Today, October 13th, is celebrated as the birthday of the United States Navy, not to be confused with Navy Day which was once celebrated on October 27th. The current “birthday” may have more to do with bragging rights than real … Continue reading
Category Archives: History
After sitting dark for a decade, Alligator Reef Light in the Florida Keys is shining again. An Islamorada community group is spending $6 million to restore and preserve the 150-year-old lighthouse. The group turned on its new solar-powered lights last … Continue reading
Like millions of other children, I was taught that Christopher Columbus discovered America in 1492. Then when I was seven years old, the site of the Norse settlement at L’Anse aux Meadows, Newfoundland was discovered and I learned that Columbus … Continue reading
An updated repost. There is a line from a Paul Simon song, “these are the days of miracle and wonder.” One might not think to apply that lyric to the events of 9/11, 22 years ago today. Yet for at … Continue reading
After 61 years of service, the one of its kind research vessel FLoating Instrument Platform, known as FLIP, has been retired and sent to a scrapyard. I distinctly recall being absolutely fascinated by this engineering marvel when it was almost brand … Continue reading
A recent study published in the journal Nature describes an extinct whale, Perucetus colossus, discovered in the desert in southern Peru, that rivals the blue whale in weight, if not necessarily in length. The Perucetus colossus was a basilosaurid whale … Continue reading
Last Friday, July 21, divers dove 110m (361ft) beneath the waters off the Shetland Islands, about eight miles south-east of Lerwick, and positively identified the wreck of the SM UC-55, a German Type UC II minelaying submarine that was sunk … Continue reading
In 1863, Henry Dodd organized a race between Thames River sailing barges. It has become the longest-running, regularly organized, national racing event for traditional sail in the world. In absolute terms, it ranks as the second oldest sailing race behind … Continue reading
An updated repost fitting for the day. Happy 4th of July! Those of us in the United States celebrate the anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence on July 4th 1776. Immediately after declaring independence from Great Britain, the representatives in the Continental Congress drank a toast … Continue reading
Last week, the State of Hawai’i Department of Transportation issued a statement that the windjammer Falls of Clyde, the only remaining iron-hulled four-masted full-rigged ship and the only surviving sail-driven oil tanker in the world, would soon be delisted from … Continue reading
The Royal Navy has announced that it is putting on display one of the greatest treasures in British naval history before they return to storage for months, perhaps years, to protect them. The Armada Maps chart the Royal Navy’s defeat … Continue reading
Wendy Rush, the wife of the late Stockton Rush, the co-founder of OceanGate and pilot of the Titan when the submersible imploded, is a great-great-granddaughter of two first-class passengers who died when the Titanic sank in 1912. Ms. Rush is … Continue reading
The Battle of the River Plate, fought in the South Atlantic in December 1939 was the first naval battle of the Second World War and ended with the scuttling of the German pocket battleship Admiral Graf Spee. While the battle … Continue reading
Happy Juneteenth, the oldest nationally celebrated commemoration of the ending of slavery in the United States. Juneteenth National Independence Day is also the newest Federal holiday. The legislation, passed by both the House and Senate, was signed into law by … Continue reading
Here is an animation from a Mariner’s Mirror podcast about perhaps the greatest windjammer of the early twentieth century, the Preussen. One of the Flying P-Liners, built for the F. Laeisz shipping company in 1902, she was the only five-masted … Continue reading
I am aware of only one man who was praised by both Eisenhower and Hitler. A repost on the 79th anniversary of D-Day. General Dwight David Eisenhower said that “Andrew Higgins … is the man who won the war for … Continue reading
Today is National Donut Day. Why is there a national day for donuts? The day celebrates an event created by The Salvation Army in Chicago in 1938 to honor those of their members who served doughnuts to soldiers during World War I. But who invented … Continue reading
For more than a decade, warships sunk in World War II have literally been disappearing from the ocean floor. Illegal scrappers operating grabs from barges have been looting of Australian, American, British, Dutch, and Japanese warships for scrap metal in … Continue reading
We are all familiar with Melville’s novel, Moby Dick, inspired, at least in part, by the ramming and sinking of the whaleship Essex by a rogue sperm whale in the Pacific in 1820. Less well-known is the sinking by a … Continue reading
An updated repost on National Maritime Day. In 1933, the US Congress created National Maritime Day to recognize the maritime industry in the United States. The date chosen to celebrate the new holiday was May 22, in honor of the … Continue reading