic, reveals a long hidden family secret. She claims that an error in steering on the bridge of the Titanic led to the collision … Continue reading

Searching for the USS Thresher and USS Scorpion with the Titanic as Cover

Late last month, the secret was revealed – when Bob Ballard discovered the Titanic in 1985,  he was actually on a  secret mission to find two sunken US submarines, the USS Thresher and USS Scorpion, both of which had sunk in the Atlantic in … Continue reading